Iconic Concepts and the Establishment of China’s Independent Knowledge System of Physical Education and Sport Science

Grasping the significant issues regarding independent knowledge systems of China is of profound significance for the construction of an independent knowledge system of physical education and sport science in the country. This study argues that foundational concepts and their derivative variations are the starting points and driving forces for the systematization of knowledge in physical education and sport science. The improvement of the knowledge system of physical education and sport science promotes the emergence of iconic concepts, and the development, integration, and dissemination of these concepts provide a foundational driving force for the construction of an independent knowledge system of China’s physical education and sport science. However, due to the current ambiguity of the meta-concepts in physical education and sport science, overreliance on transplants and borrowings, strong dependency on the mother discipline, and inadequate disciplinary structure in physical education and sport science, the development of China’s iconic concepts in physical education and sport science faces issues such as insufficient endogeneity, weak self-sufficiency, a lack of creative drive, and difficulty in derivation. These limitations restrict the independent foundation, autonomous starting point, self-determination level, and self-integration of China’s independent knowledge system of physical education and sport science. In response to this, we should, based on anchoring and refining the basic orientation of iconic concepts, root the extraction of iconic concepts in China’s excellent culture, focus on creating iconic concepts through embodied practices, integrate iconic concepts through academic communities, and innovating iconic concepts that meet societal demands, and then enhance the subjectivity, originality, independence, and systematicity of China’s independent knowledge system of physical education and sport science.