The Art of Expressing the Human Body

Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do: A Philosophy of Physical Self-Perfection

by David Quigley

It is a safe assumption that almost everyone has heard of Bruce Lee.  He was and remains arguably the most famous Asian-American star in the history of film (sorry, Jackie Chan).  And anyone who has seen any of his films cannot help but notice his amazing physique, speed, agility, and flexibility.  However, what a lot of people do not realize – especially those outside the martial arts world – is that Bruce Lee was a philosopher obsessed with fitness, or what he called, the art of expressing the human body.  Indeed, Bruce Lee was a philosopher in every aspect of his life, and focused a lot of his writings on honest self-expression and self-perfection.  Even the martial art he developed, Jeet Kune Do (or, the Way of the Intercepting Fist), is in itself a philosophy.

JKD is not…