Mind, Body, Brain, and the Conditions of Meaning
Ethos September 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1111/etho.12207 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 18 |
| Key points | Argues that meaning and bodily states are mutually conditioning, mediated by mind and brain, and that research on "grounded cognition" helps explain how meanings become embodied. Uses religious healing through spirit possession to propose that bodily states can be shaped by meaning and that bodily condition in turn affects cognitive meaning making, with implications for anthropological accounts of embodiment and for concepts of cognition, knowledge, and meaning. |
Abstract
Abstract This article explores the relationship between meaning and the body, and the role of mind and brain in mediating this relationship. Drawing on research on “grounded cognition” in cognitive neuropsychology, I consider the mechanisms through which meanings become embodied. I illustrate my argument using examples of the ways in which meaning conditions experiences of illness and health. Focusing especially on the example of religious healing through spirit possession, I explore how the state of one's body can be “conditioned” by meaning, and in turn, how the condition of one's body may affect cognitive processes of meaning making. In doing so, this article aims not only to inform anthropological understandings of embodiment, but also the way we think about cognition, knowledge, and meaning. [Embodiment, brain, grounded cognition, spirit possession, religious healing]
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- Phenomenological Approaches in Anthropology Annual Review of Anthropology September 27, 2010
- Making Selves and Meeting Others in Neo‐Shamanic Healing Ethos September 1, 2015
- The New Science of the Mind August 13, 2010
- Radical embodiment: neural dynamics and consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences October 1, 2001