Dear Colleagues,
The concept of embodied knowledge has attracted a lot of followers, but at the same time we need to be aware that from the standpoint of several paradigms it is highly controversial when used beyond the realm of bodily performance. And in some paradigms it is not a concept but a metaphor that is used as a scaffolding in the process of conceptualizing.
In Historical Materialism, the closest concepts are materialization and concretization. Yet, they are very different. And what we call bodily knowledge, in gnoseology (the equivalent of epistemology), is treated as a completely different category.
While the concept of embodied knowledge is very productive in particular areas of study, applying this conceptual apparatus to many fields leads to misleading metaphors and mis-understanding of the human and social world. The embodiment turn has led to very strange ideas (mildly stated). We need to use the ability of self-reflection and get a third-party position to understand the extent that contemporary human and social sciences have indulged in a epistemological surrealism, if I can use this way of phrasing.
I write this caveat because I am concerned that the current overuse and abuse of the concept and in particular of the words can be detrimental to the process of understanding the world. Even the most productive concepts have their limited boundaries of application. Beyond these boundaries, they might have negative effects on understanding.
With appreciation,
Lubomir
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