Somaesthetics and education

exploring the terrain

Richard Shusterman

pp. 51-60

in: Liora Bresler (ed), Knowing bodies, moving minds, Berlin, Springer, 2004

Abstract

In the pragmatist tradition of William James and John Dewey, I regard experience as a central concept of philosophy and affirm the body as an organizing core of experience. So in developing a pragmatist aesthetics and a theory of philosophy as an art of living, I proposed a more constructive and systematic philosophical approach to the body which I call 'somaesthetics' and which I conceive as a discipline of theory and practice . Somaesthetics is deeply concerned with important educational aims and may offer some interesting new perspectives and techniques with respect to learning. But it also presents some particular problems with respect to its teaching in the standard university curriculum. In this paper, after briefly outlining the aims and structure of somaesthetics, I examine its educational potential and problems, considering both historical sources and the contemporary situation.

Cited authors

James William

Dewey John