Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14 (4):929-971 (2015)
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This paper aims to address the relevance of the natural sciences for transcendental phenomenology, that is, the issue of naturalism. The first section distinguishes three varieties of naturalism and corresponding forms of naturalization: an ontological one, a methodological one, and an epistemological one. In light of these distinctions, in the second section, I examine the main projects aiming to “naturalize phenomenology”: neurophenomenology, front-loaded phenomenology, and formalized approaches to phenomenology. The third section then considers the commitments of Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology with respect to the three varieties of naturalism previously discussed. I argue that Husserl rejected strong and weak forms of epistemological naturalism, strong methodological naturalism, and ontological naturalism. The fourth section presents the argument that Husserl endorsed a weak, conditional form of methodological naturalism. This point is illustrated with Husserl’s proposal of “somatology,” a natural science apt to study the corporeality of the lived body. The final section addresses the complementarity and respective limits of the transcendental phenomenological and the natural scientific frameworks. I argue that, on Husserl’s account, the function of transcendental phenomenology with respect to the natural sciences is to provide them with an epistemological foundation and an ontological clarification. I suggest that certain natural sciences can be understood, within the transcendental phenomenological framework, as “sciences of constitution,” that is, as sciences investigating the contribution of real structures acting as conditions of possibility for the occurrence of certain kinds of comprehensive unities in lived experience
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Keywords | Phenomenology Cognitive science Naturalization Epistemology Constitution Transcendentalism |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11097-014-9385-8 |
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References found in this work BETA
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience.Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson & Eleanor Rosch - 1991 - MIT Press.
Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind.Evan Thompson - 2007 - Harvard University Press.
Neurophilosophy: Toward A Unified Science of the Mind-Brain.Patricia S. Churchland - 1986 - MIT Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Phenomenological Reduction in Merleau‐Ponty's The Structure of Behavior : An Alternative Approach to the Naturalization of Phenomenology.Hayden Kee - 2020 - European Journal of Philosophy 28 (1):15-32.
Phenomenology, Objectivity, and the Explanatory Gap.Donnchadh Ó Conaill - 2017 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 55 (1):32-50.
Volitional causality vs natural causality: reflections on their compatibility in Husserl’s phenomenology of action.Nicola Spano - forthcoming - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences:1-19.
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