Social bodies in virtual worlds: Intercorporeality in Esports

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - As screen-based virtual worlds have gradually begun facilitating more and more of our social interactions, some researchers have argued that the virtual...     

The Problem of Other Minds: Wittgenstein's Phenomenological Perspective

This paper discusses Wittgenstein's take on the problem of other minds. In opposition to certain widespread views that I collect under the heading of the “No Problem Interpretation,” I argue that Wittgenstein does address some problem of other minds. However, Wittgenstein's problem is not the traditional epistemological problem of other minds; rather, it is more reminiscent of the issue of intersubjectivity as it emerges in the writings of phenomenologists such as Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Heidegger. This is one sense in which Wittgenstein's perspective on other minds might be called “phenomenological.” Yet there is another sense as well, in that Wittgenstein's positive views on this issue resemble the views defended by phenomenologists. The key to a proper philosophical grasp of intersubjectivity, on both views, lies in rethinking the mind. If we conceive of minds as essentially embodied we can understand how intersubjectivity is possible.     

Using the Observer to analyze learning in virtual worlds

In this study, we describe and analyze the ways in which high school students explored a virtual solar system (VSS). VSS is a nonimmersive virtual environment that affords visual manipulations of space by altering its frame of reference. The Observer software was used to code and analyze the participants’ real-time free-exploration task. Two basic behaviors were identified across participants: establishing several home bases, and shifting between a still mode and a dynamic mode. Moreover, three overall exploration patterns emerged: thebutterfly pattern represents a superficial mode of learning; thebee pattern represents an in-depth mode of studying the various celestial objects; and theeagle pattern represents a global approach of studying the complex system. This virtual reality environment promises to provide a setting in which to further study consistent patterns and individual differences in exploration strategies.     

Improv and the Angel: Disability Dance,Embodied Ethics,and Jewish Biblical Narrative

Disability dance lays claim to the provocative possibilities of the disabled body, raising profound questions about the politics of art, affect, and embodiment. For scholars of religion, disability dance is a powerful—and as yet unrecognized—site for probing the sacrality and ethics enacted in disability culture. This article brings the biblical tale of Jacob and the angel into conversation with a contemporary performance, “The Way You Look (at me) Tonight,” an intimate duet between choreographer and performer Jess Curtis and Clare Cunningham, an internationally acclaimed dancer who explores the artistry of lived disability experience. Using dance as a hermeneutic invitation to draw out ethical insights into risk, consent, and intimacy, I offer a disability‐sensitive reading of Genesis 32—reading the angel as a body whose presence attests to the brilliant shock of disability difference and probing the psychic and somatic transformation that unfolds when Jacob comes into kinesthetic contact with disability and the sacred.     

Evolutionary autonomous agents and the naturalization of phenomenology

The phenomenological goal of grounding the content of conceptual thought in the background understanding of everyday, skillful coping was approached using evolutionary autonomous agent (EAA) methodology. The behavior of an EAA evolved to perform a specified motor task was identified with skillful coping. Changes in the dynamics of the EAA controller occurred when the EAA encountered an unexpected obstacle with loss of longer time scale components in its hierarchical temporal organization. These temporal changes are consistent with the phenomenological changes which we experience with breakdown during equipment use with our adoption of a more immediate, determinate stance. Since this latter experience is the basis of conceptual thought, the EAA paradigm goes some way in providing a naturalized explanation for the grounding of the content of conceptual thought in everyday, skillful coping in a manner that is physiologically plausible and phenomenologically accurate.     

Understanding key factors of users' intentions to repurchase and recommend digital items in social virtual worlds

Abstract Given to the remarkable profitability of digital items in social virtual worlds (SVWs), such as SecondLife, Cyworld, and Habbo Hotel, it has become crucial to understand SVW users' postadoption behaviors toward digital items. This study develops a theoretical framework to examine key antecedents of users' intentions to repurchase and recommend digital items. Data collected from 256 users of digital items were empirically tested against the research model. The analysis results indicate that both user satisfaction and a perceived value play an important role in establishing users' postadoption intentions about digital items. Moreover, the results clearly show what roles perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and perceived fee play in SVW environments.     

Embodied Cultural Cognition: Situating the Study of Embodied Cognition in Socio‐Cultural Contexts

Embodiment research has demonstrated that cognition is grounded in bodily interactions with the environment and that abstract concepts are tied to the body’s sensory and motor systems. Building upon this embodiment perspective and advancing our understanding, we discuss the extension of embodied cultural cognition. We propose that some associations between bodily experiences and abstract concepts are not randomly formed; rather, the development of such associations is situated in a socio‐cultural context, informed by cultural imperatives, values, and habits. We draw evidence supporting this view of embodied cultural cognition in body–mind linkages manifested in construal of emotions, time perception, person perception, social power, and moral reasoning. To further extend this research avenue that synthesizes the studies of embodied cognition and culture, we also suggest potential future research directions inspired by this view. This embodied cultural cognition account is useful in understanding and organizing accumulating discoveries of cultural variations in embodiments; it also highlights the social situatedness of embodied cognition and is, therefore, highly compatible with theorizing and research in social and cultural psychology.     

The Role of Spirituality in Counseling: Four Theoretical Orientations

Pastoral care and counseling is emerging as an effective and respected practice within the theological, psychological, and counseling professions. However, a survey of contemporary literature reveals a need to demonstrate the role of spirituality in the specific theoretical orientations of psychology and counseling. This article will provide a basic overview and discuss the role of spirituality in each of the four primary psychological theories: psychodynamic, existential/phenomenological, behavioral, and cognitive.     

The Body and the Sacred in the Digital Age: Thoughts on Posthuman Sexuality

Abstract

Considerable scholarly discussion has been given to the idea that we are moving toward a state of "posthumanism." In this essay, I examine some possible implications of a posthuman existence, specifically as it relates to that most basic of human needs—sexuality. More specifically, I am interested in exploring the spiritual aspects of sexuality to see what is lost and what is gained in technologically mediated forms of sexuality. To that end, I consider the interplay between sexual behaviour and our conceptions of the sacred, how technologies are changing our views of—and realities concerning—our bodies, and the potential for a sacred posthuman sexuality.     

The experience of male spouses in the context of breast cancer: a systematic review of the literature

The purpose of this systematic review is to look into how the experience of husbands of women treated for breast cancer is approached in the literature. Between July and August 2015, the databases of PubMed, SciELO and BIREME were searched for papers published in the period January 2005–July 2015; a final sample of 23 papers was defined. The studies listed several negative and positive aspects of the experience, such as financial difficulties, psychological distress, lack of coping skills among family members, social recognition of the role of caregiver, acquisition of new responsibilities and the maturing of family members.     

继承与断裂:布迪厄的哲学思想渊源

本文梳理了布迪厄与法国认识论传统结构主义与现象学的关系。作者指出,巴什拉对认识论的断裂、客观地构建对象、关系主义以及理论研究与经验研究的统一等的强调;结构主义对于关系性思维、能指与所指之间的任意性、无意识结构的论述;阿尔都塞的意识形态理论;梅洛-庞蒂的知觉现象学;萨特的干预哲学;海德格尔的时间理论等等,对布迪厄哲学理论的形成具有重要意义。文末叙述了布迪厄对海德格尔纯粹哲学的社会批判。     

The Absent Body of Girls Made Visible: Embodiment as the Focus in Education

The purpose of this article is to show the waysin which education can be centered on the bodyas the subject of experience, rather thanas an object or an absent entity. Pedagogicalpractices that emphasize a conscious awarenessof embodiment provide opportunities forstudents to learn in a holistic manner. Sincethe body is the way in which we experience theworld, mediating all processes of learning, allexperience is therefore embodied (Levin, 1985). Recognizing the body as subject of being ratherthan as object acknowledges that beneath theattempts to separate aspects of our being,which often occurs in educational settings,there exists an underlying, unified being thatis not subject to separation (Welton, 1998).The bodies of girls have traditionally beenrelegated to absent entities within thelearning environment, including in physicaleducation. A meaningful education, one thatembraces embodiment, would balance differenttypes of learning experiences, so that thevarious aspects of being are all considered andblended. Such a holistic approach to schoolingwould occur by providing an environment inwhich the needs of all students are valuedthrough efforts that defy the culturalstereotypes and preconceptions of the largersociety.     

Sacred illness: exploring transpersonal aspects in physical affliction and the role of the body in spiritual development

This paper investigates the occurrence of somatic involvement in spiritual development by exploring transpersonal dimensions of physical illness. Using semi-structured interviews and the qualitative method of heuristic inquiry, the transpersonal experiences of seven people with long-term health conditions are reported. Results expand on current literature by revealing that a spiritual perspective in illness can extend much beyond being a coping mechanism into profound experiences of self-transformation and healing, and by illustrating that the body can be intimately involved in the spiritual process. Participants considered the transpersonal dimension to be central to their experiences and as such understood their physical challenge as a state of potency wherein healing and embodiment of transpersonal influences were inextricably linked. Implications are that the body merits our acknowledgement as an integral part of a greater reality of being, and therefore needs to be fully included in the development of an embodied, holistic, and participatory spirituality.     

Painting the vortex: The existential structure of the experience of parenting a child with autism

The experience of parenting a child with autism is one of change to the parent's self. The associated triad of impairment in autism of impaired communication, social skills and a repetitive way of being permeates into the self of the parent through the medium of the social parent child relationship. This is a progressive process likened to the parent being pulled into a vortex. The existential mechanisms through which this may plausibly occur are considered.     

Embodied Institutions and Epistemic Exclusions: Affect in the Academy

This paper explores the intersection between affect, emotion, social imaginaries, and institutions through the lens of epistemic power in the academy. It argues that attending to this intersection is critical for a fuller understanding of how affective and emotional dynamics can assist to entrench, but also disrupt, asymmetries of epistemic privilege that cut across lines of race, sex, and other markers of social difference. As part of this discussion the paper reflects on the possibility of intervening in dominant social imaginaries that become sedimented in the routine operations of the modern university, and which produce affective ecologies that sustain epistemic exclusions within academic institutions.

     

The Dance: Essence of Embodiment

An analysis of movement, and particularly of dance,helps us to see in an extraordinarily effective way the meaningof embodiment. This paper then looks through the eyes ofdance theorists and at philosophers who consider dance andmovement and their meaning of embodiment. A study of movementand dance encompasses the fullest meaning of embodiment: that theembodied way of being-in-the-world is also an embedded way ofbeing in a world of others. Dance has critically importantsocial ramifications. In our own and other cultures, dance playsan important role in healing and in health enhancement.