How the Body Shapes the Mind is an interdisciplinary work that
addresses philosophical questions by appealing to evidence found in
experimental psychology, neuroscience, studies of pathologies, and
developmental psychology. There is a growing consensus across these
disciplines that the contribution of embodiment to cognition is
inescapable. Because this insight has been developed across a
variety of disciplines, however, there is still a need to develop a
common vocabulary that is capable of integrating discussions of
brain mechanisms in neuroscience, behavioral expressions in
psychology, design concerns in artificial intelligence and
robotics, and debates about embodied experience in the
phenomenology and philosophy of mind. Shaun Gallagher's book aims
to contribute to the formulation of that common vocabulary and to
develop a conceptual framework that will avoid both the overly
reductionistic approaches that explain everything in terms of
bottom-up neuronal mechanisms, and inflationistic approaches that
explain everything in terms of Cartesian, top-down cognitive
states.
Gallagher pursues two basic sets of questions. The first set
consists of questions about the phenomenal aspects of the structure
of experience, and specifically the relatively regular and constant
features that we find in the content of our experience. If
throughout conscious experience there is a constant reference to
one's own body, even if this is a recessive or marginal awareness,
then that reference constitutes a structural feature of the
phenomenal field of consciousness, part of a framework that is
likely to determine or influence all other aspects of experience.
The second set of questions concernsaspects of the structure of
experience that are more hidden, those that may be more difficult
to get at because they happen before we know it. They do not
normally enter into the content of experience in an explicit way,
and are often inaccessible to reflective consciousness. To what
extent, and in what ways, are consciousness and cognitive
processes, which include experiences related to perception, memory,
imagination, belief, judgment, and so forth, shaped or structured
by the fact that they are embodied in this way?
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
