The Body: Philosophical paradigms and organizational contributions

Given the constrained relationship that organization theory and philosophy have towards the body, it may seem ironic to deal with the body from the perspective of organizational philosophy. While organization theory was founded on a Cartesian mind/body dualism that deems the human mind rational and capable of managing the allegedly passive and irrational body, few philosophers, before or after Descartes (1996[1641]), have managed to think beyond this dualism, and no one has managed to think without it. Even Spinoza (1994[1677]), who remains one of Descartes' strongest critics, had to interrogate the mind/body dualism to move beyond it. But despite these snags it is worth reminding ourselves that organization theory's rising interest in the body coincided with a growing interest in philosophy at the end of the twentieth century - with a vibrant paradigm debate (e.g. Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Jackson and Carter, 1991; Willmott, 1993) and a curiosity for poststructuralist ideas and concepts (e.g. Cooper and Burrell, 1988; Hassard and Pym, 1993).