Embodiment Theory as Criticism of Disembodiment Discourse

Abstract

The current discourses of disembodiment in cyborg culture, posthumanism, and virtual reality discourses shows our desire for leaving the body behind in human history. This paper theoretically reviews the phenomenological approaches to embodiment which emphasize the crucial role that the body plays in experiencing technological environments. Embodied affectivity acts to enframe digital information, through which disembodied digital data are transformed into concrete embodied information imbued with human meaning. Embodied activity such as click disapproves of privileging disembodiment and disembodied subjectivity, and activates corporeal interactive plenitude of digital media. Some implications of embodiment are discussed.