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  • © 2019

The Mind-Body Politic

Palgrave Macmillan
  • An innovative new book focusing specifically on political philosophy of mind
  • Asks how do social institutions in contemporary neoliberal democratic state systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency
  • Builds on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Introduction: Political Philosophy of Mind

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 1-33
  3. What Is a Destructive, Deforming Institution?

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 95-115
  4. Case-Study I: Higher Education in Neoliberal Nation-States

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 117-170
  5. Case-Study II: Mental Health Treatment in Neoliberal Nation-States

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 171-223
  6. What Is a Constructive, Enabling Institution?

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 225-243
  7. How to Design a Constructive, Enabling Institution

    • Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna
    Pages 245-296
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 313-320

About this book



Building on contemporary research in embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind, this book explores how social institutions in contemporary neoliberal nation-states systematically affect our thoughts, feelings, and agency. Human beings are, necessarily, social animals who create and belong to social institutions. But social institutions take on a life of their own, and literally shape the minds of all those who belong to them, for better or worse, usually without their being self-consciously aware of it. Indeed, in contemporary neoliberal societies, it is generally for the worse. In The Mind-Body Politic, Michelle Maiese and Robert Hanna work out a new critique of contemporary social institutions by deploying the special standpoint of the philosophy of mind—in particular, the special standpoint of the philosophy of what they call essentially embodied minds—and make a set of concrete, positive proposals for radically changing both these social institutions and also our essentially embodied lives for the better.



Reviews

“The book is not only an exposition of political discourse but concurrently an analysis of form, a rich and ambitious undertaking.” (Isobel Armstrong, Modern Philology, Vol. 117 (1), May, 2019)


Authors and Affiliations

  • Emmanuel College, Boston, USA

    Michelle Maiese

  • Independent Philosopher, Boulder, USA

    Robert Hanna

About the authors

Michelle Maiese is Professor of Philosophy at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is the author of Embodiment, Emotion, and Cognition (2011), Embodied Selves and Embodied Minds (2015), and many articles on topics in philosophy of mind and psychiatry.

Robert Hanna is an independent philosopher who has held research or teaching positions at universities in Brazil, Canada, Luxembourg, the UK, and the USA. He is a philosophical generalist and the author or co-author of eleven books, including Rationality and Logic (2006), Embodied Minds in Action (co-authored with Michelle Maiese, 2009) and the five-volume book series, The Rational Human Condition (2015-2018).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Mind-Body Politic

  • Authors: Michelle Maiese, Robert Hanna

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19546-5

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19545-8Published: 15 July 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19548-9Published: 15 August 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-19546-5Published: 28 June 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 320

  • Topics: Philosophy of Mind, Political Philosophy

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access