Holism and Horizon: Husserl and McDowell on Non-conceptual Content |
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Authors: | Michael D Barber |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Philosophy, St. Louis University, 3800 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63156-0907, USA |
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Abstract: | John McDowell rejects the idea that non-conceptual content can rationally justify empirical claims—a task for which it is
ill-fitted by its non-conceptual nature. This paper considers three possible objections to his views: he cannot distinguish
empty conception from the perceptual experience of an object; perceptual discrimination outstrips the capacity of concepts
to keep pace; and experience of the empirical world is more extensive than the conceptual focusing within it. While endorsing
McDowell’s rejection of what he means by non-conceptual content, and appreciating his insight into the experiential synthesis
of intuition and conception (in particular, its role in grasping objects), I will argue that Edmund Husserl presents an even
more comprehensive account of perceptual experience that explains how we experience the contribution of receptivity and sensibility
and how they cooperate in perceptual discrimination. Further, it reveals “horizons”—a unique kind of contents, surplus content
(rather than independent non-conceptual content)—beyond the synthesis of intuitive and conceptual contents through which objects
are grasped. Such horizons play a constitutive role, making experience with its conceptual dimensions and justificatory potential
possible; they in no way function like a bare given that is to fulfill some independent justificatory role. Whereas McDowell
focuses on how experience does not take place in isolation from the exercise of conceptual capacities, Husserl complements
his view by situating experience in a more encompassing whole and by elucidating the surplus-horizons that exceed the conceptual
content of experience; play an inseparable, constitutive role within it; and indicate the limits of conceptual comprehension.
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Keywords: | Concepts Genetic phenomenology Horizon Husserl Edmund McDowell John Non-conceptual content Phenomenology |
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