Introduction. When I read the following passage in a review of a book on the philosophy of music, my understanding of Carnot’s second law of thermodynamics and its philosophical implications kicked in and inspired me to compose an article combining a wide variety of ideas and experiences. This is overdue as I had promised … Continue reading “Gradiance: The Mother of all Reductions”
Tag: Phenomenology
Philosophy, Religion, Mysticism and Madness
I am still in the middle of reading Wouter Kusters’ phenomenal Philosophy of Madness: The Experience of Psychotic Thinking. This book is a must read for all interested in philosophy, mysticism and madness, and those who are open to the disturbing closeness, even overlap, of all three, like Kusters’ ideas that: Philosophy is controlled madness; Madness develops … Continue reading “Philosophy, Religion, Mysticism and Madness”
The Operative Assumptions in Theosophy
If Theosophy is taken as a synthesis of science, philosophy and theology, together with its stated objectives of open dialogue, comparative investigation and experimentation, there will be a lot of room to overcome its own articles of faith, which in spite of its professed anti-dogmatic, free-thinking, non-partisan persona, are quite prevalent. For example there are … Continue reading “The Operative Assumptions in Theosophy”
The Tacit Dimension Operative in Phenomenology
Abstract. This paper tries to assess the tacit dimension operative in the doing of phenomenology itself. The pre-phenomenological, pre-thematic naive skills of everyday abstraction and reflection comprise the tacit basis upon which phenomenology draws to do its work. In the natural attitude we are always already using these skills in daily life, and in the … Continue reading “The Tacit Dimension Operative in Phenomenology”
The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity
Each of us constructs and lives a ‘narrative’ . . . this narrative is us, our identities — Oliver Sacks. This dissertation is the fruit of my research on the concept of narrative identity, i.e. the claim that our sense of self is structured like a story. While investigating this concept it became clear that … Continue reading “The Possibility Conditions of Narrative Identity”
By Way of Husserl: A Phenomenology of Duchampian Art
Introduction This paper is about the French painter and conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp, who created a series of very influential conceptual event-objects. In the beginning of the twentieth century he shocked and revolutionized the artworld. He did so with art objects trying to capture the phenomenon of motion and with already fabricated, found objects, called … Continue reading “By Way of Husserl: A Phenomenology of Duchampian Art”
The Jaynesian Paradigm and Beyond
Introduction The Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes in his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind proposed a novel and ingenious theory of consciousness, which is making a come-back in the scientific community. His initial reception was marred by a widespread misunderstanding of his concept of consciousness and the absence of neuro-imaging … Continue reading “The Jaynesian Paradigm and Beyond”