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Feeling at one: Socio-affective distribution, vibe, and dance-music consciousness

Maria A. G. Witek

April 11, 2019 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198804352.003.0006 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper
Keywords Feeling Dance Consciousness Aesthetics Visual arts
Citations 31
Key points Proposes that the 'vibe' of a dance party is a distributed cognitive, social, and affective phenomenon affording primary musical consciousness, and speculates about its neural correlates via analogy with psychedelic research.

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter, the embodied consciousness of clubbing and raving is considered through the theory of extended mind, according to which the mind is a distributed system where brain, body, and environment play equal parts. Building on the idea of music as affective atmosphere, a case is made for considering the vibe of a dance party as cognitively, socially, and affectively distributed. The chapter suggests that participating in the vibe affords primary musical consciousness—a kind of pre-reflexive state characterized by affective and bodily knowledge—and speculates about the neural correlates of clubbing and raving by means of an analogy with brain research on psychedelic states.