Embodied minds or mindful bodies? A question of fundamental, inherently inter-related aspects of animation

Abstract

This article spells out the key concept that embraces all aspects of life and thereby constitutes a key to understanding how all aspects are inherently interrelated. That key concept – animation – is spelled out concretely in terms of evolutionary biology and phenomenology. It begins with Darwin's classic statement that ‘mind is function of body’ and shows how a phenomenological analysis of movement supports Darwin's claim. It furthermore shows how common understandings of movement distort its dynamic realities, how in normal, everyday life a dynamic congruency obtains between emotions and movement, and thus, how ‘an absence of the body below the neck’ in scientific research on emotions deflects attention from the synergies of meaningful movement that anchor human life. In the end it shows clearly that minds are not embodied; bodies are mindful.