The Mind-Body Politic [electronic resource] /
Maiese, Michelle.author.
Hanna, Robert.author.
Building on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind, this book explores how social institutions in contemporary neoliberal nation-states systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency. Human beings are, necessarily, social animals who create and belong to social institutions. But social institutions take on a life of their own, and literally shape the minds of all those who belong to them, for better or worse, usually without their being self-consciously aware of it. Indeed, in contemporary neoliberal societies, it is generally for the worse. In The Mind-Body Politic, Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna work out a new critique of contemporary social institutions by deploying the special standpoint of the philosophy of mind—in particular, the special standpoint of the philosophy of what they call essentially embodied minds—and make a set of concrete, positive proposals for radically changing both these social institutions and also our essentially embodied lives for the better.
Chapter 1. Introduction: Political Philosophy of Mind -- Chapter 2. Three Theses Unpacked: Mind-Shaping, Collective Sociopathy, and Collective Wisdom -- Chapter 3. What is a Destructive, Deforming Institution? -- Chapter 4. Case-Study I: Higher Education in Neoliberal Nation-States -- Chapter 5. Case-Study II: Mental Health Treatment in Neoliberal Nation-States -- Chapter 6. What is a Constructive, Enabling Institution? -- Chapter 7. How To Design a Constructive, Enabling Institution -- Chapter 8. Conclusion: Cognitive Walls, Cognitive-Affective Revolution, and Real-World Utopias.
Building on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind, this book explores how social institutions in contemporary neoliberal nation-states systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency. Human beings are, necessarily, social animals who create and belong to social institutions. But social institutions take on a life of their own, and literally shape the minds of all those who belong to them, for better or worse, usually without their being self-consciously aware of it. Indeed, in contemporary neoliberal societies, it is generally for the worse. In The Mind-Body Politic, Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna work out a new critique of contemporary social institutions by deploying the special standpoint of the philosophy of mind—in particular, the special standpoint of the philosophy of what they call essentially embodied minds—and make a set of concrete, positive proposals for radically changing both these social institutions and also our essentially embodied lives for the better.
Philosophy of mind.
Political science
Philosophy of Mind.
Political Philosophy.