‘Phenomenology’ is Blue: The Synaesthetic Dynamics of Being-in-the-World
Marilyn Stendera
Human Studies June 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1007/s10746-025-09829-7 (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 | Synaesthesia Embodied cognition Merleau-ponty Sense-making |
| Key points | Argues that synaesthesia, rather than being a mere anomaly, functions as an illuminating disruption that discloses and amplifies the dynamics of embodied sense-making and Being-in-the-world. |
Abstract
Synaesthesia, in which particular perceptual or cognitive stimuli trigger anomalous secondary sensations, has proven to be remarkably difficult to explain. The way it complicates linkages between perception and action is often taken to present a particularly interesting challenge for embodied accounts of cognition. Taking up Merleau-Ponty’s startling claim that “synaesthetic perception is the rule,” (2005 [1945]: 266), this paper will suggest that synaesthesia and the dynamics of embodied sense-making can shed light on each other precisely because the former’s puzzling strangeness reminds us just how complex the latter can be. Synaesthesia is the kind of illuminating disruption that is well-known within the phenomenological tradition. Unlike Heidegger’s broken hammer, however, it is not a case of practical engagement gone awry; instead, it functions more like the work of Cézanne as analysed in Merleau-Ponty’s essays, capable of disclosing, enacting, and amplifying key dynamics of our Being-in-the-world. Examining how these synaesthetic dynamics – especially the ‘difference in union’ of embodied sense-making, a synthesis that preserves distinctions – operate in the structures of motivation, temporality, and intersubjectivity can help enrich our understanding of, both, our Being-in-the-world in general and the phenomenon that we ordinarily call ‘synaesthesia’.
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 |