TY - BOOK ID - 17871415 TI - The absent body PY - 1990 SN - 0226470008 0226469999 9780226470009 9780226469997 PB - Chicago: University of Chicago press, DB - UniCat KW - Dualism. KW - Mind and body. KW - Body, Human (Philosophy) KW - Occasionalism KW - Philosophical anthropology KW - Philosophy and psychology of culture KW - Human medicine KW - Semiotics KW - Human body (Philosophy) KW - Mind and body KW - Dualism KW - Body and mind KW - Body and soul (Philosophy) KW - Human body KW - Mind KW - Mind-body connection KW - Mind-body relations KW - Mind-cure KW - Somatopsychics KW - Psychological aspects KW - Brain KW - Holistic medicine KW - Mental healing KW - Parousia (Philosophy) KW - Phrenology KW - Psychophysiology KW - Self KW - Philosophy KW - Idealism KW - Materialism KW - Monism KW - Realism UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:17871415 AB - The body plays a central role in shaping our experience of the world. Why, then, are we so frequently oblivious to our own bodies? We gaze at the world, but rarely see our own eyes. We may be unable to explain how we perform the simplest of acts. We are even less aware of our internal organs and the physiological processes that keep us alive. In this fascinating work, Drew Leder examines all the ways in which the body is absent—forgotten, alien, uncontrollable, obscured. In part 1, Leder explores a wide range of bodily functions with an eye to structures of concealment and alienation. He discusses not only perception and movement, skills and tools, but a variety of "bodies" that philosophers tend to overlook: the inner body with its anonymous rhythms; the sleeping body into which we nightly lapse; the prenatal body from which we first came to be. Leder thereby seeks to challenge "primacy of perception." In part 2, Leder shows how this phenomenology allows us to rethink traditional concepts of mind and body. Leder argues that Cartesian dualism exhibits an abiding power because it draws upon life-world experiences. Descartes' corpus is filled with disruptive bodies which can only be subdued by exercising "disembodied" reason. Leder explores the origins of this notion of reason as disembodied, focusing upon the hidden corporeality of language and thought. In a final chapter, Leder then proposes a new ethic of embodiment to carry us beyond Cartesianism. This original, important, and accessible work uses examples from the author's medical training throughout. It will interest all those concerned with phenomenology, the philosophy of mind, or the Cartesian tradition; those working in the health care professions; and all those fascinated by the human body. ER -