The Therapeutic Role of the Monastic Environment for Individuals with ASC: The Case of Hildegard of Bingen and her Lingua Ignota
Janko Nešić, Vanja Subotić, Petar Nurkić
Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture October 3, 2024 DOI: 10.14394/eidos.jpc.2024.0008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness |
| Keywords | Autism spectrum condition Hildegard of bingen Monastic environment Ecological niche 4e cognition Skilled intentionality |
| Key points | Argues that the medieval monastic socio-material niche could have sheltered and included individuals with autism spectrum condition, and that Hildegard of Bingen's invented language, Lingua Ignota, serves both as justification for her diagnosis and as a way she managed her neurodivergence. |
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to show how a monastic environment can be regarded as providing shelter for individuals with autism spectrum condition in the Middle Ages. By drawing on the recent literature in the history of medicine that traces the signs and symptoms of ASC in Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine abbess from the twelfth century, we will turn to her invented language Lingua Ignota as a source of justification for her diagnosis and as one manner in which she managed her neurodivergence. We invoke contemporary embodied and ecological approaches to cognition and its impairments in order to understand how the medieval monastic socio-material niche could have played a crucial role in the inclusion of individuals with ASC, and as providing a therapeutic environment.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on altered states of consciousness, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altered States of Consciousness | 1966 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| A neurophenomenological approach to non-ordinary states of consciousness: hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Hypnotic phenomena and altered states of consciousness: a multilevel framework of description and explanation | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |