scholarly journals Key Aspects of Analytical and Transcendental Phenomenology within the Framework of Modern Philosophy of Consciousness

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 97-123
Author(s):  
Diana E. Gasparyan

The article discusses the peculiarities and specific features of phenomenological approach developed in contemporary analytical philosophy. Despite the fact that the trust in phenomenological approaches continue to grow in analytical philosophy, it is necessary to recognize the presence of noticeable divergence between the classical transcendental phenomenology of E. Husserl and contemporary versions of phenomenology in analytical philosophy. The article examines some of these divergences. It is shown that, unlike the skepticism of transcendental phenomenology in relation to scientific methodology in the research of consciousness, the analytical tradition of phenomenology is oriented toward cooperative dialogue with science. Phenomenology in analytical philosophy places great hopes on the possibility of making consciousness a subject of joint research of neuroscientists and phenomenologists. The article claims that in the course of realization of this task, phenomenology in analytical tradition often starts to be interpreted from realistic and partly from naturalistic positions, and that does not meet the project of transcendental phenomenology. As an illustration of this idea, certain approaches of analytical phenomenology are considered, in particular: phenomena are interpreted from the point of view of logical and linguistic analysis, intentionality is connected with the activity of the brain and is located in the natural world, phenomenal consciousness is interpreted as the awareness of a high order, and the phenomena have a gradual nature and are often identified only with sensual experience, which implies a correlative correspondence of the substrate data of brain physiology. In that regard, there are reasons to interpret phenomenological theories that are funded by analytical tradition as an example of a specific phenomenology of non-transcendental origin.

2021 ◽  
pp. 258-274
Author(s):  
Gevorg Barseghyan ◽  
Mane Markosyan ◽  
Hrayr Hovakimyan

This article examines the essential meanings of phenomenological philosophy and law school of transcendental phenomenology. Attention is paid to methodological features of phenomenological approach of legal perception. In the context of domestic legal doctrine, attention is paid to both advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Conclusion is made that phenomenology is a specific, effective methodology synthesizing diverse explorative perceptions. Phenomenology, as a theory and methodology of law, is part of non-classical legal science, separate elements of this method are used in the context of other non-classical legal approaches such as hermeneutics and axiology of law. It must be emphasized that phenomenology of law is an alternative to sociological and natural-legal perception of law and, at the same time, in its context the synthesis of these two methods of legal exploration is done to some extent. The main feature of legal phenomenology is its orientation to modern law as a sociological process that is going on in the world of “open” life on the one hand, and to potential law as a basis for universal ideal law, on the other hand. Phenomenological approach can be used as a mechanism for exploring current positive law. From such point of view, ideal legal system is discovered in any legal regulation due to which the enforcement of legal regulation is exercised. The purpose of this work is to conduct a comprehensive study of transcendental phenomenology of law as a method of conducting legal study. In order to satisfy the purpose set above, the following problems are introduced.  The study of transcendental phenomenology as an approach,  The study of transcendental phenomenology as a research method,  The reveal of transcendental phenomenology essence as a means of methodology of acknowledgement of law. The methodological basis of this article are the dialectical and historical methods. The object and subject of the research were observed using such general and special methods of scientific knowledge, as dogmatic, comparative-legal, legal modeling, logical analysis. Based on the analysis made in the context of this work, suggestions are made which are directed at developing the efficiency of phenomenology as a means of conducting legal studies, as well as the accomplishment of legal modeling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhanya Parameshwaran ◽  
S. Sathishkumar ◽  
Tara C. Thiagarajan

AbstractThe brain undergoes profound structural and dynamical alteration in response to its stimulus environment. In animal studies, enriched stimulus environments result in numerous structural and dynamical changes along with cognitive enhancements. In human society factors such as education, travel, cell phones and motorized transport dramatically expand the rate and complexity of stimulus experience but diverge in access based on income. Correspondingly, poverty is associated with significant structural and dynamical differences in the brain, but it is unknown how this relates to disparity in stimulus access. Here we studied consumption of major stimulus factors along with measurement of brain signals using EEG in 402 people in India across an income range of $0.82 to $410/day. We show that the complexity of the EEG signal scaled logarithmically with overall stimulus consumption and income and linearly with education and travel. In contrast phone use jumped up at a threshold of $30/day corresponding to a similar jump in key spectral parameters that reflect the signal energy. Our results suggest that key aspects of brain physiology increase in lockstep with stimulus consumption and that we have not fully appreciated the profound way that stimulus expanding aspects of modern life are changing our brain physiology.


1978 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
F. T. De Dombal

This paper discusses medical diagnosis from the clinicians point of view. The aim of the paper is to identify areas where computer science and information science may be of help to the practising clinician. Collection of data, analysis, and decision-making are discussed in turn. Finally, some specific recommendations are made for further joint research on the basis of experience around the world to date.


Author(s):  
Olena Karpenko ◽  
Tetiana Stoianova

The article is devoted to the study of personal names from a cognitive point of view. The study is based on the cognitive concept that speech actually exists not in the speech, not in linguistic writings and dictionaries, but in consciousness, in the mental lexicon, in the language of the brain. The conditions for identifying personal names can encompass not only the context, encyclopedias, and reference books, but also the sound form of the word. In the communicative process, during a free associative experiment, which included a name and a recipient’s mental lexicon. The recipient was assigned a task to quickly give some association to the name. The aggregate of a certain number of reactions of different recipients forms the associative field of a proper name. The associative experiment creates the best conditions for identifying the lexeme. The definition of a monosemantic personal name primarily includes the search of what it denotes, while during the process of identifying a polysemantic personal name recipients tend have different reactions. Scientific value is posed by the effect of the choice of letters for the name, sound symbolism, etc. The following belong to the generalized forms of identification: usage of a hyperonym; synonyms and periphrases or simple descriptions; associations denoting the whole (name stimulus) by reference to its part (associatives); cognitive structures such as “stimulus — association” and “whole (stimulus) — part (associative)”; lack of adjacency; mysterious associations. The topicality of the study is determined by its perspective to identify the directions of associative identification of proper names, which is one of the branches of cognitive onomastics. The purpose of the study is to identify, review, and highlight the directions of associative identification of proper names; the object of the research is the names in their entirety and variety; its subject is the existence of names in the mental lexicon, which determines the need for singling out the directions for the associative identification of the personal names.


Author(s):  
Helena De Preester

This chapter argues that the most basic form of subjectivity is different from and more fundamental than having a self, and forwards a hypothesis about the origin of subjectivity in terms of interoception. None of those topics are new, and a consensus concerning the homeostatic-interoceptive origin of subjectivity is rapidly growing in the domains of the neurosciences and psychology. This chapter critically explores that growing consensus, and it argues that the idea that the brain topographically represents bodily states is unfit for thinking about the coming about of subjectivity. In the first part, four inherent characteristics of subjectivity are discussed from a philosophical phenomenological point of view. The second part explores whether a model of subjectivity in which interoception maintains its crucial role is possible without relying on topographical representations of the in-depth body, and giving due to the inherent characteristics of subjectivity.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 340
Author(s):  
Lehel Balogh ◽  
Masaru Tanaka ◽  
Nóra Török ◽  
László Vécsei ◽  
Shigeru Taguchi

Psychotherapy is a comprehensive biological treatment modifying complex underlying cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and regulatory responses in the brain, leading patients with mental illness to a new interpretation of the sense of self and others. Psychotherapy is an art of science integrated with psychology and/or philosophy. Neurological sciences study the neurological basis of cognition, memory, and behavior as well as the impact of neurological damage and disease on these functions, and their treatment. Both psychotherapy and neurological sciences deal with the brain; nevertheless, they continue to stay polarized. Existential phenomenological psychotherapy (EPP) has been in the forefront of meaning-centered counseling for almost a century. The phenomenological approach in psychotherapy originated in the works of Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Binswanger, Medard Boss, and Viktor Frankl, and it has been committed to accounting for the existential possibilities and limitations of one’s life. EPP provides philosophically rich interpretations and empowers counseling techniques to assist mentally suffering individuals by finding meaning and purpose to life. The approach has proven to be effective in treating mood and anxiety disorders. This narrative review article demonstrates the development of EPP, the therapeutic methodology, evidence-based accounts of its curative techniques, current understanding of mood and anxiety disorders in neurological sciences, and a possible converging path to translate and integrate meaning-centered psychotherapy and neuroscience, concluding that the EPP may potentially play a synergistic role with the currently prevailing medication-based approaches for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.


Author(s):  
James Deery

AbstractFor some, the states and processes involved in the realisation of phenomenal consciousness are not confined to within the organismic boundaries of the experiencing subject. Instead, the sub-personal basis of perceptual experience can, and does, extend beyond the brain and body to implicate environmental elements through one’s interaction with the world. These claims are met by proponents of predictive processing, who propose that perception and imagination should be understood as a product of the same internal mechanisms. On this view, as visually imagining is not considered to be world-involving, it is assumed that world-involvement must not be essential for perception, and thus internalism about the sub-personal basis is true. However, the argument for internalism from the unity of perception and imagination relies for its strength on a questionable conception of the relationship between the two experiential states. I argue that proponents of the predictive approach are guilty of harbouring an implicit commitment to the common kind assumption which does not follow trivially from their framework. That is, the assumption that perception and imagination are of the same fundamental kind of mental event. I will argue that there are plausible alternative ways of conceiving of this relationship without drawing internalist metaphysical conclusions from their psychological theory. Thus, the internalist owes the debate clarification of this relationship and further argumentation to secure their position.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Shahul Mujib Kamal ◽  
Norazryana Mat Dawi ◽  
Hamidreza Namazi

BACKGROUND: Walking like many other actions of a human is controlled by the brain through the nervous system. In fact, if a problem occurs in our brain, we cannot walk correctly. Therefore, the analysis of the coupling of brain activity and walking is very important especially in rehabilitation science. The complexity of movement paths is one of the factors that affect human walking. For instance, if we walk on a path that is more complex, our brain activity increases to adjust our movements. OBJECTIVE: This study for the first time analyzed the coupling of walking paths and brain reaction from the information point of view. METHODS: We analyzed the Shannon entropy for electroencephalography (EEG) signals versus the walking paths in order to relate their information contents. RESULTS: According to the results, walking on a path that contains more information causes more information in EEG signals. A strong correlation (p= 0.9999) was observed between the information contents of EEG signals and walking paths. Our method of analysis can also be used to investigate the relation among other physiological signals of a human and walking paths, which has great benefits in rehabilitation science.


Author(s):  
Anastasia O. Shabalina ◽  

The article considers the main arguments against the neurobiological theory of consciousness from the point of view of the enactivist approach within the philosophy of mind. The neurobiological theory of consciousness, which reduces consciousness to neural activity, is currently the dominant approach to the mind-body problem. The neurobiological theory emerged as a result of advances in research on the phenomena of consciousness and through the development of technologies for visualizing the internal processes of mind. However, at the very heart of this theory, there is a number of logical contradictions. The non-reductive enactivist approach to consciousness, introduced in this article, contributes to the existing argumentation against the reduction of consciousness to neural processes with remonstrations that take into account the modern neuroscientific data. The article analyzes the argumentation of the sensorimotor enactivism developed by A. Noe and offers the account of the teleosemantic approach to the concept of information provided by R. Cao. The key problems of the neurobiological theory of consciousness are highlighted, and the objections emerging within the framework of the enactivist approach are analyzed. Since the main concepts on which the neural theory is based are the concepts of neural substrate, cognition as representation, and information as a unit of cognition, the author of the article presents three key enactivist ideas that oppose them. First, the enactivist concept of cognition as action allows us to consider the first-person experience as a mode of action, and not as a state of the brain substrate. Second, the article deals with the “explanatory externalism” argument proposed by Noe, who refutes the image of cognition as a representation in the brain. Finally, in order to critically revise the concept of information as a unit of cognition, the author analyzes Cao’s idea, which represents a teleosemantic approach, but is in line with the general enactivist argumentation. Cao shows that the application of the concept “information” to neural processes is problematic: no naturalized information is found in the brain as a physical substrate. A critical revision of beliefs associated with the neural theory of consciousness leads us to recognize that there are not enough grounds for reducing consciousness to processes that take place in the brain. That is why Noe calls expectations that the visualization of processes taking place in the brain with the help of the modern equipment will be able to depict the experience of consciousness the “new phrenology”, thus indicating the naive character of neural reduction. The article concludes that natural science methods are insufficient for the study of consciousness.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document