The Thinking Hand: Existential and UOMO MUM anni cla att cy Juhani Pallasmaa pi F| 0 cl EA Z 3 by 3 a Fs pI XG oer eels enn at nee a IM ©Introductio mbodied Existence ho ‘Western consumer culture continues to project a dualistic attitude towards the human body, On the one hand we have an obsessively aestheticived and erotcsed cult of the body, but on the other, intligence and creative ‘capacity are equally celebrated as totally separate, or even exclsive ff individual qualities. In ether case, the body and the mind are understood as ‘nvlated entries that do not constitute an integrated unity. Ths separation is reflected in the strict dvsion of human activities and work into physical ‘and intellectuat categories, The body is regarded asthe medium of identity ‘and sef-presentation, as wel 2s an instrument of social and senual appeal. However, its significance is understood merely its physical and physiological essence, but undervalued and neglected init role a the very ground of ‘embodied existence and knowledge as wel as the full understanding ofthe human condition *‘This dvsion of body and mind has, of course, its sold foundation ia the bistary of Western philosophy. Prevaling educational pedagogies and pracices aso regrettably continue to separate mental, intelectual and ‘emotional capacities from the senses and the multifarious dimensions of humen embodiment, Educational practices usually previde some dees ‘of piysical training for the body, but they do nat acknowledge our ‘fundamentally embodied and holistic essence. The body is addressed in sports and dance, for instance, and the senses are directly acknowledged in connection with art and music education, but our embodied existence i rarely identified as the very basis of our interaction and integration withthe ‘word, oF of our consciousness and sell-understanding. Taining ofthe hand is provided in courses that teach elementary sil inthe handicrafts, but the integra role of the hand in the evolution and diferent manifestations of ‘human intetigence is not acknowledged. To put it simply, today's preveting educational principles fll to graso the indeterminate, dynamic and sensualy integrated essence of human existence, thought and action, Its, i act, reasonable to assume that prior to our curent industria, ‘mechanised and materialist consumer culture, situations in daly fe as well 25 processes of maturation and education provided a more comprehensive experiential ground for human growth and learning de to their divect interection with the natural worid and its complex causalities. In earlier modes, Of lt, the intimate contact with work, production, materials, imate and ‘the evervarying phenomena of nature provided ample sensory interaction with the world of physical causaltes. | would also suggest that closer fay ‘and social ties, as well a the presence of domestic animals, provided mare ‘experiences for the development of a sense of empathy and compassion than todays individualised and molecular ife world {spent my early childhood years at my grandiather's small farm in central Finland, and with age | have become increasingly amare of how indebted | {am te the richness ofthis farmer's Kfe sphere in the late 1930s and 1240s {or providing an understanding of my own embodied existence, and of the essential interdependences of the mental and physical aspects of daily life. I believe now that even one's sense of beauty and ethical judgerrent {are firmly grounded in the early experiences of the integrated nature of the human life world, Beauty is not a detached aesthetic quality; the experience of beauty arses from grasping the unquestionable ceusaliies and interdependences of life In our age of massive industrial production, surreal consumption, euphoric communication and fictitious digital environments, we continue 1 ie in ‘our bodies inthe same way that we inhabit our houses, because we have sadly forgatten that we do nat live in our bodies but are ourselves embodied constitutions. Embodiment is not @ secondary experience; the human existence is fundamen'ally an embodied condition, Today, our senset and bodies ae objects of ceaseless commercial manipulation and exploitation, Physical beauty, strength, youth and vility ae adored in the realms of social values, advertising ane entertainment. In case we fail to possess idel physical qualities, our bodies ae turned against us as causes of deep dsappcintment ‘and gull Wh ever-accelerating frequency, all ow senses are exploited by consumer manipulation, yet atthe same time these very same senses continue to be undervalued as prerequisites of our existential condition oF 25 educational objectives. ntellectually, we may well ave philosophcally ‘ejected the Cartesian dualty of body and mind, but the separation continues torule in cultural, educational and socal practices tis tragic, indeed, that at the time in which our technologies offer a multi- dimensional perception of the world and ourselves, we should throw out consciousness and capacities back to 2 Euliian world. | do not wish to dwell ‘on nostalgic images of an Arcadian past oF to represent a conservative view ‘of cultural development. just want to remind myself as well as my readers of the very evident blind spots in our established understanding of aur own historicity 2 biological and cultural beinas. ‘Human consclousnessis an embodied consciousness, the worlds stuctured ‘around a sensory and corporeal centre. ‘lam my body’ Gabriel Marcel aims: ‘Lam what is zround me,’ Wallace Stevens argues‘ am the space, where | 2mm, Nod! Amaud establishes, and finaly “| am my world, Ludwig wittgenstein concludes * We ate connected with the world through our senses, The senses are not ‘merely passive receptors of stimull, and the bod isnot only 2 point of viewing the world from a central perspective. Neither the head the sole locus of cognitive thinking, as our senses and entire bodily being dicectly structure, produce ane store silent existential knowledge. The human body is 2 knowing entity. Ourentire being in the world s a sensuous and enibodted ‘mode of being, and this very sense of being isthe ground of existemial Knowledge. [Understanding is not a quality coming to human realty from the outside; itis ts characteristic way of existing,’ as Jean-Paul Sartre claims”