The Thinking Body

Why does life sometimes feel distressing? Life circumstances can change of course, but the author argues that distress owes a lot to the quality of our thinking. Our minds play tricks on us because they are not anchored in our bodies. Accordingly, we live as if our minds have a life of their own. Only when we return the mind to its bodily home, it is argued here, can we start to live harmoniously in the world. However, this book identifies another powerful and complex force - the socio - that lies behind mind and pulls it hither and thither. Anchoring the mind is a prerequisite for understanding the socio. At the dawn of philosophy we might have turned to it for help with these kind of problems. But today it is marginal to our lives. Originally taking the form of a conversation between friends, it has become a bookish exercise located in libraries and seminar rooms. Socrates demonstrated the centrality of philosophy to our lived lives and Roy Sturgess argues that it is still capable of tackling problems thrown-up by the mind and the socio and of helping human beings to engage with the magnificence of the world.