The Body, and Our Difficult Lives: Read Traces of French Phenomenology: From Saud to Derrida

man, what is it? Regarding this question, different people and different disciplines will give many descriptions and answers. If all these answers are to be collected, it may be necessary to build a library that cannot fit on Earth. But it doesn't seem like this is just an abstract, unrelated issue of everyday life; it's an issue that matters to everyone. Because our answer to "what is a person/what am I" almost determines how we live our daily lives and how we consider the place of others in our lives.

As the saying goes: "Every line is like a mountain". Especially in today's era when various disciplines have developed very in-depth and detailed, it is difficult for people who usually focus on different subjects to absorb a good book that is professional but not undergraduate. Therefore, Professor Liu Guoying's "Traces of French Phenomenology: From Saudi Arabia to Derrida", although it is a classic work in Chinese philosophy circles, for ordinary people, probably from the first page, they will see Countless technical terms that have never been read. However, in fact, many of the content in this book is very helpful to our daily life. Therefore, we thought it would be a useful work to write a relatively simple map that allows ordinary people to access this classic map.

Having said all that, what are we talking about? In order to prevent the reader from walking into a maze of unseen prospects, we will first predict here: we will discuss how the "body" works in the world, and how to reconcile the conflict between the external world and ourselves.

What am I sure about before thinking about it?

Philosophers often ponder a question: What is the most certain thing we cannot doubt, and what can serve as the surest and surest starting point for knowledge? One possible answer is: we exist in the world. After all, no matter how we think about "human beings", human beings are consciousness, mind, or nervous system, even if human beings are just some kind of "illusion" and so on; at least, there is such an "illusion". So, "we exist" seems to be an undeniable fact.

The body is the existence that goes to the world

At this point you may be thinking: we exist, is there anything to doubt it? Why bother bringing this up? In fact, the reason is very simple: through such emphasis, it will be easier for us to discover the importance of "body" in life.

We, always depend on certain relationships to live. But if we are heartbroken and disappointed with everyone; then we may also shut up and maintain only superficial relationships with others. Our mind, consciousness can do this; but with our "body" it is impossible. The body always needs water, air, and sunlight; whether we do it consciously or not, the body always needs the world, constantly exchanging some substances with the external world. The body not only lives in the world, but also actively needs to go to the world.

Organs and the body: How does the body coordinate the various parts?

However, once we place our bodies in the world, we start to wonder about how our bodies work. In the world, a table and a chair are two different things that can be independent of each other; is there such a relationship between the various parts of the body? For example, there are many different organs in our body, the eyes are used to see, the ears are used to hear, and so on. Is the body the sum total of different organs working separately and then "adding" the received data and responses?

Based on the research in this book, we can say with a fair amount of confidence that it shouldn't. The body is far from each organ functioning individually and then simply adding up. For example, when we are playing football, we do not measure the distance between our feet and the football with our eyes first, and then kick the ball with our feet; instead, the two work at the same time to kick the ball out.

You might say: It's just that the eyes and the feet function for a short period of time, and it doesn't mean that the two organs are connected by something "non-organ". Merleau Ponty/Liu Guoying gave a more obvious example: people who have had one of their limbs removed, they still feel pain in the part that has been removed; this is what medicine calls a "phantom limb" phenomenon (phantom limb) . If the body is only the sum of the organs; how can there be feeling when the organs have been removed? It seems that the "feeling" of each organ is not only recorded in that organ, but in the whole body. That is to say, our body as a whole remembers how we coordinate, habits and feel the various parts of our body all the time.

Epilogue

OK, after talking so much, it seems that you are still talking about some well-known things? What do these have to do with our lives? But if we think about it carefully, we will find that every point just mentioned can be applied to life.

If we know that the "body" is not just a combination of parts, but a whole that connects the feeling and action of each part. That means: our maintenance of the body cannot just take care of every part of the body; it must also exert and train the connections between various parts of the body to perform some kind of exercise that involves the whole body at the same time. It is good to train certain parts alone, but it does not fully exert the normal function of the body.

Then again: we need the world all the time; we can't get rid of our need for the world as long as we have a body. Human relationships are also in this relationship; because in a highly developed modern society, we cannot do everything ourselves, but must rely on goods from other people. To give an extreme example: Even if you are squatting at home without stepping out of the room door, someone must deliver meals at his door in order to survive. So how can we possibly escape all human relationships if our most basic existence involves others? Therefore, if we re-examine the most common and familiar "body", it can help us to choose "A relationship or B relationship", instead of choosing to reject all relationships.

PS after the end

The focus of this article is on "popularization", so try to mention only the most basic concepts; if you want to see a further discussion on "body", you can refer to my other article: " Hypnosis, can treat contemporary Cultural sickness of society? Bi Laide talks about "Zhuangzi" x Erickson"

This article was first published on Readmoo, and I would like to thank you

Link: https://news.readmoo.com/2021/09/11/210911-phenomenology/