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Accepted Paper:
My skin and I: mereology and the question of the unit of analysis
Geoffrey Bowker
(University of California, Irvine)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the analytic implications of a redistribution of the nature/culture divide by regarding the ways in which we are riven through with 'nature' and we live distributed existences outside of the body.
Paper long abstract:
Pragmatist philosopher Arthur Bentley wrote a wonderful piece entitled: The Skin: the Philosopher's Last Line of Defense. He argued that we it is a category error to assume that the 'self' is contained within this body sac. In this paper, I draw on recent work in science studies to explore the implications of this stance for a new understanding of nature/culture. I draw particularly on the emerging field of mereology (the study of parts and wholes) in order to characterize different potential new units of analysis.