Universität Wien

180164 SE MEi:CogSci Topic-Seminar (2025S)

Mind the Body!

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Preparation meeting: Monday March 3rd, 2025, 11:00-13:00, HS 2i, NIG, Universitäststrasse 7, 2nd floor
Hinweis der SPL Philosophie:

Das Abgeben von ganz oder teilweise von einem KI-tool (z.B. ChatGPT) verfassten Texten als Leistungsnachweis (z.B. Seminararbeit) ist nur dann erlaubt, wenn dies von der Lehrveranstaltungsleitung ausdrücklich als mögliche Arbeitsweise genehmigt wurde. Auch hierbei müssen direkt oder indirekt zitierte Textstellen wie immer klar mit Quellenangabe ausgewiesen werden.

Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann zur Überprüfung der Autorenschaft einer abgegebenen schriftlichen Arbeit ein notenrelevantes Gespräch (Plausibilitätsprüfung) vorsehen, das erfolgreich zu absolvieren ist.
Moodle
Mo 05.05. 09:00-13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 10.03. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 31.03. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 07.04. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 12.05. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 26.05. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228
  • Monday 23.06. 09:00 - 13:00 Hörsaal 2i NIG 2.Stock C0228

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The aim of the seminar is to introduce approaches in cognitive science that recognise the fundamental importance of the body in cognition and to explore the relation between body and mind both in theory and in practice. Embodied approaches to understanding mind and thinking have become very popular in the last decades since Varela, Thompson and Rosch (1991) coined the term “embodied mind”. Embodied cognition, and more recently 4E/4EA cognition, have evolved into a spectrum of diverse research programmes studying the role of the body in cognitive processes. However, one major point emphasised by Varela et al. (1991) has been all too often neglected: the necessity to include a first-person perspective when investigating cognition. Building on the phenomenological tradition, enactivism stresses the constitutive role of the body in subjective experience, in processes of sense-making, learning and thinking, and generally in cognition.

The seminar has two foci:

On the one hand, the main ideas of embodiment and enactivism will be revisited with the help of acquiring a phenomenological vocabulary and viewpoint. Questions such as the following will guide our explorations and discussions: What is a body? What is my body? How do I experience my body? How do I experience the world (through my body)? Am I my body? What is an emotion? Where do I experience it? How do emotions relate to movement? How do I attune to others? How do interpersonal affective dynamics constitute a sense of self and a sense of other?

On the other hand, we aim to explore possible applications of an enactive view on cognition, especially looking at dance and somatic practices, as well as design processes. How do we think in movement? How are we aware of our physical and bodily interactions with our Umwelt/our environment? How does attending to the body and to movement enable possibilities for learning, personal change and development?

Throughout the seminar, our theoretical investigations will be accompanied by movement explorations, which should enable us to experience and explore moving minds and bodies, or the ‘bodymind’ as some call it.
The classes will be collaboratively shaped by students and teachers, including interactive parts/workshops on discussed phenomena, as well as presentations and discussions based on the compulsory literature.

Assessment and permitted materials

Seminar paper, presentation/workshop, participation in discussions (online and on-site)
Presence in seminar sessions is required.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements:
- seminar attendance (you can miss one session)
- active participation in discussions (in the seminar and in the discussion forum)
- reading & preparing compulsory literature for each session (posting questions on each text in the discussion forum); 6 reports on compulsory reading following criteria announced online in the moodle course (due: four days prior to the respective session)
- presentation on one of the compulsory readings + interactive part/workshop (individually or in a group - depends on the number of students)
- suggestion for interactive part by 24 March, 2025
- reflection paper (6-8 pages): due 16 August, 2025

Assessment Criteria:
- participation in discussions in class and in moodle forum 15%
- 6 reports on literature 30%/points (5 points each)
- presentation 25 %/points
- reflection paper (6-8 pages) 30%/points

%/points | grade
91-100 | sehr gut (1)
81-90 | gut (2)
71-80 | befriedigend (3)
61-70 | genügend (4)
0-60 | nicht genügend (5)

The automated plagiarism check software Turnit in will be used in this course.
* By registering for this course, you agree that the automated plagiarism check software Turnitin will check all written performances submitted by you (in Moodle).

Examination topics

see above

Reading list

Introduction (10.03. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Varela, F. J., Thompson, E., & Rosh, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind. Cognitive Science and Human Experience. MIT Press. 15-33.
(Chapter 2. What do we mean “human experience"?)
- Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life. Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Harvard University Press. 3-15
(Chapter 1 - Cognitive Science and Human Experience).

Embodiment, Enactivism and Roots in Phenomenology (31.03. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life. Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind. Harvard University Press. 16-36
(Chapter 2. The Phenomenological Connection)
- Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2008). The Phenomenological Mind. Routledge. 129-151.
(Chapter 7. The embodied mind)

Brain, Body, Environment - Circularities and Loops (07.04. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Fuchs. T. (2020). The Circularity of the Embodied Mind. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1707.
- Buzsáki G, Tingley D. (2023). Cognition from the Body-Brain Partnership: Exaptation of Memory. Annual Review of Neuroscience 46 (1), 191-210.

Sense of Agency, Ownership and Self (05.05. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Buhrmann T., Di Paolo E.A. (2017) The sense of agency – a phenomenological consequence of enacting sensorimotor schemes. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 16(2), 207–236.
- Kalckert A. & Ehrsson (2012). Moving a rubber hand that feels like your own: a dissociation of ownership and agency. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8,40
- Tsakiris M. (2017).The multisensory basis of the self: From body to identity to others. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70, 4, 597-609

Thinking in Movement - Dancing and Improvising (12.05. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2009). Thinking in Movement. In: The Corporeal Turn. An Interdisciplinary Reader. Imprint Academic. 28-63.
- Ravn, S., & Høffding, S. (2021). Improvisation and thinking in movement: an enactivist analysis of agency in artistic practices. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, (1).
- Gallagher, S. (2023). Surprise! Why enactivism and predictive processing are parting ways: The case of improvisation. Possibility Studies & Society, 1(3), 269-278.

Somatic Practices, Therapeutic Approaches & Design (26.05. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Caldwell, C. (2014). Mindfulness & Bodyfulness: A New Paradigm. The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry, 1 (1), 77–96.
- Kronsted, C. (2020 ) The Self and Dance Movement Therapy - a Narrative Approach. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences,19, 47-58
- Höök, K., Caramiaux, B., Erkut, C., Forlizzi, J., Hajinejad, N., Haller, M., Tobiasson, H. (2018). Embracing first-person perspectives in soma-based design. Informatics, 5 (1), 1–26.

Final Session (Monday 23.06. 09:00 - 13:00)
- Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2015). Embodiment on trial: a phenomenological investigation. Continental Philosophy Review, 48 (1), 23–39.
- Käufer S & Chemero A. (2021). Phenomenology: An Introduction. 223 -235.
(Chapter 12: Enactivism and the Embodied Mind)

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 12.03.2025 10:46