"We, human beings, are animals - highly complex, inescapably embodied, intrinsically social, and sometimes even intelligent animals, who live, move and have their existence within the framework of their ongoing relationships with their environment. As such, we have a visceral, emotional and qualitative relationship with our world.

Because of our embodied nature, meaning comes to us through the patterns, images, concepts, qualities, emotions and feelings that form the basis of our experience, thought and language. This visceral engagement with meaning is, in my view, the domain of the aesthetic. Consequently, aesthetic dimensions shape the very core of our being".

With these words, philosopher Mark L. Johnson introduces the chapter "The Aesthetics of Embodied Life" in his book "The Aesthetics of Meaning and Thought". A professor of philosophy at the University of Orgegon, Johnson is interested in the question of embodied cognition, linking it intrinsically to aesthetics.

With these words, we can begin to understand the theme around which we will gravitate during this conference. Through the different perspectives of our guests and their different disciplines, we will try to understand how aesthetics can be read as a particular, multimodal perception of the world through the body.

• Pierre Léger  Ph.D. in Philosophy, Gilles Gaston Granger Center, Marseille

• Alain Berthoz Neurophysiologist and Honorary Professor at the Collège de France

• Jan Verpooten Researcher in Biology and Philosophy at KU Leuven

• Anne-Marie Dubois Psychiatrist, Hospital Practitioner, Curator at the Museum of Art and History of Sainte-Anne in Paris

• Rochelle Ackerley Research Director at CNRS in the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience in Marseille

• Fabrice Chardon Ph.D. in Clinical and Pathological Psychology, Art Therapist, Director of Education and Research at AFRATAPEM

• Monique Jeudy-Ballini Researcher at CNRS and member of the Laboratory of Social Anthropology at the Collège de France

We invite you to discover the detailed program and to register for free in the dedicated space on this website. Registration is mandatory to attend the various conferences. After registrering, a zoom link will be sent to you, should you choose to attend remotely

This event is brought to you by second-year students in the Cognitive Sciences Master's program at Aix-Marseille University, under the supervision of Marie-Hélène Grosbras, Cognitive Neuroscience Researcher at the Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives de Marseille (CNRS).

This event is funded by the ILCB and Aix-Marseille University's TIGER project.