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Consciousness and the Paranormal — Part 4

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What does this refer to, and do you have the link?

Brain in a Vat ... my coinage

I'm getting a new lease on Heidegger through re-listening to Dreyfus lecture series:

Philosophy 185 Heidegger : Hubert Dreyfus : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive

I just had the first three still on my MP3 player and haven't had time to download more, so I've just played them over and over and I've had a few a-ha moments as a result so I started B&T part one again last night.

It's OK if we want to steer away from Heidegger but I'm beginning to suspect we won't really be able to get away from him - I'm appreciating more now how seminal he is.

As for doubting the outside world, Dreyfus puts Searle and Husserl in the same camp, variant searches on the three names bring up lots of hits.
 
It's not quite clear yet to me what you are thinking and writing in these last few posts, Pharoah. I don't think that rules of logic derived by philosophers in the past (when 'science' understood less than it does now about the nature of even merely physical 'reality') can help us in the present. It sometimes seems in what you have written recently that traditional semantic logic constitutes one of the philosophical 'boxes' you were referring to in one of your posts yesterday as categorizations you resist. It seems that your attitude toward the logic box shifts. Can you clarify?

I think the logic is still relevant, I posted something back on part 3 of this thread on the tetralemma, the speaker was at a recent conference and noted that looking at other systems of logic coudl be helpful as we think about consciousness. I want to read Heidegger's essay on identity in this regard too.

@Constance - you've put forward to look at moral realism, we have Soupie's posts and Pharoah's too ... shall we pick something and focus in on it?
 
@Constance - you've put forward to look at moral realism, we have Soupie's posts and Pharoah's too ... shall we pick something and focus in on it?

I read the posts a few pages back and followed a link to read more about 'moral realism'. The general concept is plain enough, but there are numerous variations of it among philosophers. I'm not personally interested in going through all that (though you should do so if you want to). I'd rather we discuss here what we think 'morality' signifies among humans and how we think it evolved {what its source or sources have been} in human development.
 
An interesting book relevant for our discussions, now translated into English:


Too expensive to buy, but that's what libraries are for. :)

Reviews:
Lambert Wiesing not only provides an original and illuminating treatment of the core issues in the philosophy of perception he radically recasts the terms of the debate and extends the field of enquiry, including a thought-provoking discussion of the transformation brought about by the perception of images. It is a major achievement that this important book has now made been made available to English-speaking readers. -- Jason Gaiger, University of Oxford, UK

With this book, Wiesing has set out an original and extremely provocative suggestion for rethinking perception- and consciousness theory from the beginning. It should be said that it is an enormously stimulating book, rich in ideas, subtle in its argumentation, and sometimes funny as well. Beyond this it is, with its confident polarisation of theses and its underlying phenomenological orientation, a daring work in the best sense. [Review of the original German edition]. -- Thorsten Streubel, in: Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur Philosophie, 2010

We are creatures of presence; through perception we are surrounded by the given presence of ourselves and our environment. It makes no sense to doubt it. Wiesing presents the background, implications and justification of this central idea with startling clarity and impressive breadth as well as argumentative stringency; almost as an aside, the reader gets not only brilliant miniatures of the history of theory-from perception theory to image theory-but a veritable introduction to phenomenology...at a minimum, Lambert Wiesing's book may be read as a new basic theory of the way we understand ourselves as perceiving beings. [Review of the original German edition]. -- Jan Urbich, Suddeutsche Zeitung, 2009

Writing with wonderful clarity, Wiesing illuminates and re-orientates our understanding of perception, self and world. He also re positions the role of image-perception, and our understanding of what constitutes an image, in this context. Highly recommended. -- Kathleen Lennon, Professor of Philosophy, University of Hull, UK

This radical rethinking of the philosophy of perception fascinates by casting old issues in a new light and giving prominence to topics - such as the perception of images - that orthodox thinking is condemned to treat as marginal. The book is bold, original, full of challenging ideas and makes a powerful case for changing our approach to this central philosophical problem. -- Robert Hopkins, Professor of Philosophy, New York University USA

Already in its original German version, Lambert Wiesing's The Philosophy of Perception has had an unusually deep and specific impact on contemporary philosophical discussions, both on the "analytic" and "continental" sides of the epistemological divide. In a present both desirous of a return to cognitive realism and with an awareness of its impossibility, this is the resonance of a book that, on the one side, posits "perception" as a reality, and, on the other, patiently unravels the challenging of this "reality" for the human mind. -- Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guerard Professor in Literature, Stanford University, USA

Lambert Wiesing's The Philosophy of Perception is a revolutionary rethinking of the philosophy of perception and image perception. Employing skilful phenomenology and philosophy 'without models', Wiesing presents an uncompromising critique of established theories of perception and takes huge strides in a new direction. Embodiment and identity are among the topics transformed by examining the necessary a priori consequences of the reality of perception. The book contains invigorating argument and surprising developments on every page. It should be essential reading for anyone working in the philosophy of images. -- Dawn Wilson, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Hull, UK

Wiesing provides a subtle, original, and erudite assessment of the situation in contemporary philosophy of perception, along with a bold proposal for reorienting the field. Written in an inviting style-and nicely translated-this book reaches out both to phenomenologists and those unfamiliar with what phenomenology has to offer. Wiesing cares deeply about what philosophy is and ought to be, and anyone with similar concerns will find this an engaging read. -- John Kulvicki, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dartmouth College, USA


About the Author
Lambert Wiesing is Professor of Philosophy at Jena University, Germany. He was President of the German Society for Aesthetics between 2005 and 2008.
 
Please do read the pages available in the sampled text ^^ so we can discuss them.


In a present both desirous of a return to cognitive realism and with an awareness of its impossibility, this is the resonance of a book that, on the one side, posits "perception" as a reality, and, on the other, patiently unravels the challenging of this "reality" for the human mind. -- Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guerard Professor in Literature, Stanford University, USA

Not sure I know exactly what this means, in context it seems to say that we want to move way from everything is an illusion ... but that this is impossible?

In searching for cognitive realism, I came across this:

Realism theory is the belief that many or most cognitive biases are not "errors", but instead logical and practical reasoning methods of dealing with the "real world". Inherent in it is the assumption that subjects include far more information than cognitive experimenters want them to in their thought processes.
 
The live links in that last quote do not connect with other texts. Can you link to the source of that last quote? Thanks.
 
In a present both desirous of a return to cognitive realism and with an awareness of its impossibility, this is the resonance of a book that, on the one side, posits "perception" as a reality, and, on the other, patiently unravels the challenging of this "reality" for the human mind. -- Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Albert Guerard Professor in Literature, Stanford University, USA

Not sure I know exactly what this means, in context it seems to say that we want to move way from everything is an illusion ... but that this is impossible?

Who believes that everything we see and otherwise sense in the world is an illusion and that what we think therefore makes no contact with the actual world we live in?
 
Here is the google books page on the Wiesing book. The description of the book clarifies the issues:

"Lambert Wiesing's The Philosophy of Perception challenges current theories of perception. Instead of attempting to understand how a subject perceives the world, Wiesing starts by taking perception to be real. He then asks what this reality means for a subject. In his original approach, the question of how human perception is possible is displaced by questions about what perception obliges us to be and do. He argues that perception requires us to be embodied, to be visible, and to continually participate in the public and physical world we perceive. Only in looking at images, he proposes, can we achieve something like a break in participation, a temporary respite from this, one of perception s relentless demands.

Wiesing's methods chart a markedly new path in contemporary perception theory. In addition to identifying common ground among diverse philosophical positions, he identifies how his own, phenomenological approach differs from those of many other philosophers, past and present. As part of the argument, he provides a succinct but comprehensive survey of the philosophy of images

His original critical exposition presents scholars of phenomenology, perception and aesthetics with a new, important understanding of the old phenomenon, the human being in the world."

The Philosophy of Perception: Phenomenology and Image Theory - Lambert Wiesing - Google Books
 
Who believes that everything we see and otherwise sense in the world is an illusion and that what we think therefore makes no contact with the actual world we live in?

That particular madhouse has many illustrious residents from Plato and his Cave to the brothers Wachowski and their Matrix
 
Part of the preface and much of the first chapter are available to read at amazon. The book is also searchable at google books. My impression so far is that, in accord with other phenomenological philosophers, he attempts to overcome the 'representationalist' theory of perception and consciousness that has been hardened in our time by cognitive neuroscientists and that perpetuates the notion that we do not have direct contact with the world we experience out of which we develop accurate understandings of the nature of our existence and its ethical imperatives.
 
Note: Samples from all sections of the Wiesing book are provided at google books. Enough to enable us to discuss his approach and the approaches he opposes. I think pursuing discussion based on these two sources will be helpful to us here in forging ahead in our collective attempt to understand consciousness and being.
 
Note: Samples from all sections of the Wiesing book are provided at google books. Enough to enable us to discuss his approach and the approaches he opposes. I think pursuing discussion based on these two sources will be helpful to us here in forging ahead in our collective attempt to understand consciousness and being.

this is fascinating ...
 
"philosophy is an attempt to work scientifically, yet without the use of models"
 
I'm going to be offline for a couple of months... Got some working out to do. Feel free to drop me an email.

"Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless uncertainty inwhich they involve you, and by the cold reception which your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated. Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man."
"And shall we esteem it worthy the labour of a philosopher to give us a true system of the planets, and adjust the position and order of those remote bodies; while we affect to overlook those, who, with so much success, delineate the parts of the mind, in which we are so intimately concerned?"
 
I'm going to be offline for a couple of months... Got some working out to do. Feel free to drop me an email.

"Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless uncertainty inwhich they involve you, and by the cold reception which your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated. Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man."
"And shall we esteem it worthy the labour of a philosopher to give us a true system of the planets, and adjust the position and order of those remote bodies; while we affect to overlook those, who, with so much success, delineate the parts of the mind, in which we are so intimately concerned?"

Ciao
 
I'm going to be offline for a couple of months... Got some working out to do. Feel free to drop me an email.

I'm getting close to taking a break too given all the unread books sitting here waiting for me. Good luck with your research and writing, Pharoah.
 
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