![[Past event] Embodied Cognition and Psychiatry in a Technological World with Prof. Dr. Thomas Fuchs](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/594177a115d5db3fbb9999bc/1611593789412-J9W7DRIGR5K7APZYY352/Fuchs.jpg)
Online Lecture, February 26th, 2021 at 12:30pm Pacific Standard Time
Dr. Thomas Fuchs is the Karl Jaspers Professor for Philosophical Foundations of Psychiary and Psychotherapy, University of Heidelberg.
Dr. Fuchs argues from a psychiatrist's perspective against the new gnosticism of the transhumanist movement, which assumes a fundamental mind-body dualism, insisting rather that processes of life and consciousness are inseparably linked through the living body as a whole. In the unity of the person, both aspects are intertwined: the body is alive and therefore also mindful; the mind is alive and therefore also truly embodied. Fuchs demonstrates the importance of embodied cognition for psychiatry, a medical discipline increasingly dominated by brain-centered research resulting in therapeutic approaches focussing on drug treatment, deep-brain stimulation and neuroenhancement, technologies aimed at directly changing a person’s psyche.
In this lecture, Fuchs will argue that such an approach neglects both the embodied and relational structure of the human mind and risks rendering the patient dependent on technical support. Durable therapeutic changes can only be achieved through personal, i.e., embodied and interactive experiences, which over time also influence the neuronal substrate through a circular interaction of ‘process’ and ‘structure.’ Fuchs will conclude by arguing that, as a medical field dealing with persons, psychiatry should embrace relational medical practices commensurate with the flourishing of human beings.
This lecture is part of the series Human Flourishing in a Technological Age, with lectures from John Behr, Thomas Fuchs, and others. Click here to see all the lecture titles and dates.
The event series is sponsored by the Issachar Fund in collaboration with Regent College, and presented by the Human Flourishing: A Christian Perspective project, which is directed by Prof. Jens Zimmermann and Dr. Michael Burdett.
Please contact us with any questions.
See more about Prof. Fuchs and read more about the Human Flourishing project.
*Note: this live lecture is only available remotely via Zoom.