Affective Touch from a Philosophical Standpoint

Background: Humans are neurobiologically wired for touch receptivity. Social touch is a common and mutual way of expressing affection, care, and intimacy. From an evolutionary perspective, affiliative and affectionate touch are considered necessary for social and cognitive development throughout life-stages and across species. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic as a public health threat has mandated social distancing as a measure to contain the global outbreak. Travel restrictions, lockdown, and quarantine have led to separation and segregation, giving rise to social touch deprivation that might have adverse biopsychosocial consequences. Methods: Affective touch has rarely been discussed within the purview of social psychiatry. We attempted to review the neurobiological, social, and behavioural correlates of social and sexual touch, as well as the neurophysiological models involved. Results: The unmyelinated peripheral C-fibre afferents projecting to insular cortex and somatosensory areas form the prime pathway for affective touch. ‘Top-down’ modulation via the periaqueductal grey area, rostroventral medulla and sub-cortical structures, and ‘Bottom-up’ approach via the dorsal horn of the spine form the two theoretical models of ‘social touch’ system. The mu - opioid receptor (MOR) implicated in the Brain Opioid Theory of Social Attachment (BOTSA) and social neuropeptides like oxytocin and vasopressin are the primary neurochemical substrates involved. Sexual intimacy involves other neurotransmitters, with increased oxytocin activity in the limbic structures, Nucleus Accumbens, Anterior Cingulate, and Prefrontal Cortex. The discrimination and amalgamation of touch senses, their affiliative value and emotional valence in humans are based on a complex interplay between psychobiological, environmental, and personal factors. Conclusion: The neurobehavioral and emotional effects of ‘touch hunger’ and strategies to mitigate it during COVID-19 are discussed in the context of psychoneuroimmunity and stress.

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Neural basis of affective touch and pain: A novel model suggests possible targets for pain amelioration

Journal of Neuropsychology ◽

10.1111/jnp.12250 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Larissa L. Meijer ◽

Carla Ruis ◽

Maarten J. Smagt ◽

Erik J. A. Scherder ◽

H. Chris Dijkerman

Keyword(s):

Neural Basis ◽

Affective Touch ◽

Novel Model

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Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0146167220988373 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014616722098837

Author(s):

Agnieszka Sorokowska ◽

Supreet Saluja ◽

Piotr Sorokowski ◽

Tomasz Frąckowiak ◽

Maciej Karwowski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Close Relationships ◽

Cross Cultural ◽

Cultural Variation ◽

Interpersonal Distance ◽

Cultural Perspective ◽

Affective Touch ◽

Individual Level ◽

Interpersonal Touch ◽

Regional Temperature

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.

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Jesus as News: Crises of Health and Overpopulation in Galilee

Journal for the Study of the New Testament ◽

10.1177/0142064x211025481 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0142064X2110254

Author(s):

Joan E. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Holy Spirit ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Great Density ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Affective Touch ◽

System Disease ◽

Physical Touch ◽

As Stress ◽

Positive Effect

What made Jesus ‘news’? The key reason given in Mark and Matthew is that Jesus was an effective healer. In Q, likewise, Jesus fulfils John’s prediction of a Coming One who will baptize in Holy Spirit and fire by means of his healing mission. Luke complicates this slightly by emphasizing Jesus’ teaching on social justice, and John conceptualizes the healings as ‘signs’, but both also indicate that Jesus was news because he healed people. Thus, Galilee was in the grip of a chronic health crisis which people – both rich and poor – experienced as stress, and Jesus was news because he provided a solution. While being an exorcistic healer was not unusual, Jesus’ healing apparently was, both in its effectiveness and in its approach, involving physical touch. We now know that affective touch has a positive effect on the immune system. Disease crises in Galilee can be linked to the great density of its population, associated with widespread rural poverty and environmental degradation. Previous assessments of population in Galilee have hitherto been much too small.

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AN INTENSIONAL LEIBNIZ SEMANTICS FOR ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC

The Review of Symbolic Logic ◽

10.1017/s1755020309990396 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 262-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

KLAUS GLASHOFF

Keyword(s):

Natural Deduction ◽

Predicate Logic ◽

Formal System ◽

Aristotelian Logic ◽

Categorical Logic ◽

Characteristic Numbers ◽

Formal Syntax ◽

Philosophical Standpoint ◽

Classical Philosophy

Since Frege’s predicate logical transcription of Aristotelian categorical logic, the standard semantics of Aristotelian logic considers terms as standing for sets of individuals. From a philosophical standpoint, this extensional model poses problems: There exist serious doubts that Aristotle’s terms were meant to refer always to sets, that is, entities composed of individuals. Classical philosophy up to Leibniz and Kant had a different view on this question—they looked at terms as standing for concepts (“Begriffe”). In 1972, Corcoran presented a formal system for Aristotelian logic containing a calculus of natural deduction, while, with respect to semantics, he still made use of an extensional interpretation. In this paper we deal with a simple intensional semantics for Corcoran’s syntax—intensional in the sense that no individuals are needed for the construction of a complete Tarski model of Aristotelian syntax. Instead, we view concepts as containing or excluding other, “higher” concepts—corresponding to the idea which Leibniz used in the construction of his characteristic numbers. Thus, this paper is an addendum to Corcoran’s work, furnishing his formal syntax with an adequate semantics which is free from presuppositions which have entered into modern interpretations of Aristotle’s theory via predicate logic.

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Affective Proprioception

Janus Head ◽

10.5840/jh2006922 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 299-317

Author(s):

Jonathan Cole ◽

Barbara Montero ◽

Keyword(s):

Neurological Impairment ◽

Sense Of Agency ◽

Human Society ◽

Affective Touch ◽

Emotional Level

Proprioception has been considered, within neuroscience, in the context of the control of movement. Here we discuss a possible second role for this 'sixth sense', pleasure in and of movement,homologous with the recently described affective touch. We speculate on its evolution and place in human society and suggest that pleasure in movement may depend not on feedback but also on harmony between intention and action. Examples come from expert movers, dancers and sportsmen, and from those without proprioception due to neurological impairment. Finally we suggest that affective proprioception may help bind our sense of agency with our embodied selves at an emotional level.

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Are Special Education Programs Unjust to Nondisabled Children?: Justice, Equality, and the Distribution of Education

Journal of Education ◽

10.1177/002205749818000203 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 180 (2) ◽

pp. 17-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stephen Nathanson

Keyword(s):

Special Education ◽

Distributive Justice ◽

Special Needs ◽

Children With Disabilities ◽

Difference Principle ◽

Education Programs ◽

Social Consensus ◽

Principle Of Justice ◽

Philosophical Standpoint ◽

The Difference

This article deals in depth with perhaps the most troubling education issue of the day—funding and proper distribution of educational resources. How is the money raised and how is its allocation decided? Can the ideals of both justice and equality be served? Is “extra” spending on behalf of children with special needs justified? Stephen Nathanson raises the central questions and, approaching them from a moral-philosophical standpoint, presents and evaluates the arguments of those who defend extra spending for children with disabilities and those who believe that “unequal” spending violates the principle of justice. Nathanson treats various theories of distributive justice—entitlement, utilitarianism, the “difference principle,” and the “decent level” idea. In focusing on the latter, he contends that social consensus developed around “decent level” may be the touchstone, more helpful than any rationale (or rhetoric) in satisfying the claims of justice and equality.

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