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The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Francisco J. Varela , Franscisco J. Varela , Evan T. Thompson
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"Our concern is to open a space of possibilities in which the circulation between cognitive science and human experience can be fully appreciated and to foster the transformative possibilities of human experience in a scientific culture." the authors " The Embodied Mind is a thoroughly original integration of cognitive science, continental philosophy, and Buddhist thought, and in its transpersonal dimension, rather beautiful." Gordon G. Globus , M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Philosophy, University of California, Irvine "An important book with wideranging implications for the construction of subjectivity in the Western tradition. Moreover, it is engagingly written, presenting difficult ideas and complex research programs with grace, lucidity, and style. N. Katherine Hayles , American Book Review

Kurzbeschreibung

The Embodied Mind provides a unique, sophisticated treatment of the spontaneous and reflective dimension of human experience. The authors - argue that only by having a sense of common ground between mind in Science and mind in experience can our understanding of cognition be more complete. Toward that end, they develop a dialogue between cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology and situate it in relation to other traditions such as phenomenology and psychoanalysis.Francisco Varela is Director of Research at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique and Professor of Cognitive Science and Epistemology, CREA, at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. Evan Thompson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Eleanor Rosch is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

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A phenomenologically inclined cognitive scientist reflecting on the origins of cognition might reason thus: Minds awaken in a world. Lesen Sie die erste Seite
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18 Years After 20. Februar 2009
Format:Taschenbuch
18 Years After
----------------
Writing a short review of a book 18 years aftere its original publishing can raise some questions. But there are books which are worth to remember.

COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND BUDDHISM

When the book 'The Embodied Mind (TEM)' by Varela, Thompson, and Rosch appeared in 1991 this was an impressive synopsis of main lines of research in the cognitive sciences, but also a critical review of important positions. This resulted into at least two important working hypotheses which gained a strong influence in the years following the publication until today. The one hypothesis centered around the term 'embodied cognition' and the other around the term 'naturalistic drift'. These topics alone can give you an exciting time reading this book. But there is something which makes this book really unique: following the new insights into a very dynamic view of human experience they try to show how a certain variant of Buddhist thinking and practice could be of help in living such an open minded existence. What does this mean?

EMBODIED COGNITION

To understand this one has to explain a bit more that the idea of 'embodied cognition' results from the insight into the process of cognition: the authors try to show that there is not a pre-given world of objects which than are represented in the mind, but that the 'objects of the consciousness' are the result of complex processes where properties of the environment are processed by the body and the brain into certain patterns of activity which function as the 'objects of the world'. But these 'objects in the consciousness' are something 'new', 'productions of the body' which have no direct counterpart in the environment, although they are not completely independent of the world.

NATURALISTIC DRIFT

This line of thinking is extended into the history of the organisms arguing that the development of organisms in the process of evolution is not as 'simple' as outlined in the classical and neo-Darwinian view of a genetic diversification combined with adaptation guided by fitness. Reporting different findings from genetic and biology they argue that the determination of the final organism is by far not determined by individual genes alone. There is a complex machinery of mutual interdependencies between genes, between parts of the organism, between organism and environment, not only punctually but also during lengthy interaction processes of days, weeks, months and even years. Moreover there is also some part of randomness in all these events. Not the 'optimal' organism is the final goal but the 'viable' organism, that which works with the least effort in some possible combination. This is meant with their term 'naturalistic drift'.

EXPERIENCE OF GROUNDLESSNESS - BUDDHIST MEDITATION

From this analysis they draw the conclusion that the human consciousness has to be seen as 'groundless': there are no fixed 'objects of the world' and there is no fixed 'Ego-Self'. Kept in a stream of appearing phenomena the mind is 'flowing' in the time. They assume that most people of the Western culture are not used to such a 'groundless' experience and that this can cause several forms of anxieties. At this point they introduce parts of the Buddhist tradition of thinking and practice by stating that this groundlessness corresponds to the main experience of a meditator who is becoming 'aware' of his situation, and who can free himself from 'false' dependencies enabled by his growing awareness. Besides this groundlessness the authors are convinced that at that moment where the mind relaxes into awareness, a sense of warmth and inclusiveness dawns. Or: The full realization of groundlessness cannot occur if there is no warmth.

MINIMIZING WESTERN CULTURE?

The authors criticize Western Culture because according to them one can in philosophy only find the naturalistic objectivistic position --which is in opposition to the above working hypotheses-- or idealism or nihilism, but no position which mediates the thinking with the practice like in the Buddhist tradition. This critic seems to be a bit too simple.

First of all consists Western Culture of more than only philosophy; there is also religion, science, technology, economy etc. And in the realm of religion (at least in the Jewish tradition, in the Christian tradition, and in the Islamic tradition) there is a practice of about 2000 years of religious communities (monasteries and the like) which form their lives according to their own religious experience which is a direct experience and which is leading their adherents to be freed from anxieties and to develop a deep compassion for all creatures and the whole world. This is not only practiced through all the centuries, this has also been written down in thousands of documents. Therefore there is some 'task sharing' in this culture: philosophy and science are doing some job, but are not good for everything; other domains are allowing other experiences.

The other important point is that western science emerged out of the field of experience because the unrestricted field of phenomenological experience is inherently very fuzzy and a real barrier for inter subjectively working theories. Therefore it was a real revolution of the human mind to invent empirical science by restricting the phenomenological space to those subparts which seem to be 'shareable' between different organisms having a consciousness. That this kind of specialized knowledge did not explain the whole of experience is some deficiency but at the same time it enabled a breathtaking new kind of knowledge which until that time has not been possible. This new advances in knowledge in some part of the phenomenological space are not necessarily a contradiction to those parts, which still are not completely explainable.

And the way how the authors introduce their ideas about Buddhism shows the impossibility to communicate the intended Buddhist experiences in a clear and understandable way. From a rich tradition of many schools they select one teacher. They are talking about the teaching of Nagarjuna in English words without giving the real sources. They are using lots of Buddhist terms in the English version with explanations which are not really understandable if one not has undergone many years the same training and has not made similar experiences. This is the 'fuzzy field' of the phenomenological space which can not be handled by empirical science. Instead of comparing Buddhist experience with Western Science they should compare Buddhist experience with Western religious experience, then perhaps they will detect that the western religious experience is not too much different (but perhaps they do not know Western religious experience...).

WESTERN CULTURE OPEN ENDED

The polymorphic appearance of western culture in religion, science, business, art, architecture etc. which is very rich has perhaps nevertheless a weakness which can in the long run destroy this culture from within. The rich and energetic religious traditions which have in the past served like Buddhist practice to integrate all the different parts of the life have during the last 500 years stepwise lost their influence on the mind of the people. This has several reasons. At the moment of this writing it seems to be an open question whether the original 'force' of the Western religious experience can be renewed in a way which enables the people to integrate all the different facets of life (and knowledge) in their experience. Can Buddhist experience be a mediator for a renewed Western religious experience?
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This book is amazing! 15. April 1998
Von Ein Kunde
Format:Taschenbuch
This ranks up there with Chogyam Trungpa's books for clearly presented insights. Trunpa's genius is making Buddhist ideas come alive for Western readers by clearly presenting Buddhist ideas in everyday terms. This book is a wonderful addition to the same delicious feast, building a bridge from Eastern mindfulness/awareness traditions to Western scientific thought. The effect is to improve our understanding of both. Very powerful and thought-provoking. Each page is like a meal. Hungry? Chew this one slowly and enjoy every bite!
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63 von 66 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Saving the World Through Buddhism and Brain Science 13. Januar 2008
Von James Gerofsky - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Taschenbuch|Von Amazon bestätigter Kauf
This is perhaps the most challenging and unusual book I ever read. At first it seems similar to the other books on mind and consciousness that started appearing in the late 1980s, in response to advances in neurobiology and artificial intelligence. But the final chapters confirm that the authors were shooting for something much grander.

The writers of this book, which was first published in 1991, were a "dream team" of philosopher, psychologist, and neuroscientist (the late, great Francisco Varela). They wrote for a professional audience. An interested layperson having some familiarity with philosophy of mind issues can keep up, but only with much effort; I had to stop several times to look up a term or research an important concept. But it's worth the effort. You will review a wide variety of interesting ideas and be shown how they relate to one other, including neural networks, societies of mind, object-relations psychoanalysis, adaptive resource theory, multi-chromatic vision, evolutionary drift, nihilism, the delusion of "self", and much more.

And you will also read about Buddhism. The authors introduce Buddhist concepts every second or third chapter, noting the parallels between ancient thought and modern science (and the failures of western philosophy). Yes, this does remind one of Capra`s Tao of Physics, although the conceptual juxtapositions aren't as forced. The two biggest problems that cognitive science present for western thought involve the failure to integrate and account for subjective experience, and an increasing sense of social groundlessness as science and history reveal the world to be mostly "relative". Varela and his team believe that these problems lie at the root of a major social crisis that is now being felt in the developed world, i.e. a growing sense of nihilism. When despair and confusion become prevalent and our enemies are at the gates, can the new dark ages be far behind?

The response to this gathering storm, the authors argue, can be found in the wisdom of the Buddhist tradition. However, this isn't your father's Buddhism. Varela and company have cleaned it of any supernatural accretions such as hungry ghosts, cosmic nirvana and reincarnation. And although karma is discussed, its definition is narrowed so that it could appear in any graduate textbook on psychology without objection.

The Buddhism presented in this book appears to be fully compatible with our modern scientific viewpoint. Through awareness meditation techniques, subjective experience can be grasped and integrated in a way consistent with empiricism. And in that grasping, we can learn to stop grasping. (Love those eastern paradoxes). Instead of fighting the relativity introduced over time by Einstein, quantum physics, psychoanalysis, evolution, complexity theory and cognitive research, we can learn to embrace the end of grounding. Our science can be enriched through "embodiment", expanding science's conceptual boundaries so as to embrace subjective experience without losing precision and explanatory power. And we ourselves can learn to give up the unsustainable concept of "self" and become more open-hearted and compassionate (those words are used more than once by the authors). We can work with our everyday experiences in ways that are "liberating and transformative".

I've read some professional reviews of this book, most notably by the famous neuro-philosopher Daniel Dennett. They focus on the many technical and research-oriented discussions, and generally ignore the chapters on liberation and compassion. There is so much here regarding the techniques and directions of cognitive research that one can easily ignore the hub and concentrate on the spokes.

The cognitive field appears to have responded to these spokes, i.e. to the need to take "embodiment" and subjective experience more seriously. Neuroscientists Antonio Damasio and Gerald Edelman have discussed the need to conceptualize consciousness in light of the overall human body and its "stay alive" dynamics. Even arch-representationalist Dennett became interested in "hetrophenomenology", which seeks to document a person's subjective feelings and impressions, though not without a certain distance and skepticism.

But getting back to the axis of this book - i.e. saving the world - I will now attempt to go where better minds than my own have feared to tread. First off, one can sense a truly good intent on the part of these authors. They pictured a bridge between eastern and western ideas that could allegedly convey our half-civilized, half-atavistic species toward a more mature state of collective mind and individual being. They honestly felt that brain research had reached the point where it had something earthshaking to say to humankind, once catalyzed through the wisdom of the east. They wrote this book with a sincere sense of hope and purpose. Books like this are rare, especially in the cognitive science field.

Unfortunately, science and critical thought are not compatible with the Buddhist notions presented in this book, however denuded of supernaturalism. The authors call Buddhism a "case study" regarding the positive social effects of embracing groundlessness. Unfortunately, they don't provide a citation to that case study. I'm sure that awareness meditation, the annihilation of self, and the cessation of grasping desire have helped many people to live better lives. But as to whether it works on the scale of a particular culture, or nation, or for humankind as a whole - can we answer that question? And even if we can, what would the side-effects be? Less innovation and economic wealth? Or extreme exploitation by a cabal of charlatans, as happened with Communism? We won't be fooled again? Although Buddhism is not a religion in the same sense as Christianity and Islam, Varela and company still urge a leap of faith upon the reader.

I would recommend this book to anyone even vaguely interested in the issues of the mind - but be ready for a long, tough slog. Despite all the cold technical jargon and talk of emptiness, a sincere human warmth and idealism eventually comes forth. It's kind of like listening to John Lennon's Imagine - except that these authors couldn't expect nearly the payday (and possessions) that Lennon got for his Utopian formula.
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Philosophy of the Body 19. Dezember 2003
Von Kirsten Jacobson - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Taschenbuch
Reading this book contributed helpfully to my studies of the phenomenology of the embodied experience. The authors argue that we cannot understand ourselves to be isolated bodies controlled by a mind that stands apart from and judges an independent environment. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in cognitive science, phenomenological philosophy, philosophies of embodiment, and the relationship of Buddhism to these areas of thought.
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Buddhism and CogSci 7. Oktober 2007
Von Michael Staples - Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Taschenbuch
This book is well worth the price if you are interested in theories of mind and Buddhism. Bert Dreyfus took some of the philosophical references to task in a review that appeared in "Mind" indicating a couple of questions concerning references to Kant's philosophy. He also points out that there is no case made in the book to support the inference that experiences derived from zazen are experiences of "reality." So there are some holes here and there...or maybe assumptions a philosopher would jump on. But I would still recommend this book. It is very interesting and lays out its facit of the Buddhist perspective quite well.
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