Bounded in a nutshell and a king of infinite space: the embodied self and its intentional world. Issue 3 (19th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Colman, Warren
• Is Part Of: Journal of analytical psychology. Volume 60:Issue 3(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: 316
• Page End: 335
• Publication Date: 2015-05-19
• Subjects: enactive approach -- extended mind -- Henrietta Lacks -- imagination -- phenomenology -- synchronicity; approche representative -- Henrietta Lacks -- imagination -- ouverture d'esprit -- phénoménologie -- synchronicité; phänomenologie -- richtungsweisender Ansatz -- erweiterter Geist -- synchronizität -- Vorstellung -- Henrietta Lacks; fenomenologia -- approccio messo in atto -- mente estesa -- sincronicità -- immaginazione -- Henrietta Lacks; феноменология -- исполнительный подход -- расширенное сознание -- синхронистичность -- воображение -- Генриетта Лэкс; fenomenología -- abordaje enactivo -- mente expansiva -- sincronicidad -- imaginación -- Henrietta Lacks; Jungian psychology -- Periodicals; 131.3405
• DOI: 10.1111/1468-5922.12152
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8774

Abstract

Abstract: This paper explores the implications of developments in phenomenological biology for a reconsideration of synchronicity and the self. The enactive approach of Maturana and Varela aims to reformulate the relation between biological organisms and the world in a non‐Cartesian way, breaking down the conceptual division between mind and world so that meaning can be seen as a function of the species‐specific way in which an organism engages with its environment. This leads to a view of the self as inherently embodied and engaged with the particularities of its material, cultural and social worlds, while being infinitely extended through the power of imagination; this enables humans to adapt to many different social and material environments. In order to understand these differences, we need to 'enter into the world of the other'. Where understanding of other animals requires immersion in their environmental milieux, understanding other humans requires us also to recognize that differences in socio‐cultural milieux create significantly different worlds of meaning and experience.