Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

This paper traces important shifts in theories and ideologies about body and soul; and the extent to which these shifts have affected Western intellectual history, focusing particularly on philosophy and the human sciences. I also consider the ways in which these changing theories and ideologies also affected intimate and enduring aspects of everyday life in the West, for better and for worse. In the concluding section, I argue that, historically, social struggles for the control of meanings related to body and soul have been important, precisely because these struggles have not been about mere meanings detached from life, but about aspects of life itself. Understanding the profound effects that these kinds of ideas and beliefs have historically had is critical in an age such as ours, which is witnessing the rise of various forms of religious fundamentalism and the return of religious war. This project is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (# AQ-234985).