Touch: recovering our most vital sense

Acknowledgments Introduction: Are We Losing Our Senses? 1. Coming to Our Senses: Tact, Savvy, Flair, Insight, Sound 2. Philosophies of Touch: From Aristotle to Phenomenology 3. Tales of the Wounded Healer 4. Healing Touch: Therapies of Trauma and Recovery 5. Reclaiming Touch in the Age of Excarnation Coda: Touch and the Coronavirus Notes Index

Our existence is increasingly lived at a distance. As we move from flesh to image, we are in danger of losing touch with each other and ourselves. How can we combine the physical with the virtual, our embodied experience with our global connectivity? How can we come back to our senses? Richard Kearney offers a timely call for the cultivation of the basic human need to touch and be touched. He argues that touch is our most primordial sense, foundational to our individual and common selves. Kearney explores the role of touch, from ancient wisdom traditions to modern therapies. He demonstrates that a fundamental aspect of touch is interdependence, its inherently reciprocal nature, which offers a crucial corrective to our fixation with control. Making the case for the complementarity of touch and technology, this book is a passionate plea to recover a tangible sense of community and the joys of life with others.