Lived Body (Leib)

Abstract

The systematic analysis of the experience of embodiment, conducted by Edmund Husserl is a benchmark for contemporary reflection on the body, both inside and outside the phenomenological tradition. In our article we give a presentation of some of its most important aspects. Thus we first highlight the importance of the kinesthetic body, i. e., the body as a freely moved sensory organ which has a constituent function regarding the perceived object. We then tackle the most recurrent topic of the phenomenology of embodiment: the double apprehension or interpretation of the body as a physical body and a lived body, emphasizing the intertwining of both aspects in the non-pathological experience of the own body. Finally, we stress, together with Husserl, the central role of the touch in the constitution of the lived body and the essential tactile character of the localized sensations that make the body appear as one’s own. In closing, we emphasize the incorporation of the phenomenology of embodiment in the thinking of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty and we indicate other lines of current research.

Key words: phenomenology of embodiment, physical body, lived body, khynaesthesis, localized sensations, touch, motor intentionality, flesh, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty.