New Philosopher - August 2022

132 Pages·2022·98.9 MB·English

W H E N T H E B O DY B E T R AY S U S
M I N D
A N D / O R
B O D Y ?
ANTONIA CASE MARK ROWLANDS PATRICK STOKES
Disembodied delinquents Running with the pack The body replaced

Editor's letter
Body
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Editor's letter
“A healthy mind in a healthy body.”
— Juvenal
When you decide to run for exercise you don’t expect mentally plagued or take up matters of the mind like phi-
much other than sore calf muscles and tired lungs. You don’t losophy when we are physically unwell. Like a tightrope
expect to discover your purpose in life, or to somehow work walker, the good life requires a continual adjustment of
through a worry that has plagued you for months. But oddly mind and body.
enough, some 30 minutes into a run, a voice from nowhere Plato was a wrestler, and a believer in the importance of
can descend – rational, optimistic, measured, hopeful – and balancing the twin poles of physical training and cultivating
suddenly you have some clarity. the mind. “The purpose is to bring the two elements into tune
ASICS, the running shoe brand, is an acronym for the with one another by adjusting the tension of each to the right
Latin phrase anima sana in corpore sano, or “a healthy mind in pitch,” he asserts in The Republic. Too much of one can be at
a healthy body”. The phrase derives from a satirical poem by the detriment of the other and can contribute to difficulties
Roman poet Juvenal, who argued that our ambitions for or suffering we may encounter in life. “Have you noticed how
wealth, power, and personal beauty would lead to disappoint- a lifelong devotion to physical exercise, to the exclusion of
ment, and so, instead, we should pray for a healthy mind in a anything else, produces a certain type of mind? Just as neglect
healthy body. He seemed to want to remind us to prioritise of it produces another?” Plato writes. “Excessive emphasis on
the stuff that matters. athletics produces an excessively uncivilised type, while a
While Juvenal, in ancient Rome, viewed health from the purely literary training leaves men indecently soft.”
perspective of mind and body, in the intervening years, we’ve Today, in Central Park, New York, there are psychothera-
split the human body into its various parts, and somehow pists who walk with their clients, wandering down paths to
forgotten the whole. “The body has been divided from one relay traumas and hurt, rather than laying back on a couch.
whole into four different ‘bodies’,” Christer Bjurvill writes in The rhythmic pattern of brisk walking, the fresh air and over-
The Philosophy of the Body. “Science has appropriated one part hanging trees, the accelerated heart rate, the eyes that look
of the body, the inside; philosophy the mind; and medicine outwards towards the future, all contribute to a better prog-
the organism.” Lastly, there are the artists – sculptors, poets, nosis. In moments of movement, the body talks.
and dancers – who concern themselves with the outside of In recent years, there has been mounting evidence of the
the head, the face and its expressions, as well as outside of the chemical effects of exercise – from cannabis-style highs to
body, the limbs and their various movements. elevated levels of so-called ‘bliss molecules’. Similarly, at the
We all have our body interests – philosophers on what other end of the spectrum, athletes have shown enhanced
goes on inside the head, on thought and intellect; theologi- performance when applying mind-control techniques to
ans, to the interior realm, or soul; psychologists, our senses quell unease and keep the body fluid and relaxed.
and perceptions; and sportspeople, artists, and physiothera- Even mindfulness, which one might suspect would be
pists, on the exterior of the body – its gestures, postures, and overflowing with techniques to order the mind, often chan-
motor performances. And then there’s the special part of the nels the mind not backwards upon itself, but directly at parts
body, which “has been at the centre of interest for physicians”, of the body. Techniques such as the ‘body scan’ roll the mind
adds Bjurvill, and that is the anatomical construction and from the scalp to the toes and back again, massaging the body
physiological functioning of the body. The body, indeed, has with the mind. Tranquillity can be found, it seems, when the
been a rich universe to poke and prod, but how the body’s mind’s universe becomes the body, and the body’s universe
interconnected parts can work together to restore, heal, and becomes the mind – when we are no longer fragmented parts
improve ourselves has taken a back seat due to our fixation on of four bodies, but a singular whole.
each of these four different bodies.
It’s tempting to focus on strategies of the mind when
we suffer mentally, or to fixate further on the body when we
are physically unwell. Although it does feel counter-intui-
tive, there has been some research into the benefits of doing
the reverse – to commit to physical exercise when we are Antonia Case, Editor
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Contents
Contents
4 Editor’s letter 82 Donating bodies ~ Nigel Warburton
8 Contributors 86 When the body betrays us ~ Charles Boag
12 News from nowhere 90 The body defined
22 Thoughts become paths ~ Antonia Case 92 Mind games ~ Antonia Case
26 All in the mind ~ Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore 98 Gender outlines ~ Mariana Alessandri
30 A show of hands ~ Tim Booth 102 The Sacred Body ~ Walt Whitman
44 The body replaced ~ Patrick Stokes 104 Changing limits ~ Can Pekdemir
50 Disembodied delinquents ~ Antonia Case 110 Online
56 Digital bodies ~ Tom Chatfield 112 Who owns my body? ~ André Dao
60 Running with the pack ~ Mark Rowlands 116 The body cycle ~ Christine Caldwell
66 Thoughts on... the body 122 Our library
68 Walking as medication ~ Jacqueline Winspear 124 Body and soul
72 Great minds 126 Documentaries
74 The rational mind ~ Wolfgang Lettl 128 Subscribe
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Contents
- 112 - - 60 - - 26 -
PROPERTY INTERVIEW MIND
Who owns my body? Running with the pack All in the mind
André Dao Mark Rowlands Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore
- 104 -
DESIGN
y
Changing
d
o
limits
B
Can Pekdemir
- 44 -
IDENTITY
The body replaced
Patrick Stokes
- 98 - - 74 - - 30 -
GENDER SURREALISM PHOTOGRAPHY
Gender outlines The rational mind A show of hands
Mariana Alessandri Wolfgang Lettl Tim Booth
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Contributors
Contributors
Mark Rowlands Nigel Warburton Antonia Case
Mark Rowlands is a Welsh writer and Nigel Warburton is a freelance phi- Antonia Case is Editor of New Philos-
philosopher. He is Professor and Chair losopher, podcaster, writer, and the opher and Womankind, and is an award-
of Philosophy at the University of Mi- Editor-at-large of New Philosopher. winning writer and journalist. Her
ami, and the author of several books Described as “one of the most-read book on personal identity and change
on the philosophy of mind, the moral popular philosophers of our time”, his is forthcoming with Bloomsbury. She
status of non-human animals, and books include A Little History of Phi- was the winner of the 2013 Australa-
cultural criticism. His works include losophy, Thinking from A to Z, and Phi- sian Association of Philosophy Media
Animal Rights, The Body in Mind, The losophy: The Classics. The interviewer for Professionals’ Award and in 2016 was
Nature of Consciousness, Animals Like the Philosophy Bites podcast, War- shortlisted for Editor of the Year in
Us, and the personal memoirs, The burton was previously Senior Lecturer the Stack Awards. Case was selected
Philosopher and the Wolf and Running in Philosophy at the Open University as ‘philosopher in residence’ for the
with the Pack. and Lecturer in Philosophy at Not- 2016 Brisbane Writers’ Festival.
tingham University.
Zan Boag Mariana Alessandri Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore
Zan Boag is the former Editor and Mariana Alessandri is Associate Pro- Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore lived in
current Publisher of New Philosopher, fessor of Philosophy at the University China from 2009 to 2014 during which
Editorial Director of the international of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She has time she worked as the associate editor
magazine Womankind, and Director written for The New York Times, Phi- for Time Out Beijing, the art editor for
of poet bookstore. In 2017 he won the losophy Today, Womankind magazine, Time Out Shanghai, and as an oped col-
Australasian Association of Philoso- Times Higher Education, Chronicle of umnist for the International New York
phy Media Professionals’ Award and Higher Education, and many academic Times, reporting from China for the
was shortlisted for Editor of the Year journals. Alessandri is the author of blog Latitude: Views From Around
in the international Stack Awards. the forthcoming book, Night Vision: the World. She writes for The Guard-
Boag speaks regularly on philosophy, Seeing Wisdom in our Darker Moods, ian, The Economist, Financial Times,
technology, the media, and ethics, and and her teaching interests include Ex- The New York Times, Womankind, Wall
was the co-founder and host of the istentialism and Mexican-American Street Journal, New Statesman, New In-
monthly philosophical discussion se- Philosophy. ternationalist, The Huffington Post, and
ries Bright Thinking. Time magazine.
Patrick Stokes Jacqueline Winspear Christine Caldwell
Patrick Stokes is a lecturer in philoso- Jacqueline Winspear has written 16 Christine Caldwell is the founder
phy at Deakin University, Melbourne. novels in the award-winning Maisie of and professor emeritus in the So-
He specialises in 19th and 20th cen- Dobbs historical mystery series, in- matic Counselling Program at Na-
tury European philosophy, personal cluding the New York Times bestseller ropa University in Boulder, Colorado,
identity, narrative selfhood, moral psy- The American Agent. Her standalone where she taught course work in so-
chology, and death and remembrance. novel, The Care and Management of Lies, matic counselling theory and skills,
A particular focus is bringing Kierkeg- was also a New York Times and Nation- clinical neuroscience, research, and
aard into dialogue with contemporary al Bestseller, and a finalist for the Day- diversity issues. Her work began 40
analytic philosophy of personal iden- ton Literary Peace Prize. Winspear has years ago with studies in anthropol-
tity and moral psychology. Stokes was published two non-fiction books: What ogy, dance therapy, bodywork, and
awarded the 2014 AAP media prize. Would Maisie Do? based upon the se- Gestalt therapy, and has developed
ries, and a memoir, This Time Next Year into innovations in the field of body-
We’ll Be Laughing. centred psychotherapy.
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Contributors
Tom Chatfield Can Pekdemir Timothy Booth
Tom Chatfield is a British writer, Can Pekdemir is a Turkish sculptor Tim Booth is a UK based fine arts
broadcaster, and tech philosopher. He living and working in Istanbul, who photographer who has worked for
is the author of six books, including teaches at Bahçeşehir University. His magazines and newspapers in the
Netymology, Live This Book!, and How studies are focused on reconstruct- UK, Africa, Pakistan and South East
to Thrive in the Digital Age, and speaks ing and deforming bodies by alter- Asia. He was voted the number one
around the world on technology, the ing the physical conditions in which black and white photographer work-
arts, and media. Chatfield was launch they exists, and treating them as test ing in the UK today by OneEyeLand.
columnist for the BBC’s worldwide subjects for virtual experiments. He His ‘A Show of Hands’ series, which
technology site, BBC Future, is a Vis- does this while reshaping systems and culminated in a book, features hand
iting Associate at the Oxford Internet documenting how they evolve over portraits shot over a 20-year period.
Institute, and is a senior expert at the time. His work has been featured in Booth believes that hands offer an
Global Governance Institute. magazines and exhibitions around the evocative insight into a sitter’s life and
world. profession.
André Dao Charles Boag Genís Carreras
André Dao is a writer and editor who Charles Boag is a former journal- Genís Carreras is the cover designer
is co-founder of Behind the Wire, an ist with The Sydney Morning Herald, of New Philosopher magazine and the
oral history project documenting peo- The Bulletin and was newspaper edi- creator of Philographics: Big Ideas in
ple’s experience of immigration deten- tor of the Blacktown and Parramatta Simple Shapes. Carreras’s work has been
tion, and a producer of the Walkley- Suns. He has a Bachelor of Arts, Syd- recognised in the AOI World Illustra-
award winning podcast, The Messenger. ney University, Master of Arts from tion Awards, the Laus Awards, and the
His work has appeared in The Month- UNSW, and a post-graduate diploma Stocks Taylor Benson Awards, and his
ly, SBS True Stories, Meanjin, and Al in environmental studies from Mac- work has been featured in the books
Jazeera English. Formerly the editor- quarie. He is the author of fiction and MIN: New Simplicity in Graphic Design,
in-chief of human rights publication non-fiction books. His recent work in- Playing with Type, Geometry Makes Me
Right Now, Dao was a finalist for the cludes the seven-part Mister Rainbow Happy, and Geo/Graphics.
Australian Human Rights Commis- crime novels.
sion’s Young People’s Medal in 2011.
Wolfgang Lettl Russel Herneman Isabel Miramontes
Wolfgang Lettl was a surrealist paint- Russel Herneman is an award-winning Isabel Miramontes is a Spanish-born
er who was born and died in Augs- cartoonist whose work has appeared Belgian sculptor known for dispro-
burg, Germany. His retrospective was in The Times of London, Private Eye, portionate bronze sculptures of the
exhibited at the Schaezlerpalais in Prospect, The Spectator, and many oth- human figure. Miramontes resides in
2019. In 1963 he participated in the ers. In 2018 he won Pocket Cartoon of Belgium, where she was raised and
Grosse Kunstausstellung München, the Year 2018 in the Political Cartoon attended the Institute Sainte Marie
becoming a member of the Neue Awards, European Newspaper Design and Saint Gilles. She aims to convey
Münchener Künstlergenossenschaft. award for illustration, and Society of not just the physical activity but also
In 1992, during a retrospective exhi- News Design Award of excellence for the emotional one – representing the
bition at the Toskan Hall of Columns, Illustration. He was an exhibitor at the psyche’s ambiguous power and fra-
he offered his paintings to the city of Society of Graphic Fine Art Draw 18 gility, dreams and successes, or desire
Augsburg on permanent loan. at Mennier Gallery, London. for isolation and freedom.
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