A. Cooper Albright (Dance)
4 HU, WRi, 4 Hours
Fall Semester FYSP 103-01 MWF 8:30-9:50
When René Descartes famously declared, “I think, therefore I am,” he had to effectively dissociate his mind from his embodied senses of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. This allowed him “to be” without “being in the world.” The resultant separation of thinking from being has created a legacy of separating ourselves from our bodies. This fissure is reflected in the prevalent opposition between the rational mind and the irrational body, and has resulted in a cultural politics that positions some people as all mind and others as all body. As we move further into the 21st century, let’s ask ourselves: How can we learn from our bodies, and how do we learn with our bodies? This course will team philosophical inquiry (thinking and writing) with somatic exercises (developing our bodily knowledge) to investigate ways to bridge this body/mind divide, enabling a new approach to learning within a liberal arts environment.