The Aesthetics of Meaning and Thought: The Bodily Roots of Philosophy, Science, Morality, and Art

by Mark Johnson

0 ratings • 0 reviews • 0 shelved
Book cover for The Aesthetics of Meaning and Thought

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

All too often, we think of our minds and bodies separately. The reality couldn't be more different: the fundamental fact about our mind is that it is embodied. We have a deep visceral, emotional, and qualitative relationship to the world-and any scientifically and philosophically satisfactory view of the mind must take into account the ways that cognition, meaning, language, action, and values are grounded in and shaped by that embodiment.

This book gathers the best of philosopher Mark Johnson's essays addressing questions of our embodiment as they deal with aesthetics-which, he argues, we need to rethink so that it takes into account the central role of body-based meaning. Viewed that way, the arts can give us profound insights into the processes of meaning making that underlie our conceptual systems and cultural practices. Johnson shows how our embodiment shapes our philosophy, science, morality, and art; what emerges is a view of humans as aesthetic, meaning-making creatures who draw on their deepest physical processes to make sense of the world around them.
  • ISBN10 022653880X
  • ISBN13 9780226538808
  • Publish Date 23 April 2018
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint University of Chicago Press