The goal of this article is to present a sketch of what, following the German social theorist Arnold Gehlen, may be termed “sensuous cognition.” The starting point of this alternative approach to classical mental-oriented views of cognition is a multimodal “material” conception of thinking. The very texture of thinking, it is suggested, cannot be reduced to that of impalpable ideas; it is instead made up of speech, gestures, and our actual actions with cultural artifacts (signs, objects, etc.). As illustrated through an example from a Grade 10 mathematics lesson, thinking does not occur solely in the head but also in and through a sophisticated semiotic coordination of speech, body, gestures, symbols and tools.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Radford2008
%A Radford, Luis
%D in press
%J Educational Studies in Mathematics
%K Cognition Gestures Graphs Mathematical Multimodality Objectification Semiotics cerme6 meaning postviva
%R 10.1007/s10649-008-9127-3
%T Why do gestures matter? Sensuous cognition and the palpability of mathematical meanings
%U http://www.springerlink.com/content/y82307h467653t3t
%X The goal of this article is to present a sketch of what, following the German social theorist Arnold Gehlen, may be termed “sensuous cognition.” The starting point of this alternative approach to classical mental-oriented views of cognition is a multimodal “material” conception of thinking. The very texture of thinking, it is suggested, cannot be reduced to that of impalpable ideas; it is instead made up of speech, gestures, and our actual actions with cultural artifacts (signs, objects, etc.). As illustrated through an example from a Grade 10 mathematics lesson, thinking does not occur solely in the head but also in and through a sophisticated semiotic coordination of speech, body, gestures, symbols and tools.
@article{Radford2008,
abstract = {The goal of this article is to present a sketch of what, following the German social theorist Arnold Gehlen, may be termed “sensuous cognition.” The starting point of this alternative approach to classical mental-oriented views of cognition is a multimodal “material” conception of thinking. The very texture of thinking, it is suggested, cannot be reduced to that of impalpable ideas; it is instead made up of speech, gestures, and our actual actions with cultural artifacts (signs, objects, etc.). As illustrated through an example from a Grade 10 mathematics lesson, thinking does not occur solely in the head but also in and through a sophisticated semiotic coordination of speech, body, gestures, symbols and tools. },
added-at = {2008-08-21T14:32:00.000+0200},
author = {Radford, Luis},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/289748cd77e9e44c93a4c13bf9cf68d73/yish},
doi = {10.1007/s10649-008-9127-3},
interhash = {09a720ec1406904dfea031b1a3d9f9e8},
intrahash = {89748cd77e9e44c93a4c13bf9cf68d73},
journal = {Educational Studies in Mathematics},
keywords = {Cognition Gestures Graphs Mathematical Multimodality Objectification Semiotics cerme6 meaning postviva},
timestamp = {2008-10-04T15:24:11.000+0200},
title = {Why do gestures matter? Sensuous cognition and the palpability of mathematical meanings},
url = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/y82307h467653t3t},
year = {in press}
}