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The Philosopher’s Path to San José: Toward a Cross-Cultural Radical Embodied Cognitive Science

McKinney, Jonathan
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3786-8108
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin165953075952363

Abstract Details

2022, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Philosophy.
This dissertation aims to contribute to, and expand upon, two emergent movements in philosophy and cognitive science. The first is the move in the Western world to study non-Western and non-canonical philosophical traditions in a comparative and cross-cultural context. The second is the shift in contemporary cognitive science toward phenomenological approaches in embodied cognition, including 4E (embodied, enacted, extended, & embedded) cognition, ecological psychology, distributed languaging, and enactivism. This intersection promises to be especially fruitful because it is relatively unexplored, there is resonance between the many perspectives of embodiment around the world and problems faced by each movement are complementary. Instead of looking to this work for a single path, it should be understood as an invitation to consider how each tradition fits within the same world and then to reconsider our places within it. This project begins with the converging paths of nondualism in embodied cognitive science and Japanese philosophy before exploring three examples of fusion philosophy - an approach to comparative philosophy where emphasis is placed on mutual consideration and creating a new view by bringing distinct traditions together. The overall goal of the project is to demonstrate how the consideration of Japanese, Indian, and Buddhist philosophies and contemporary approaches in embodied cognitive science can be mutually beneficial. Chapter 1 engages with challenges that both fusion philosophy and embodied cognitive science face to invite us to consider the world and our relation to it differently. Chapter 2 is narrowly focused on the fusion of Chemero’s Affordances 2.0 with the apoha theory of the Buddhist epistemologist Ratnakirti (11th Century). This narrow focus creates a space to explore the parallel work of Thompson (2021) that fuses the apoha theory of Dharmakirti with the enactive approach. One goal of this chapter is to pave the way for an apoha-ecological-enactivism fusion. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 explore the relationship between the enactive and ecological approaches more directly. Chapter 3 focuses more broadly on the notions of habits that the enactive and ecological approaches inherited from William James and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. I introduce the works of Nishida Kitaro as a means to sketch a path of continuity between James and Merleau-Ponty. One major goal of this chapter is to demonstrate that non-Western philosophers, like Nishida, are not exotic sources to be referenced as canonical outsiders. Another is to shed light on the continuities and discontinuities between the ecological and enactive approaches. Chapter 4 addresses the ongoing debate between the enactive and ecological approaches. I identify the core disagreement between the two schools as one centered around the agent-world relation. I situate the agent-world relation and the enactive-ecological synthesis through the lens of nonduality in Japanese philosophy. This begins with the works of Nishida that engage with the ontology-epistemology relationship that is comparable with Gibson’s vision of ecological psychology. I conclude that the ecological-enactive and agent-world relations are best understood as complementary contraries. The takeaway from this complex fusion is that the tools of complementarity and nonduality can be mutually beneficial.
Anthony Chemero, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Elena Cuffari, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Paula Silva, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Melissa Jacquart, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Masato Ishida, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
174 p.
Philosophy
Enactivism; Ecological Psychology; Nondualism; Embodied Cognition; Buddhist Philosophy; Nishida Kitaro

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McKinney, J. (2022). The Philosopher’s Path to San José: Toward a Cross-Cultural Radical Embodied Cognitive Science [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin165953075952363

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McKinney, Jonathan. The Philosopher’s Path to San José: Toward a Cross-Cultural Radical Embodied Cognitive Science. 2022. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin165953075952363.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McKinney, Jonathan. "The Philosopher’s Path to San José: Toward a Cross-Cultural Radical Embodied Cognitive Science." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin165953075952363

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.