EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Phenomenology and the Conscious Mind
Dan Lloyd, Trinity College
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E The Invariance of Intentionality Notes taken on July 7, 2016 by Edward Tanguay |
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visual perception is a core theme of phenomenology
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can easily show how non-sensory intuition plays a part in completing visual sensory information to form a concept of physical objects and the world
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our key concept of invariance is concrete in the visual cases
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positional and objectivating functions of consciousness
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the principle of interpretive exclusivity
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the visual experience in which one can only posit or constitute one interpretation at any one time
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common experience
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one sees objects
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one hears sounds
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one feels parts of one's body
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the pressure of my weight on the chair
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the texture of the table
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one's own posture
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the position of one's hands and arms
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the temperature of the air
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a certain mood
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one sees other people
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looking at them is a very different experience than looking at a cube, because they look back
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one is aware of them being aware of their environment that includes me
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memories
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with eyes open or closed
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variations of memories
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can add new emotions to the memories
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can add new people
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can add a soundtrack
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I can give my inner voice a different accent or speak in a different language
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anticipating the future
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that one will stand up soon
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can imagine that I will rise to the ceiling like a balloon
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each instance of consciousness flows into another
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the divisions of sight, sound, touch, memory, anticipation are highly variable and quickly shifting
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for each of these moments, there is something my consciousness is about
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something it is directed towards
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some content
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some object of awareness
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an object in the loosest sense
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vague
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abstract
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imaginary
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we encounter each from a point of view
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I put myself someone in the picture
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I can change this if I choose
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in each example there are two elements
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1. what I am conscious of
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2. how it appears to me
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there is always a subject and object pole
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the invariance of intentionality
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the objective and the subjective are in a permanent, dynamic fluid dance
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all consciousness is concciousness of something
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object: what pole
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subject: how pole
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there is always an object
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vague moods of melancholy, that rainy day feeling, has its object
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the world just looks gray, a non-sensory gray
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faint throbs of feeling
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an upswelling of hope
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examine it and you'll find it coloring something
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all consciousness is consciousness of something