Briedis, Mindaugas

In the article, we explore, from the perspective of genetic phenomenology, the embodied image consciousness in terms of two distinct cases, i.e.: surrealism as social and/or artistic movement as well as radiology as cognitive and/or social praxis. Both scientifically and socially, consciousness is still regarded as coextensive with language, which has its own logic and its own set of relations, and imposes its order that conceals the duration as well as the discontinuity of (lived) experiential states. Certain media are able to disclose the very logic of manifestation (movement as the ground of identity) better than direct perception. While analyzing these instances of mediation, we can, on the other hand, experience the true insistence of language and the symbolic order within embodied consciousness. Hence, individual identity can appear in many ways. These ways are also the correlates of modes of medical imaging and surrealist artistic techniques. Both, in turn, presuppose certain skills (adapted to the manifestation of environments) to stabilize the perceptual constancy of an object in its multimodal appearances.

This article explores how memory is shaped by media ecologies, emphasising embodied and postcolonial perspectives. Challenging digital and Eurocentric archival practices and its infrastructures, we examine the disembodiment of memory in digital environments and advocate for alternative, embodied forms of remembrance. Drawing on thinkers such as Stiegler, Simondon, Derrida and Foucault, the text underscores the ontological and political stakes of archiving. Through case studies from Latin America and philosophical inquiry, the article proposes a revaluation of bodily practices, local traditions, and intersubjective rituals as vital infrastructures for cultural memory, justice, and epistemic diversity in a digitised and globalised world.

The paper aims to provide a broad construct for understanding skills, what they are, and the ways in which they are situated, i.e., dependent on the conditions for their exercise. Adding to Hinchliffe's approach, we made skills’ transferability not only a key aspect of their conceptualization but also a way of exploring their deeply embodied nature and their intricate relation with complex situations. While there is a growing body of research regarding concrete aspects of embodied cognition in learning environments, little attention is given to skilful performances while transferring them into different (mediatized and non-mediatized) learning environments. Our theoretical and empirical investigation offers a preliminary picture of how skills are reconfigured and redeployed in transitioning from one learning environment to another. Regarding the structure of skill, we enlarged Hinchliffe’s approach, integrating the perspective of conversational analysis. The structure of skills can be made explicit if we follow their build-up from simple abilities and their integration into larger structures. According to our view, being skilful means that one can cope with scripted and unscripted interactions and move easily between them.

The article analyzes and compares the philosophical theology of Kierkegaard and Tillich. They are usually represented as exponents of the same (existentialist- Protestant) tradition, but a different perception of the main questions and possibilities for philosophical theology to answer them guides these philosophers to radically different conclusions regarding the philosophy of religion. A closer look at how they understand faith (pistis) unlocks new possibilities to interpret the ideas of Kierkegaard and Tillich rather than to accept “chrestomathic” analyses. Tillich’s implicit loyalty to Platonic and Hegelian ideas subordinates the existential aspects of his system to answers, which can be described as a “gnostic” understanding of faith and knowledge. This violates the limits for theoretical knowledge set by Kierkegaard. Such a Tillichian ontological loyalty explains that an ontological search is implicated in every religious experience. This basic presupposition of interaction with the sacred for Tillich lets us view Kierkegaard’s famous interpretation of biblical myths critically, and to argue that these stories do not mean that the only possible faith is “blind” faith. This opens a path for Tillich to rationalize every aspect of Christianity and to talk about “true God,” God beyond the gods of actual religions.

This article explores the fundamental experience of empathy, combining the theoretical perspectives of phenomenology and enactivism with exemplary cases from radiology praxis. It is shown that the phenomenological tradition includes different conceptualisations of empathy. The problem of empathy in phenomenology can no longer be viewed only from Husserl’s perspective, and further developments must be introduced. However, the analysis of Husserl’s scattered work on biological phenomena clears the way to apply insights on Image consciousness, categorial intuition, and other projects in order to grasp the specific causality at play in the nexus of biological processes beyond anthropomorphism and the principle of similarity. This in turn reveals the transcendental status of the self-organizing and sense-making capacities of biological systems and presents them as affordances for skillful diagnostic action. Hence, we demonstrate how life-regulation processes generate forms of meaning or sense-making that underlie and motivate human conceptual cognition.

In this article, we consider Mexican Muralism, specifically the works of Diego Rivera, as a prominent manifestation of artistic media ecologies that provide affordances for conversations and interactions which amplify social beliefs and turn subjective judgements into intersubjective reality. We analyse this reality from the perspectives of embodied cognition and critical phenomenology. We use this conceptual apparatus to examine the genesis of mestizo identity in the specific medium of Mexican Muralism. We aim to clarify the particular lived experience of the mestizo subaltern condition and its relation to the origins of mestizo subjectivity. This article argues that Rivera’s murals, understood through a framework of critical phenomenology and media ecology, offer embodied, spatial strategies that disrupt colonized forms of perception and imagination, thereby contributing to a reconfiguration of subjectivity. Moreover, we examine how visible markers of social identity – such as gender, race and class – are mediated by murals and thus inform the personal awareness and experience of inequality.

Recent developments in metaphor theory stress its embodied character. This article brings together these transformational insights and considers them through the lenses of Dante’s approach, which we may call proto-phenomenological, to the phenomenon of evil. Despite the substantial work on different aspects of Dante’s oeuvre, concerning philosophy, theology and poetry, there has been little reflection on his specific phenomenological hermeneutics of the body and its importance for the whole poetic project. The article responds to this neglect with an analysis of the logic of embodied metaphor in relation to a specific, pre-modern context. Hence, the conceptual apparatus of embodied cognition and enactive phenomenology is used here as a method to support the thesis that the language of embodied metaphors grounds a new approach to ontological, epistemological and ethical aspects regarding the phenomenon of evil, which are already apparent in Dante’s work. Therefore, another important outcome of this research is the validation of the primacy of poetry on the grounds of this new (embodied) epistemology.

There are number of reasons why it might be problematic to compare surrealism and radiology and this article will address some of them. However, this does not mean that the embodied cognitive patterns that are involved in making and interpreting surreal images cannot be productively correlated with the specifics of radiology imaging. Thus, this article does not focus on diagnostic or aesthetic processes and goals but rather thematizes the experiences of embodied cognition, affect, self-apprehension, and embodied (perceptual) imagination which make the former possible. We show how a phenomenological-enactive perspective helps in understanding the constitution of and participation in shared meanings via possibilities structured by the specific ecologies of radiology and surrealist media. Hence, philosophical anthropology based on visual embodied cognition discloses structures that are not static but rather genetic in the process of the apprehension of such images. In the article we use the arguments (especially those regarding embodied cognition) of both classical phenomenologists (Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Patočka) and more critically minded ones who in one way or another extend or transform phenomenological ideas (Deleuze, Lacan, Gallagher). While the article aims to enrich philosophical discussions about the experience of images and the cognition involved, it also addresses the specific media of both radiology and surrealism and some assemblage-like relations between the two. For this reason, philosophical arguments are illustrated through the analysis of actual radiograms and surrealist paintings.

Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo (1994 [1955]) is one of the milestones of Mexican literature and it holds an important place in the global canon of the twentieth century. Despite the wide spectrum of interpretative possibilities it offers, there are almost no studies of this important novel from the perspective of embodied cognition. This article draws on the vocabulary of contemporary philosophy to address this critical gap, deconstructing the full range of traditional binary oppositions articulated by Rulfo, which includes: body and mind, cognitive and moral, imaginative and perceptual, mystical and lived, freedom and responsibility, individual and social. However, to establish the relevancy of our chosen conceptual apparatus, we return to Aristotle to offer a novel interpretation which also allows us to situate and correlate both the universal (human) and particular (mestizo) projects laid out by the author of Páramo. We demonstrate both the usefulness of Aristotle’s universal descriptions of the human being and the shortcomings of their rationalism and optimism in the context of the postcolonial world. To modify and extend this adaptation we reflect further on the specific ‘movements’ of the mestizo soul, which privilege embodied moments of cognition and transgression as the proper care for the soul, a soul that embraces both individual and socio-cultural aspects. This finally allows us to address the question of how the post-logocentric enaction and mediation of mestizo identity is possible.

This paper explores the collaborative potential between humans and generative artificial intelligence in creative contexts through a co-creation framework. The study uses ChatGPT to develop narrative elements such as slogans, taglines, and claims for university marketing programs, comparing human-generated and artificial intelligence-generated content to evaluate effectiveness and engagement. Results indicate that while artificial intelligence can contribute useful and creative content, human participants still prefer human-generated narratives in many instances. The study also highlights how generative artificial intelligence can enhance creative processes by accelerating ideation and reducing cognitive load, but it raises concerns regarding the originality and diversity of artificial intelligence-generated content. This research provides insights into the integration of artificial intelligence in collaborative creative work and suggests best practices for leveraging artificial intelligence tools in marketing and communication strategies.