Rethinking Practice as Research and the Cognitive Turn

Abstract

The last 15 years has seen an explosion of studies that use cognitive science to understand theatre, what McConachie and Hart (2006) called ‘the cognitive turn’ in theatre studies, whilst at the same time theatre-makers are using their artistic practice to interrogate research questions. Although these two areas might seem distinct, perhaps even opposed, in this book Shaun May suggests that there is a great deal to be gained from analysing them together and carefully attending to their conceptual foundations. After arguing that much of the work in the cognitive turn is conceptually flawed, May draws on the work of Gilbert Ryle and Ludwig Wittgenstein to suggest a rethinking of the concept of mind and, moreover, argues that this should form the foundation for our understanding of the kind of ‘doing-thinking’ that is characteristic of practice as research.