Abstract

FIGUEIREDO, Nara Miranda de  and  SIMAN, Josie Helen. Current issues on body and language: embodied cognition, empirical agenda and linguistic enactivism. Conjectura: filos. e Educ. [online]. 2021, vol.26, e021007.  Epub Jan 10, 2024. ISSN 2178-4612.  https://doi.org/10.18226/21784612.v26.e021007.

Embodied approaches to human cognition emphasize the role of the body in processes of linguistic comprehension and production. Several empirical studies have presented support to these approaches. The recent linguistic enactivist approach to cognition stands out for suggesting that we have to deepen our concept of the body. In this context, we present: 1) neurological and psychological evidence supporting the claim that concepts are embodied; 2) two theoretical approaches to embodied cognition in the cognitive sciences: the grounded cognition approach, and one approach based on dynamic systems theory – our focus is on how these theories consider the conceptual system; and 3) the enactivist linguistic approach to cognition. Then, based on introductory clarifications on these three theories, we suggest that the empirical evidence supports only a shallow perspective of the role of the body in cognition, by the linguistic enactivist standards, and we emphasize the importance of understanding the empirical reach of linguistic enactivism.

Keywords : Language; Body; Cognition; Enactivism; Conceptual system.

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