The leap: the creative and liberatory potential of embodied thinking

Donata Schoeller*, Sigridur Thorgeirsdottir, Greg Walkerden

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    In this chapter, we describe the shift from doing research in philosophy and the cognitive sciences that explores the embodied grounding of thinking, to practising being an embodied thinker in our researching, teaching, and learning. We survey the intellectual traditions that support the embodied turn, and focus particularly on the work of three researchers whose work supports enacting it, in practice: Eugene Gendlin's philosophy of the implicit, Francisco Varela's enactivist approach, and Petitmengin's micro-phenomenology. These have shaped our process of changing our practices. We indicate what we mean by body, and how an embodied orientation towards ourselves re-situates human thinking within the vulnerable living fabric of the more-than-human world. We discuss the kind of transformativity involved in embodied thinking. Finally, we address the societal needs that this interdisciplinary shift in practice responds to.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationPracticing embodied thinking in research and learning
    EditorsDonata Schoeller, Sigridur Thorgeirsdottir, Greg Walkerden
    Place of PublicationLondon ; New York
    PublisherRoutledge, Taylor and Francis Group
    Chapter1
    Pages1-15
    Number of pages15
    ISBN (Electronic)9781040125823, 9781003397939
    ISBN (Print)9781032498720, 9781032503189
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2025

    Publication series

    NameRoutledge International Studies in the Philosophy of Education
    PublisherRoutledge

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s) 2025. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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