Husserl, hallucination, and intentionality
Synthese July 16, 2022 Andrea Cimino
A philosophical analysis argues that hallucination can be understood as a distinctive intentional phenomenon irreducible to other sensory experiences. Drawing on Husserlian phenomenology, the author proposes a morphological description of the intentional structures of consciousness that generate hallucinatory appearances. The account supports the possibility of hallucination in a strict sense, elucidating the claim that in hallucination we are conscious of something while nothing truly appears. The author contends that hallucinations do not affect perceptual intentionality as a dyadic, relational structure.