Dear Ken
Thank you for taking time to respond. I am still working on the subject.
Jinan
On 05/04/2019, Ken Friedman
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Jinan,
>
> Your query is good: “What is EMBODIMENT and what is not? Sorry to ask this
> question. I am totally confused as I find this term is being used in many
> different ways.”
>
> The confusion is understandable. The term is used in may different ways. As
> with many common words used in a professional context or in research, the
> person who uses the word should define it in the context of the project at
> hand. For example, an article might require a sentence that says something
> like,
>
> “I this article, I use the term [embodied knowledge] to mean ‘[————] of
> [—————] in [—————]’. This rests on several philosophical assumptions. These
> are that … .” And so on.
>
> Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary at Britannica Online provides two crucial — but
> only partial — definitions. The verb embody means,
>
> “1 : to make a part of a body or system : incorporate <embodied a tax
> provision in the new law>; 2 : to express in a concrete or definite form
> <embody one's ideas in words>; 3 : to represent in visible form <a person
> who embodies courage>”
>
> The related noun embodiment means,
>
> “1 : the act of embodying : the state of being embodied; 2 : one that
> embodies something”
>
> Even in a context as careful and precise as a dictionary, the words have
> several kinds of meaning. To make the word clear and meaningful in a
> project, it would be necessary to make clear what one means. To embody a
> series of defined steps in a work flow process is one possible meaning.
>
> Many service professions from surgery to restaurant table service train
> people to undertake specific processes in specific ways, embodying the work
> flow to achieve a specific result. This is also the case for the established
> patterns of movement used in martial arts kata for practices such as kendo
> (swordsmanship) or karate. In each case, the practitioner — surgeon,
> waitperson, kendoka, or karateka — learns a specific set of skills. Through
> practice, he or she brings these skills into a smooth, effective process. As
> the process becomes embodied in the practitioner — or, to put it
> differently, as the practitioner comes to embody the process — the skill is
> embodied. This is a common way of speaking about the traditional skills of
> an expert tradition.
>
> Two books offer particularly rich descriptions of how the practice of kendo
> leads to embodiment. One is the well-known classic, The Book of Five Rings
> by Miyamoto Musashi. The Thomas Cleary translation (1993, Boston: Shambhala)
> is especially useful, coming with an elegant introduction and the house book
> of Munenori Yagyu, sword teacher to the shogun.
>
> Yagyu was one of the historical yet legendary samurai of 1600s. He was an
> embodiment of the samurai tradition, in this sense that he so mastered the
> way of the sword that he himself came to represent what it meant to be a
> swordsman in feudal Japan. An excellent book by David Lowry sited Autumn
> Lightning (1985, Boston: Shambhala) tells much of the story. Along the way,
> it offers a good account of embodiment in one sense of the word. The
> chapters from pages 87-100 and 115-131 are especially useful. Lowry gives a
> particularly crisp account (pp. 120-121) of a sword battle in which Munenori
> responds swiftly to a threat to the shogun from a scouting party at the
> Winter Battle of Osaka Castle in 1605. Munenori’s response was so swift and
> decisive that he had killed several of his opponents and dispersed the
> remainder while the rest of the shogun’s retainers were still gathering
> around the shogun in a defensive circle. While this kind of fight is common
> in samurai movies, it was uncommon in real life for a single warrior without
> help fighting under the weight of armour to defeat a much larger group of
> opponents.
>
> These two books will give you a good sense of how embodiment takes place and
> what it means in one profession, swordsmanship, now a traditional sport in
> Japan.
>
> Another meaning of embodiment is that of representation. The large panorama
> of New York City at The Queens Museum is a good example of this meaning of
> the word embodiment. The panorama represents an urban area in a large scale
> model. Even though the scale is 1:1200, the model fills an exhibition hall,
> and it gives visitors a sense of the city.
>
> https://queensmuseum.org/2013/10/panorama-of-the-city-of-new-york
> <https://queensmuseum.org/2013/10/panorama-of-the-city-of-new-york>
>
> In each case, the meaning of the word embodiment is defined by context and
> purpose. The term becomes increasingly precise and rich as the understanding
> of context grows — the more one learns about medieval Japan, for example,
> the better one understands the deeds and achievements of Yagyu Munenori. In
> turn, the better one understands Yagyu’s well-documented life and deeds, the
> better one understands the writings of the historical Musashi.
>
> In each case — as in writing about embodiment today — careful description
> with attention to context gives the word its meaning. In this sense, it is
> helpful to take a look at Clifford Geertz’s concept of thick description in
> his classic 1973 book, The Interpretation of Cultures. (2017, New York:
> Basic Books, 3rd edition, revised.)
>
> Simple words often have many meanings. These must be defined and exemplified
> to reveal what each author means in any specific context. The way one uses a
> word in one context doesn’t mean that the same word have the same meaning in
> another context. For that matter, an. Author may use the same word different
> ways in different articles — what’s vital is to state clearly what the word
> means in the specific context at hand.
>
> Yours,
>
> Ken
>
> Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The
> Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji
> University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL:
> http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
>
> Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and
> Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Email
> [log in to unmask] | Academia
> http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Jinan,
TEXT DISTORTS, DIGITAL DESTROYS, WORLD AWAKENS
http://jinankb.in/
http://existentialknowledgefoundation.org/
http://rethinkingfoundation.weebly.com/
http://sadhanavillageschool.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/sadhanavillagepune
https://www.youtube.com/user/jinansvideos
www.re-cognition.org
https://independent.academia.edu/JinanKodapully
09447121544
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