The Blind Walker's Cane
An expert blind walker navigates familiar streets. Merleau-Ponty argues the cane is no longer an object the body uses — it has been incorporated into the body schema, functioning as a probe that extends perception itself. At what point, if ever, does a tool become part of the body?
Sign in to write a reflection.
The Dancer Who Cannot Explain It
A professional dancer executes a complex sequence flawlessly but cannot articulate instructions that would let someone else replicate it. When they try to put it into words, the movement falters. What kind of knowledge is this? Where does it live — mind, body, or somewhere between?
Sign in to write a reflection.
The Native Speaker
You produce grammatical sentences constantly. You cannot state most of the rules of the grammar you obey. The knowledge is real — it shows itself in performance, not in description. Where does this implicit grammar reside?
Sign in to write a reflection.
Phantom Limbs
People who lose a limb often continue to feel sensation in it — sometimes vividly, for years. The body schema outlasts the physical body. What does this tell us about the relationship between the phenomenal body that is lived and the physical body that is measured?
Sign in to write a reflection.
What Would AI Cognition Require?
If cognition is substrate-sensitive — if it is the bringing-forth of a world through a specific body-world coupling — then what would it take for an artificial system to have genuine cognition rather than behavioral mimicry? Could a system without a body schema ever grasp "more is up"?
Sign in to write a reflection.
Shared Reflections
No reflections yet. Be the first to think aloud.