Description: By investigating conceptions of experience from Descartes to Kant, this book shows that one of the central questions of the early-modern period was how humans can instantiate in their actions the principles of rational moral agency, while at the same time responding with their bodies to the causal play of nature. Through the analysis of this question, the book draws attention to the bodily underpinnings of the ability to experience thoughts and feelings. It thus challenges overly subjectivist interpretations that concentrate on the inner realm of the experiencing mind and because of this fail to account for the worldly dimension of being experientially responsive to the affections of the body.
Review Quotes: "Waldow's study is filled with careful, sustained, thought-provoking analyses that will be useful both in scholarly terms and in advanced teaching of texts [...]. It is a convincing story and one that obliges us to revisit some classics in an untraditional vein." -- Charles Wolfe, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"Experience Embodied is a nuanced and perceptive account of several important but underappreciated aspects of early modern philosophy, and I particularly hope that other authors will further develop Waldow's emphasis on its moral dimension." -- Robert Louden, Australasian Journal of Philosophy"Waldow's chapter on Locke offers a very valuable contribution to existing scholarship on the topic and I hope it stimulates further discussion of how Locke's views on education are related with his views on personhood and moral agency." -- Ruth Boeker, International Journal of Philosophy"Recent decades have seen increased attention to the empirical and naturalistic dimensions of Kant's philosophy, across both his theoretical and practical philosophy. Anik Waldow's impressively wide-ranging and carefully argued book [...] clearly demonstrates the fruits of this reoriented focus, not only in the case of Kant [...], but in all the embodied agency-oriented conceptions of experience that she brings to light." -- James R. O'Shea, International Journal of Philosophy"The case studies are noteworthy because they succeed in revealing the significance of embodied experience for the authors in question. Waldow manages to expose the significance of embodied experience by focusing on the connection between the authors' central philosophical views and their views on topics like education, the psychology of emotions, and history, which are often considered of lesser interest by contemporary philosophers." -- Dario Perinetti, Hume Studies