Un dialogo sulla coscienza incarnata

Drawing on the Christian concept of incarnation to frame the relationship between primary and higher consciousness, the authors connect it to infant research by Sanders and Tronick that reveals the richness of procedural, prelogical, and bodily communication. Edelman's idea of the remembered present and Bateson's relational dance are used to propose a new ontology where emptiness—influenced by Raimon Panikkar and Peter Brook's theater—plays a fundamental role as the opposite of nothingness. The dialogue concludes with Merleau-Ponty's The Visible and the Invisible, arguing that keeping primary and secondary consciousness, linguistic and bodily logos, connected is essential; their separation generates individual pathologies and contributes to a broader civilizational crisis.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Starting from the Christian concept of incarnation, seen as a theological way of posing the problem of the relationship between primary and higher consciousness, between logos and perception, the two authors link it to the studies of Sanders and Tronick's infant research, which highlight the extraordinary richness of procedural consciousness, of the prelogical and corporeal moment of our communication. Edelman's research and his idea of the present remembered are also seen as an important piece of a concept which, in the wake of Bateson, sees in the relational dance a key concept to affirm a new ontology, in which emptiness (in the wake of the great exponent of oriental culture Raimon Panikkar, whose conceptions are juxtaposed with what emerges from Peter Brook's theatrical research) takes on a fundamental role as the opposite of nothingness. The dialogue ends with a commentary on some passages taken from Merleau-Ponty's The Visible and the Invisible, which represent a good philosophical synthesis of the issues raised and, in particular, pose the need to keep primary consciousness and secondary consciousness, linguistic logos and bodily logos connected, since it is precisely from their separation that the most serious problems are generated, at the level of individual pathologies as well as at the social level, on the more global level of the crisis of our civilization.