ABSTRACT
When thinking hard, people will furrow their brow. Whether they countenance the
conundrum of dialetheism (simultaneously true and false statements), ponder a boul-
dering problem, or visualize a complex pattern of choreographed dance steps or moves
in a karate kata, furrowed brows wrinkle faces and ease tasks. It is neither accident nor
wonder that we usually ‘think’ better when we move, from localized facial gestures to
expansive whole-body dynamics. For example, hand and bodily movement lessen
cognitive load and facilitate activities as abstract as mathematical problem solving
(Brown and Reid 2006; Lakoff and Nun˜ez 2000). Of course, the claim is only interesting
if somehow the movements are constitutive of, and integral to, the actual thinking and
not a matter of mere contingency. A thick holistic and enactive conception of our
cognition and abilities sees this as natural: a seamless continuity and overlap between
body(mind) and (body)mind as we kinetically work our way through the world, perhaps
with aspirations of an integrated bodymind. This essay begins to explore the intimate
connection between movement, cognition, and excellence. Ultimately, their interactions
result in phenomenologically rich lived experiences, and normative and ecological con-
straints and affordances of ethic and aesthetic dimensions, as the next essays will show.
But before getting there, we need to show why other influential stances are no longer
viable and find suitable a bridge.
