Bodily Intimacy and its Neurobiological Foundations
Pensamiento. Revista de Investigación e Información Filosófica September 1, 2017 DOI: 10.14422/pen.v72.i273.y2016.002 via DOAJ
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractIntimacy is essential for human life and is grounded in the body, not in computational or functionalist models of mind. Drawing on Nietzsche's bodily subjectivity, Ortega y Gasset's bodily, emotional, and spiritual intimacy, and Zubiri's bodily and personal intimacy, the work argues for a biological standpoint. It then reviews neurobiological research on bodily intimacy, including possible neuronal substrates, the brain as a selectional system, mirror neurons, synaesthesia, and neurophenomenology, avoiding reductionist views. The work concludes by raising the problem of the power of intimacy and its conflict with reputation.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Intimidad Cuerpo Subjetividad Experiencia Libertad |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key finding | Intimacy is a bodily grounded, essential dimension of human life that cannot be reduced to functionalist or computational models, and its power conflicts with reputation. |
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.