Embodiment as a Scientific and Theological Reality

Speaker: Prof. Robin Morris, King’s College London
Series: Faraday Institute for Science and Religion
Note: A light sandwich lunch will be provided from 12:30pm in the Shasha Suite, Woolf Building, Westminster College, Madingley Road, Cambridge. Please be seated by 12:50pm so that the seminar can start promptly.

Western philosophical thought has been significantly influenced by substance dualism, which posits that the ‘soul’ or ‘mind’ exists as a distinct entity separate from the body. This perspective contrasts with a growing movement in contemporary cognitive neuroscience that emphasises the embodied nature of cognition. Rather than viewing the mind as an independent entity that interacts with the body through sensorimotor systems, this approach integrates the two from both phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives. Additionally, an embodiment of God is evident in both the Old and New Testaments, making it an important aspect of Christian belief. The talk explores how these two areas of understanding converge to provide a more comprehensive Christian concept of the divine and the imago Dei in humans.