Embodied cognition is a research program comprising an array of methods from diverse theoretical fields (e.g., philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, etc.) held together by the key assumption that the body functions as a constituent of the... more
Embodied cognition is a research program comprising an array of methods from diverse theoretical fields (e.g., philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, etc.) held together by the key assumption that the body functions as a constituent of the mind rather than a passive perceiver and actor serving the mind. With a longstanding tradition in continental and pragmatic philosophy and a recent explosion in theoretical and empirical research in psychology and cognitive science, the embodied cognition research program is now ready to be formally translated into an applied approach for clinical, sport, education, social, media and health settings. This brief review sets the scene for this special edition by outlining philosophies and theory underpinning the embodied cognition research program and briefly reviewing accounts of embodied cognition that form themes running through the articles included in this special edition. Finally, we provide some examples of existing interventions, therapies and practices that utilise body–mind principles common to embodied cognition, though under other descriptive methodological titles. We suggest that embracing and integrating these interventions, therapies and practices under “applied embodied cognition” will encourage interdisciplinary discussion, thereby helping to move the field forward.
Responding to the co-production of screen seriality and human subjectivity within contemporary machine cultures and economies of excess, this article examines televisual affect and proposes concepts that address the languages, components... more
Responding to the co-production of screen seriality and human subjectivity within contemporary machine cultures and economies of excess, this article examines televisual affect and proposes concepts that address the languages, components and processes of particular televisual subjectivities. Discussions focus on science fiction fantasy series Farscape – a space odyssey fascinated with biotechnological evolution and mutative consciousness. This article aims to invigorate and extend the critical analysis of contemporary televisual affect, taking up questions and methodologies from Félix Guattari's machinic ontology and Georges Bataille's formulation of a sacrificial economy to address the conditions of consumption– production relevant to television today. The concept of a teleodyssey is a response to the increasingly co-productive and entangled relationships between serial screen narrativity and contemporary human subjectivity. Teleodyssey refers on one level to a mode of televisuality and a body of texts apparent within western series drama from around the turn of the last millennium; series that are preoccupied with, and proceed via, processes and situations of rupture, excess, intrepid exploration and machinic articulations of embodied subjectivity manifest across diverse biological and technological levels. As a process of subjectivity production occurring within this milieu, a teleodyssey may be understood as a kind of 'chaodyssey' (Deleuze, 1990 [1969]: 264): a self-generating odyssey emerging out of televisual chaos that couples the 'human' with multiple other technological, economic, aesthetic and semiotic components. The teleodyssey thereby also indicates a mode of televisual consciousness and screen participation (I reject the designations 'audience' and 'viewer' as misleading and conceptually limiting) particular to the wider social field from which such series emerge. Within this field occur industrial and economic shifts, including the growth of 'immaterial labour' forms, both intellectual and affective (Hardt and Negri, 2004), which combine to accelerate television's evolution from traditional broadcast formats into new modes of production, distribution and consumption. Attempting to
Embodied cognition is a research program comprising an array of methods from diverse theoretical fields (e.g., philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, etc.) held together by the key assumption that the body functions as a constituent of... more
Embodied cognition is a research program comprising an
array of methods from diverse theoretical fields (e.g.,
philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, etc.) held together
by the key assumption that the body functions as a
constituent of the mind rather than a passive perceiver
and actor serving the mind. With a longstanding tradition
in continental and pragmatic philosophy and a recent
explosion in theoretical and empirical research in
psychology and cognitive science, the embodied
cognition research program is now ready to be formally
translated into an applied approach for clinical, sport,
education, social, media and health settings. This brief
review sets the scene for this special edition by outlining
philosophies and theory underpinning the embodied
cognition research program and briefly reviewing
accounts of embodied cognition that form themes
running through the articles included in this special
edition. Finally, we provide some examples of existing
interventions, therapies and practices that utilise body–
mind principles common to embodied cognition, though
under other descriptive methodological titles. We suggest
that embracing and integrating these interventions,
therapies and practices under “applied embodied
cognition” will encourage interdisciplinary discussion,
thereby helping to move the field forward.
Personal privacy versus public safety is a rights trade-off that has been brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic, with flow-on implications for the success of contract tracing regimes implemented across Australia. These... more
Personal privacy versus public safety is a rights trade-off that has been brought into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic, with flow-on implications for the success of contract tracing regimes implemented across Australia. These contact tracing regimes depend upon the supply of accurate information by individuals, which in turn depends upon the trust that is placed in health authorities and other government officials to handle personal information with care. A range of different laws govern the collection and use of personal information by health authorities at the federal level and in each Australian state or territory. Understanding these rules might help us to work out ways to ensure that everyone in our community feels like they can tell the truth when it matters most. Using a case study from South Australia, this article reviews existing legislative, regulatory and policy frameworks that currently apply to the collection and use of personal information in health care and h...
