Alzheimer expressions or expressions despite Alzheimer's?: Philosophical reflections on selfhood and embodiment

This paper argues for an expansion of the discourse on selfhood to include embodied self-expression—encapsulated in the notion of embodied selfhood—as a source of interactive practices. The concept of embodied selfhood is intended to capture the ways in which selfhood is embodied and reproduced through our practical and corporeal actions. Literary accounts of the experience of Alzheimer’s disease are explored here in the context of embodied selfhood in order to capture the corporeal dimensions of selfhood and the indeterminacy of the boundaries and experiences of Alzheimer’s disease. The analysis suggests that corporeality is an active foundation of agency that sustains selfhood at a prereflective level and facilitates awareness of surroundings, engagement with the world, and interaction despite even severe dementia