Abstract
Ideas of what constitutes research, and in turn knowledge creation, in the R1 university are based on the accepted Computational Theory of Mind. In this model, cognition is understood through the lenses of information processing, computer science, and symbolic representation. In recent years, a radically different model of the mind has been emerging from the cognitive sciences. This new perspective, referred to as the Enactive View, sees the mind as embodied and embedded in the dynamic interactions of sensing, moving, living organisms and their environments. This idea that cognition is distributed throughout the body, is central to Eastern philosophy and supported by recent neuroscientific studies that indicate that the bi-directional interactions between brain and the rest of the body may be necessary for any conscious experience to arise. Grounded in the work of the late Chilean neuroscientist Francisco Varela, and philosopher Evan Thompson (The Embodied Mind), we see visual and literary art as implicating, involving, and changing our mind-bodies, and thus, our view of the world as well as our potential activities within it. Neuroscience teaches us that “imagination is a neurological reality that can impact our brains and bodies in ways that matter for our wellbeing,” (Tor Wager). In refutation of the all too-prevalent political and even academic views of creation and consumption of art as “boutique” luxuries , our intervention in academic and political discourse about the arts insists that art matters in an enactive, embodied, socially engaged way.
Presenters
Lynda ZwingerProfessor, English, University of Arizona, United States Ellen McMahon
Professor/Associate Dean for Research, School of Art/College of Fine Arts, University of Arizona, Arizona, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Literary Landscapes: Forms of Knowledge in the Humanities
KEYWORDS
Enactive, Embodied, Arts, Visual, Literary, Neuroscience, Cognitive, Socially Engaged
