The Absent Body

Więcej o książce

The body plays a crucial role in shaping our experiences, yet we often overlook it. We focus on the world around us, rarely acknowledging our own physical presence or understanding the simplest bodily functions. In this insightful exploration, Drew Leder examines the many ways our bodies are absent from our consciousness—forgotten, alien, uncontrollable, and obscured. In the first part, Leder delves into various bodily functions, highlighting structures of concealment and alienation. He discusses perception, movement, and different "bodies" that philosophers often neglect, such as the inner body with its anonymous rhythms, the sleeping body, and the prenatal body. This analysis challenges the "primacy of perception." In the second part, Leder uses this phenomenology to reconsider traditional mind-body concepts. He argues that Cartesian dualism remains influential because it resonates with our lived experiences. Descartes' work is filled with disruptive bodies that can only be managed through "disembodied" reason. Leder investigates the roots of this disembodied reasoning, emphasizing the hidden corporeality of language and thought. In his concluding chapter, he proposes a new ethic of embodiment that transcends Cartesianism. This original and accessible work draws on the author’s medical training and will appeal to those interested in phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, the Cartesian tradition, healthcare professional