Bodily Intimacy and its Neurobiological Foundations
Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica September 1, 2017 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.14422/pen.v72.i273.y2016.002 via DOAJ
Summary
The paper argues for the importance of intimacy in human life, defending a biological perspective against functionalist computational views. It draws on Nietzsche's concept of bodily subjectivity, Ortega y Gasset's bodily, emotional, and spiritual intimacy, and Zubiri's bodily and personal intimacy. The second part reviews neurobiological foundations of bodily intimacy, including neuronal substrates, the brain as a selectional system, mirror neurons, synaesthesia, and neurophenomenology. It concludes by examining the power of intimacy and its conflict with reputation.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Intimacy is rooted in bodily subjectivity and personal experience, and its neurobiological underpinnings challenge reductionist accounts. |
Abstract
The first part of this study stresses the importance of intimacy for human life and defends the biological standpoint against the functionalist computational stance. This is based on the concept of bodily subjectivity in Nietzsche, bodily, emotional and spiritual intimacy in Ortega y Gasset, and bodily and personal intimacy in Zubiri. The second part sets forth a significant selection taken from studies on the neurobiological foundations of bodily intimacy, reaching beyond sterile reductionisms: its possible neuronal substrate (the neurology of intimacy?), the brain as selectional system, mirror neurons, synaesthesia and neurophenomenology. It ends by putting forward the problem of the power of intimacy, the conflict between this and the reputation.