Logic vs Experience

2010-11-06

One of my philosophy professors, Dr. Franklin Perkins, once pointed out in class that many philosophers talk about how be happy, but very few philosophers actually seem to be happy. More generally, many intellectual arguments that are logically correct are actually wrong. On top of that, we have to deal with arguments that sound believable and appealing, but have missteps in logic.

Over the past few years, I've become increasingly aware of different levels of understanding. Martial arts is one aspects of my life where these levels have revealed themselves. Most martial arts have standardized sets of forms and movements. We are made to practice these forms with a partner in simple simulated attack scenarios. We are given logical arguments for why they work and they seem to work well enough when practicing with a partner. After a while, these forms become more comfortable. Still a few of these forms continue to feel awkward.

On a recent month-long trip to Japan, I got a chance to train with a teacher named Rob Renner. He showed me that the forms I had learned didn't actually work. The standard forms weren't wrong, but rather I didn't really understand them. What happens if ones opponent resists? What happens if one's opponent moves around a lot? What happens if an opponent is fast or strong? What happened in a crowded space or an open space? Rob had us experiment with the standard forms, experiencing them under different conditions. We payed attention to how these experiments felt. Mostly, the differences between doing the form effective and ineffectively are very subtle. The differences are also very difficult to see. They really must be felt. This is especially true since one person's body is not identical to another's. There is still a lot that I don't understand, and there always will be. One thing that is apparent from watching master martial artists and from feeling forms and movements in my own practice is that feelings don't represent specific forms at all. Rather, in martial arts, feelings represent more general principles.

In short, I've discovered new value in experience and experiment. My understandings of physics, math, and teaching have followed similar paths, where experiment and experience are absolutely necessary in order to critically understanding theory.