Bodily affect, in a sense that goes deeper than basic emotions, has been underplayed in emotion theory and even in some of the most embodied approaches to cognition. Colombetti does a great service in exploring the dynamics of the affective life, gathering together empirical and theoretical perspectives to show that enactive theories need to be even more embodied than they are usually construed to be.
Shaun Gallagher, Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Philosophy, University of Memphis
In this clearly written and engaging book, Colombetti draws from approaches as diverse as phenomenology, dynamical systems theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience to make important new contributions to the fields of enactive cognition and affective science. She enriches the enactivist perspective—which focuses on the dynamic meaning-making activity of an organism in its environment—by revealing the primordial role of affective dimensions of cognition in all of our embodied ways of making sense of, and engaging, our world. At the same time, she expands emotion theory by exploring the deep affective patterns by which we engage our world at a level that precedes and underlies our conscious emotional experiences. The impressive result is an excursion through the depths of sometimes hidden processes of directed response and feeling that lie at the heart of our ability to navigate meaningfully within our physical, interpersonal, and cultural surroundings.
Mark Johnson, Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon
Giovanna Colombetti's discussion of these topics effectively integrates scientific research and phenomenological descriptions of lived experience. What results is an insightful and genuinely interdisciplinary discussion of emotion that will be of interest to affective scientists, emotion theorists, phenomenologists, and proponents of enactivism....There are many topics in this thought-provoking book that merit further attention.
Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Colombetti's book...is a welcome addition the tradition of enactivism that was inaugurated by Varela, Thompson, and Rosch....The novelty of her proposal lies in its thematic focus....Colombetti is interested in exploring the enactive notion of living and lived embodiment.
New Ideas in Psychology
Promising and provocative....Colombetti's book is a valuable contribution to this dialogue, a first sustained argument for enactivism as a unified and coherent understanding of the affects.
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
An excellent read in enactivism....Colombetti develops her own enactive approach against the backdrop of careful reviews of other theories....a remarkably clear...source of knowledge for all those who wish to learn more about the mind as an embodied and thoroughly living phenomenon.
Metapsychology
The Feeling Body is the book that I wish had been available at the beginning of my graduate studies. It will provide an excellent stepping-stone for researchers in this area to develop the nascent area of affectivity and embodiment yet further.
Constructivist Foundations
