Arthur Schopenhauer and the embodied mind
Resumen
Abstract. In this essay, we intend to create a link between the ideas of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) and the contemporary concept of embodied mind. In 1991, the cognitive scientists Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson & Eleanor Rosch published The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, where they pursued the project pioneered by Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) to develop a method to bridge the living human experience with the standard scientific practice (an entre-deux method). After reviewing the development of cognitive science, Varela, et al. described a novel model of cognition defined as ‘enaction,’ which implies the co-construction of the cognitive experience between subject and object, and the embodiment of the mind, all this outside the foundational premise of a single and unified self within the subject. This enactive method has influenced most fields of knowledge. The authors also claimed that the Buddhism-based mindfulness/awareness meditation practice provides a method to scientifically explore enaction, and also promotes personal growth and compassion as supreme human values. We argue here that in his central work The World as Will and Representation (idea), Schopenhauer acts as a forerunner of this concept of embodied mind. He also pioneered the introduction of Hinduism and Buddhism to Europe and considered compassion (and asceticism) as a path for individual salvation. Schopenhauer thought, however, was deeply influenced by the representational model of cognition that was extensively challenged by Varela, et al. We finally argue that Schopenhauer’s work should be taken into consideration when tracing the origins and the current development of cognitive science.
key words. Schopenhauer, Varela, Buddhism, cognitive science, embodied mind, enaction, self, subject/object, representation experience.
Texto completo:
PDFReferencias
Abagnano, N. (1997), Diccionario de filosofía. Santafé de Bogotá: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Baptista, T. (2016), “Psychotherapists: Should we meet Arthur Schopenhauer”, Investigación Clínica 57: 409-426.
Baptista, T. & Aldana, E. (2017), “Schopenhauer, Darwin, el origen de la vida y de las especies”. Schopenhaueriana: Estudios en español sobre Schopenhauer 2: 265-296.
Berne, E. (2015), Transactional Analysis in Psychoterapy: A Systematic Individual and Social Psychiatry. Mansfleld Centre, CT.: Martino Publishing.
Bitencourt, R.N. (2015), “As fontes da teoria da sublimação de Freud na filosofia de Schopenhauer”. Revista Voluntas: Estudos sobre Schopenhauer 6 (1): 85-101.
Borges, J.L. (1964), “Otro poema de los dones”. En: El otro, el mismo. Retrieved from Ediciones El Salvaje Refinado http://www.salvajerefinado.com (Downloaded, December 30, 2017).
Cardona, F.L.L. (1998), Schopenhauer A. El amor, las mujeres y la muerte. Traducción de diversas obras del filósofo, prólogo y presentación. Barcelona: Edicomunicación.
Decock, D. (2016). “O encontro de Schopenhauer com o pensamento indiano: influência e legitimidade”. Revista Voluntas: Estudos sobre Schopenhauer 7 (2): 27-37.
Dryson, Z. (2009), “Embodied cognitive science and its implications for psychopathology”. Philosophy, Psychiatry , and Psychology 16 (4): 329-340.
Fuchs, T. (2001), “The brain—a mediating organ”. Journal of Conscionsness Studies 18(7): 196–221.
Fuchs, T. (2009), “Embodied cognitive neuroscience and its consequences for psychiatry”. Poiesis & Praxis 6: 219-233.
Gilbert, P. (2014), “The origins and nature of compassion-focused therapy”. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 53 (1): 6-41.
Held, R. & Hein, A. (1963), “Movement-produced stimulation in the development of visually guided behavior”. The Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 56:872–876.
Karunamuni, N.D. (2015), “The five-aggregate model of the mind”. Sage Open / First Published, May 12, 2015.
Lakkof, G. & Johnson, M. (1999), Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and the Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.
Maturana H. & Varela F. (1980), Autopoiesis and Cognition. The Realization of the Living. Dordrecht: Reidel Publishing Company.
Méndez Viana de Oliveira, A.H. (2016), “Corpo, aproximação e distanciamiento entre Schopenhauer e a teoría enativista”. Revista Voluntas: Estudos sobre Schopenhauer 7 (2): 141-152.
Pinker, S. (1997), How the Mind Works. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Person, E.S., Cooper, A.M. & Gabbard, G.O. (2005), Textbook of Psychoanalysis. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Ridley, M. (1996), The Origins of Virtue. Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation. London: Penguin Books.
Safranski, R. (1990), Schopenhauer and the Wild Years of Philosophy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Schopenhauer, A. (1909a), The World as Will and Idea. Vol. I, seventh edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. Available from: URL: https://archive.org/details/worldaswillidea[01-03]schoiala.
Schopenhauer, A. (1909b), The World as Will and Idea. Vol. II, sixth edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner. Available from: URL: https://archive.org/details/worldaswillidea[01-03]schoiala.
Schopenhauer A. (1903), On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and on the Will in Nature. London: George Bell and sons.
Schopenhauer, A. (2012), El mundo como voluntad y representación. Roberto Aramayo (editor). México, D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Sloterdijk, P. (2013), Philosophical Temperaments: from Plato to Foucault. New York: Columbia University Press.
Smith, H. (1991), The World’s Religions. SF: Harper.
Thompson, E. (2007,) Mind in Life. Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of the Mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Razeto-Barry, P. (2012), “Autopoiesis 40 years later. A review and a reformulation”. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 42 (6): 543-567.
Varela, F.J, Thompson, E. & Rosch, E. (1991), The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Digiyal version: 2016.
Enlaces refback
- No hay ningún enlace refback.
Revista semestral editada por el Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Políticos
y Sociales Vicente Lombardo Toledano de la Secretaría de Educación Pública,
la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa y Edicions UIB de la Universitat de les Illes Balears.
Lombardo Toledano 51, Col. Ex-Hda. Guadalupe Chimalistac,
Del. Alvaro Obregón, C.P. 01050, México, D.F.
Tels. (5255) 5661-4679 y 5661-4987
Fax: (5255) 5661-1787