The Embodied Philosopher

The book is the first formulation of a meta-philosophical scheme rooted in the embodied cognition paradigm. The emergence of experimental philosophy has given rise to a new context in which philosophers have begun to search for a more thorough definition of philosophical competence. On the other hand, a new paradigm known as embodied cognition has been proposed in the philosophy of mind. It views subjects capable of cognition and experience as living, embodied creatures coupled with their environments. The time is ripe for these two trends to join their efforts. Therefore, the book discusses what it means for a human being thought of as an living subject to pursue philosophy. In this context, in contrast to the existing literature, philosophical competence must not be conflated with competence in philosophy. The former is a skill or attitude. The book refers to this peculiar attitude as the recognition of one’s epistemic position.

“In The Embodied Philosopher, Konrad Werner courageously blazes a new trail in metaphilosophy.  His approach is bottom-up and seeks to clear up our confusion over the role that intuitions play in philosophical argumentation.  In this groundbreaking work, the reader takes delivery of not only how to contend with deep philosophical problems but how to generate the right sort of questions to ask for one to be “doing” philosophy.  Anyone from undergraduate to specialist with an interest in metaphilosophy will benefit from Werner’s discussion.”

Joseph Ulatowski, University of Waikato, New Zealand