Transformative Scaffolding: Painting to Grieve

Abstract

In contemporary philosophy of mind, scaffolding designates the various ways in which our cognitions and affects are enabled, regulated, and modified by environmental factors that range from material artifacts and other people to architectural designs and cultural practices (Clark 2008; Sterelny 2010; Colombetti & Krueger 2015; Coninx & Stephan 2021). In this article, I expand the scope of scaffolding theory by applying it to a previously unexamined type of phenomenon: existential transformations. In short, these are processes where an individual’s basic sense of reality undergoes profound and relatively long-lasting alterations. My main claim is that the use of external scaffolding can play a crucial role in such periods of extensive existential change. To unpack this claim, I proceed as follows. First, based on phenomenological theorization on the structure of experience in general (Heidegger 1927; Køster & Fernandez 2023), and then on the experience of grieving in particular (Køster 2022; Ratcliffe 2023; Higgins 2024), I specify what I mean by an existential transformation and the shifts in one’s sense of reality that it entails. I then draw on psychoanalytical thinking (Winnicott 1971; Bollas 2018) to introduce the notion of transformative scaffolds, i.e., environmental resources that can in various ways be used to enable, support, and regulate a marked shift from one experiential world into another. To exemplify this kind of scaffolded transformation, I return to the topic of grief and discuss how the practice of painting can beneficially shape post-bereavement mourning. To conclude, I recap my main theses and consider how they might inform future research on the scaffolded mind.