Eckhart, Gezücken and the Ground of the Soul
The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780195059809.003.0004 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that all human experience is in part constructed or mediated by the subject's conceptual system, because experience is intentional or vectorial: consciousness is always directed toward some concrete aspect of the world whose reality for us is constituted by our intentional activity. This intentionality, Gill contends, undercuts the possibility of unmediated experience. |
Abstract
Abstract In his presentation of the thesis that all experience is, in part, constructed or mediated by the subject’s conceptual system, Jerry Gill points to the purported intentionality of all experience as a fundamental truth. According to him, all human experience is vectorial in nature. That is to say, “[o)ur consciousness is always consciousness of some concrete aspect of the world, of some particular aspect whose reality for us is constituted by our intentional activity in relation to it. This intentionality is clearly a mediational factor which undercuts the possibility of unmediated experience.” Gill clarified what he means by vectorial character of experience in his “Religious Experience as Mediated.”