Mind And Body Research Articles

A Merleau-Pontian Critique of Sartrean Philosophy of Negation

The phenomenological ontologies of Sartre and Merleau-Ponty have often been discussed in comparison to one another. Often, a Merleau-Pontian critique of Sartre, based on subjectivity, has been given. In doing so, both Sartre’s and Merleau-Ponty’s views on freedom, facticity, the body, and the Other has been discussed in great detail. Despite all of this, however, not much emphasis has been given to their understanding of negativity in its relation to the construction of Self as the Being-in-the-world of human-reality. Accordingly, this article will focus on the relationship between subjectivity and negativity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty with a specific emphasis on Merleau-Ponty’s critique of Sartre’s philosophy of negation. First, the article will expand on Sartre’s philosophy of negation and explain how he conceives the experience of nothingness as the foundation of subjectivity. Later, it will develop a Merleau-Pontian critique of Sartrean philosophy of negation (a) by claiming that Sartrean negativity degenerates into pure and absolute positive of the Cartesian duality, and most importantly, (b) by showing how Merleau-Ponty constructs a new dialectical ontology of Self, based on the world-as-me; a being that is seen as flesh.

An interview with Richard Swinburne

Abstract This article is part of Religious Studies’ new initiative to publish a series of interviews with distinguished philosophers of religion. Each interview explores the personal and academic background of the interviewee and discusses their core philosophical views. The aim is to inspire students and scholars and to provide an overview of some of the most important works developed by contemporary philosophers of religion. In the first interview, Max Baker-Hytch interviews Richard Swinburne, covering such topics as his upbringing, his days as a student in Oxford in the 1950s, and his views on natural theology, the problem of evil, and the mind-body problem.

Navigating Societal Stressors Through Yoga in Korea

Modernization in Korea has led to increased psychological tension driven by changes in societal expectations and social norms. The current study explores the role of yoga in promoting stress-related growth in response to psychological stress and trauma within Korean society. We adopted interpretive phenomenological analysis to explore the lived experiences of 12 adults who practiced yoga regularly through in-depth interviews. Reflexive engagement with the data led to the development of the following themes: a) societal stressors in Korea, b) emotional regulation through the mind-body connection, c) self-care and d) manifestation in other dimensions of life. Building on the theoretical foundation of cognitive appraisal theory, our findings revealed that yoga facilitated a shift in perceptions and ability to manage stress by cultivating mindfulness. This research highlights the multifaceted dynamics of yoga in managing societal expectations in Korea and emphasizes its potential to promote psychological well-being and stress-related growth.

Heart Rate Variability and Interoception in Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep: Interference with Psychiatric Disorders?

Periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) are a prevalent disorder characterized by rhythmic, involuntary movements of the lower limbs, such as dorsiflexion of the ankle and extension of the big toe, occurring in periodic intervals during sleep. These movements are often linked to disrupted autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and altered interoception. Interoception involves perceiving internal bodily states, like heartbeat, breathing, hunger, and temperature, and plays a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis and the mind-body connection. This review explores the complex relationships between PLMS, heart rate variability (HRV), ANS dysregulation, and their impact on psychiatric disorders. By synthesizing the existing literature, it provides insights into how ANS dysregulation and altered interoceptive processes, alongside PLMS, contribute to psychiatric conditions. The review highlights the potential for integrated diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and presents a cause-and-effect model illustrating the mutual influence of psychiatric disorders, ANS dysregulation, PLMS, and interoception.

«Non-conforming Pleasures»: Representations of Homosexuality in Casanova’s Histoire de Ma Vie

Giacomo Casanova’s Histoire de Ma Vie offers an interesting perspective for exploring same-sex eroticism in the eighteenth century. Despite its reputation as a classic focused on heterosexual adventures, the Memoirs reveal references to sodomy and eroticism between same-sex individuals. This article aims to identify and place in the historical context traces of this theme within the literary source. It documents biases and captures shifts in sensibilities through Casanova’s firsthand account, delving into male homoeroticism, lesbian encounters, and the evolution of Casanova’s attitude towards male sodomy at a time when terms like «homosexuality» had yet to be defined. The challenge of anachronism is addressed by acknowledging that the absence of a specific terminology in earlier periods does not negate the existence of same-sex love and intimacy. Examining the representations of same-sex eroticism in Casanova’s Histoire provides insights into the historical contextualization of male subjectivity, the understanding of emotions, and the physiological-moral discourse regarding the body-mind connection, during a pivotal turning point in the history of emotions and sexuality.

Deciphering visceral instincts: a scientific quest to unravel food choices from molecules to mind.

The study of biological mechanisms, while crucial, cannot fully explain complex phenomena like the instinct to eat. The mind-body connection, as exemplified by the concept of "voodoo death," highlights the profound influence of belief and cultural context on physiology. Indigenous knowledge systems further emphasize the interconnectedness of humans with their environment. Recent discoveries in gut-brain communication reveal the intricate neural circuits that drive our visceral desires, but a holistic approach that integrates both physiological mechanisms and the subjective experience of life, informed by diverse cultural perspectives, will be essential to truly understand what it means to be alive.

Mind–Body Connection: Mitigating the Harm of Stress through Mindfulness

Mind–Body Connection: Mitigating the Harm of Stress through Mindfulness

Does Panpsychism Mean That 'We Are All One'?

Panpsychism is the view that all things are associated with consciousness. Panpsychism has a number of significant theoretical implications, with respect to the mind–body problem and other problems in metaphysics. Here I will consider one of its potential practical or ethical implications; specifically, whether, if panpsychism is true, it follows that 'we are all one', in a sense that implies that egoism (understood as bias towards what we normally take to constitute the self or ego) is not only immoral but fundamentally irrational (or imprudent).

Whakapapa, Mauritau, and Placefulness to Decolonise Indigenous Minds

This article explores the relationship between genealogy and the environment as a pathway towards decolonising indigenous minds. In Māori worldviews, everything is categorised, organised, and understood through whakapapa, or genealogy. Whakapapa resides within the land and water, safeguarding ancestral stories as they weave through time, space, and place. The environment serves as a powerful tool for maintaining, reclaiming, and reinforcing indigeneity. Strengthening the connections between whakapapa and the environment offers significant avenues for decolonising Indigenous minds, by recalibrating and releasing colonised ways of being to embody mauritau (mindfulness) through whenua kura (placefulness). Unlike Cartesian dualism, which separates the body and mind, the Māori conception of the mind is multifaceted and embodied. The mind is thought to be situated in the solar plexus, emotions in the gut, and connection to spirit in the head, all of which are deeply rooted in whakapapa and the enduring ties to ancestors and place. Whakapapa’s connections to the land, water, animals, and spiritual entities are imbued with narratives that aid in recollection and provide profound cultural context to place. These narratives offer pathways for communion with the land and water, enabling sensitivity to environmental cues, such as changing seasons, solstices, moon phases, star cycles, and natural rhythms within our inner landscapes of body, heart, and mind, fostering a sense of placefulness.

The Mind and the Political

In this commentary I present a brief overview of Maiese and Hanna’s work, The Mind-Body Politic, and highlight their valuable contribution in extending the insights from philosophy of mind to critically evaluate our contemporary social institutions and politics. Then I discuss some of the reservations and open questions about the way Maiese and Hanna lay out their version of a political philosophy of mind. In doing so, I focus on three main shortcomings in Maiese and Hanna’s work. First, I discuss how despite their critical view of Cartesian dualism, their own view of the way society is organized and works is dualistic. I argue that their dualistic view of society results in utopian thinking, and perhaps a more productive and constructive approach to our current predicaments would rather be an immanent critique. Second, I highlight the unclarity and confusion in some of their conceptual frameworks and their account of politics such as the way they use ideology and governmentality. Finally, I criticize their analysis of social institutions, especially the way they see new institutional structures can be formed. The project for a political philosophy of mind that Maiese and Hanna set up is worth pursuing and Maiese and Hanna already provide many hints and directions for its productive and constructive pursuit.

Integrating drumming, body percussion, sound therapy, and trance therapy into Subconscious Energy Healing Therapy (SEHT) for Peak Performance

This comprehensive concept note delves into the potential of combining drumming, body percussion, sound therapy, and trance therapy within the framework of Subconscious Energy Healing Therapy (SEHT) to enhance peak performance. By leveraging the distinct and synergistic effects of rhythmic and sound-based interventions, along with the deep transformative power of trance states, this approach aims to optimize mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Each component is explored in detail, emphasizing their individual contributions to the mind-body connection, emotional release, and subconscious healing. The note further addresses the current gaps in their application and offers strategic recommendations for the adoption of this integrative therapy by corporations and the general public, highlighting its wide-ranging benefits on both the mind and body.

Landscape between Representation and Performativity

This article explores the concept of landscape through the lens of performativity, challenging the traditional visual-centric understanding rooted in Western art and culture but without denying the visual and representational character of landscape. It examines the evolution of landscape representation, from its origins in linear perspective and Cartesian dualism to contemporary approaches that integrate performative practices. The analysis highlights the dialectical tension between visual representation and immersive, multisensory experiences, arguing for a more integrated view that acknowledges the performative aspects of the visual. By re-evaluating the role of distance, vision, and representation, the article advocates for a nuanced understanding of landscape that balances the visual with embodied practices, ultimately proposing that landscape should be seen as a dynamic interplay between seeing and performing.

Una propuesta filosófica desde el personalismo analítico strawsoniano

The version of analytical personalism that can be discerned in the descriptive metaphysics of the contemporary British philosopher Peter F. Strawson recognizes the primitive status of the concept of “persons,” as opposed to Cartesian dualism and the subjectless theory of the self advanced by some in the 1930s. On the other hand, the attention that this philosopher devotes to reactive attitudes or moral feelings in a work from 1962 (Freedom and Resentment), helps not to overlook the fact that people are not only agents, but also patients. Based on these considerations, this work underlines the decisive character of love in the construction of people's identity. The logic of donation implied in loving interpersonal relationships allows for an adequate understanding of love, according to which the loving experience is not reduced to an emotion. This step forward, which involves recourse to love in the elucidation of persons from analytical personalism, presupposes the recognition of the other as a person. The article concludes by reinforcing the moral scope of this movement, through a version of the argument of consequence.

Environmental law and systems theory

AbstractIn 1985, German sociologist Niklas Luhmann published a monograph on ecology, which appeared in English translation in 1989 as Ecological Communication. It contained many original insights for ecological thinking and, despite being well‐reviewed upon publication, has had a relatively minor impact on Anglophone environmental discourse. This inattention is also present in environmental law, which has recently seen an increase in legal theories that challenge its mainstream. This contribution first investigates why Ecological Communication has received scant attention, pointing to changes in the climatic context in which it first appeared and the reactionary nature of its arguments. Recognising that the work nevertheless contains critical theoretical insights for environmental law scholarship, the second aim of the article is to spotlight what from Ecological Communication remains relevant at the hand of three common claims progressive researchers level against mainstream environmental law: The critique of law's marriage to Cartesian dualism, that law should be better informed by climate science,of and law's anthropocentrism. Finally, environmental lawyers are called upon not to ignore Ecological Communication but to engage with it fruitfully.

The impact of COVID-19 on physical activity and mental health: A mixed-methods approach.

This mixed-methods study investigated how and why physical activity (PA), anxiety, depression and self-perceived loneliness are related, and the feasibility of social prescribing (SP). Whilst SP may involve PA with broader effects on health and wellbeing, there is little research exploring perceptions of this intervention. Data from the UCL-Penn Global COVID Study wave 1 (17 April-17 July 2020, N = 1037) were analysed. Twenty-one UK adults who self-identified as low (n = 15) and high (n = 6) on PA at wave 1 were interviewed at wave 4 (18 March-1 August 2022). At wave 1, depression was associated with higher odds of low-PA (OR = 1.05; 95% CI 1.01-1.10, p = 0.02). Both high/low-PA groups cited the threat of contracting COVID-19, general impacts of COVID-19 policies and heightened awareness of the mind-body connection. Five recommendations are made to address challenges in engaging with SP.

Общий искусственный интеллект, информация и сознание: об интерпретации Д.И. Дубровского

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and its interpretation proposed by the Russian philosopher David Dubrovsky in his recent research papers. The first part of the article briefly outlines the current approaches to defining the concept of “artificial general intelligence”, including interpreting it as an artificial intelligent system capable of achieving common goals in a variety of environments. Referring to the texts of the most influential foreign researchers and developers, the author demonstrates the parallels between their proposed approaches to understanding general artificial intelligence and those interpretations proposed by David Dubrovsky and his co-authors. In particular, the commonality in the interpretations of the concept of the “world model” (Yan LeCun) and the concept of “techno-umwelt” is shown, as well as parallels between the hypothesis of “universal embodied AI” (Ben Herzel) and the arguments of the Russian philosopher about the possible implementation of AI through its involvement in various types of interactions with various worlds, virtual and physical. In the second part of the article, the potential of using the information approach developed by David Dubrovsky to solve the mind-body problem as a basis for explaining the phenomenon of general artificial intelligence is outlined. It is shown that despite the need to refine the concept of information causality proposed by the philosopher, his theory can contribute to a better understanding of the connection of possible AGI competencies with the phenomena of subjective reality. In conclusion, the key problems that currently make it difficult to find an answer to the question of the dependence of the qualities of general artificial intelligence on the presence of phenomenal consciousness are outlined. The emphasis is placed on the need to continue interdisciplinary cooperation between representatives of cognitive sciences, developers and philosophers, whose interaction is designed to help solve the characteristic difficulties associated with both the problem of conceptualizing the concept of “artificial general intelligence” and the problem of identifying consciousness in artificial intelligent systems

Integrating Intercultural Competence into a Neuroscience Curriculum through a Short-Term Study Abroad Program.

We sought to enrich our neuroscience curriculum by developing a study abroad program that would address curricular goals and requirements at several levels. "Neuroscience and Technology in Germany" was designed to include a diversity of participants, integrate intercultural competence in participants, fulfill university core curriculum requirements, build on the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) foundation of our major, and fulfill major electives. We also hoped that it would serve as a synthetic experience allowing students to integrate foundational coursework with novel ideas and real-world research applications. We developed an itinerary that balanced multiple activities to meet those goals. We included scientific visits, STEM-focused museums, and significant cultural and historical sites. Scientific visits covered a range of topics in the field of neuroscience including cellular and pharmacological neuroscience, development, cognition, mental illness, artificial intelligence, and the mind-body problem. Pre-visit academic activities included review lectures on general topics (e.g., visual system), scaffolded literature reading, and discussion of previous literature from our hosts. Post-visit academic activities integrated previous foundational curriculum with new research. Cultural historical activities encouraged comparison between a student's home culture, predominant North American culture, and German culture. The first iteration was successful academically and logistically. In post-program surveys, 87.5% of students felt the program had met the learning objectives (n=16). Students agreed that scientific visits and preparatory lectures were relevant to the learning objectives, together with several cultural and historical visits. Students responded positively to an outing to the mountains and found a concentration camp memorial visit moving. They nearly universally reported that the program led to their personal growth. Students did not find several guided tours of STEM-related sites were relevant to our learning objectives, and opinions were mixed as to the balance of structured vs. unstructured time, balance of scientific vs. historical/cultural activities, and how to schedule free time. Students asked for more scientific background preparation, so we modified the upcoming iteration to include a "Neuroscience Boot Camp" prior to departure. We also selected guided tours more carefully and modified scheduling according to student feedback.

Minds in movement: embodied cognition in the age of artificial intelligence.

This theme issue brings together researchers from diverse fields to assess the current status and future prospects of embodied cognition in the age of generative artificial intelligence. In this introduction, we first clarify our view of embodiment as a potentially unifying concept in the study of cognition, characterizing this as a perspective that questions mind-body dualism and recognizes a profound continuity between sensorimotor action in the world and more abstract forms of cognition. We then consider how this unifying concept is developed and elaborated by the other contributions to this issue, identifying the following two key themes: (i) the role of language in cognition and its entanglement with the body and (ii) bodily mechanisms of interpersonal perception and alignment across the domains of social affiliation, teaching and learning. On balance, we consider that embodied approaches to the study of cognition, culture and evolution remain promising, but will require greater integration across disciplines to fully realize their potential. We conclude by suggesting that researchers will need to be ready and able to meet the various methodological, theoretical and practical challenges this will entail and remain open to encountering markedly different viewpoints about how and why embodiment matters. This article is the part of this theme issue 'Minds in movement: embodied cognition in the age of artificial intelligence'.

Evaluating the Impact of the Nirvana Fitness and Functional Training Programs on Young Women's State Body Appreciation and Its Correlates.

This study examined the effects of the Nirvana Fitness (NF) program on state body appreciation (BA) and its correlates, as well as the mechanisms that could explain these changes. The study participants were allocated to NF (n = 21) and functional training (control, n = 22) groups and participated in an 8-week exercise intervention. The mean age was 24.4 ± 6.7. The participants filled out online questionnaires on state measures of BA, body surveillance (BS), functionality appreciation, body-mind connection, mindfulness in physical activity (SMS-PA), intrinsic exercise motivation (IM), satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and perceived physical fitness (PPF) immediately after the first and last sessions. The results revealed a significant improvement in state BA and its correlates in both groups, with no changes in PPF in the NF group or IM in either group. An interaction between group and time effects was revealed in a change of relatedness, indicating a stronger effect in the NF group. Positive changes in SMS-PA, BS, and satisfaction of the need for relatedness significantly predicted improvement in state BA. These findings highlight the importance of targeting mindfulness, body surveillance, and relatedness during physical activity in interventions aimed at promoting positive body image in university-aged women.

Interoceptive training with real-time haptic versus visual heartbeat feedback.

The perception of signals from within the body, known as interoception, is increasingly recognized as a prerequisite for physical and mental health. This study is dedicated to the development of effective technological approaches for enhancing interoceptive abilities. We provide evidence of the effectiveness and practical feasibility of a novel real-time haptic heartbeat supplementation technology combining principles of biofeedback and sensory augmentation. In a randomized controlled study, we applied the developed naturalistic haptic feedback on a group of 30 adults, while another group of 30 adults received more traditional real-time visual heartbeat feedback. A single session of haptic, but not visual heartbeat feedback resulted in increased interoceptive accuracy and confidence, as measured by the heart rate discrimination task, and in a shift of attention toward the body. Participants rated the developed technology as more helpful and pleasant than the visual feedback, thus indicating high user satisfaction. The study highlights the importance of matching sensory characteristics of the feedback provided to the natural bodily prototype. Our work suggests that real-time haptic feedback might be a superior approach for strengthening the mind-body connection in interventions for physical and mental health.