Arthur Schopenhauer and the embodied mind

• Baptista, Trino ^[1] ; Aldana, Elis ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela)

     Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela)

     Venezuela

     
• Localización: Ludus vitalis: revista de filosofía de las ciencias de la vida = journal of philosophy of life sciences = revue de philosophie des sciences de la vie, ISSN 1133-5165, Vol. 26, Nº. 49, 2018, págs. 153-181
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • 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.