Questions tagged [phenomenology]
Phenomenology is a philosophical movement associated with Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre. It is also a philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness.
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How does one know one is not dreaming?
How does one know one is not dreaming? How could one logically demonstrate to a skeptic that one is "really" there, awake and not just dreaming about the entire situation/world around him?
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What are some good books on phenomenology for a mathematician?
I have a background in Mathematics, and am starting to wander into the complex realm of Philosophy. I'm interested in trying to understand what is the meaning of the scientific investigation in ...
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How can you support the idea of qualia as distinct from neuronal firing when you only experience one thing?
Physicalists are people who equate brain states with mental states. There are people in this category; and yet there are many people who do not hold this view. Such people hold that there is an ...
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What does the "meaning of Being" mean in Being and Time?
I read Being and Time a few years ago, but it seems to me the question is only partially answered there. He deals with the question of whether Being is "indefinable" very early on [p 4]. He claims ...
user6917
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How do epiphenomenalists make sense of discussions about qualia?
Epiphenomenalists believe that mental events have no causal effect on the physical. They may differ in what they consider "mental events" but it seems all of them would consider qualia / phenomenal ...
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Why distrust our senses?
It seems self-evident that the phenomena we sense are accurate and correlate to the real world.
What sorts of philosophical arguments might cast doubt on this conviction in the veridicality of ...
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What does Husserl mean by essences?
Husserl insists on two "reductions" in his pure phenomenology. The second reduction is a separation of the existence of ourselves and our attitudes and "their observable essences (Taylor Carman , ...
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Are there some facets of perceptual experience which cannot be characterized as conceptual?
Some philosophers (e.g John McDowell) argue that the content of perceptual experience is necessarily characterized by conceptual terms; namely - the content of the experience is entirely built of ...
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Is meditation valid to study consciousness scientifically?
In the study of consciousness, neuroscience observes mental phenomena through physical correlations, using techniques such as fMRI, PET and EEG. These are considered valid and reproductible, and can ...
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How does Husserl's "bracketing" secure a truly presuppositionless study?
I'm reading from an anthology of essays by and about Husserl (collected by Joseph Kockelmans):
More specifically, Husserl makes a strong argument against some of the internal problems of various ...
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What is meant by transcendental phenomenology?
... as opposed to "phenomenology."
I suspect transcendental phenomenology refers specifically to some of Edmund Husserl's studies. But I would like to understand what was meant by them. I am finding ...
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What does the "essence of time" mean for Merleau-Ponty?
“it is of the essence of time to be not only actual time, or time
which flows, but also time which is aware of itself … the archetype of
the relationship of self to self”
What does he mean by '...
user6917
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What is the difference between formal and "realised" belief?
A distinction I have come across in some of Zizek's informal lectures, as well as in my own ponderings, is that which describes those beliefs which, although we know formally to be true, we do not ...
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Can our sense of touch deceive us?
Descartes says that the senses deceive us. I agree for all senses, except for the tactile sense (i.e., when you touch something).
It's clear there are optical illusions, but there appear to be no ...
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Ontological Foundations of Epistemology: Perspectives on Entities Regarding Knowledge
A review of the SEP article of epistemology indicates that there are 5 sources of knowledge: perception, memory, introspection, reason, and testimony. Robert Audi in his Epistemology: A Contemporary ...
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Can an animal have qualia without self awareness?
Can an animal have qualia without self awareness? I understand that many animals are said to have qualia but not self awareness (perhaps not the great apes).
In particular, I'm having a hard time ...
user35983
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Philosophy of Philosophy and Experience [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the practical use of philosophy?
Does philosophy move us toward a deeper understanding of the human condition, or does philosophy push us away from understanding the ...
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How have philosophers tried to argue for qualia?
What is the difference between the intuition that there is something it is like, qualitative experience, and faith in it?
Is it possible to convince someone who doesn't believe there is something it ...
user6917
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Does Husserl distinguish `sensuous contents' from 'sensuous mental processes' in §85 of Ideas I?
In §85 of Ideas I, Husserl classifies all mental processes into intentional and non-intentional mental processes. The class of non-intentional mental processes contains all sensuous mental processes.
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Purpose and examples of Phenomenological analysis (transcendental reduction)
I would like to ask whether there are any concrete end-to-end examples that you are aware of, and ones that I can go through that are considered correct transcripts of the transcendental reduction ...
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What is a Horizon?
What do phenomenologists mean by "Horizon". I thought I understood it from the context when I first saw it, but every time I see it I get more confused. Now I have no idea.
Can someone explain what ...
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Does consciousness exist?
I am not the first to ask that question. There is at least the article written by William James with that very same title in:
The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, Vol. 1,
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Are there secular philosophers who argue for predetermined and given meaning/value in life and essentialism?
In continental philosophy particularly existentialism, thinkers reject the idea that there are any predetermined or given meanings/values in life, and stresses that we must take up our freedom and ...
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Starting on Husserl and Merleau-Ponty
I'm taking undergraduate studies in Social Sciencies and because of a research I'm working on I started to read Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception and realized that this book requires a ...
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In what ways is Merleau-Ponty following (late/unpublished) Husserl?
... or, to put it differently: to what extent has Husserl already ancitipated in his unpublished writings what Merleau-Ponty has been developing later?
The standard narrative goes that Husserl ...
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Are simple physical laws actually simple?
This is a question about the philosophy of physics. If one takes a glance at the philosophy of mathematics its easy to see that the idea of number is filled with philosophical niceties and is a much ...
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What properties does "intuition" need in order to be counted as philosophical evidence?
Timothy Williamson (2008) has argued that we should not construe
philosophical evidence as consisting of intuitions.
Do intuitions generate philosophical evidence? And, if so, what sort of evidence ...
user38026
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How to fully understand the first three chapters of Phenomenology of Spirit?
I read The Phenomenology of Spirit like 10 years ago, but I felt like it was very vague and abstract. Hegel seemed to have been describing the development of human thought with respect to the absolute ...
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Should turbulence be thought of as a saturated phenomenon?
Turbulence appears in many ways, independently of the system that supports its manifestations. In all cases, it can be seen that:
a) Its manifestations are irreversible, in the sense that one cannot ...
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Why are Dan Dennett and his heterophenomenonology largely ignored by the Wikipedia and Stanford articles on phenomenology?
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/ says: "According to classical Husserlian phenomenology, our experience is directed toward—represents or “intends”—things only through particular ...
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Who or what is the being for whom Being is a question for Heidegger?
Did a quick search of Dasein on Google and found this:
In Being and Time, Heidegger investigates the question of Being by
asking about the being for whom Being is a question. Heidegger
names ...
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To what extent can one admit that language is an adequate outlet for explicit feelings and experiencings?
If I am sharing my thoughts and another person goes “oh, that’s relatable,” or “yeah, I totally get it,” and other variations like “I feel you on that one!” Do they, really? Is language ever enough, ...
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Who are some philosophers who explore the possibility/impossibility of the intimacy of understanding others?
Can one ever be understood? When people say “yeah, I feel you” do they really? Is language enough of an outlet to transmit feelings with enough exactitude?
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What would constitute a reasonable expectation of privacy?
To some degree this is presumably a legal question, but my question is really trying to ask about the principle here.
I guess the core question is about what expectations a "reasonable" agent might ...
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Are Lockean Ideas phenomenological?
When Locke describes gold, a favourite example of his, he writes:
the greatest part of the Ideas, that make up our complex Idea of Gold, are Yellowness, Great Weight, Ductility, Fusibility, and ...
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Meaning of these words in Heidegger's "Being and Time"?
What is the meaning of obstinacy and un-ready-to-hand in this passage from "Being and Time"? I have a general knowledge of Heidegger’s philosophy, but I have problem understanding the ...
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What phenomenological research methods exist?
I am trying to understand the methods that have been used to develop theory in phenomenology.
As far as I can make out these boil down to:-
Introspection and intuition (and ? mindfullness)
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Is there parallelism between mental acts and development of science?
In Kuhn's description of scientific history observations are interpreted through a prism of a priori presuppositions collected into "paradigms". Once discrepancies with expectations ("anomalies") ...
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What is Organic Unity and why is every situation an organic unity?
The is from Ñanavira's book: Notes on Dhamma. It is from footnote b in the notes on Anicca:
McTaggart, in The Nature of Existence (Cambridge 1921-7, §§149-54), remarks that philosophers have usually ...
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Transcendental ego
I am reading Sartre's Transcendence of the ego and was wondering if someone could explain to me what is concretely different between Husserl's Transcendent ego and Sartre's.
When I raised this ...
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How many different usages of being is there in this short paragraph of Heidegger?
Quite close to the beginning of Being and Time, [SuZ p. 7] in what might be taken as the preamble and introduction; Heidegger writes the following:
Regarding, understanding, grasping, choosing and ...
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What's an axial rotation?
In the Phenomenology of Spirit (section 169 in my edition), Hegel asserts the following:
The determination of life as it has arisen from the concept, or from
the general results with which we ...
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Wittgenstein and Husserl
If Wittgenstein's Tractatus is right that:
He must surmount these propositions; then he sees the world rightly. (TLP 6.54).
and
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. (TLP 7).
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user6917
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A few questions on Phenomenology
Can someone briefly explain:
What is the difference between Phenomenological, Transcendental and Eidetic reduction?
What the 'natural attitude means?
What it means to bracket the natural attitude?
Why ...
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Which philosophers have argued well that existence is illusory?
After many years of contemplation I have a simple, logical proof that all physical phenomena are illusions.
Assuming we can agree that things in the past no longer exhibit the properties associated ...
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Eastern European Philosophy
According to this (at least when it comes to citations and ratings), the most influential philosophers are continental/analytical and are active in either US or Britain.
Are there any important ...
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The phenomenon of Négatité
I am a novice to JP Sartre's philosophy of existentialism and I came across the notion that in Being and Nothingness,The Origin of Negation where he claims that "nothingness is at the origin of ...
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Why is Sartre averse to "images" in consciousness?
Jean-Paul Sartre, in his book The Imaginary, describes a mental image of a chair as follows:
"My perception is, in accordance with the terminology that we have
adopted, a certain consciousness ...
user3017
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Books to begin Husserl's Phenomenology
I wanted to learn about Husserl's Phenomenology and was wondering on what a good place to start would be? I have in front of me The Essential Husserl, Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology ...
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Is phenomenology a science?
Is phenomenology a science? I know Husserl was fond of saying it is. Specifically, is any of it scientific? By "phenomenology" I mean
the study of structures of consciousness as
experienced from ...
user38026