Steps to an Ecology of Knowing, and to Teaching Embodied Transdisciplinary Hermeneutics

Abstract

This  article  explores  Bateson’s  concept  of the  Mind  as  Ecology,  in  the  context  of philosophical ideas on phenomenology and embodied knowing,  and neuroscientific ideas on embodied cognition. It equally links it with ancient oriental ideas regarding the relationship between body, mind and soul, and practices as meditation and yoga to nourish the body as an organ of perception. It then explores its consequences for our ways of knowing, and concludes that the Mind as Ecology needs to be nourished by an Ecology of Knowing including  direct  and  phenomenological  knowing, autobiographic and experience-based knowing, and formal and science-based knowing.  The  article argues that such Ecologies of Knowing can be realized through the practice of Embodied Transdisciplinary Hermeneutics.  It finally presents seven steps to teach  Embodied  Transdisciplinary  Hermeneutics. Two of these steps focus on the learning process as a whole, and five explore particular ways of knowing,and how to teach them