Body in Mind
The Role of the Body in Damasio’s Theory of Emotion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.44.2.10Keywords:
Antonio Damasio, emotions, body, mind, embodied cognitionAbstract
In the last few decades, emotion became one of the central topics in many scientific disciplines. Neuroscientific research has developed many tools and approaches for studying emotions in humans and animals. In this regard, the work of Antonio Damasio has been important for uncovering physiological mechanisms of emotions and feelings and their role in homeostatic regulation. In some aspects, his theory has challenged our own everyday intuitions about what emotions are. The aim of this article is to show that Damasio’s account of affects has underlined the importance of the body in generating feelings and subjective conscious experience and that this view of the two-way communication between the body and brain can offer a fresh perspective on the mind-body problem.
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