Embodiment-defined as having, being in, or being associated with a
body-is a feature of the existence of many entities, perhaps even
of all entities. Why entities should find themselves in this
condition is the central concern of the present volume. The problem
includes, but also goes beyond, the philosophical problem of body:
that is, what the essence of a body is, and how, if at all, it
differs from matter. On some understandings there may exist bodies,
such as stones or asteroids, that are not the bodies of any
particular subjects. To speak of embodiment by contrast is always
to speak of a subject that variously inhabits, or captains, or is
coextensive with, or even is imprisoned within, a body. The subject
may in the end be identical to, or an emergent product of, the
body. That is, a materialist account of embodied subjects may be
the correct one. But insofar as there is a philosophical problem of
embodiment, the identity of the embodied subject with the body
stands in need of an argument and cannot simply be assumed. The
reasons, nature, and consequences of the embodiment of subjects as
conceived in the long history of philosophy in Europe as well as in
the broader Mediterranean region and in South and East Asia, with
forays into religion, art, medicine, and other domains of culture,
form the focus of these essays. More precisely, the contributors to
this volume shine light on a number of questions that have driven
reflection on embodiment throughout the history of philosophy. What
is the historical and conceptual relationship between the idea of
embodiment and the idea of subjecthood? Am I who I am principally
in virtue of the fact that I have the body I have? Relatedly, what
is the relationship of embodiment to being and to individuality? Is
embodiment a necessary condition of being? Of being an individual?
What are the theological dimensions of embodiment? To what extent
has the concept of embodiment been deployed in the history of
philosophy to contrast the created world with the state of
existence enjoyed by God? What are the normative dimensions of
theories of embodiment? To what extent is the problem of embodiment
a distinctly western preoccupation? Is it the result of a
particular local and contingent history, or does it impose itself
as a universal problem, wherever and whenever human beings begin to
reflect on the conditions of their existence? Ultimately, to what
extent can natural science help us to resolve philosophical
questions about embodiment, many of which are vastly older than the
particular scientific research programs we now believe to hold the
greatest promise for revealing to us the bodily basis, or the
ultimate physical causes, of who we really are?
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