ABSTRACT

This is a collection of pithy and accessible essays on the nature and implications of human embodiment which explore the concept of ‘human being’ in the most unprecedented manner through seemingly disparate academic disciplines.

With contributions from key researchers from around the world, this book engages with embodiment through the lens of "new materialism". It eschews the view that human beings are debased by materiality and creates a vision of humans as fully embodied creatures situated in a richly populated living planet. The essays in this volume will illustrate and foster new materialist thought in areas including psychology, astrophysics, geology, biology, sociology, philosophy, and the performing arts. The book’s engaging and enlightening content is made accessible to readers with relatively little background in the various academic disciplines.

This is an important and fascinating text which invites readers to explore and expand their understanding and experience of embodiment. It will be particularly useful for postgraduate students and scholars of theoretical and philosophical psychology, philosophy of the mind, and social and cultural anthropology.

chapter |5 pages

Introduction: Face It or Replace It?

Why Computational Metaphors Fall Short and Why We Need a New Approach

part I|26 pages

Being

chapter 1|5 pages

The Matter of Life and Death

How Humans Embody the Universe

chapter 2|6 pages

At Home in Deep Time

chapter 3|7 pages

The Secrets of Life

The Vital Roles of RNA Networks and Viruses

chapter 4|6 pages

A Brief History of Death

part II|23 pages

Engaging

chapter 5|5 pages

Attentive Bodies

Epigenetic Processes and Concepts of Human Being

chapter 6|6 pages

Uncovering the Living Body

Bodies and Agents in the Cognitive Sciences

chapter 7|5 pages

Approaching Learning Hands First

How Gesture Influences Thought

chapter 8|5 pages

Digitization, Reading, and the Body

Handling Texts on Paper and Screens

part III|26 pages

Coordinating

chapter 9|6 pages

Embodied Time

A Shared, Ancient Heritage

chapter 10|6 pages

Rhythm and the Body

chapter 11|6 pages

The Embodiment of Emotion

part IV|26 pages

(Re)Locating

chapter 13|6 pages

How Bodies Become Viscous

chapter 14|5 pages

Embodiment, Plasticity, Biosociality, and Epigenetics

The Politics of a Vulnerable Body for Toxic Times

chapter 15|6 pages

Violating the Inviolable

Evolved Reproductive Prerogatives of Individual Women

part V|31 pages

Healing

chapter 18|3 pages

The Power of Touch

Oxytocin, the “Love Hormone,” Is Released by Massage Therapy

chapter 19|6 pages

Traumatic Embodiment

Traumatic Exposure and Healing

chapter 20|6 pages

Virtual Embodiment and Embodied Cognition

Effect of Virtual Reality Perspective Taking Tasks on Empathy and Prejudice

chapter |7 pages

Epilogue

What Embodiment Is