Notes from book
Edmund Husserl sought to re-invent psychology by combine it with ideas from philosophy to from a new discipline called 'phenomenology'.
The aim of phenomenology was to study the immediate data of consciousness, but without referring to anything that consciousness might tell us about the extra- mental world - that is anything outside of our own minds. The PMW book gives an example of a phoenix, "the intentionality of my thought [of the phoenix] is exactly the same whether or not there are any phoenixes in reality". Husserl also gave an example in his writings, he thought of the planet Jupiter as he thought of Bismarck and of the tower of Babel as he thought of Cologne Cathedral. He made the point that the intentionality of his experience is the same whether the object is really there or if it is a hallucination. For example, if I see a table, it makes no difference whether it is actually there or not.
Husserl explained that a phenomenologist should closely study the psychological phenomena (situations that are observed to exist or happen) and should take the attitude of suspended judgement when dealing with the extra-mental world, Husserl uses the Greek word 'epoche' for suspense of judgement. 'Epoche' is the process of thinking away from the natural interpretation of an experience to concentrate on its intrinsic nature (belonging to a thing by its very nature, its inherent nature).
Husserl didn't assert that there were no realities other than phenomena and left the possibility of a world of non-phenomenal objects, but such objects are of no concern to the philosopher. Husserl said the reason for this is that we have infallible knowledge of the objects in our own consciousness while our knowledge of the external world is inferential (deriving logical conclusions from premises that are known or assumed to be true).
Husserl distinguished between immanent and transcendent perception. Immanent is self-evident and operates inside a thing or a person. Transcendent perception is fallible and the inferences that constitute transcendent perception actually based on deliverances from immanent perception. This makes immanent perception more fundamental.
Phenomenology is the most basic of all disciplines because only consciousness has 'absolute being' and all other forms depend on consciousness for their existence. Phenomenology also provides the data and information of all other branches of philosophy and science.
Husserl made epoche more radical than Cartesian doubt (the method of being doubtful or sceptical, it invites us to suspend judgement on any proposition whose truth can be doubted. This process is dramatised as the 'evil demon', it causes us to doubt everything we thought we knew. Descartes came up with the demon proof point of certainty, the cogito 'I think therefore I am'. It is on this slender basis that the correct use of our faculties has to be re-established).
Husserl also tried to combine his ideas of solipsism (the idea that the self is the only thing that can be known to exist) with a solution to the problem of intersubjectivity (the 'agreement' between individuals in a situation).
Existentialism (John Paul Satre)
Satre's pre war essays are detailed studies in the philosophy of mind in the phenomenological mould. Satre criticised Husserl in that he hadn't taken the phenomenological reduction far enough. Satre disagreed with Husserl's accepting that Cartesian ego (aware of its own thoughts and capable of disembodied existence) as a datum of consciousness. Satre said that when we are absorbed in what we are doing, we have not thought of ourselves and we only make the self an object when reflecting on the situation. The self lies outside of consciousness and therefore belongs to the transcendent world (a world of the superior. It goes beyond normal limits).
Satre showed that the perception that in imagination we are surveying the contents of an interior mental world is false. Satre said that we are imagining extra-mental objects, not internal images. An example is if we imagine a real person but who is absent, We are creating an object in the world when what we imagine doesn't exist.
According to Satre, emotions are misconceived if we think of them as passive internal feelings. If we hate someone, we actually perceive them as hateful. Satre also used depression to explain a 'magical transformation' of the situations we are in. He said that depression 'casts a spell' on the world to make every effort to cope seem pointless.
Being, for Satre, is what precedes and underlies all the different kinds of things we encounter in consciousness. We sort things into classes depending on our interests and as instruments for our purposes. If we strip away all the distinctions, we're left with pure being. Being in itself - l'en soi. This is 'without reason, without cause, without necessity'.
Satre expanded a theme of Heidegger's. English philosophers laughed at 'nothing' noths' but Satre expanded on it to give it some significance. When consciousness articulates the world, it does so y means of negation. Satre uses the example of the concept of red. He divides the world into red and non-red. An example given in PMW is of chairs and tables, we must divide chairs into two groups - chairs and not-tables and therefore tables and not-chairs. Satre says that 'the being by which nothingness comes into the world must be its own nothingness'.
Another of Satre's ideas comes from Heidegger. For most objects essence precedes existence but Satre said in his book 'Exitenialism and Humanism', "there is at least one being whose existence comes before his essence, a being which exists before it can be defined by any conception of it. That being is man". Human freedom precedes the essence of man. Humans don't need to follow a set life path. Satre says that human freedom creates a fissure in the world of objects. The life of an individual is not determined in advance, neither by a creator nor by necessitating causes nor by absolute moral laws. We can't escape the necessity to choose though. Satre also talked about 'bad faith', this is when we are aware of our freedom but strive to reduce ourselves to mere objects.
The alternative attitude is to accept our freedom and accept responsibility for our actions. Satre says that there are psychical limits, but we will adapt our desires depending on the situations that we find ourselves in.
Satre introduced the idea of 'being-for-others-, this is the way in which we are presented to others and are observed by them; We become nothing more than an object for them - maybe of envy or contempt.
Satre followed Communist Party ideas. A key idea of existentialism was libertarianism, this was hard to reconcile with Marxist determinists though.
Notes from lecture
Husserl's book 'psychology from an empirical standpoint' is the foundation text of modern phenomenology and is an attempt to de-mystify psychology, which had its origins in Hegelian pseudo-science such as phrenology (the study of the the shape and size of skulls, it is based on the discredited idea that doing so could reveal mental capacity etc...)
Heidegger's book 'being in time' was one of the great works of that time. The primary idea of the metaphysical age is to make thoughts correspond with an underlying or hidden substrata of independentley subsisting reality (such as Schopenhauer's 'will').
Heidegger wouldn't agree with the slogan of the X Files "the truth is out there".
Truth is the agreement of knowledge with objects. Objects are eternal and prior to the mind (Aristotle) and can be mind dependent, (Kant) but they exist either way according to the metaphysicians. Kant didn't want to reject metaphysics, but to reform it and his project was to re-foundation it.
After Heidesgger, there is no absolute or higher truth. There are only subjective 'weak truths' that people don;t really believe. There are also 'convenient truths' also called 'practical truths'. For Heidegger, being is always specific or concrete.
Heidegger's project was to clear away all the philosophical terminology and throw away all philosophical concepts and systems since Socrates. Like Nietzsche, Heidegger believes Socrates corrupted western civilization.
Dasein or 'being there'. 'Being' at a particular time and place, as well as being engaged in a particular task. There is no existence when the being is Dasein. All troubles go away when in Dasein ('in the zone').
Existence is boredom and boredom is the 'problem of being'. The opposite of boredom is existence and your Dasein.
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