Abstract

Reviews the book, Bodily reflective modes: A phenomenological method for psychology by Kenneth Joel Shapiro. In this book Shapiro proposes an alternative to the Duquesne method for conducting phenomenological research, basing it on Merleau-Ponty's conception of human existence as incarnate subject. Psychological investigations based on the phenomenological perspective have relied mainly on a method developed at Duquesne University. In developing his method Shapiro first suggests steps for gaining access to the fleeting lived experiences of bodily generated meaning before it becomes an act, a concept, or an image. Next he offers procedures for analyzing this prelinguistic, nonobjective experience of meaning by bringing it to expression through schematic drawings, metaphor, and discursive language. Overall, in my view Shapiro draws too sharp a distinction between the structures of preobjective bodily experience and the structures of language, but I do agree that contemporary followers of Wittgenstein's language game theory have overstated their position. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)