From Disembodied Mind To Embodied Mind:The Predicament And Turning Of The Paradigm Of Cognitive Psychology

Following cognitivism and connectionism,embodied cognition theory has developed rapidly within cognitive psychology research.Embodied cognition theory is initially treated as a challenger to the cognitive psychology and cognition is no longer seen as an isolated event that only occurs in the brain,but rather as a living body in a real-time environment.The embodied cognition theory overcomes the theoretical bottleneck of the classical paradigm of cognitive psychology.As an explanation of human mind and cognition,embodied cognition theory shows a new approach to reconstructing human cognition,and it also provides a new way to understand human mind and behavior more deeply.The emergence of embodied cognitive theory,in a certain sense,also means a change of cognitive concept:from traditional disembodied mind to contemporary embodied mind.The embodied cognition theory has a profound ideological origin,which can be analyzed from two aspects:philosophical aspect and psychological aspect.In philosophical aspect,a series of pioneering works of Husserl,Heidegger and other philosophers in the field of phenomenology is directly related to the embodied cognition theory.Melo-Ponti’s phenomenology of perception is even the main theoretical foundation of embodied cognition research.In psychological aspect,the study of embodied thought can be traced back to the"Gestalt psychology"in 19~thh Century,but Piaget and Vygotsky are the greatest ideological pioneer of embodied cognition.Although it is very early on can from the perceptual aspects of consciousness to the body plays a role in the process of cognition in the world,but until Piaget and Vygotsky,the research between cognitive development and body movements can be widely and deeply carry out.In a short period of time,the theory of embodied cognition has aroused strong repercussions and widespread concern,and it has gradually developed into a strong academic trend in the field of cognitive science.However,with the deepening of research on embodied cognition,the problems it exposes becomes more and more.On the basis of the reasons,background,and internal logical clues of the transformation from the disembodied mind to the embodied mind,the above problems can be summarized from three aspects:Firstly,the problem of the division and integration of embodied cognition theory,that is,how to view the different theoretical orientation in the present study of embodied cognition and whether it is possible to be combined and integrated by certain clues or standards.Secondly,the relationship between disembodied cognition and embodied cognition,that is,the current embodied cognition is an alternative or an improved relative to the traditional disembodied cognition.Thirdly,the problem of the overall evaluation of the embodied cognition.The concern about the above three issues is the original intention of this article,and how to give a reasonable explanation of these issues and respond to the challenges is the goal that this study hopes to achieve.Firstly,on the premise of combing and grasping the core viewpoints of different embodied cognitive orientations,the rationality and necessity of theoretical integration are clarified,and these different theoretical orientations are integrated into a unified framework of theory,that is,the broad sense theory of embodied cognition,and on this basis,is refined.And generalizes the basic theoretical propositions of current cognitive research,namely,the embodied nature of the mind,the situational nature of cognition,and the systematicness of cognition.Secondly,from the perspective of characterization calculation,the research orientation of the two different views appearing in the current cognitive theory,namely,the radical embodied cognition and the moderate embodied cognition,is discussed.The moderate embodied cognition clearly points out that the current embodied cognition research is more like a revision and improvement aimed at the classic cognitive psychology rather than a negation and abandonment.Finally,the ontological and methodological innovation are made to the present study of embodied cognition.The overall evaluation indicates that the current cognitive psychology research is experiencing a profound paradigm shift,but the transition is in progress,rather than in completion.Cognitive psychology has indeed gone through a revolution,but the revolution is only limited to the level of ontology.