The natural attitude in the sciences operates on an ontology that suspends subjectivity in favor of conceiving pure nature as the grounds for all being, and hence all understanding. The body is viewed as a condition of possibility within the context of other physical objects in objective space, wherein which it can be defined by its actions in relation to these objects and perhaps in relation to other bodies which are also categorized as material things. This is a very simple, condensed, and straight-forward mode of examining interactive situations, but it does not acknowledge the expressive and communicative properties that also constitute the body, especially in a sociocultural sense. With the natural attitude, the psyche is apprehended only through the implications that can be drawn by the behaviors and actions of the body within this matrix of object-relations. The body is an expressive conductor in the constitution of the environment and in the world experienced by other beings and other bodies. Bodies operate within an elaborate and communicative network of understanding, and this condition of being denies the possibility that a body functions as just a material object. The body is a generative entity co-creating the conditions of possibility within a sociocultural world with others.
The Expressive Body
Lynda Joy is a American PhD student living in Denmark, researching sensorimotor training with multi-modal Augmented Reality technologies by using methodologies from Cognitive Neuropsychology. During her MA, she worked very closely with the Center for Subjectivity Research and studied Phenomenology and its plausible implementations in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science ("naturalized" phenomenology). Between her MA and PhD, she worked with labs in Berlin (Germany), Adelaide (Australia), Tallinn (Estonia), Zurich (Switzerland), and Paris (France). She was a keynote speaker at IEEE VR in 2016, and presented at the Augmented Reality World Expo in 2017. In her spare time, she is currently writing a novel about a virtual simulation of bardo (the stage between life and death to reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism). Her goal is to create experiences with new technologies that help people access more of the embodied subjectivity of another person/persons. Lynda wants her work to revere compassion to help allow the world to realize what a gift it is to both give and receive. Lynda is a strong believer in a better world that we collectively make by sharing a common vision, and that this vision comes through sharing our stories and our truths. That's what this blog is all about.
What is Experience? 