martial arts is a perfect metaphor for life. There are few disciplines where the stakes are so personal and so high as in a fight. Proficiency in martial arts is the practice of keeping centered and skillfully responsive under the direst of circumstances: the threat of physical harm.

We will evaluate the evolution of fighting using three settings: the Movie Set, the Dojo, and the Octagon. We will loosely link each with the three ancient Greek modes of persuasion: Pathos or emotion, Ethos or authority, and Logos or reason, and three different ways of learning: inspiration, rote, and praxis.

mental models techniques-Ladder of Inference, Left-Hand Column, and Balancing Inquiry and Advocacy-are very useful in these “introspective” discussions.