ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Language
This article is part of the Research TopicRethinking the Embodiment of Language: Challenges and Future HorizonsView all 10 articles
The experiential basis of concepts: Integrating embodied and enactive accounts
Provisionally accepted
- Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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The paper argues for an embodied and enactive view of linguistic concepts as a solution to the "scaling up" problem, namely the transition from embodied experience to symbolic and abstract thought. Drawing on phenomenology, neurobiology, conceptual metaphor theory and enactivism, it aims to demonstrate the constitutive role of the body and intersubjectivity in concept formation. Concrete concepts ("chair", "table", etc.) emerge from sensorimotor interactions with the environment which are transformed into simulated actions, while abstract concepts—such as "space", "time", "truth", and others—arise both through metaphorical extensions of bodily experience and participatory sense-making in social contexts. Neurobiological findings support this view, showing strong connections between language processing, sensorimotor and social brain systems, and tracing language evolution to exaptation or reuse of motor coordination areas. Phenomenological analysis then highlights how bodily or operative intentionality underlies grammatical structures, and how concepts retain their roots in action and interaction even when abstracted. As examples, the study explores container schemas as the embodied basis of categorization and analyzes the bodily origins of space, time, causality, and moral concepts. In sum, concepts are not free-floating symbols but remain anchored in corporeal and intersubjective experience, thus integrating embodiment, language, and culture. Human reason proves to be not disembodied, but fundamentally rooted in embodied interaction and intersubjective practice.
Keywords: embodied concepts, conceptual metaphors, Phenomenology, Enactivism, participatory sense-making, Neurobiology, language acquisition, Cultural Evolution
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 02 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fuchs. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Thomas Fuchs
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