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Body, Mind and Emotions

In this thematic area we are dedicated to the relationship between the physical and the mental, to the reflections gathered around it through scientific research and contemplative practice.

Human beings have (or appear to have) both physical properties and mental properties.
What is the difference between these properties, whether the mental is a subset of the physical or vice versa or, again, whether these states are irreducibly distinct from each other and how they can causally interact with each other.
In the contemporary scientific scenario (from physics after classical mechanics to social sciences and anthropology), many voices question a strong opposition (dualism) of this type between mind and matter and investigate the complex unfolding of these only apparently polar dimensions. In this place we dedicate ourselves to the investigation of this relationship in a transversal path between scientific research and contemplative practice.

Thematic areas

MSA Mappare Emozioni
Despite apparent divergences between the models we are going over — one referring to the basic emotions currents, to other being constructivist perspectives —, the common grounds also appear to be quite interesting. Both Barrett and Asma & Gabriel agree upon the existence of core affects, proposing different views on their extension (how many and what they are) and on their role in shaping human behavior.
MSA Mappare Emozioni
Body, Mind and Emotions
Despite apparent divergences between the models we are going over — one referring to the basic emotions currents, to other being constructivist perspectives —, the common grounds also appear to be quite interesting. Both Barrett and Asma & Gabriel agree upon the existence of core affects, proposing different views on their extension (how many and what they are) and on their role in shaping human behavior.

Tutti gli articoli in Body, Mind and Emotions

Despite apparent divergences between the models we are going over — one referring to the basic emotions currents, to other being constructivist perspectives —, the common grounds also appear to be quite interesting. Both Barrett and Asma & Gabriel agree upon the existence of core affects, proposing different views on their extension (how many and what they are) and on their role in shaping human behavior.
The trine model of the human brain first introduced by MacLean — seeing the human brain as evolved in three main waves, the first of which has created a reptilian complex at the core, the second a paleo-mammal limbic system and lastly the recent structures of the neo-cortex — is now considered anatomically obsolete and Damasio's work has clearly shown the most "primitive" structures to be vital to superior cognition. How much of this layered conception, made of levels, ancient and recent, primitive or cognitively superior, with interactions flowing in both senses (top-down or bottom-up), still survives in the debate?
The debate confronting the two paradigms partly relates to how we define that which is shared or universal. Even within its constructivist perspective, Barrett accepts the existence of universals. Indeed, his model envisages affects that are constantly fluctuating in valence (positive or negative).
The field of affective neuroscience has recently witnessed a vigorous debate between two different approaches to understanding emotions. The first, Basic Emotion Theories, also referred to by various names such as the mechanisms underlying them (emotion circuits, somatic markersand so on), or their supposed nature (nativism vs essentialism)
Charles Hampden-Turner's classic Mapping the Mind (1982) includes sixty mapping models of the human being, of his psyche. His map categories range from historical to religious, to psychoanalytic, existentialist, psychosocial, creative, linguistic-symbolic, cybernetic, structural and “paradigmatic” perspectives. From Taoism, St. Augustine, Blake, Darwin, Marx, Weber and Freud, up to Lacan, Bateson, Chomsky and Varela. For the time, Hampden-Turner's text is extremely sophisticated, rich, and accessible; today his approach desperately needs an update.