Laura Maguire

The title of this weeks show might sound a little mysterious. How can dance, of all things, be a way
of knowing? Most things we know, we know either through perception or through thinking and
reasoning. But on the surface of things, it doesnt look like dance is either a form of perception or
a form of thinking.

So, in what sense is dance a way of knowing?

We might want to start by saying more about what knowing is. The traditional philosophical
conception says that to know something, you must have a justified true belief. You cant know
something you dont even believe, so if you do know something, you have to believe it first. You
also cant know something that is false. You might think you know it, but for your belief to be
genuine knowledge, it must be true. But even that is not enough for knowledge. You might
accidentally happen upon a true belief without having genuine knowledge, so for it to count as
knowledge, it cant just be a lucky guessthe true belief must be justified in some way. Different
accounts of knowledge flesh out this third condition in various ways. For example, you must have
perceptual evidence that warrants your belief in order for it to count as knowledge.

Now, dance doesnt seem to be in the business of producing trueor falsebeliefs, and it
doesnt seem to provide justification for anything. So, this traditional conception of knowledge
doesnt seem to help much. But we havent said what dance is yet. So, maybe we should do that
before deciding whether or not it makes sense to think of it as a way of knowing.

Lets start by saying something pretty obvious. Dance involves movement of the bodyit is an
essentially embodied activity. Of course, there are many things we do throughout the day that we
could say the same about. Sitting at my computer and typing this is also an essentially embodied
activity, but we dont call that dance. So can we narrow it down more?

Well, dance can be rhythmic, performed to music or a beat, though some post-modern dance
forms like Contact Improvisation are done without music. Dance can be an expression of emotion
or aesthetic impulses, or it can be more like a scientific investigation into the physics of moving
bodies. Dance can be a social or sensual activity, performed with a partner, or it can be part of a
cultural ritual or spiritual practice. There are many different styles, forms, and functions dance can
have. So, other than being an essentially embodied activity, its hard to identify a single trait that
all dances have in common.

It might be useful here to introduce Ludwig Wittgensteins idea of a family resemblance concept,
exemplified by the concept of a game. Instead of there being one essential feature that defines all
gamesor all dancetheres a series of overlapping similarities that group these different
practices together into one extended family. If were looking for necessary and sufficient
conditions that define dance, were not going to find it. But that doesnt mean we dont recognize
it when we see it.

So, are we any closer to understanding the title of this weeks show? The key, I think, is the
embodied nature of dance. Dance isn't just movement. It's movement that relates you to the
world. To borrow a term from this weeks guest, Alva Noe, the world becomes present to you in a
particular way through the dance.

But if its the embodied nature of dance thats important, couldnt we just as easily say that
walking is a way of knowing? The answer is yes! A great way to get to know a space is not just to
observe it passively from a fixed position, but to wander around it. When you walk through a
space, the space opens up to you. You perceive things that you wouldnt have perceived if you
didnt move around. And dance is similaras a form of active bodily engagement, it opens up the
world in a new way.

Now its beginning to sound like dance might be a kind of perception. Some philosophers, like
Descartes, think about perception as something passive, where the world just washes over our
senses. But some contemporary philosophers argue that perception requires active bodily
engagement with the world. This view of perception often goes along with a view of the mind as
essentially extended, enacted, and embodieda rejection of the orthodox philosophical view that
considers the mind nothing but a function of the brain.

Of course, if dance is a kind of perception (or perception a kind of dance?), that doesnt
automatically follow from the claim that both dance and perception are essentially embodied
activities. We would need to say more to conclude that. But maybe dance could also be thought
of as a model that helps us understand our active, embodied engagement with the world?
Perhaps focusing on dance helps us understand perception, and in that way, it is a form of
knowing.

Related Shows
Dance as a Way of Knowing
Be it rhythmic or shuffling, athletic or pedestrian, erotic or just social, dance is an art form that
utilizes movement of the body through space. Could the aesthetic experience of being physically
present and embodied in the world be considered a way of knowing? Is there something in
particular we can come to know by watching or performing dance? And are there broader lessons
that dance can teach us about human perception and action? John and Ken hit the floor with Alva
No from UC Berkeley, author of Varieties of Presence. This program was recorded live at the
Marsh Theater in Berkeley.

Alva No, Professor of Philosophy, University of California Berkeley

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