George Lakoff claims the mind is "embodied".
What he is arguing is that almost all of human cognition, up through the most abstract reasoning, depends on and makes use of such concrete facilities as the sensorimotor system;
in short, the body.
Therefore embodiment is a rejection of the dualism of mind and matter.
Human reason cannot be understood as a stand alone, reasoning tool, ie my mind.
When we think, reason, conceptualise, there are underlying implementations taking place i,e the body (the sensorimotor system) is at work
Think of crossing the road and you see a car approoaching you at speed. It is the body which reacts not the mind, ie the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and other bodily reactions which make you scoot out of the way.
Cartesian dualism was a long time ago and we have moved on,
.
What he is arguing is that almost all of human cognition, up through the most abstract reasoning, depends on and makes use of such concrete facilities as the sensorimotor system;
in short, the body.
Therefore embodiment is a rejection of the dualism of mind and matter.
Human reason cannot be understood as a stand alone, reasoning tool, ie my mind.
When we think, reason, conceptualise, there are underlying implementations taking place i,e the body (the sensorimotor system) is at work
Think of crossing the road and you see a car approoaching you at speed. It is the body which reacts not the mind, ie the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and other bodily reactions which make you scoot out of the way.
Cartesian dualism was a long time ago and we have moved on,
.
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