Abstract
For the last year I have been working on a project that explores an aesthetic component of general perception based on rhythm from an enactivist point of view. Enactivism - a branch of embodied philosophy which defends a time-extended, non-dualistic and non-representational view of cognition - puts emphasis on sensorimotor entanglement, the constitutive role of the body, and a dynamic approach to cognitive processes. For these and other reasons it is increasingly used both from philosophical and scientific sides. In this talk, after briefly introducing some of the main tenets of enactivism, I will present an enactivist concept of rhythm based on John Dewey’s ideas and some current cognitive science research. That is, a pragmatist and naturalist conceptualization of rhythm as a formal feature of experience open to the interaction of environmental, brain, and body oscillations. To conclude, I will mention some preliminary aspects of my research of what I consider to be the rhythmic symptoms of an aesthetic experience.
Bio
Carlos Vara Sanchez is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Philosophy and Cultural Heritage Department at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice). His research combines aesthetics and cognitive science from an enactivist point of view.