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Summary
"I found it fascinating to read and it is quite beautifully written. But I must caution against taking its extreme originality lightly." -- Stephen David Ross, State University of New York at Binghamton
Schumacher has written a provocative work in the philosophy of science. In presenting posture as the most important aspect of life, Schumacher examines how the terms of posture encompass all the major disciplines and provide a means for resolving human dilemmas through a humanistically oriented philosophy of inquiry. He investigates a variety of important philosophical topics: abstract thought, perception, time, space, sexuality, education, and community. Insights into the origins and measures of space and time are especially valuable.
"I like the originality of the theme. One hears much today about semiotics and the structure of signs, about language, texts, theory, and narrative--but not of posture. Schumacher asserts that posture is the underlying condition for humans (like bees and other animals) having a world, for humans (unlike other animals) being free within it, for humans (like animals) communicating within a world and (unlike animals) inquiring about it. This is an engrossing work. It owes much to M. Merleau-Ponty. The work, however, is strikingly original in its analysis of posture; it is elegantly written and often eloquent; it is contemporary in its references and in the way it addresses the problematic of mind and brain, space and time; and it is a learned work which ranges over many disciplines in a fascinating way. It shows precise knowledge and keen appreciation of many branches of modern science--physics, psychology, linguistics, neurophysiology, and ecology, while at the same time it is deeply concerned with the way that science has alienated us from our bodies and senses by making us think of our bodies solely from the outside in. The sustained and insightful analyses of space and time are particularly rewarding. A great experience." -- Patrick Heelan, State University of New York at Stony Brook
John A. Schumacher is an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Science and Technology Studies Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
I. Objectives
II. Aleatory Body: Personal Liberation
III. Tasks
Part One The Origin of Inquiry
I. Posture
II. Faces
III. First Human Faces
IV. First Promises
V. First Human Voices
VI. First Views
VII. First Opacity
VIII. Origin of Inquiry
Part Two The End of Inquiry
I. Body
II. Classical Analysis: Newton
III. Relativistic Analysis: Einstein
IV. Relativistic Analysis: Implications
V. Quantum Mechanical Analysis: Bohr and Bohm
VI. Quantum Mechanical Analysis: Implications
VII. End of Inquiry
Part Three The Co-Making of Inquiry
I. Person
II. Sensuality and the Panopticon
III. The Panopticon of Everyday Life: The Cell-Like Posture
