Phenomenology of Phenomenology

I explore some interpretations of the practice of international market reliance that forms the focus of Aaron James' book, and I wonder how our actual practices help to settle what we should go on to do now.     

The Marginality of Phenomenology

The essence of Husserl’s intentionality does not lie in any object, but in the marginal horizon presupposed by intentional acts. This characteristic can be seen whether on the level of intensional act or that of noema (intentional object). The reason is that all intentional act and noema come from the stream of internal time consciousness, and thus have Zeithof (time halo or time aureole), while the original meaning constituted by such a halo is prior to the object they are concretized into, and the noema that contains the possibility of meaning will also be intuited together with the perceived adumbration. Using Husserl’s idea that the meaning of non-objectification is prior to the object, Scheler breaks through Husserl’s dogma that the presentation of an object must precede the giving of value to the object, and thus puts forward the new train of thought that the feeling of value is not later than the objectification, or even prior to it. Heidegger deepens and expands the sense of the marginal horizon, revealing in all human behaviors and world presentation such an ontological structure, that is, halo-like meaning or the act of Being itself precedes objects and beings created by the separation of subject and object. Maurice Merleau-Ponty states that the body field is prior to the separation of body and mind, and the body’s perception of external phenomena is first carried out in the manner of field rather than definite objects, therefore, it must have the original ambiguity and be realized in the form of body schema instead of a causal chain. So, the philosophical vitality of phenomenology does not significantly lie in the explanation of the levels and functions of intentional objects, but in the construction premise of such objects, namely, the spatio-temporal halo manifested as marginal horizon, time stream, and the displaying of existential vista.     

The Phenomenology of Democracy

Molly Farneth’s Hegel’s Social Ethics hearkens back to the tradition of Josiah Royce, which has continued in the work of Richard Bernstein and Jeffrey Stout. At the same time, it reflects the impact of three decades of interpretive work which has offered an alternative to the 19th and early 20th century reading of Hegel as a metaphysical systematizer. In this new reading he was from the beginning a social critic and political theorist who looked to lay the groundwork for post-Enlightenment vision of the social world as evolving toward one of social cooperation based on mutual recognition. Farneth has developed this reading of Hegel into one of powerful resources for democratic pluralism.     

思辨现象学与实践现象学--从现象学视角诠释马克思哲学

马克思哲学与康德、黑格尔、胡塞尔等的思辨现象学思想的互释表明:思辨现象学有一种自我超越和回归实践的倾向,但在现实意义上却没有实现这种指归;思辨现象学在纲领、直观、世界、实践等方面脱离了对现实问题的关注,学理式地指向哲学逻辑的根据;而马克思哲学则通过实践还原与实践直观对哲学逻辑的前提发问的根本转换而扬弃了思辨现象学的缺陷,赋予现象学以现实的存在学和历史学的纬度,确立了一种逻辑在先意义上的、具有本真“同一性”的科学实践现象学思想。     

The Phenomenology of Homesickness in Boys

Homesickness is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home. It is characterized by acute longing and preoccupying thoughts of home and attachment objects. This study extended previous research on the phenomenology of childhood homesickness by assessing a sample of 316 boys, ages 8–16, who were spending 2 weeks at a single-sex residential summer camp. Some 18% of the children reported moderate or high levels of homesickness; 7% reported concomitant severe depressive and anxious symptoms. Homesickness intensity was negatively correlated with separation experience and age. It was most commonly associated with depressive symptoms and internalizing behavior problems. For severely homesick boys, intensity increased over time, decreasing just prior to their return home. Preseparation assessment suggested that severely homesick boys had elevated levels of homesickness and negative emotions months before arriving at camp. One-year follow-up data suggested that the intensity of severe homesickness decreased with age and experience. However, severely homesick boys were less likely than other boys to return to camp. The results demonstrate how brief separations can affect children's well-being and attitudes about separations. Severe homesickness is distinct from separation anxiety disorder, but has elements of this and other psychopathologies. Theories of negative emotion, attachment, and coping complement emerging theories of homesickness.     

The Phenomenology and Intentionality of Emotion

Philosophical Studies -     

The Rhetorical Impulse in Husserl's Phenomenology

Continental Philosophy Review -     

The Radical Empiricism of Contemporary French Phenomenology

This paper suggests that one single thread characterizes the developments of French phenomenology that occurred after 1990 in the wake of Merleau-Ponty's and Levinas's major contributions. Janicaud in 1991 had already identified one global trend in French phenomenology and believed it was possible to unite the thoughts of Levinas, Henry, Marion and Chrétien under the common banner of “theological phenomenology.” However, his analysis seems to fail to account for deeper-seated affinities that exist between French phenomenologists such as Marion, Lacoste, Chrétien, Richir, Depraz, Romano – and Benoist for part of his work. This is the reason why, although the present paper does agree with Janicaud's idea that the French authors who define themselves as phenomenologists share some common ground, it defines this common trend quite differently, i.e., as a form of epistemological realism that ultimately manifests itself as a radical empiricism.

Consequently, the present study will state and defend three hypotheses: (1) contemporary French phenomenology professes a form of realism of experience, which is the true rallying point (space of exchange) of otherwise differing elaborations; (2) this type of epistemological empiricism, by virtue of its radicality, implies a problem that threatens to drive phenomenology towards its own dissolution, because as it precipitates in fine the dilution of philosophical discourse into a multitude of other discourses; (3) this variant of empiricism shows that, within its strictly defined viewpoint, there is scarcely any difference between French phenomenology and a certain part of French analytical philosophy. All three hypotheses lead to the same conclusion: the determination of the defining aspect of contemporary French phenomenology entails, beyond the apparent, misleading, and futile quarrel of paradigms, to bring to light a common space for contemporary French philosophy, which, from both perspectives, can be conveyed by the single term “to show.” It is, in fact, the elevation of “to show” to the detriment of “to demonstrate” that seems to ensnare thinkers within an impasse.     

The Phenomenology of Hairpulling in College Students

This study examined the phenomenology of hairpulling in a large nonclinical college student sample. Given that hairpulling is conceptualized as occurring on a continuum of severity, we expected to inform the assessment and treatment of Trichotillomania (TTM) by examining hairpulling behavior across its range of presentation. Hairpulling occurred at a rate of 9.7%, while average age of onset was 13.57 years. Self-reported hairpulling styles were identified with 31.3% endorsing focused hairpulling, while 68.7% endorsed an automatic hairpulling style. The most commonly endorsed ritual was “examine the root (37.3%) while the scalp was the most frequently endorsed hairpulling site (49%). Eyelashes were more frequently endorsed as a pulling site by focused (43.8) compared to automatic (5.7%) hairpullers. The hairpulling environments most often endorsed were “while reading” and “while studying” (75%). Affective states were found to change across the pulling cycle in support of hairpulling serving in an emotion regulation capacity. Focused hairpullers endorsed significantly higher trait anxiety than automatic hairpullers. Depression scores (BDI) were elevated for hairpullers compared to non-hairpullers. Implications for assessment and treatment were discussed and directions for future research were provided.     

Visual Consciousness and The Phenomenology of Perception

Ideally, psychological and phenomenological studies of visual experience should be mutually informative. In that spirit, this article outlines parts of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty's phenomenological view of visual experience as a kind of independently active opaque bodily synthesis, and uses those views to (a) help ground and extend Alva Noë's rejection of the “snapshot” theory of visual experience in favor of a more enactive view of visual content, (b) critique a failing of Noë's account, and (c) show how the assumptions underlying more internalist and Cartesian views of visual experience can illegitimately creep in even when they are being carefully criticized.