engleski

Philosophy and establishing kinesiology

The paper aspires to establish kinesiology as an independent scientific discipline. For this purpose, historical overview of philosophy (the scientific discipline) is presented from its beginnings, when philosophy implied the totality of human knowledge, to the segregation of specific fields. This process took place simultaneously with the quantitative increase of human knowledge. Several significant periods in the history of science, important for the development of the scientific discipline now referred to as kinesiology, are emphasised. Furthermore, this paper argues that history of physical and health education is not the same as the history of kinesiology. The first significant period mentioned in the paper is the Greek period. After more or less failed attempts by the early Greek cosmologists to find a prime matter, the appearance of the first European Enlightenment - sophistry - that puts man at the centre of philosophical (scientific) research is emphasized. In Plato's and Aristotle's writings the authors sought the optimal social and educational environment that would bring about the reign of the best. The paper also observes, through philosophical considerations, the parallel development of medicine. It was in Greece where the medical code of ethics (Hippocrates) was established as well as the healing methods that have been applied for centuries. The authors further point out some experiments on the connection between muscle contraction and the impulse of the momentum. In addition, a brief overview of the third parallel branch of human knowledge is presented - the technical, architectural, and ultimately mechanical one- which also has its repercussions on man (biomechanics). The following section of the paper shows how, towards the end of antiquity, the above mentioned three branches of human knowledge spread to cosmopolitan proportions during Hellenism, faced the Jewish and Semitic world view, to be finally synthesized in the works of several Christian philosophers and thus transferred to the Middle Ages. After pointing out several significant figures of the Middle Ages, the authors observe that the Middle Ages at its peak gave birth to experiment as the only relevant factor in science thereby irrevocably separating philosophy from what is now considered science: a collection of systematically and methodologically acquired knowledge. The last section of the paper points to the laws of classical mechanics, especially interesting from the point of view of kinesiology, particularly significant moments in the development of medical knowledge, but also the development of physiology that culminated in the 19th and 20th centuries, and finally the discovery of a large number of technical aids. The width and interdisciplinarity in studying the laws of functioning of kinesiology systems, and the management of these systems ensure the kinesiology, as a young branch of science, a promising future.

science; philosophy; kinesiology; scientific method

Članak pretendira utemeljiti kineziologiju kao samostalnu znanstvenu disciplinu. U tu svrhu donosimo povijesni prikaz filozofije (znanosti) od njezinih početaka kada je filozofija podrazumijevala sveukupnost ljudskih znanja do segregacije posebnih područja. Ovaj proces se odvijao paralelno s kvantitativnim porastom ljudskog znanja. Ukazujemo na nekoliko značajnijih razdoblja u povijesti znanosti, značajnih za razvoj znanstvene discipline koju danas zovemo kineziologija. Pri tom u članku tvrdimo kako povijest tjelesne i zdravstvene kulture nije isto što i povijest kineziologije. Prvo značajnije razdoblje o kojem govorimo je ono grčko. Nakon manje-više neuspjelih pokušaja ranih grčkih kozmologa u potrazi za nekom pratvari, podvlačimo pojavu prvog europskog prosvjetiteljstva - sofistike - koja stavlja čovjeka u središte filozofskog (znanstvenog) istraživanja. U Platonovim i Aristotelovim spisima traži se optimalno društveno i odgojno okružje koje će iznjedriti vladavinu najboljih. Pratimo i filozofskim promišljanjima usporedni razvoj medicine. Upravo u grčkoj uspostavljen je liječnički kodeks (Hipokrat) i metode liječenja koje su stoljećima primjenjivale. Uka