Funny Vibe: Towards a Somaesthetic Approach to Anti-racist Education

Abstract

The revolutionary philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once famously remarked that, “The human body is the best picture of the human soul” (Wittgenstein 1953, 1781). Though slightly cryptic at first blush, this comment also seems to contain a degree of truth, perhaps bringing to mind the common (if commonly condemned) tendency to “judge a book by its cover.” Trying to determine the extent to which the idea is true, however, much less explain it, are different matters altogether. We know that the human mind (or soul) and body must somehow be connected, like the myste- rious “ghost in the machine” popularized by Rene Descartes over three centuries ago (Ryle 1949, 15–16). Yet interest in the so-called mind-body problem extends ...