The Confluence of Perceiving and Thinking in Consciousness Phenomenology.
Frontiers in Psychology 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02313 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Cognition First-person observation History of science/consciousness Micro-actions Perception Perceptual reversal |
| Citations | 11 |
| Key points | Proposes that methodical first-person observation can integrate thinking and perceiving by revealing their underlying mental micro-actions, linking this approach to the core principle of modern natural science. |
Abstract
The processual relation of thinking and perceiving shall be examined from a historical perspective as well as on the basis of methodically conducted first-person observation. Historically, these two psychological aspects of human knowledge and corresponding philosophical positions have predominant alternating phases. At certain historical points, thinking and perceiving tend to converge, while in the interim phases they seem to diverge with an emphasis on one of them. While at the birth of modern science, for instance, these two forms of mental life were deeply interlinked, today they seem to be separated more than ever before - as a number of scientific crises have shown. Turning from the outer to the inner aspect of this issue, a phenomenological view becomes relevant. In terms of the consciousness phenomenology developed by Steiner (1861-1925) and Witzenmann's (1905-1988) Structure Phenomenology, this article will show how a methodical integration of thinking and perceiving can be carried out on the basis of first-person observation. In the course of a skilled introspective or meditative self-observation the individual's own mental micro-actions of separating and integrating come into view, jointly constituting what we usually call thinking and perceiving. Consequently, this approach includes a conceptual as well as a perceptual dimension the experimental confluence of which ties in with the methodological core principle of modern natural science. At the same time, making this principle explicit may open the way to a further development of human consciousness and its scientific delineation.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- Outer and Inner Dimensions of Brain and Consciousness - Refining and Integrating the Phenomenal Layers Advances in Cognitive Psychology December 1, 2018
- Towards an animal model of consciousness based on the platform theory. Behavioural Brain Research February 15, 2022
- First-person dimensions of mental agency in visual counting of moving objects. Cognitive Processing April 5, 2021
Cites 7
- On a confusion about a function of consciousness Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995
- Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources PLoS Biology May 4, 2007
- Integrated information theory: from consciousness to its physical substrate. Nature Reviews Neuroscience July 2016
- The Radical Plasticity Thesis: How the brain learns to be conscious Frontiers in Psychology May 22, 2014
- Toward a computational theory of conscious processing. Current Opinion in Neurobiology December 29, 2013
and 2 more in the library