Cover of Eidos et Pathos

Eidos et Pathos

Corporéité et signification entre phénoménologie et sciences cognitives

Lorenzo Altieri

This work is the result of a crossed research between phenomenology and cognitive science concerning the problems of corporality and incarnation of the meaning of the experience itself. The leading idea of our research is that of searching an approach of the signification, of the comprehension and of the truth that would constitute an alternative to both transcendental idealism and reductionist materialism. This position could be summed up in the formula of phenomenological experiential realism. The syncretism of the approaches is the main methodological characteristic of the book, as it is reflected in the structure of the work. In its first part, focusing on phenomenology, consideration is given to the analysis of one’s own body, of the motility and of the sense of authors such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Patočka, Ricoeur. In the second part the focus shifts to the field of the philosophy of language and cognition, taking interest in a relatively new and still developing trend: cognitive semantics (Lakoff, Johnson, Fauconnier, Turner and – with differences – Eco). This work has traced in the notion of embodiment proposed by cognitive linguistics a concept that can interlock the phenomenological notion of one’s own body, and in a larger vision, to Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the flesh. The fundamental idea that encompasses this project is that of a “corporeal scheme” in the heart of the perceptive, cognitive and linguistic process, which, in its practical and affective interaction with the environment, forms our spirit and gives a cognitive coherence to our experience of the world. 

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  • Lorenzo Altieri is a PhD in Philosophy of the University Paris IV – Sorbonne and the University of Naples “Federico II”, where he collaborates with the chair of Philosophy of Language. He is the author of numerous articles in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.


    · ISBN: 978-973-1997-01-8 (ebook) · Online access on this site · Published February 2009 ·
    · ISBN: 978-973-1997-00-1 (paperback) · Print and eBook options available from Zeta Books ·


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