Für eine Onto-Ästhetik des Autismus
Phänomenologische Forschungen 2019 DOI: 10.28937/1000108304 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that synesthesia reveals sensible networks and crossmodal connections beneath objective reality, a dimension akin to Husserl's 'material apriori,' and that autistic experience is closely connected to this alternative ontological setting. The author proposes that 'resonance' among sensory events, as described by autistic self-advocates, functions as a fundamental ontological connector in an experiential framework not subject to abstract concepts and causal thinking. |
Abstract
The present paper analyses synesthesia in autism (ASD) and neurotypical experience. The way synesthesia has been interpreted within the history of phenomenology and psychopathology should prepare a philosophical access to autism and its subjective condition. The paper draws on the basic assumption that synesthesia reveals the presence of sensible networks and crossmodal connections beneath the framework of objective reality. Synesthesia, it is argued, confronts us with a specific dimension of the world beneath the essential structures of a material apriori, as it is elaborated within husserlian phenomenology. Experience in autism has close connections with such an alternative ontological setting. Asa matter of fact, autistic self-advocates often describe moments of a deep immersion into sensible experience, in which different sensorial events come to ‘resonate’ with one another. Resonance is thus interpreted as a fundamental ontological connector within an experiential framework that is not subjected to abstract concepts and causal thinking