Kroppens och känslornas betydelse för självförverkligandet. En rekonstruktion av George Herbert Meads tänkande

Abstract

Many social researchers mistakenly think that Mead had no interest in the body and the emotions of the human being. They seem to think that his social philosophy of the act is all about her mind. This is unfortunate since his idea of the significance of the body and emotions for the emergence and development of the self is of great relevance to the contemporary interest in the subject matter. First, this article presents Mead’s contribution to the area. Especially it considers his idea of emotions as a form of intersubjective corporeality. econdly, to better fulfil Mead’s own wish to transcend the Cartesian mind-body dualism it reconstructs his idea of emotions by relating them not only to the social body of the human being, but also the structures of norms and values embodied in social life. In that way it becomes evident that not only mind but also the social body and the emotions of the human being is of great significance for her selfrealisation.