The Mysterious Life of the Body : A New look at Psychosomatics

• The aim of this study is to critically examine traditional psychosomatic theories, paying special attention to certain philosophical issues such as the mind-body problem and efficacious mechanisms of interaction between meaning, understood as psychosocial factors, and that which is traditionally called "body" (the material, objectified body). Afterwards, an alternative psychosomatic theory is worked out, drawing inspiration from the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The first part of the dissertation examines the following schools of thought (orientations) concerning psychosomatic theory: 1) psychodynamic theory, 2) psychosomatic medicine, 3) stress theory as well as neuroimmunology and neuroendocrinology, and 4) the work of the psychobiologist Herbert Weiner. The phenomenological alternative worked out in part II of the dissertation breaks up dualistic and materialistic-reductionistic thinking by starting with the "lived body" rather than the objective body studied by natural science. The question then becomes, how is the mind-body unity lived, and what categories of understanding open up when the person-world field becomes the focus for psychosomatic theory.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Freds- och konfliktforskning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Peace and Conflict Studies (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Övrig annan samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mind-body problem

dualism

psychosomatics

lived-body

phenomenology

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS

TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

dok (ämneskategori)