Introduction: How the Novel Found Its Feet
4E Cognition and Eighteenth-Century Fiction March 28, 2019 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190913045.003.0001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that 4E approaches to cognition illuminate developments in the eighteenth-century novel by emphasizing the role of the body, environment, and material artifacts in thinking. |
Abstract
Abstract The introduction presents an outline of 4E approaches to cognition and sketches how these approaches are brought to bear on developments in the eighteenth-century novel in this book. 4E cognition conceptualises cognition as embodied (as thinking is rooted in our bodies and their movement), embedded (as the mind/body connects to social environments and interactions with others), extended (as cognitive processes involve both the mind/body and material artefacts from the environment), and enactive (as perception depends on the body). The chapter briefly relates the contribution of this book to earlier work on literature from a 4E perspective in cognitive literary studies, as well as to the interest in materialism and book history in eighteenth-century studies.