Synopses & Reviews
This ambitious work aims to shed new light on the relations between Husserlian phenomenology and the present-day efforts toward a scientific theory of cognition—with its complex structure of disciplines, levels of explanation, and conflicting hypotheses.
The books primary goal is not to present a new exegesis of Husserls writings, although it does not dismiss the importance of such interpretive and critical work. Rather, the contributors assess the extent to which the kind of phenomenological investigation Husserl initiated favors the construction of a scientific theory of cognition, particularly in contributing to specific contemporary theories either by complementing or by questioning them. What clearly emerges is that Husserlian phenomenology cannot become instrumental in developing cognitive science without undergoing a substantial transformation. Therefore, the central concern of this book is not only the progress of contemporary theories of cognition but also the reorientation of Husserlian phenomenology.
Because a single volume could never encompass the numerous facets of this dual aim, the contributors focus on the issue of naturalization. This perspective is far-reaching enough to allow for the coverage of a great variety of topics, ranging from general structures of intentionality, to the nature of the founding epistemological and ontological principles of cognitive science, to analyses of temporality and perception and the mathematical modeling of their phenomenological description.
This book, then, is a collective reflection on the possibility of utilizing a naturalized Husserlian phenomenology to contribute to a scientific theory of cognition that fills the explanatory gap between the phenomenological mind and brain.
Review
Every student of cognition will somewhere in [Naturalizing Phenomenology] find something new and interesting.”APA Review of Books
Synopsis
“Every student of cognition will somewhere in [Naturalizing Phenomenology] find something new and interesting.”—APA Review of Books
Synopsis
An analysis of the contribution Husserlian phenomenology can make to contemporary theories of cognition.
Synopsis
This ambitious work aims to shed new light on the relations between Husserlian phenomenology and the present-day efforts toward a scientific theory of cognition - with its complex structure of disciplines, levels of explanation, and conflicting hypotheses. The contributors assess the extent to which the kind of phenomenological investigation Husserl initiated favours the construction of a scientific theory of cognition, particularly in contributing to specific contemporary theories either by complementing or by questioning them. What clearly emerges is that Husserlian phenomenology cannot become instrumental in developing cognitive science without undergoing a substantial transformation. Therefore, the central concern of this book is not only the progress of contemporary theories of cognition but also the reorientation of Husserlian phenomenology. It provides a collective reflection on the possibility of utilizing a naturalized Husserlian phenomenology to contribute to a scientific theory of cognition that fills the explanatory gap between the phenomenological mind and brain.
Synopsis
This ambitious work aims to shed new light on the relations between Husserlian phenomenology and the present-day efforts toward a scientific theory of cognitionwith its complex structure of disciplines, levels of explanation, and conflicting hypotheses. It assesses the extent to which the kind of phenomenological investigation Husserl initiated favors the construction of a scientific theory of cognition.
About the Author
Jean Petitot is Directeur d'Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Francisco J. Varela is Directeur de Recherches at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. Bernard Pachoud is Maître de Conférences at the Université de Picardie. Jean-Michel Roy is Maître de Conférences at the Université Michel de Montaigne (Bordeaux).
Table of Contents
Foreword; 1. Beyond the gap: an introduction to naturalizing phenomenology Jean-Michel Roy, Jean Petitot, Bernard Pachoud and Francisco J. Varela; Part I. Intentionality, Movement and Temporality: 2. Intentionality naturalized? David Woodruff Smith; 3. Saving intentional phenomena: intentionality, representation, and symbol Jean-Michel Roy; 4. Leibhaftigkeit and representational theories of perception Elisabeth Pecherie; 5. Perceptual completion: a case study in phenomenology and cognitive science Evan Thompson, Alva Noëand Luiz Pessoa; 6. The teleological dimension of perceptual and motor intentionality Bernard Pachoud; 7. Constitution by movement: Husserl in light of recent neurobiological findings Jean-Luc Petit; 8. Wooden iron? Husserlian phenomenology meets cognitive science Tim van Gelder; 9. The specious present: a neurophenomenology of time consciousness Francisco J. Varela; Part II. Mathematics in Phenomenology: 10. Truth and the visual field Barry Smith; 11. Morphological eidetics for a penomenology of perception Jean Petitot; 12. Formal structures in the phenomenology of motion Roberto Casati; 13. Gödel and Husserl Dagfinn Føllesdal; 14. The mathematical continuum: from intuition to logic Giuseppe Longo; Part III. The Nature and Limits of Naturalization: 15. Naturalizing phenomenology? Dretske on Qualia Ronald McIntyre; 16. The immediately given as ground and background Juan-JoséBotero; 17. When transcendental genesis encounters the naturalization project Natalie Depraz; 18. Sense and continuum in Husserl Jean-Michel Salanskis; 19. Cognitive psychology and the transcendental theory of knowledge Maria Villela-Petit; 20. The movement of the living as the originary foundation of perceptual intentionality Renaud Barbaras; 21. Philosophy and cognition: historical roots Jean-Pierre Dupuy; Notes; Bibliography; Index of persons; Index of topics.