Concept Of Embodiment Research Articles

Husserl on Minimal Mind and the Origins of Consciousness in the Natural World

The main aim of this article is to offer a systematic reconstruction of Husserl’s theory of minimal mind and his ideas pertaining to the lowest level of consciousness in living beings. In this context, the term ‘minimal mind’ refers to the mental sphere and capacities of the simplest conceivable subject. This topic is of significant contemporary interest for philosophy of mind and empirical research into the origins of consciousness. I contend that Husserl’s reflections on minimal mind offer a fruitful contribution to this ongoing debate. For Husserl, the embodied character of subjectivity, or consciousness, is essential for understanding minimal mind. In his view, there is an a priori necessary constitutive connection between the subjective and objective aspects of the body, between Leib and Körper, and this connection is especially important for exploring minimal mind from a phenomenological perspective. Thematically, the essay has three main parts. In Sect. 2, I present an overview of how minimal mind is framed in contemporary philosophy of mind and empirical research. I then analyse Husserl’s conception of embodiment with regard to the problem of minimal mind in Sect. 3. Finally, I present a more detailed investigation into Husserl’s account of minimal mind, highlighting features from his descriptions of animal mind and consciousness in early infancy (Sects. 4 and 5).

Living with Food Allergies: The Recalibratory Body

As a growing global public health concern, an increasing proportion of the UK’s population must live with and manage the chronic disease of food allergies. Through a multi-method approach of autoethnography, cognitive mapping, and interviewing, this research investigates what matters to the bodily experience of people living with food allergies. I work with the concepts of embodiment and affect to delineate a theorisation of the allergic body as recalibratory and argue that the adrenaline auto-injector (AAI)—the lifesaving medication prescribed to individuals with severe food allergies—is integral to the allergic recalibratory body. I demonstrate the multiple, dynamic ways in which those living with food allergies “affectively relate” to the AAI and what contributes to this. An account of the body as recalibratory is advanced to account for the dynamicism of the body’s affective relations. The recalibratory body becomes a valuable tool for understanding the ways that macro-issues of AAI production shortages and the tragic occurrence of allergy fatalities as well as micro-level everyday experiences matter to those living with food allergies. The essay concludes by exploring how the concept of recalibration can expand beyond allergic bodies to understand what the body—any body—can be, do, and mean.

A transactional perspective on the everyday use of technology by people with learning disabilities

ABSTRACT Research points to the potential benefit of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for people with learning disabilities. However, there has been limited exploration of the interconnected nature of people and social context when considering how people with learning disabilities use ICTs. The result has been an overemphasis on (and assumptions of) the skill limitations and individual capacity of people with learning disabilities and their use of ICTs. Using a transactional perspective based on the work of John Dewey, this study aimed to explore the interrelationship of people with learning disabilities, ICTs, and the social world. Using a post-qualitative and theory-driven approach, we employed a transactional perspective (namely the interrelated concepts of embodiment, habit, and growth) to analyse interview data from 10 adult participants with learning disabilities. Our analysis suggested that when people have access and opportunity to co-mingle with technology, the technology can become embodied (feel like a part of them). ICTs were found to become an extension of participants’ bodies, enhancing their literacy, learning, and connection with others. Introducing the concept of conjoint action, we explored how human and nonhuman bodies are enmeshed in the formation of what we typically think of as human habits. Participants developed more-than-human habits of ICT use that they drew from to coordinate with their everyday life, navigating everyday challenges. Yet, in restrictive social contexts (or those influenced by underlying assumptions of the vulnerability of people with learning disabilities), participants were less likely to embody ICTs in the rhythms of everyday life and experience benefits of ICT use. Our findings shed light on the entangled, transactional relationship of people and the social world, and present occupation as the conjoint action of human and nonhuman bodies.

The Explanatory Power of the Concept of Embodiment in Anthropology

As part of the author's cumulative research on the types of explanation, the structure of explanation and the explanatory capacity of key concepts in sociocultural anthropology, this paper looks at the concept of embodiment. The relevance of reappraising the explanatory power of this concept is manifold, above all on the interpretive, conceptual and paradigmatic level. Research suggests that the concept of embodiment – although very popular, commonly used in very influential scholarly monographs and academic papers, and even proposed as the cornerstone of a "new paradigm for anthropology" – has a very limited explanatory capacity. It seems that its use in no way contributes to anthropological argumentation on the level of explanation – neither cumulatively nor in terms of recontextualisation. Namely, it turns out that by deleting the word "embodiment" from the analyzed arguments nothing would be lost, and that the anthropological explanatory apparatus developed within the anthropology of the body, the anthropology of gender and the anthropology of kinship – whose use precedes contemporary popular uses of the concept of embodiment – does not have a smaller scope in terms of explanatory power.

Unpacking the T: Understanding the Diverse Experiences Trans Students Navigating Schools

Author(s): leonardi, bethy; Farley, Amy N.; Harsin Drager, Emmett; Gonzales, Jax | Abstract: In this mixed methods study, we use quantitative and narrative survey data from 47 parents/guardians of trans youth to understand their experiences navigating schools. In our analytic process, we recognized that how students identified mattered to parents/guardians’ stories. We use trans theories and concepts of materiality, embodiment, and subjection to understand our initial thematic analysis. Our findings indicate the need to attend to students’ material bodies, how their embodied experiences differ based on how they are read and which “rules” they “break,” and how masculinity and femininity might be regulated differently. We aim to contribute to the growing literature in PK-12 education that calls for research to differentiate the experiences of trans students by unpacking the T.

Philosophy in the flesh: How philosophical view of embodiment motivates public compliance with health recommendations during the COVID-19 crisis

Philosophical view of embodiment, one of the most influential hypotheses in cognitive science, postulates that sensorimotor experiences and bodily states influence people's behavior, cognition, and emotion. Despite embodiment theory addressing the basic experiences of cognitive life, there is a paucity of information available regarding the health consequences of holding such a philosophic belief. In the current investigation, we examined a new idea that embodiment theory leads people to believe in the central role of physical body in shaping cognitive processes and mental activities, which can in turn alter individuals' motivation to comply with preventive measures to the COVID-19. In Study 1, participants who were primed with theories of embodied cognition (vs. Cartesian dualism) self-reported more compliance with safety-promoting measures surrounding the new coronavirus disease. Extending beyond self-report measures, Study 2 focused on an actual virus-mitigation behavior. The results showed that participants primed with philosophic conceptions of embodiment (vs. dualism) were more likely to choose face masks (vs. pencils) as a gift. These findings suggest that the philosophical view of embodiment not only offers scientifically valuable insight into the mechanics of cognitive processing, but increases people's willingness to follow non-pharmaceutical containment measures in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

My body my self

This article represents a brief overview of 40 years as a therapist, from my first role in the NHS to my work today. It describes my struggle to become embodied and to learn to understand and integrate my body’s messages over time. It suggests that the body is a vital part of the therapeutic process, encompassing concepts of embodiment and body identity, the body as character and messenger of the unconscious, the keeper of the psyche’s secrets, dreams and memories. In reflecting on our current global climate crisis it suggests how psychological insights and connection to our embodied selves can assist us to come to terms with our future on a critically endangered planet.

On the transcendental undercurrents of phenomenology: the case of the living body

Today the phenomenological concept of the lived body figures centrally in several philosophical and special scientific debates. In these wide and widening fields, the concept is used with multiple different meanings. In order to clarify and delineate the debates, this paper provides an explication of the phenomenological-transcendental methods. It argues that these methods help us remove the most fundamental ambiguities of the concept of embodiment by distinguishing between the main constituents of the lived body and by illuminating their mutual relations.

Darkness, Datafication, and Provenance as an Illuminating Methodology

Darkness, Datafication, and Provenance as an Illuminating Methodology

Edgar Wind on Experiment and Metaphysics

AbstractThe paper presents a detailed interpretation of Edgar Wind’sExperiment and Metaphysics(1934), a unique work on the philosophy of physics which broke with the Neo-Kantian tradition under the influence of American pragmatism. Taking up Cassirer’s interpretation of physics, Wind develops a holistic theory of the experiment and a constructivist account of empirical facts. Based on the concept of embodiment which plays a key role in Wind’s later writings on art history, he argues, however, that the outcomes of measurements are contingent. He then proposes an anti-Kantian conception of a metaphysics of nature. For him, nature is an unknown totality which manifests itself in discrepancies between theories and experiment, and hence the theory formation of physics can increasingly approximate the structure of nature. It is shown that this view is ambiguous between a transcendental, metaphysical realism in Kant’s sense and an internal realism in Putnam’s sense. Wind’s central claim is that twentieth century physics offers new options for resolving Kant’s cosmological antinomies. In particular, he connected quantum indeterminism with the possibility of human freedom, a connection that Cassirer sharply opposed.

Black lives and bodywork matters: A postcolonial critique of gender and embodiment in Nigeria

AbstractDrawing on the theories of “Womanism” and “African feminism,” this paper explores the concept of embodiment within an African context. More specifically, we focus on exploring the lived experiences of Nigerian women in male‐dominated organizations (sector) to provide an in‐depth understanding of the dynamics of how the Nigerian society marginalizes qualities and aspects of embodiment and disembodiment of women. Based on 39 interviews, our findings reveal that cultural and social practices significantly influence the concept of gendered embodiment in the Nigerian context. We further highlight the spatialized dynamic of the religious, ethical, and classed identity formations, and the multiplicities of violence experienced on African women's bodies every day. Using a feminist standpoint as a lens, we highlight the practice and relevance of social constructivism in understanding the concept of spatialized embodiment in a Nigerian context. We emphasize the complexity and diversity in African feminisms as we highlight the multiplicities of difference in understanding African experiences. Additionally, we emphasize that men are part of the social construct, and hence cannot be left out of the story, given that their influence and perceptions provide further insight into the concept of gendered embodiment and existing marginalization of and discrimination against women.

A New Materialisms Poetics of Touch: David Eastham’s Understand: 50 Memowriter Poems


 
 
 Although often mentioned in summarial histories of “first” authors with autism, the work of the Canadian David Eastham has not been analyzed at the level of form to date. Using Melanie Yergeau’s scholarship challenging the ruling episteme of biomedicine when it comes to neurodivergence, this paper considers biographical elements of Eastham’s life to confirm biomedical primacy in the accounts made by others. Then Eastham’s own work undergoes formal analysis to show how Eastham’s own words resisted the episteme while, even today, those means of those same words, provided by the contested practise of Facilitated Communication, are challenged by biomedicine. The method of close reading is used to interpret Eastham’s work, as guided by the theory inherent to new materialisms. The result is exposing an uncomfortable match between medical models and the alternative embodiment concept when it comes to interpreting the poetry of disabled people.
 
 

Liberature or Literature in the Electric Age

The article proposes a media-oriented approach to liberature, a literary trend born in Poland at the end of the 20th century which aims at reconsidering the physical body of the book as an integral part of the literary work. The idea of liberature is not only a contemporary literary programme, but it has also helped in redefining phenomena from the past hitherto considered to be marginal. The thesis of the article is that this corporeal turn is directly connected with what Marshall McLuhan has called the electric age – a time in which electrical media have put an end to print culture and consequently to the predominance of sight over other senses, to standardisation, specialisation, and linear thinking in favour of a new audio-tactile sensibility. Liberature, if considered from this point of view, turns out to be not a form of resistance of old print culture in a digital world, but the natural consequence of a change of paradigm we can trace also in other fields such as physics and linguistics where the concept of embodiment has occupied a central position for several decades. Hence, far from being a curiosity at the periphery of contemporary literature, it ought to be considered as an important expression of present times.

REFLEXIVITY IN THE STUDY OF WARFARE: IS THERE ADDED VALUE FOR THE DISCIPLINE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS?

The article examines whether reflectivist approach to epistemology in the study of warfare can amend some weaknesses of the rationalist/positivist canon of mainstream International Relations (IR) theories. The author argues for the existence of a new epistemic situation for the IR researcher: an ontological transformation of the military profession in post-industrial societies that has created a sacralised civic duty to fight in war. The research of warfare is becoming more focused on the individual – who is either a reluctant combatant or a civilian victimised by military operations, but protected by international norms. The author hypothesises that the advantages of reflectivist epistemological viewpoint – embracing standpoint epistemology, situated knowledge, the concept of embodiment, Cynthia Enloe’s claim that “the international is the personal” – may provide a plausible alternative path in the quest for an answer to the question of how we learn about warfare as the central problem of international relations. The analysis shows how reflectivism encourages researchers to identify new, previously “hidden” or marginalised questions and thus expand the scope of inquiry of mainstream IR. The author concludes that, when it comes to the study of warfare in the early twenty-first century, the largest contribution of reflectivist approach to epistemology of IR is in overcoming the shortcomings of the traditionally rigid mainstream epistemological framework of the discipline, providing the grounds for future counter-hegemonic actions.

Embodiment and Multisensory Perception of Synchronicity: Biological Features Modulate VisualandTactile Multisensory Interaction inSimultaneityJudgements.

The concept of embodiment has been used in multiple scenarios, but in cognitive neuroscience it normally refers to the comprehension of the role of one's own body in the cognition of everyday situations and the processes involved in that perception. Multisensory research is gradually embracing the concept of embodiment, but the focus has mostly been concentrated upon audiovisual integration. In two experiments, we evaluated how the likelihood of a perceived stimulus to be embodied modulates visuotactile interaction in a Simultaneity Judgement task. Experiment 1 compared the perception of two visual stimuli with and without biological attributes (hands and geometrical shapes) moving towards each other, while tactile stimuli were provided on the palm of the participants' hand. Participants judged whether the meeting point of two periodically-moving visual stimuli was synchronous with the tactile stimulation in their own hands. Results showed that in the hand condition, the Point of Subjective Simultaneity (PSS) was significantly more distant to real synchrony (60ms after the Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA) than in the geometrical shape condition (45ms after SOA). In experiment 2, we further explored the impact of biological attributes by comparing performance on two visual biological stimuli (hands and ears), that also vary in their motor and visuotactile properties. Results showed that the PSS was equally distant to real synchrony in both the hands and ears conditions. Overall, findings suggest that embodied visual biological stimuli may modulate visual and tactile multisensory interaction in simultaneity judgements.

PLEA

An approach to the design of learning environments where a social robot plays a role of a teacher is discussed in this study. Built-in robot functionalities provide a degree of situational embodiment, self-explainability, and context-driven interaction. The concept of embodiment enables immersion of the teacher into distant 3D environments. In that way the level of mutual understanding between participants is increased compared to a 2D world. Moreover, the tools that accompany the interaction empower augmentation by revealing the additional information present in gestures, facial expressions, or gaze direction. We use three distinct sources fused in a multimodal approach (face emotion recognition, level of loudness, and body movement intensity). The change in one modality can change the overall system reasoning. The teacher can benefit from this information by adapting a presentation style and achieve a better rapport with students. The theoretical basis is provided by studies of human communication in psycholinguistics and social psychology. Usability evaluation is based on the Wizard of Oz approach, allowing a teacher to interact with students through an interface. The conducted experiments show encouraging responses. Future studies will show in what way and to what extent a cognitive robot can be truly effective in technology-enhanced learning.

Falantxs Transviadxs: Linguística Queer e performatividades monstruosas

Este artigo apresenta o conceito de falantxs transviadxs, que oferece possibilidades analíticas para entendermos como pessoas em suas práticas locais negociam sentidos para quem são vis-Ã -vis normas que limitam o que podem/devem fazer e como podem/devem falar/escrever, circunscrevendo as fronteiras entre o normal/ideal e o abjeto/monstruoso. O artigo propõe uma perspectiva analítica queer guiada pelos conceitos de indexicalidade e corporificação. Revisito dados gerados em uma pesquisa etnográfica sobre prevenção de infecções sexualmente transmissíveis entre travestis com o intuito de entender como performances transviadas (i.e. aquelas que reviram e misturam múltiplos repertórios linguísticos e bagunçam regimes de ordenação do comportamento generificado) emergem e a que propósitos servem localmente.

Reflection in motion: an embodied approach to reflection on practice

ABSTRACT Body Phenomenology is introduced as a framework for deepening critical reflection on practice by attending to the active engagement between the practitioner and their world. Fook’s Critical Reflection on Practice is outlined as an established model of critical reflection that misses the role of the body in reflection. This is followed by an introduction to body phenomenology through Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of embodiment, motility and experience. Conceptions of embodiment are examined to highlight the dynamics of human experience through body-world relations. It is argued that using the body to reflect on life and experience can offer enhanced critical insight on practice and support deeper consciousness regarding one’s manner of knowing, relating, and moving through situations. The paper ends with a call for practitioners and students to consider incorporating body phenomenology into their reflective processes to gain rich personal and practice insights through embodied reflection in movement.

PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME DALAM FOTOGRAFI EKSPRESI

Premenstrual Syndrome is a symptom experienced by women before menstruation arrives. Many stories in the form of complaints from female friends. Based on this, ideas emerged to create photographic works of expression about the effects of Premenstrual Syndrome that were packaged with anaglyph technique. The impact to be visualized is a physical, psychological, and emotional symptom in the period before and until menstruation is over. Premenstrual syndrome information that has been collected through observation will be displayed visually by the medium of photography and using the object of a professional female model, as well as the addition of supporting properties to reinforce the message to be conveyed so as not to develop the meaning that comes out of the ideas that have been made. The work of photography created is a work of expression photography. This creation has an embodiment concept that displays visuals from the development of three-dimensional photographs, namely anaglyph and how to see this work must use anaglyph glasses, in the first glasses using a red colored glass lens and the second glasses using a blue lens glass and then how to view works using these glasses in turn. As for the obstacles that were experienced in the presentation of the embodiment of works including akat, place and time. The place is very influential on the atmosphere that appears in the photo, so the choice of place must be really in accordance with the concept to be appointed.Keywords: Premenstrual Syndrome, anaglyph, fine art photography.

Moving from sandwich to human body: introducing the concept of embodiment to the field of gifted education

Gifted education has followed a paradigm that implies that giftedness is characterized by superior cognitive abilities emanating from the human brain. This view contrasts with a new concept of the human mind: embodiment. Its core message maintains that cognitive processes extend throughout the entire body. This approach is an already highly influential paradigm across various scientific disciplines. Yet, its potential for gifted education remains to be determined. Thus, the main objective of this work is to introduce the concept of embodiment from a gifted education angle. As a first step, we will explore the key principles of embodiment along with the most significant criticisms concerning more traditional concepts of cognition. Second, we utilize research findings to illustrate embodiment’s potential in the realm of gifted education. We suggest that gifted education should further examine the potential of the embodiment approach.