Abstract
This pioneering book evaluates the early history of embodied cognition. It explores for the first time the life-force ( Lebenskraft) debate in Germany, which was manifest in philosophical reflection, medical treatise, scientific experimentation, theoretical physics, aesthetic theory, and literary practice esp. 1740-1920. The history of vitalism is considered in the context of contemporary discourses on radical reality (or deep naturalism). We ask how animate matter and cognition arise and are maintained through agent-environment dynamics (Whitehead) or performance (Pickering). This book adopts a nonrepresentational approach to studying perception, action, and cognition, which Anthony Chemero designated radical embodied cognitive science. From early physiology to psychoanalysis, from the microbiome to memetics, appreciation of body and mind as symbiotically interconnected with external reality has steadily increased. Leading critics explore here resonances of body, mind, and environment in medical history (Reil, Hahnemann, Hirschfeld), science (Haller, Goethe, Ritter, Darwin, L. Büchner), musical aesthetics (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Wagner), folklore (Grimm), intersex autobiography (Baer), and stories of crime and aberration (Nordau, Döblin). Science and literature both prove to be continually emergent cultures in the quest for understanding and identity. This book will appeal to intertextual readers curious to know how we come to be who we are and, ultimately, how the Anthropocene came to be.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Brill |
| Number of pages | 357 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789004309036 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9789004309029 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 18 2016 |
Publication series
| Name | Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft |
|---|---|
| Volume | 189 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Agency
- Alfred Noll
- Anthony Chemero
- Anthropocene
- Body
- Consciousness
- Life-force
- Medical science
- Medicine
- Mind
- Perception
- Philosophy
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Arts and Humanities(all)
Cite this
The Early History of Embodied Cognition 1740-1920 : The Lebenskraft-Debate and Radical Reality in German Science, Music, and Literature. / McCarthy, John A.; Hilger, Stephanie M; Sullivan, Heather I.; Saul, Nicholas.
Brill, 2016. 357 p. (Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft; Vol. 189).Research output: Book/Report › Book
}
TY - BOOK
T1 - The Early History of Embodied Cognition 1740-1920
T2 - The Lebenskraft-Debate and Radical Reality in German Science, Music, and Literature
AU - McCarthy, John A.
AU - Hilger, Stephanie M
AU - Sullivan, Heather I.
AU - Saul, Nicholas
PY - 2016/1/18
Y1 - 2016/1/18
N2 - This pioneering book evaluates the early history of embodied cognition. It explores for the first time the life-force ( Lebenskraft) debate in Germany, which was manifest in philosophical reflection, medical treatise, scientific experimentation, theoretical physics, aesthetic theory, and literary practice esp. 1740-1920. The history of vitalism is considered in the context of contemporary discourses on radical reality (or deep naturalism). We ask how animate matter and cognition arise and are maintained through agent-environment dynamics (Whitehead) or performance (Pickering). This book adopts a nonrepresentational approach to studying perception, action, and cognition, which Anthony Chemero designated radical embodied cognitive science. From early physiology to psychoanalysis, from the microbiome to memetics, appreciation of body and mind as symbiotically interconnected with external reality has steadily increased. Leading critics explore here resonances of body, mind, and environment in medical history (Reil, Hahnemann, Hirschfeld), science (Haller, Goethe, Ritter, Darwin, L. Büchner), musical aesthetics (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Wagner), folklore (Grimm), intersex autobiography (Baer), and stories of crime and aberration (Nordau, Döblin). Science and literature both prove to be continually emergent cultures in the quest for understanding and identity. This book will appeal to intertextual readers curious to know how we come to be who we are and, ultimately, how the Anthropocene came to be.
AB - This pioneering book evaluates the early history of embodied cognition. It explores for the first time the life-force ( Lebenskraft) debate in Germany, which was manifest in philosophical reflection, medical treatise, scientific experimentation, theoretical physics, aesthetic theory, and literary practice esp. 1740-1920. The history of vitalism is considered in the context of contemporary discourses on radical reality (or deep naturalism). We ask how animate matter and cognition arise and are maintained through agent-environment dynamics (Whitehead) or performance (Pickering). This book adopts a nonrepresentational approach to studying perception, action, and cognition, which Anthony Chemero designated radical embodied cognitive science. From early physiology to psychoanalysis, from the microbiome to memetics, appreciation of body and mind as symbiotically interconnected with external reality has steadily increased. Leading critics explore here resonances of body, mind, and environment in medical history (Reil, Hahnemann, Hirschfeld), science (Haller, Goethe, Ritter, Darwin, L. Büchner), musical aesthetics (E.T.A. Hoffmann, Wagner), folklore (Grimm), intersex autobiography (Baer), and stories of crime and aberration (Nordau, Döblin). Science and literature both prove to be continually emergent cultures in the quest for understanding and identity. This book will appeal to intertextual readers curious to know how we come to be who we are and, ultimately, how the Anthropocene came to be.
KW - Agency
KW - Alfred Noll
KW - Anthony Chemero
KW - Anthropocene
KW - Body
KW - Consciousness
KW - Life-force
KW - Medical science
KW - Medicine
KW - Mind
KW - Perception
KW - Philosophy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84981358132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84981358132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/ 949986299
U2 - 10.1163/9789004309036
DO - 10.1163/9789004309036
M3 - Book
AN - SCOPUS:84981358132
SN - 9789004309029
T3 - Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft
BT - The Early History of Embodied Cognition 1740-1920
PB - Brill
ER -