Matylda Ciołkosz

Conservative Moral Politics in the Polish Discourse about LGBTQIA+

This paper summarises a pilot study aiming to apply George Lakoff’s concept of moral politics in the Polish context. Based on an analysis of a corpus built from articles published in Polish rightwing weekly magazines between 2019 and 2021 and addressing the topic of the LGBTQIA+ community, the text argues that the way of formulating and expressing views regarding socio-political issues systematically depends on an implicitly applied cognitive model of morality (in this case, the strict father morality postulated by Lakoff).

* Tekst powstał w ramach projektu „Bóg, obywatel, religia i wspólnota w polskim dyskursie o LGBTQIA+” (DEC-2020/04/X/HS1/01584) finansowanego ze środków przyznanych przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki w ramach konkursu MINIATURA 4.

The aim of the paper is to consider the implications of applying the enactive approach to cognition within the study of religions. This approach is discussed as an alternative to the classical, cognitivist stance predominant among the proponents of cognitive science of religion (CSR). The most popular model within CSR is that of cognition as manipulation of concepts. The key assumptions of this model limit the understanding of religion to a system of beliefs. Applying an alternative model – of cognition as enaction – may contribute to creating a more comprehensive model of religion, taking into consideration its pre-conceptual origins. Using the category of representation as the departure point, the author juxtaposes the cognitivist and the enactive stance, showing how substituting the former with the latter necessarily changes the construal of religious activity and thinking.

The aim of the paper is to discuss the possible role of sensorimotor synchronisation in Modern Postural Yoga (MPY) āsana ritual. The hypothesis is that such synchronisation contributes to the subjective efficacy of MPY practice and facilitates the transmission of doctrinal concepts related to it.

Grounding the discussion in the enactive paradigm, the author describes the phenomenon of sensorimotor synchronisation and the mechanisms responsible for its emergence. The ritual character of MPY āsana practice is then accounted for, based on McCauley and Lawson’s theory of ritual competence. A discussion of forms of synchronisation occurring during āsana ritual follows, with a special focus on Iyengar Yoga. The author then suggests the possible influence of such synchronisation on the perceived effectiveness of the practice and on the acceptance of certain religio-philosophical notions.

The objective of the paper is to draw attention to the possible relevance of the categories of cognitive linguistics for the structural analysis of ritual. Taking the Iyengar Yoga āsana practice as an example, the author proposes to treat it as a quasi-linguistic phenomenon and analyses the symbolic structure of its elements (single āsanāni). The tools applied in this pursuit are the basic categories of Langacker’s cognitive grammar. By pointing to the key tenets of cognitive linguistics, including the claim concerning the symbolic (and, thus, semantic) nature of grammar, the author attempts to rephrase Staal’s thesis concerning the meaninglessness of ritual to accommodate it to the cognitive (or, more precisely, enactive) paradigm. She suggests a possible relationship between the schematic symbolic nature of ritual and the specific symbolic nature of doctrine. After some of the most salient linguistic phenomena within Iyengar Yoga āsana practice are described, their coherence with certain doctrinal interpretations is briefly discussed.