The Absent BodyThe body plays a central role in shaping our experience of the world. Why, then, are we so frequently oblivious to our own bodies? We gaze at the world, but rarely see our own eyes. We may be unable to explain how we perform the simplest of acts. We are even less aware of our internal organs and the physiological processes that keep us alive. In this fascinating work, Drew Leder examines all the ways in which the body is absent—forgotten, alien, uncontrollable, obscured. In part 1, Leder explores a wide range of bodily functions with an eye to structures of concealment and alienation. He discusses not only perception and movement, skills and tools, but a variety of "bodies" that philosophers tend to overlook: the inner body with its anonymous rhythms; the sleeping body into which we nightly lapse; the prenatal body from which we first came to be. Leder thereby seeks to challenge "primacy of perception." In part 2, Leder shows how this phenomenology allows us to rethink traditional concepts of mind and body. Leder argues that Cartesian dualism exhibits an abiding power because it draws upon life-world experiences. Descartes' corpus is filled with disruptive bodies which can only be subdued by exercising "disembodied" reason. Leder explores the origins of this notion of reason as disembodied, focusing upon the hidden corporeality of language and thought. In a final chapter, Leder then proposes a new ethic of embodiment to carry us beyond Cartesianism. This original, important, and accessible work uses examples from the author's medical training throughout. It will interest all those concerned with phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, or the Cartesian tradition; those working in the health care professions; and all those fascinated by the human body. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Ecstatic Body | 11 |
Motility | 17 |
Forms of Disappearance | 25 |
The Recessive Body | 36 |
The Dysappearing Body | 69 |
The Immaterial Body | 103 |
The Threatening Body | 126 |
To Form One Body | 149 |
Notes | 175 |
103 | 186 |
Bibliography | 203 |
Common terms and phrases
absence action attention awareness background disappearance become Biofeedback bodily body surface body's brain breathing Cartesian Cartesian dualism chapter chiasm compassion complemental series consciousness context corporeal corpse cultural death depth disappearance Descartes Descartes's Discourse on Method discussed disease disembodied disruption dualism dys-appearance dysfunction ecstatic embodiment epistemological example existential experience experiential eyes feel flesh focal disappearance focus form one body functions gaze gestalt hand hermeneutic Ibid immaterial incorporation Insofar interoception intertwining Invisible involved James Strachey lived body Maurice Merleau-Ponty medicine Meditations ment Merleau-Ponty metaphysical mind modes Moreover motility nature Neo-Confucian notion nullpoint object one-body one's ontological organs pain passions perceived phenomenological Phenomenology of Perception phenomenon philosophical physical physiology Plato principle refers relation res extensa role Sartre sensations sense sensorimotor sensory Sigmund Freud simply soul Straus structure suggested surface body tacit temporal term thematization things tion trans University Press vector visceral visible Wang Yang-ming writes York