Situatedness and Place: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Spatio-temporal Contingency of Human Life (Contributions to Phenomenology Book 95)

This book explores the ways in which the spatio-temporal contingency of human life is being conceived in different fields of research. Specifically, it looks at the relationship between the situatedness of human life, the situation or place in which human life is supposed to be situated, and the dimensions of space and time in which both situation and place are usually themselves supposed to be situated. Over the last two or three decades, the spatio-temporal contingency of human life has become an important topic of research in a broad range of different disciplines including the social sciences, the cultural sciences, the cognitive sciences, and philosophy. However, this research topic is referred to in quite different ways: while some researchers refer to it in terms of “situation”, emphasizing the “situatedness” of human experience and action, others refer to it in terms of “place”, emphasizing the “power of place” and advocating a “topological” or “topographical turn” in the context of a larger “spatial turn”. Interdisciplinary exchange is so far hampered by the fact that the notions referred to and the relationships between them are usually not sufficiently questioned. This book addresses these issues by bringing together contributions on the spatio-temporal contingency of human life from different fields of research. Preface 6 Contents 8 About the Editors and Authors 10 Introduction: Situatedness and Place 12 1 Place and Situatedness as Problems in Contemporary Philosophy and Science 13 2 Rethinking Situatedness and Place – Some Basic Considerations 17 3 The Contributions to This Volume 22 References 27 Place and Situation 29 1 Place vs. Situation 29 2 Im-plications and Com-plications 32 3 Situation Filled Out 33 References 35 Place and Placedness 36 References 48 Merleau-Ponty, Lived Body, and Place: Toward a Phenomenology of Human Situatedness 49 1 Introduction 49 2 Place, Phenomenology, Natural Attitude, and Lifeworld 51 3 Merleau-Ponty and Perception 52 4 Merleau-Ponty and Body-Subject 53 5 Interpretation 1: A Passage from García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude 55 6 Interpretation 2: Observations of a Walk Between Home and Work 57 7 Place, Environment, and Situatedness 65 Appendix 67 Observations of a Walk Between Home and Work 67 Observations Relating to Body-Subject and Perceptual Field 67 Observations Relating to Intercorporeal Presence 68 Observations Relating to Place Encounter 70 References 72 Situating Interaction in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives 75 1 Intersubjective Interaction and Social Cognition 75 2 Action and Interaction Spaces 77 3 Space Perception and the Socially Extended Mind 78 4 Extension of Peripersonal Space During Joint Action 82 5 Instituted Spaces 84 6 Conclusion 85 References 85 Spatial Conception of Activities: Settings, Identity, and Felt Experience 88 1 Introduction 89 2 Settings and Practices in Haughton-Mars Expeditions 91 3 The Relation of Identity to Activities and Settings in Mars Expeditions 96 4 The Felt and Aesthetic Experience of Places 104 5 Historical Precedents and Theories Relating Setting, Identity, and Felt Experience 109 6 Conclusions About Places, Situations, and Activities 112 References 114 The Place of Mind 117 1 Conceptual Framework 118 1.1 The Concept of Mind 118 1.2 The Concept of World 120 1.3 The Concept of Taking Place 121 2 A Systematic Overview 122 2.1 Everywhere 123 2.2 Nowhere 125 2.3 Somewhere 126 3 A Tentative Account 130 3.1 Mind As Place 133 3.2 Mind in Place 135 4 Conclusion 137 References 138 Place and Positionality – Anthropo(topo)logical Thinking with Helmuth Plessner 142 1 Prologue: Man and His Place in the Cosmos 142 2 The Situation of Philosophical Anthropology at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century 144 3 Plessner’s Anthropological Approach as an “Implacement” of Man 145 3.1 From the Double Aspectivity of the Physical Thing to the Boundary of the Organic 146 3.2 From Boundary to Positionality 148 3.3 From Positionality to Centric and Eccentric Positionality 150 3.4 From Nature to Culture 151 4 Anthropological Consequences 153 References 154 Birth in Language: The Coming-to-Language as a Mark of Non-difference in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics 155 1 Introduction 156 2 The Demand of the Foreign 157 3 Beyond Truth and Method and Back 159 4 The Mother of Language 163 5 Forgetfulness of Birth 165 6 Transmission and Relief 169 7 Conclusion 173 References 174 Virtual Places as Real Places: A Distinction of Virtual Places from Possible and Fictional Worlds 177 1 Actuality and Potentiality 178 1.1 Possible Worlds 178 1.2 The View Through the Telescope 179 2 Between Possibility and Fictionality 180 3 Virtual Places 181 4 Instances of Virtual Placement 182 4.1 Trans-Placement 183 4.2 Virtual In-Placement 184 4.3 Tangible Re-placement 184 5 The Virtual World of Minecraft 186 5.1 The First Nights 186 5.2 Dwelling in a Virtual World 187 6 Conclusion 188 References 189 Situated Anxiety: A Phenomenology of Agoraphobia 190 1 Introduction 190 2 Heidegger on Anxiety 191 3 Clinical Literature 193 4 Toward a Situated Account of Agoraphobia 195 5 Anxiety as Bodily 196 6 Anxiety as Spatial 199 7 Anxiety as Intersubjective 200 8 Conclusion 203 References 204 Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction: Situatedness and Place (Thomas Hünefeldt, Annika Schlitte)....Pages 1-17 Place and Situation (Edward S. Casey)....Pages 19-25 Place and Placedness (Jeff Malpas)....Pages 27-39 Merleau-Ponty, Lived Body, and Place: Toward a Phenomenology of Human Situatedness (David Seamon)....Pages 41-66 Situating Interaction in Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives (Shaun Gallagher)....Pages 67-79 Spatial Conception of Activities: Settings, Identity, and Felt Experience (William J. Clancey)....Pages 81-109 The Place of Mind (Thomas Hünefeldt)....Pages 111-135 Place and Positionality – Anthropo(topo)logical Thinking with Helmuth Plessner (Annika Schlitte)....Pages 137-149 Birth in Language: The Coming-to-Language as a Mark of Non-difference in Gadamer’s Hermeneutics (Tsutomu Ben Yagi)....Pages 151-172 Virtual Places as Real Places: A Distinction of Virtual Places from Possible and Fictional Worlds (Tobias Holischka)....Pages 173-185 Situated Anxiety: A Phenomenology of Agoraphobia (Dylan Trigg)....Pages 187-201