Philosophical Perspectives on Consciousness and Reality
Understanding Consciousness
Psychological Perspective
Being aware, being aware of.
Moral Perspective
Will or practical reason.
Epistemology
Reason.
Kant’s Transcendental Idealism
Transcendental Method
Conditions for the possibility of human knowledge.
Innate vs. A Priori
Differences between the innate (substance) and the a priori (function).
Transcendental Knowledge
Transcendental knowledge is properly stated a priori. Transcendental and the a priori are opposed to empirical-psychological and a posteriori.
Consciousness as Pure Reason
What is A Priori?
All that is prior to experience.
It can be either absolute or relative.
Pure Reason as Source of A Priori
Pure reason is the source of all a priori elements:
Sensibility
Passive faculty.
Understanding
Active faculty.
Reason
Power conferred on the function of thinking in relation to reality.
Kant’s Theory of Judgments
Analytical Judgments
Explanatory, universal, and necessary.
Synthetic Judgments
Extensive judgments.
A Posteriori Judgments
Contingent and particular, useless for science.
A Priori Judgments
Universal and necessary, possible in mathematics and physics but not metaphysics.
Space and Time: A Priori Forms
Space as A Priori Form
Space is the a priori form of sensibility structuring external phenomena.
Time as A Priori Form
Time is the a priori form of sensibility structuring all phenomena, external and internal.
Categories: Pure Concepts
Understanding and Categories
Understanding is the active faculty producing concepts or categories within us.
Analysis of Knowing an Object
Elements of Knowledge
In knowing any object, there are material elements from sensation and cognitive elements provided by the knower.
The Phenomenological Method
Epoché
Suspension of judgment.
Eidetic Reduction
Focusing on essences, not mundane facts.
Transcendental Reduction
Focusing on intentional experiences of consciousness.
Eidetic Intuition
Grasping essences through consciousness.
Phenomenology: Science of Consciousness
Consciousness and Intentionality
All consciousness is consciousness of something; consciousness is intentionality.
Husserl: Crisis of European Sciences
Meaning of the Crisis
Origin of the Crisis
Solution to the Crisis
Field of Original Experience
Body-Subject
Cultural Awareness & Horizon
The Question of Reality
The question of reality is the first philosophical question.
Solutions to Reality
Realism
Idealism
Rationalism
Empiricism
Rationalist Solution
Clarity and Distinction
Reality is that of clarity and distinction.
Hypotheses of Doubt
Deception, senses, confusion, trickster god, the evil genius hypothesis.
First Indubitable Truth
“I think, therefore I am.”
Three Kinds of Ideas
Innate, adventitious, and factitious.
Empiricist Solutions
The Real is the Sensible
The real is the sensible, not through abstract reasoning.
Origin of Knowledge
Perceptions and ideas.
Philosophical vs. Natural Relations
Distinction between philosophical and natural relations.
Matters of Fact
Association is the basis of matters of fact.
Knowledge as Belief
Conclusion: knowledge is belief and certainty.
Ratiovitalist Solutions
Reality as Life
Reality first and foremost is life: vital and historical reason.
Modes of Being
Freedom, opportunity, project (future), situation (present), life experience (past).
Vital and Historical Reason
The way of true knowledge is provided by vital and historical reason.