Dylan Belton
Mendel Postdoctoral Fellow
Biography:
Dylan Belton completed his B.A. in Philosophy and Theology, and his MTS and Ph.D. in Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He has received research funding awards from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as well as the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology in Heidelberg, Germany. Dylan is currently a Mendel Postdoctoral Fellow at Villanova University.
Research Project:
Belton’s research concentrates on the notion of the “Umwelt” that is currently gaining attention from Anglo-American scholars within anthropology, biosemiotics, cognitive science, religious studies, and philosophy of mind. The Umwelt is the world of meaning or significance that surrounds a living organism, and its species-specific form is tightly correlated with the organism’s sensorimotor and affective capacities. An analysis of an organism’s Umwelt is therefore simultaneously an analysis of its body. Dylan will be exploring interdisciplinary research on the Umwelt as well as its significance for scholarship in theological anthropology focused on human embodiment.
Contact: dylan.belton@villanova.edu