Minding the body
2006; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Volume: 135; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1162/daed.2006.135.3.15
ISSN1548-6192
AutoresAntónio R. Damásio, Hanna Damásio,
Tópico(s)Mental Health and Psychiatry
ResumoWe spend a good part of our lives attending to the sights and sounds of the world outside of us, oblivious to the fact that we (mentally speaking) exist in our bodies, and that our bodies exist in our minds. 1This neglect is both good and bad: good when it allows us to let our own physical suffering go undetected, bad when it screens us from the biological roots of our selves.Be that as it may, the body does come to mind, in no uncertain terms, when injury or disease breaks down its integrity and causes pain.The body also comes to mind, somewhat less demandingly, in moments of joy, when physical lightness and ease of function inevitably make us aware of the body.What we would like to address in this essay, however, is not the obvious fact that the state of our bodies can be conveyed to our minds, but rather the neurological mechanisms that enable this spectacular phenomenon.How can the body, with its myriad physical compartments and complicated operations, show up in our minds and be felt?The most common perspective on this question assumes that there is a 'mind-body problem,' which is best resolved using the tools of analytic philosophy.Our perspective here, however, is more restricted, focusing instead on the biological scaffolding without which the body certainly cannot be present in the mind.We are convinced, incidentally, that this perspective and its facts are relevant to the mind-body problem and go a long way toward solving it.Elsewhere we have addressed the connection, 2 but
Referência(s)