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180147 SE MEi:CogSci Topic-Seminar (2023S)

Mind the Body!

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Preparation meeting: Wednesday March 1st, 2023, 10:00-12:00 HS 2i, NIG, Universitäststrasse 7, 2nd floor
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

Monday 6.3.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG
Monday 27.3.2023 9-12h online
Monday 17.4.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG
Monday 8.5.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG
Monday 15.5.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG
Monday 22.5.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG
Monday 5.6.2023 9-13h HS 2i, NIG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of the seminar is to introduce approaches in cognitive science that recognise the fundamental importance of the body in cognition and to explore the relation between body and mind both in theory and in practice. Embodied approaches to understanding mind and thinking have become very popular in the last decades since Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1991) coined the term “embodied mind”. Embodied cognition, and more recently 4E/4EA cognition, have evolved into a spectrum of diverse research programmes studying the role of the body in cognitive processes. However, one major point emphasised by Varela et al. (1991) has been all too often neglected: the necessity to include a first-person perspective when investigating cognition. Building on the phenomenological tradition, enactivism stresses the constitutive role of the body in subjective experience, in processes of sense-making, learning and thinking, and generally in cognition.

The seminar has two foci:

On the one hand, the main ideas of embodiment and enactivism will be revisited with the help of acquiring a phenomenological vocabulary and viewpoint. Questions such as the following will guide our explorations and discussions: What is a body? What is my body? How do I experience my body? How do I experience the world (through my body)? Am I my body? What is an emotion? Where do I experience it? How do emotions relate to movement? How do I attune to others? How do interpersonal affective dynamics constitute a sense of self and a sense of other?

On the other hand, we aim to explore possible applications of an enactive view on cognition, especially looking at dance and somatic practices, as well as design processes. How do we think in movement? How are we aware of our physical and bodily interactions with our Umwelt/our environment? How does attending to the body and to movement enable possibilities for learning, personal change and development?

Throughout the seminar, our theoretical investigations will be accompanied by movement explorations, which should enable us to experience and explore moving minds and bodies, or the ‘bodymind’ as some call it.
The classes will be collaboratively shaped by students and teachers, including interactive parts/workshops on discussed phenomena, as well as presentations and discussions based on the compulsory literature.

Assessment and permitted materials

Seminar paper, presentation/workshop, participation in discussions (online and on-site)
Presence in seminar sessions is required.
.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements:
- seminar attendance (you can miss one session)
- active participation in discussions (in the seminar and in the discussion forum)
- reading & preparing compulsory literature for each session (posting questions on each text in the discussion forum); 6 reports on compulsory reading following criteria announced online in the moodle course (due: four days prior to the respective session)
- presentation on one of the compulsory readings + interactive part/workshop (individually or in a group - depends on the number of students)
- suggestion for interactive part by 20 March, 2023
- reflection paper (6-8 page): due 16 August, 2023

Assessment Criteria:
- participation in discussions in class and in moodle forum 15%
- 6 reports on literature 30%/points (5 points each)
- presentation 25 %/points
- reflection paper (6-8 pages) 30%/points

%/points | grade
91-100 | sehr gut (1)
81-90 | gut (2)
71-80 | befriedigend (3)
61-70 | genügend (4)
0-60 | nicht genügend (5)

The automated plagiarism check software Turnit in will be used in this course.
* By registering for this course, you agree that the automated plagiarism check software Turnitin will check all written performances submitted by you (in Moodle).

Examination topics

Reading list

Reading list for the sessions:

Introduction Session (6.3.2023 9-13h)
- Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosh, E. (1991). Chapter 2 “What do we mean “human experience”?” in The Embodied Mind. Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT Press. 15-33.
- Vignemont, F. de (2018) Introduction in Mind the Body. An Exploration of Bodily Self-Awareness. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1-10.

Embodiment & Phenomenology (27.3.2023 9-12h)
- Thompson, E. (2007). Chapter 2. The Phenomenological Connection in Mind in Life. Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Harvard University Press. 16-36.
- Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2008). Chapter 7. The embodied mind in The Phenomenological Mind. Routledge. 129-151.
- Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012). Section on touch in The Phenomenology of Perception - D. A. Landes (Trans.). Routledge. 328–333.

Thinking and Movement (17.4.2023 9-13h)
- Johnson, M. (2007). Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1. The movement of Life; Chapter 2. Big Babies in The Meaning of the Body - Aesthetics of Human Understanding. The University of Chicago Press. ix-xiii., 1-51.
- Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2009). Thinking in Movement. In: The Corporeal Turn. An Interdisciplinary Reader. Imprint Academic. 28-63.

Enactivism, Affectivity & Therapeutic Approaches (8.5.2023 9-13h)
- Johnson, M. (2007). Chapter 3. “Since feeling is first”: Emotional Dimensions of Meaning; Chapter 4. The Grounding of Meaning in the Qualities of Life in The Meaning of the Body - Aesthetics of Human Understanding. The University of Chicago Press. 52-85
- Koch, S. C., & Fischman, D. (2011). Embodied Enactive Dance/Movement Therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 33 (1), 57–72.

Skills and Habit (15.5.2023 9-13h)
- Montero, B. (2010). Does Bodily Awareness Interfere with Highly Skilled Movement? Inquiry, 53 (2), 105–122.
- Du, Y., Krakauer, J. W., & Haith, A. M. (2022). The relationship between habits and motor skills in humans. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26 (5), 371–387.
- Dreyfus, H. L. (2004). A phenomenology of Skill Acquisition as the basis for a Merleau-Pontian non-representationalist Cognitive Science. Conference “Foundations and the Ontological Quest.", 1–20.

Phenomenology in Research and Design (22.5.2023 9-13h)
- Berkovich-Ohana, A., Dor-Ziderman, Y., Trautwein, F. M., Schweitzer, Y., Nave, O., Fulder, S., & Ataria, Y. (2020). The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Neurophenomenology – The Case of Studying Self Boundaries With Meditators. Frontiers in Psychology, 11 (July).
- Stilwell, P., & Harman, K. (2021). Phenomenological Research Needs to be Renewed: Time to Integrate Enactivism as a Flexible Resource. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1–15.
- Höök, K., Caramiaux, B., Erkut, C., Forlizzi, J., Hajinejad, N., Haller, M., Tobiasson, H. (2018). Embracing first-person perspectives in soma-based design. Informatics, 5 (1), 1–26.

Final Session - Critical Reflections (5.6.2023 9-13h)
- Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2015). Embodiment on trial: a phenomenological investigation. Continental Philosophy Review, 48 (1), 23–39.
- Caldwell, C. (2014). Mindfulness & Bodyfulness: A New Paradigm. The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry, 1 (1), 77–96.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 07.07.2023 13:27