Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind

Abstract

Philosophical work on the mind flowed in two streams through the 20th century: phenomenology and analytic philosophy. The phenomenological tradition began with Brentano and was developed by such great European philosophers as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau–Ponty. As the century advanced, Anglophone philosophers increasingly developed their own distinct styles and methods of studying the mind, and a gulf seemed to open up between the two traditions. This volume aims to bring them together again, by demonstrating how work in phenomenology may lead to significant progress on problems central to current analytic research, and how analytical philosophy of mind may shed light on phenomenological concerns. Leading figures from both traditions contribute specifically written essays on such central topics as consciousness, intentionality, perception, action, self-knowledge, temporal awareness, and mental content. This book demonstrates that these different approaches to the mind should not stand in opposition to each other, but are mutually illuminating.