OLEKSANDR KULCZYCKYI’S PHILOSOPHY OF MIND

Oleksandr Kulchytskyi, a Ukrainian philosopher, defined mental phenomena as subjective internal experiences accessible only to the subject. He described mental integration as the coexistence of phenomena at a single moment or across different moments of mental life, contrasting mental (inner) life with physical (outer) life. He connected consciousness with the unconscious, aiming to solve the interaction problem between mental and physical realms. Kulchytskyi tended toward dualism in addressing the mind-body problem, influenced indirectly by Descartes through Twardowski, and attempted to reconcile Twardowski's concept of the psyche with Lipps' assertion of unconscious mental phenomena. His approach shares similarities with Thomas Nagel, Frank Jackson, and David Chalmers on subjectivity versus objectivity.

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Abstract

The article deals with the main tenets of the philosophy of mind developed by the Ukrainian philosopher Oleksandr Kulchytskyi based on an analysis of his work «An Essay on Structural Psychology» (Munich, 1949). The signs of mental phenomena according to Kulchytskyi are considered. The philosopher identified the subjectivity of mental phenomena with internal experiences and considered them accessible exclusively to the subject. Kulchytskyi described the integration of mental phenomena as their coexistence at a single moment of mental life, as well as their coexistence at different moments of mental life. His opposition of mental and physical phenomena is revealed. He viewed mental phenomena as inner life and physical phenomena as outer life. Attention is drawn to Kulchytskyi’s consideration of consciousness in connection with the unconscious. It is assumed that in this way the philosopher tried to solve the problem of interaction between mental and physical life. Special emphasis is placed on Kulchytskyi’s approach to the psychophysical problem (mind-body problem). It is shown that the philosopher tended to dualism. His approach to solving the psychophysical problem is considered in the context of the philosophy of René Descartes, Franz Brentano, Kazimierz Twardowski and Theodor Lipps. It has been established that in his attempt to solve the psychophysical problem, Kulchytskyi was indirectly influenced by Descartes – this influence was mediated directly by Twardowski. Kulchytskyi attempted to reconcile Twardowski’s concept of the psyche with Lipps’ assertion of the existence of unconscious mental phenomena in an original way. The similarities in the approaches of Oleksandr Kulchytskyi and Thomas Nagel, Frank Jackson and David Chalmers to the definition of subjectivity and the ways of its opposition to objectivity are revealed. The author concludes that Kulchytskyi’s contribution to the national and foreign discourse of the philosophy of mind is significant. Keywords: O. Kulchytskyi, analytic philosophy, consciousness, psychophysical problem, dualism.