title: A philosophical approach to the concept of handedness: The phenomenology of lived experience in left- and right-handers.
abstract: This paper provides a philosophical evaluation of the concept of handedness prevalent but largely unspoken in the scientific literature. This literature defines handedness as the preference or ability to use one hand rather than the other across a range of common activities. Using the philosophical discipline of phenomenology, I articulate and critique this conceptualization of handedness. Phenomenology shows defining a concept of handedness by focusing on hand use leads to a right hand biased concept. I argue further that a phenomenological model based in spatial orientation rather than hand use provides a more inclusive concept of handedness.
authors.affiliation: a Philosophy Department , The University of Florida , Gainesville , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Westmoreland
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D000072458:Orientation, Spatial; D010684:Philosophy; D057566:Self Report; D009626:Terminology as Topic
keywords: Handedness; grasping; laterality; phenomenology; right hand bias