The battle for the neuron’s wings

Authors

  • Raluca BLAGA University of Arts Tirgu-Mures, e-mail: raluca.balan@gmail.com

Keywords:

neuroscience; mirror neurons; catharsis; neuroarthistory; sentimental catharsis; reasoning, reflexive catharsis.

Abstract

The following study uses as its starting point the ancient battle between philosophy and theatre and takes as a road companions it’s two most famous protagonists: Plato and Aristotle. Taking a close look at their writings, I found not only an answer considering their battle for knowledge, for the encirclement of the spectator’s mind, but also the traces of one ‘predecessor’ of neuroscience – Aristotle. Informed by John Onians’s theories regarding neuroscience, art and history, and also adding neural plasticity as an ingredient, I’ve built my own personal (sup)position regarding catharsis, which I see as a two-fold experience/process - an emotional catharsis and a reasoning, reflexive catharsis.

Author Biography

Raluca BLAGA, University of Arts Tirgu-Mures, e-mail: raluca.balan@gmail.com

RALUCA BLAGA read Theatre Studies at the University of Theatre Art Tirgu-Mures and Mathematics – Informatics at Petru Maior University Tirgu-Mures between 2002-2007. Between 2006 and 2008, she was part of Theatre 74’s team – an independent, alternative theatre. As a program manager, she took part in putting on productions and also touring with them in national and international festivals. Between November 2008 and September 2014 she was the literary secretary of Studio Theatre – University of Arts Tirgu-Mures. In 2012 she defended her doctoral thesis entitled Adaptations of Tragic in Contemporary Dramaturgy and joined the teaching-staff of the University of Arts, Tirgu-Mures

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STUDIA UBB DRAMATICA, Volume 60 (LX), No. 2, October 2015

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Published

2015-10-30

How to Cite

BLAGA, R. (2015). The battle for the neuron’s wings. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Dramatica, 65(2), 217–229. Retrieved from https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbdramatica/article/view/4472

Issue

Volume 60, No. 2, October 2015

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2015 Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Dramatica

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