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The body also thinks
Doctoral thesis addresses body movements
as a manifestation of intelligence


JOÃO MAURÍCIO DA ROSA

A person who lifts a glass of water does so as naturally as someone who reads a newspaper and walks at the same time. These two gestures, which we pay little attention to, require quite complex motor adjustments and are simple examples of the autonomy of the body, the so-called “peripheral system”. In other words, movements occur without command from the brain (the central system), proving that the body also thinks.
This is one of the principles of the doctoral thesis “Physical Education: body behavior as a possibility for the manifestation of human intelligence”, defended by professor Maurício Teodoro de Souza, at the Faculty of Physical Education (FEF) at Unicamp.

“From the evolutionary perspective, some gestures carried out during the millions of years of human existence, and which today seem very simple to us, were constructed during our development and incorporated very effectively”, says the researcher at the Intelligence Study and Research Center Body Kinesthetic (Nepicc). “Imagine that you are reading and walking. You don't keep elaborating your gait, as this is a movement that already has autonomy. If you trip, the system will go into action to solve the problem,” he explains.

Unlike this example, the gestures of driving a car or typing on a computer require brain interference to trigger what scholars call feedback – or return communication. “In this case, I find it interesting to remember that, the more we interact with the environment, the more our perceptual system acts to inform us how we are performing the task”, reasons Maurício.

The teacher understands that demonstrating intelligent behavior means solving a problem situation determined by the socio-cultural context and developing new products to guarantee their survival. “The gestures of dancing, swimming or running are classified as general skills and, therefore, global movements. And, when used to solve problem situations, they can be considered a manifestation of intelligence, as well as specific skills (folding, painting, surgery, details of movements performed by athletes, etc.)”, he adds.

This process would be evolving since the beginning and, its main example, in the survival of the species. “For millions of years, humanity has been solving issues relating to its survival and creating products to better coexist in the most diverse types of environments”, he argues.

Through this anthropological approach, the author seeks not only to value the biological or environmental aspect of human evolution, but to verify that behaviors are manifestations of the interrelationship and interdependence of biological structure with the cultural transmission of community habits inherited by man for the better survive.

“To understand bodily behaviors as a manifestation of mental functioning is to understand human motricity in its complexity, which declares the dynamics of interactions of the human organism”, explains the professor.

Intimate connection – Maurício recalls that studies in neuroscience have emphasized an intimate connection between the use of the body and the development of other cognitive powers. In this way, it is concluded that in the skillful use of the body we can explain, by analogy, the relationship between thought processes and physical activities.

Since the first decades of the 20th century, the relationship between bodily behaviors and normal functions has been observed, according to the professor. “The interesting thing about our approach, based on the theory of multiple intelligences, is the equation of bodily manifestations with the status of intelligence – calling it kinesthetic bodily intelligence –, realizing that it is possible, in the specific sense, to stimulate and observe its manifestation in classes of motor education, ultimately contributing, in the broadest sense, to schooling in general”.

Therefore, Maurício highlights the importance of valuing the childhood period and the content of motor education at school level, rescuing the importance of movement in the development of the human being.

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The original proposal

Maurício Teodoro de Souza's work was developed based on Howard Gardner's original proposal for understanding bodily manifestation as intelligence. Adjunct professor of Neurology at the Boston School of Medicine and of Psychology at Harvard University, Gardner began his studies in the area of ​​cognitive sciences in the mid-70s. He has been one of those responsible for Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education since the 80s. His book explaining multiple intelligences was published in Brazil in 1994, with the title “Structures of the Mind: the theory of multiple intelligences”.

In his work, the Unicamp professor sought greater specific foundations for the area of ​​physical education, a fact that Gardner, the author of the theory, did not do, preferring to leave the suggestion to other interested parties. But Maurício makes it clear that, if the specific concept of kinesthetic bodily intelligence, literally speaking, is attributed to Gardner, other authors such as Jean Piaget, cited by the author himself, refer to the importance of movement in human intelligence.

The researcher also refers to the work of the Portuguese philosopher Antonio Damásio, who, among other aspects, highlights the importance of a different view of Cartesian thinking (cause-effect). About Damásio, Maurício Teodoro's most present work is “Descartes' error”, which contests the Cartesian view that the act of thinking is an activity separate from the body. “Damásio confronts this dichotomy by stating that the body contributes essential content to the functioning of the normal mind. And that, if it were not supported by the body, we could have a mind, but he doubts it would be the same as the one we have today”.

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