Volume 41, Number 2, 179-193, DOI: 10.1007/s11007-008-9081-x

A proposal for genetically modifying the project of “naturalizing” phenomenology

Brady Thomas Heiner and Kyle Powys Whyte

From the issue entitled "Affectivity and intersubjectivity: Perspectives from Phenomenology and Cognitive Science"

View Related Documents

Abstract

In this paper, we examine Shaun Gallagher’s project of “naturalizing” phenomenology with the cognitive sciences: front-loaded phenomenology (FLP). While we think it is a productive proposal, we argue that Gallagher does not employ genetic phenomenological methods in his execution of FLP. We show that without such methods, FLP’s attempt to locate neurological correlates of conscious experience is not yet adequate. We demonstrate this by analyzing Gallagher’s critique of cognitive neuropsychologist Christopher Frith’s functional explanation of schizophrenic symptoms. In “constraining” Gallagher’s FLP program, we discuss what genetic phenomenological method is and why FLP ought to embrace it. We also indicate what types of structures a genetically modified FLP will consider, and how such an approach would affect the manner in which potential neurological correlates of conscious experience are conceptually understood and experimentally investigated.

Keywords  Phenomenology - Cognitive science - Schizophrenia - Thought-insertion

Fulltext Preview

Image of the first page of the fulltext document