Ziran

<p><b>The ancient concept of spontaneous self-causation (ziran) from Daoism opens a path to understanding human action as self-organizing attention as effortless and art as somatic.</b></p><p><i>Ziran</i> an idea from ancient Daoism defies easy translation into English but can almost be captured by the term spontaneity. It means self-causation if self is understood as fundamentally plural and causation is understood as sensitivity and responsiveness. Applying <i>ziran</i> to the fields of action theory attention theory and aesthetics Brian Bruya uses easy-to-read straightforward prose to show step-by-step how this philosophical concept from an ancient tradition can be used to advance theory today. Incorporated into contemporary philosophy of action <i>ziran</i> opens us to the notion of movement and action as self-organizing. Incorporated into contemporary cognitive science <i>ziran</i> opens us to the possibility of effortless attention contrary to the reigning paradigm. Incorporated into contemporary aesthetics ziran opens us to a new category of art-somatic art-and a new refined understanding of improvisation.</p>