Phenomenological Philosophy Research Articles

Merleau-Ponty reader of Goldstein: what is organismic intentionality?

Abstract: The present study proposes an investigation into the reasons why Merleau-Ponty recognizes, in Goldstein’s incorporation of the figure-ground notion from the Gestalt Psychology, the convergence between contemporary science and phenomenological philosophy. It is about understanding how, insofar as it reveals the power of centering that operates in the concreteness of the existence of organisms in the surroundings, the notion of figure-background corresponds to the phenomenological notion of operative intentionality. In the same way, it is a matter of showing in what sense, as a form of operative intentionality, the power of centering of organisms does not need to be based on the presupposition of an “I think”.
 Keywords: Merleau-Ponty; Goldstein; Gestalt; organismic intentionality
 

The Role of Intersubjectivity in the Production and Appreciation of Humor

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of intersubjectivity in the production and appreciation of humor. Intersubjectivity is a concept in the phenomenological philosophy that explains the connection of humans to each other. Intersubjectivity can be used to explain the nature and way of humor works; supplementing the three existing theories of humor namely incongruity theory, superiority theory, and relief theory. This study is a literature review which data were obtained from 30 scientific articles related to humor, intersubjectivity, and the link between the two. Data were excavated using the https://www.connectedpapers.com software. The research stages taken in accordance with the stages of literature review include design, provision of literature (conduct), analysis, and presentation. The result showed that intersubjectivity has a role because it connects humor makers and connoisseurs through knowledge, feelings, awareness, and even mutual unconsciousness. Funny experiences can arise because makers and connoisseurs can access a “shared world” that allows a certain stimulation to bring out funny feelings that spark laughter. In the production and appreciation of humor intersubjectivity plays a role of (1) providing shared knowledge, (2) asserting the existence of emotions, and (3) directing the meaning of actions.

Face-to-Face with the Doctor Online: Phenomenological Analysis of Patient Experience of Teleconsultation

The global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably accelerated the adoption of teleconsultation—a form of consultation between patient and health care professional that occurs via videoconferencing platforms. For this reason, it is important to investigate the way in which this form of interaction modifies the nature of the clinical encounter and the extent to which this modification impacts the healing process. For this purpose, I will refer to insights into the clinical encounter as a face-to-face encounter drawn from the phenomenology of medicine (R. Zaner, K. Toombs, E. Pellegrino). I will also take into account a criticism that has been expressed by various contemporary phenomenologists (H. Dreyfus, T. Fuchs, L. Dolezal, H. Carel), namely, that due to the lack of physical proximity to the other in all types of online encounters, such encounters lack significant features that are present in face-to-face encounters, with the most important of these being the possibility of attaining an empathetic perception of the other and a sense of embodied risk. As these elements are essential features of the clinical encounter, the aim of this paper is to determine whether teleconsultation exhibits these features. To do that, I will integrate phenomenological philosophy with qualitative research drawing materials from both the philosophical tradition, particularly with respect to the concepts of the face-to-face encounter and embodied risk (A. Schutz and H. Dreyfus), and qualitative research study regarding patient experiences of teleconsultation. I will argue that teleconsultation does involve both the possibility of perceiving the other empathetically and the possibility of experiencing a sense of embodied risk.

Актуальность проблемы как жизненный опыт: феноменологический взгляд на научные публикации

The issue of preparing scholarly articles for publication in highly indexed journals has been acute for the last five or six years, since scientometric indicators became the main tool for evaluating the performance of both universities and representatives of the academic community. However, no definitive answer or algorithm for lining up the process of scholarly article preparation has yet been found. It seems that we need to start with the basics: a philosophical methodology that probes into the nature of scientific communication. This paper analyses the application of the phenomenological philosophy method to solve the indicated problem. The author used theoretical works of the founders of the phenomenological tradition in philosophy and researchers developing the idea of intersubjectivity in conveying meanings during communication, including scientific communication. Further, the internationally accepted IMRAD article format is applied as a theoretical justification for the logical organization of the research text. The phenomenological method describes in detail the influence of personal biography on the organization of the communication process. The nature of the latter is such that the meaning of a statement becomes clear to the communicative partners only after a common system of reference has been developed. Hence the need to include in the communicative message, such as a scientific article, the functional elements of background knowledge and the relevance of the research problem. Thus, the study provides a theoretical substantiation of the importance of structuring scholarly papers according to the scientific publication format.

Understanding subjective experience in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: The need for phenomenology.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is being investigated as a treatment for a range of psychiatric illnesses. Current research suggests that the kinds of subjective experiences induced by psychedelic compounds play key roles in producing therapeutic outcomes. To date, most knowledge of therapeutic psychedelic experiences are derived from psychometric assessments with scales such as the Mystical Experience Questionnaire. While these approaches are insightful, more nuanced and detailed descriptions of psychedelic-induced changes to subjective experience are required. Drawing on recent advancements in qualitative methods arising from the interdisciplinary field of phenomenological psychopathology, we propose a systematic and comprehensive investigation into how psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy alters subjective experience. This research programme aims to characterise the nature of therapeutic psychedelic experiences by drawing on concepts from philosophical phenomenology. Such characterisations should, moreover, contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of psychedelic therapy, the role of integration therapy, and related philosophical debates.

A turning point? Interview with Emmanuel Falque

An interview with the professor and philosopher Emmanuel Falque, in the context of his passage through the University of Coimbra, in the context of the Journée Internationale d’études philosophiques, which will take place on 26 May 2022, at the Faculty of Letters, entitled: «L’im‑pensable : Aux confins de la phénoménalité». In this interview, In this interview, our author coming to his entire philosophical project, from its origins to his most recent scientific production. The philosopher tells us about the provenance of his thought through his main philosophical works and his existential interpretation and phenomenological reading of patristic and medieval philosophy as well as his debates with phenomenology and contemporary philosophy, particularly French philosophy. Here the epistemological and metaphysical question between philosophy and theology, literature and aesthetics, psychoanalysis and phenomenology is also addressed; the concept of «corps épandu», the corporeality or the embodiment as the cardinal point of human finitude and its incessant search to think our «humanity in common». Emmanuel Falque also presents us in this interview the genesis and the fundamental idea of Hors phénomène, as the central axis of his global philosophical project, but also as the revelation of a certain «turning point», inflexion or even of «radicalization» of his démarche, as well as its possible consequences to rethink aesthetics, ethics, politics and theology. The French thinker also talks to us here about the future of philosophy and the new horizons of his reflection (the new triptych...), about the authors and figures in the history of thought (philosophers or others) who have influenced and impacted his own philosophical‑existential path. Thus, the work of a thinker-philosopher is always an ex-position of himself to others, permanently thinking the world of life, the embodiment of reason in the folds of history.

Rethinking Spaces of Leisure: How People Living with Dementia Use the Opportunities Leisure Centres Provide to Promote their Identity and Place in the World

We report on research that found joining activities within community leisure and fitness centres (Centres) enabled people living with dementia to create meaning about everyday life and foster identity. Focusing on three Centres in England, the study was informed by the experiences and accounts of four people living with dementia, their life-partner (if applicable) and the sports professional most closely associated with the person as each participated within a range of leisure opportunities. The methodology was underpinned by phenomenological philosophy and utilised participative methods. Theoretically, the paper draws upon considerations of serious leisure that provide ways in which the participants’ experiences could be understood and wider implications considered. Conceptual themes we derived from the data analysis were place, citizenship, and belonging (where the Centre acting as a physical space was important); identity and interaction (where the focus was upon space making and embodiment); safe spaces and care (i.e., how wellbeing was sustained and how participation and meaningful engagement occurred within the space); and, the value of Centres as opportunity structures (where all of these themes coalesced). Amid current public health debates over resourcing and care, this research provides timely insights and continued needed debates on the relationship between adequate social, economic and political support/resourcing, and the ability of Centres to facilitate and sustain meaningful and safe spaces. Beyond, we suggest our findings offer learning that might extend to wider contexts; for example, through including Centres within social care and health initiatives, where emphasis will be upon participation as a citizen rather than as a patient.

Exploratory Essay Writing

This paper presents a practice—exploratory essay writing—as well as conditions for evidence and arguments that substantiate the categorization of this practice as an aesthetic-phenomenological research practice. Four different strategies have been chosen in order to publish this practice. The first and most relevant was to perform this practice, that is, to write a new exploratory essay to be published in this Special Issue. To read this essay may allow the reader to enter in contact, retroactively, with the practice that generated it and, on this basis, achieve intuitively a sense of how the process of writing might have been developed. The second strategy consists in recording my reading of the new exploratory essay. The change of medium and the consequent aural presence of the essay provides on the one hand another access to the practice and, on the other hand, a bridge to the reflection about this practice as an aesthetic-phenomenological practice. The third strategy presents three different “scores” for writing exploratory essays. These instructions or guidelines disclose step by step the actions that constitute this practice. Eventually, the fourth strategy of publication presents some reflections about exploratory essay writing as an aesthetic practice and as a phenomenological practice as well as about the possibility of conceiving and practicing—or better, of conceiving through practicing—an “aesthetic phenomenology” as complementary to a “philosophical phenomenology.”

"My life only happened on the Internet": Pedro's case in the perspective of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology

The Internet has changed our relationship with time and also transformed experiences, developing new forms of subjectivation. In contemporary society, individuals are increasingly connected, which can lead to addictions such as Internet gaming disorder. This is related to one of the dimensions that underlies human existence: time. This work aims to understand, from the view of Merleau-Ponty's philosophical phenomenology, the experience of the lived time of Pedro, a young man dependent on Internet gaming. We use the single case study as a method, and we understand Pedro's addiction to Internet gaming as a phenomenon linked to the relationships established between him and the contemporary world, whether in the individual or collective sphere. These relationships are inseparable from the elements that make up Pedro's Lebenswelt (lifeworld), such as temporality. The time of the clock influenced the internal time and vice versa, denoting the indivisibility of the phenomenon inwhich there is only a sense of time because man is time itself.

Torn between Determinism and Freewill: Self-alienation and Hiding of Identity in Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog

This essay explores the influence of discourses of determinism and free will on the major heroines’ decisions and behavior when trying to comprehend and apply these philosophies to themselves. The conflicting ideologies of the philosophers create a state of confusion, which in turn has led to the decisions of self-isolation and hiding the real identities to avoid a possible clash with members of the other social classes. The major heroines, Renée and Paloma, hide their intelligence as well because of their firm conviction in the futility of cultural discussions with narrow-minded people who believe in restrictions on social classes boundaries. Therefore, the essay investigates how Barbery addresses both of the philosophical ideologies and trends that control and shape the heroines’ behavior and reactions. It also highlights the influence of these phenomenological philosophies on Renée’s struggle and suffering, which eventually lead to the dualism of her identity and patterns of tensional reactions and ambivalence because she does not understand these theories deeply. The harmonious and amicable relationship between Renée and Paloma who belong to different social classes indicates the author’s hope for a new generation who renounces disagreement and class prejudice; the proximity between them also undermines tools of determinism and discourses of social antagonism among the educated. Finally, the novel manifests itself as an irony of a woman in her fifties who rediscovers her femininity and reprioritizes her needs after years of displacement and self-concealment, and as a paradox for a precocious preteen girl who acts like adults.

On the differences between Heidegger’s and Fink’s interpretations of Hegel’s concept of experience of consciousness

The subject of this article are Martin Heidegger’s and Eugen Fink’s interpretations of Hegel’s concept of experience of consciousness examined in the light of the history of the development of German Hegelian studies. Article aims at revisiting and comparison of those original interpre- tations formulated by the prominent followers of phenomenological philosophy. Furthermore, in the course of the article those interpretations also get compared to the general approach of con- temporary Hegelian studies to interpreting the concept of experience of consciousness. The experience of consciousness is indeed one of the most problematic concepts of Hegel’s philosophy and the key concept of the “Phenomenology of Spirit”. Therefore, with regard to the role this concept has in the narrative of “Phenomenology...”, the interpretations of this concept, examined in the present article allow us to inspect, in a general outlook, Fink’s and Heidegger’s interpretational approaches towards all the “Phenomenology...”. Having examined each of the interpretations, a comparison of the two is conducted, that results in pointing out the key differences between those, which also relate to the interpretations of all the “Phenomenology...”. The article closes up with a brief inspection of the relation of Heidegger’s and Fink’s interpretational approaches to the contemporary scholar consensus on the experience of consciousness in the “Phenomenology of Spirit”.

Mimaride tasarımcı kimliği ve malzeme ilişkisinin fenomenolojik yaklaşımla ele alınması

Today, with the developments in production tools, computer modeling programs and communication technologies, the hegemony of vision in architecture is getting stronger. The complexity and speed of modern life require stimulations that are effective at once, and the design is reduced to a point of view that is evaluated mainly through the sense of sight and measured according to the levels of showing and being shown. However, architecture is a concept that can be perceived and explained through multi-sensory experiences, with which people interact mentally, perceptually and physically. The importance of integrated experience in architectural space was understood with the phenomenological philosophy and the subject-space relationship started to be examined by architects and thinkers; the role of the senses other than the eye has begun to be considered. The phenomenological approach, which focuses on human experience, tries to evaluate spaces with an understanding in which bodily movement and sensation come to the fore. In the works of architects who approach design with this perspective, the use of elements such as texture, surface structure, details, natural light, and especially the material, which is one of the main elements that give the building its identity, is at the forefront. The aim of this article is to examine contemporary architects, who stand out with their use of materials, through their architectural works. Within this scope, Steven Holl in the way materials relate to context, Tadao Ando with the interaction of light, material and nature, Peter Zumthor with the reinterpretation of old values through materials, Kengo Kuma dealing with material-form relationship with an experimental way, were selected within the scope of the article as examples of contemporary architects whose designer identities are identified through the way they use materials; and their works were examined. In the research, the sources that will form the basis for the subject were examined by the literature review method, the collected design samples were analyzed and interpreted.

Disentangling Codependency from Empathy

By retrieving Edith Stein’s thought, this paper seeks to propose a spirituality of personhood conducive to healing the psychological root of codependency. In using the broad word codependency, this paper relies upon Charles L. Whitfield’s definition, which understands it as “a disease of lost selfhood.” This paper is working within the intersections of philosophical phenomenology, psychology, and spirituality, and Stein herself is thoroughly immersed in these disciplines. I will begin by delineating what psychologists have labeled codependency as a relational behavior scheme (rather than a diagnosed mental health disorder) and its pervasiveness within those who identify themselves as religious or spiritual using both a clinical and a phenomenological method. Next, by using Edith Stein’s philosophical phenomenological insights regarding the essence of empathy, this paper seeks to disentangle the Gordian knot of empathy and codependency (which I believe to be the core connection between a codependent psyche and those who hold religious and spiritual values). Finally, from Stein’s later works, I will propose a theological trinitarian anthropology that can help heal the lost sense of selfhood that is at the root of codependent ways of relating.

Striving for Personal Perfection: Rudolf Allers’s Psycho-Ethic-Metaphysical Approach to Character and Self-Improvement

The Viennese psychiatrist Rudolf Allers was one of the principal authors that studied character and contributed to understanding its development and education, including the neurotic character. His psychological observations were based on his own clinical experience, his individual psychology, phenomenological and existential philosophies, and, above all, the doctrine of the Fathers of the Catholic Church and Thomas Aquinas. This paper presents Allers’s main ideas about self-improvement as a process of personal changing toward self-perfection, that is, toward the best version of oneself. For Allers, self-perfection implies the modification of insane aspects of character such as egocentricity, pride, and untidy love for oneself, which are the most important impediments to self-improvement.

Prediction Promises: Towards a Metaphorology of Artificial Intelligence

ABSTRACT Metaphors are a basic element of scientific language. In the context of Artificial Intelligence, metaphors facilitate the communication between experts and the public, as well as between scientists and engineers. Reimagining AI, here understood as a programmatic call, firstly requires us to be aware of the images we think with. Therefore, in this paper, I develop a claim for a hermeneutic metaphorology of AI, a philosophical investigation of our understanding of AI along metaphors. By studying metaphors of AI, we gain another tool for situating the discourse in and around AI towards its motivational background. This is important since our epistemic practices can’t be isolated from their political implications. Drawing mainly on Hans Blumenberg’s phenomenological philosophy of metaphor, this paper aims to mark the first step towards the broader metaphorological project. The focus hereby will lie on prediction as a paradigm of AI and a source for AI images. By analyzing two images, namely the expert and the black box, this article explores what these metaphors can tell us about the ways in which we perceive AI and how this affects the way we think about and practice human-machine relationality.

Editors’ Introduction

Editors’ Introduction

Концепт "Другого" в историко-философской ретроспективе

The purpose of the study is to iidentification of socio-philosophical interpretations of the concept "Other" in the works of philosophers of the XVIII-XX centuries. Scientific novelty. A comparative analysis of the understanding of the "Other" in the philosophical research of G.V.F. Hegel, M. Heidegger, E. Husserl, J.-P. Sartre, S. Frank, M. Bakhtin, M, Merleau-Ponty, M. Buber, E. Levinas, J. Derrida, J. Deleuze, A. Schutz, and also reveals the essential characteristics of the "Other" in he philosophical works of each author, and also defines the conceptual approaches to the "Other" in the philosophy of existentialism and phenomenology. As a result, it is concluded that the "Other" is one of the central categories of social philosophy, mainly in the 19th-20th centuries, however, since the time of Aristotle, philosophers have been interested in the analysis of otherness.

TINJAUAN FILOSOFIS DALAM TRADISI UPACARA SELAMETAN MITONI DAN SAJIAN NASI TUMPENG: Studi Deskriptif di Desa Sumurugul Kecamatan Wanayasa Kabupaten Purwakarta

The purpose of this study is to review the philosophical review in the tradition of the Mitoni Selamattan ceremony and Nasi Tumpeng as a descriptive study in Sumurugul Village, Wanayasa District, Purwakarta Regency, West Java. This research is a qualitative research using phenomenological descriptive method and philosophy of value as an analytical knife. The main topics of discussion are the history of the Mitoni tradition and the Nasi Tumpeng dish, the public's understanding of the Mitoni salametan tradition; and the philosophical review contained in the Mitoni tradition is dissected through Roland Barthes' semiotic theory and Schwartz's philosophy of value. The findings in this research show that Mitoni's salvation has become a tradition of the Muslim community in Sumurugul Village accompanied by Islamic values in it, the purpose of holding this salvation is to ask for blessings to the Almighty so that both the mother and the baby in her womb are given safety. Observing the overall findings in the field, it is not an exaggeration if the author concludes that this tradition is a tradition that has experienced acculturation from Islamic religious culture in the Sumurugul village community.

Социальные идеи: опыт феноменологического анализа

The purpose of the study is to analyze social ideas using the methods of philosophical phenomenology. The article clarifies the features of the application of phenomenology to the analysis of social phenomena. The main emphasis is placed on the study of social ideas that offer the implementation of projects of (macro)regional significance. The projects of "United Europe" were considered. The trajectories of the implementation of the original plan are presented. When summing up the results of the study, the importance of focusing on empirical contexts in which social ideas find their practical implementation was noted.

Editorial Comment

The ninth issue of Conversations responds to Cavell’s thoughts against the backdrop of the history of philosophy in general, and phenomenology, especially Hegel and Heidegger; unfolding metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, political, and aesthetic ramifications. It is against that backdrop, that the question arises about the nature and function of dialectic in wording the world, the other, or ourselves, as acknowledged by Paul Franks and Espen Hammer. The idea of the issue arose with an essay (an “attempt”) I was working on, about Cavell, Wittgenstein, and Hegel, at University of Leeds, while also reading The Phenomenology of Spirit with the Hegel Reading Group at the University of Oxford (Michaelmas term, 2020), and, meeting with the Cavellian Reading Group (that at the University of Cambridge, now an international group), upon sharing the idea of the essay with Amir Khan, this started a series of discussions, which eventually resulted in an invitation to guest edit this issue.