Page 92 - Contribution To Phenomenology

Chapter 3

The Body as Cultural Object/
The Body as Pan-Cultural Universal

Maxine Sheets-Johnstone

Abstract: In addition to implicitly carrying forward a Cartesian-
inspired depreciative assessment of the body, many cultural
disciplines (including philosophy) have been heavily influenced by
postmodern dogma which basically regards the body as little more
than a cultural artifact Received wisdom and dogma together
preclude an appreciation of the body as pan-cultural universal A
consideration of early stone tools in the light of phenomenological
corporeal matters of fact shows how the body is the source of
fundamental meanings, a semantic template. The analogy between
the two major hominid tooth forms—molars and incisors—and the
major early stone tools—core tools and flake tools—is in fact
obvious once animate form and the tactile-kinesthetic body—the
sensorily felt body—is recognized, A consideration of the experience
of eyes as windows on two worlds exemplifies a further dimension
of the body as pan-cultural universal. The experience of eyes as
centers of light and dark is tied to an intercorporeal semantics that
is rooted in morphological/visual relationships and attested to by
biologist Adolf Portmann's notion of inwardness. The experience is
furthermore shown to be the basis of cultural practices and beliefs
related to the creation of circular forms such as the mandala,
Phenomenological attention to corporeal matters of fact as
exemplified by paleoanthropological artifacts, by the experience of
inwardness, and by cultural drawings of circular forms underscores
the desirability of a corporeal turn, an acknowledgment of animate
form and of the tactile-kinesthetic experiences that consistently
undergird hominid life.

85
M. Daniel and L Embree (eds.), Phenomenology of the Cultural Disciplines, 85-114.
© 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.