Anotace:
This paper explores the significance of combat sports through the lens of virtue ethics, arguing that these practices, often criticized as inherently violent, offer a distinct and uniquely powerful path to personal growth and moral development. It argues that the specific kind of suffering, discipline, and hardships intrinsic to combat sports do not merely build character but offer one of the most direct and embodied means of pursuing eudaimonia, i.e., human flourishing. The paper compares combat sports with other dangerous sports, such as dangerous team sports (e.g., American football) and some individual sports, especially ultra-sports in nature settings. It situates combat sports within a broader ethical narrative that cultivates resilience, courage, self-awareness, and humility. Ultimately, the paper defends combat sports as not just a valid, but an especially potent, practice for realizing human flourishing under conditions of hardship and adversity.