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The Sailing Mind

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Editors:
  1. Roberto Casati

    1. CNRS, EHESS ENS-PSL, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France

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  • Posits that sailing, as a peculiar human-artifact interaction, can lead to unexplored research paths
  • Proposes a unique interdisciplinary approach to sailing
  • Brings together leading scientists and philosophers on a practice

Part of the book series: Studies in Brain and Mind (SIBM, volume 19)

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction: Sailing Minds

    • Roberto Casati
    Pages 1-12

  3. Engineering, Daydreaming, and Control

    • Daniel C. Dennett
    Pages 13-16

  4. Sailing, Flow and, Happiness

    • Christine Tappolet
    Pages 17-29

  5. Sailing: Gourmet Food for the Brain

    • Luciano Fadiga
    Pages 31-38

  6. The Multisensory Brain at Sailing

    • Alberto Gallace
    Pages 39-63

  7. The Language(s) of Sailing

    • Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini
    Pages 65-72

  8. Communicating the Space of Sailing

    • Thora Tenbrink
    Pages 73-88

  9. Messing About in Small Boats

    • David Papineau
    Pages 89-96

  10. Situation Awareness in Racing Sailors

    • Robert J. Matthews
    Pages 97-115

  11. Wild, Uncomfortable and Reckless: A Darwinian Debate About Sailing

    • Ophelia Deroy
    Pages 117-129

  12. The We-Perspective on the Racing Sailboat

    • Frances Egan
    Pages 131-142

  13. Epistemology of Sailing

    • Nicla Vassallo
    Pages 143-154

  14. Inclusive Sailing

    • Anna Oddone
    Pages 155-165

  15. Navigation in Real and Scientific Waters

    • Randy Gallistel
    Pages 167-183

  16. Navigation and Mètis

    • François Hartog
    Pages 185-188

  17. Anchoring: What’s Going on Down There?

    • William Sharpe
    Pages 189-201
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Keywords

About this book

This book scrutinizes the practice of sailing and its relation to philosophy of mind. Sailing brings about a peculiar human-artifact interaction which can lead to unexplored research paths. The idea behind this collection is that this interaction is better scrutinized by sailor scientists/philosophers to open up new possible pathways in research. Fascinating theoretical breakthroughs have been provided by observing sailing practices with the most well-known being Hutchins’ introduction in cognitive science of the concept of “distributed cognition.” However, in times past, sailing has both fueled philosophical metaphors, from Theseus’ ship to Plato’s image of the intellect as the boatperson of the soul, and inspired philosophers’ views (as happened to Herder during a stormy sea trip). 


The ecology of sailing is highly constrained: sailboats move at the surface between a compressible fluid and an uncompressible fluid. Wind originates in certain specificcircumstances. Only certain sequences of actions are possible to take advantage of this ecology. The ontology of sailing is both of the boat and of the ocean/wind system. It highlights the fact that sailboats have been for centuries arguably the most complex technological artifacts in each culture that developed them, precisely because the environment they are engaging is so peculiar and demanding - almost the precise dual of Sapiens’ adaptive environment.


This volume will appeal to philosophers of mind, cognitive psychologists, and marine professionals.

Editors and Affiliations

  • CNRS, EHESS ENS-PSL, Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France

    Roberto Casati

About the editor

Roberto Casati, director of the Jean Nicod Institute of ENS in Paris, one of the leading research centers in cognitive science, works currently on spatial disorientation and on cognitive tools for remediating or preventing it. He is the author of 120 research papers and book chapters on perception, spatial representation and the use of maps and images, as well as of ten books, some of which have been translated in many languages. His seminal work on Digital Colonialism has spurred a large debate on the use of technology in schools. An dedicated sailor, his latest achievement is a transatlantic crossing on Albatros, a Challenge 67 monohull, as a crew member and on board researcher.  His latest book project is Ocean: a Philosopher’s Journey.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Sailing Mind

  • Editors: Roberto Casati

  • Series Title: Studies in Brain and Mind

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89639-3

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

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

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-89638-6Published: 02 June 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-89641-6Published: 03 June 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-89639-3Published: 01 June 2022

  • Series ISSN: 1573-4536

  • Series E-ISSN: 2468-399X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VI, 201

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Psychology

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