Embodied Empathy in Nô Dance Theatre? Grounded Cognition, , Shiva Pauer.

Content 1.The Body in Western Philosophy 2.Somaesthetical Reflection 3.The Nô Dance Theatre 4.Somaesthetically Induced Mental States of Others? 5.References

The Body in Western Philosophy The body has been underestimated, although a striving for self-knowledge has been documentad since Socrates. (Schusterman 2009) Plato A philosopher should dissociate her/himself from the body. The body misleads the soul and distracts from striving for truth. Physical exercise in order to keep it running. Kant Careful treatment of the body as a servant. Warning of paying attention to somatic and emotional states, somatic introspection harms the body and the mind. Self-knowledge comes along with moral perfection not with the body.

The body in Western philosophy William James Somatic introspection can harm the body and the mind (can cause depression, e. g.) due to automated action: The body performs better without inhibition by reflective states.  Power of “spontanity“ (direct, immediate action). Merleau-Ponty Somatic reflection is not necessary for most people, it disturbs action. Subliminal “spontanous bodily intentionality“ most effective for regular performance. Reflection inhibits enaction (e. g., also in gesturing, speaking, painting). Richard Schusterman Spontanity reinforces habituation. Some habituations result from inaccurate (reaction to) experiences. Therefore, some spontanous actions reinforce bad performance.

Somaesthetical Reflection Richard Schusterman Intervention in line with „somaesthetical reflection“ (body consciousness) offers diverse enhancement of self-knowledge (individual perception, experience of joy, bodily performance, being in control). (Re)learning of bodily action requires somaesthetical reflection (e. g. learning to play the drums). Representational reflection treats the body as an external object. Experiental reflection treats the body as a part of lived experience (e. g. meditation). Spontanity Somaesthetical reflection Habituation

Nô Dance Theatre Nô theory is in line with theories that focus on effects of reinforcing attention to bodily action. High accuracy, discipline and reduced amount of movement. Attention to movement, no spontanity in movement: “To keep his[/her] body [or posture] always in mind.“ (Zeami 1983, 94) (corporeal knowledge, visceral awareness and physical sensations, Baggs 2011)

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Somaesthetically Induced Mental States of Others Some movements convey arbitrary meaning and have been trained from childhood on. The less movement and the higher the level of abstraction, the more mental activity: Reduced and abstract movement conveys the essence of the role‘s habitus. What does an actor experience? Somaesthetical reflection (SAR) and agency (Longo et al. 2010). 1.Visual impression of the own back (multi-modal experience due to body sensation, (Ebisch et al. 2008) - an interaction of “having a body“ (representational SAR) and “being a body“ (experiencial SAR) intendend to be beyond both (Pauer 2015): “The eyes look ahead and the [mind] looks behind.“ (Zeami 1983, 81)

Somaesthetically Induced Mental States of Others 2. Perspective taking through abstract bodily imitation (‘Kata‘ = embodiment, Hirota 2010). a) Representation of corporeal knowledge (i. e., a situation and circumstance) of a role. b) Reenactment of the bodily expression of the role in an arbitrary symbol system. c) Somaesthetical induced mental states of the role. Inferiential agency ? Embodied empathy One’s own abstract motor action is used to understand the emotions of another agent by means of embodied simulation? Motor action

References Baggs, B. (2011). Beyond words: an embodied empathic process, MA thesis, University of Utah. Ebisch, S. J. H. & Gallese, V. (2008), The Sense of Touch: Embodied Simulation in a Visuotactile Mirroring Mechanism for Observed Animate or Inanimate Touch, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(9), 1–13. Hirota, Y. & Ishida, Y. & Staudacher, E. (2010). Die verborgenen Kräfte des Körpers und ihre Überlieferung durch Kata. Ein internationaler Workshop zur japanischen Körperkultur, Paragrana 19(1), Longo, M. R. & Tsakiris, M. & Haggard, P. (2010). Having a body versus moving your body: Neural signatures of agency and body–ownership, Neuropsychologia 48(9), Shusterman, R. (2008). Body consciousness: A philosophy of mindfulness and somaesthetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Shusterman, R. (2006) Thinking through the body, educating for the humanities: A plea for somaesthetics. The journal of aesthetic education, 40(1), Pauer, S. (2015). Körper-Sein oder Körper-Haben? Meditatives Innehalten im japanischen Nô Tanztheater. In: Pauer, S. & Krebl, H. & Pehlke, S., stumm. Beleuchtungen der Leere, 10, LIT, Zeami (1983). A Mirror held to the Flower [Kakyô]. In: J. T. Rimer u. Y. Masakazu [transl.], On the Art of the Nô Drama: The Major Treatises of Zeami, Princeton.