Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Philosophy Mind & Body

Recovering the Body

A Philosophical Story

by (author) Carol Collier

Publisher
University of Ottawa Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2013
Category
Mind & Body, Women's Studies, Alternative Therapies
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780776620817
    Publish Date
    Jun 2013
    List Price
    $18.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780776607993
    Publish Date
    Jun 2013
    List Price
    $24.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Following the metaphysical and epistemological threads that have led to our modern conception of the body as a machine, the book explores views of the body in the history of philosophy. Its central thesis is that the Cartesian paradigm, which has dominated the modern conception of the body (including the development and practice of medicine), offers an incomplete and even inaccurate picture. This picture has become a reductio ad absurdum, which, through such current trends as the practice of extreme body modification, and futuristic visions of downloading consciousness into machines, could lead to the disappearance of the biological body. Presenting Spinoza’s philosophy of the body as the road not followed, the author asks what Spinoza would think of some of our contemporary body visions. It also looks to two more holistic approaches to the body that offer hope of recovering its true meaning: the practice of yoga and alternative medicine. The metaphysical analysis is accompanied throughout by a tripartite historical and epistemological analysis: the body as an obstacle to knowledge (exemplified by Plato and our modern-day futurists), the body as an object of knowledge (exemplified by Descartes and modern scientific medicine); and the body as a source of knowledge (exemplified by the Stoics, and the philosophy of yoga).
- This book is published in English. 

About the author

Carol Collier is an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sudbury–Laurentian University.

Carol Collier's profile page