CHAPTER ONE Beyond the Gap: An Introduction to Naturalizing Phenomenology

We need to explain subjective experience, but its explanation may not be mechanistic

“…Indeed, we believe that the "misplaced objectivity argument" is itself misplacing a few arguments, and the IIT-literature overlooks previously proposed alternatives that also have tried to reach a scientific understanding of first-person experience. For example, no single reference is made to the theoretical and empirical efforts of "naturalizing phenomenology" (15)(16)(17)(18)(19). This program intends to build a bridge between phenomenology and natural sciences, particularly biology and neuroscience ("neurophenomenology": (18,20,21)), but also mathematics ("formalized phenomenology": (18,19)).…”

“…For example, no single reference is made to the theoretical and empirical efforts of "naturalizing phenomenology" (15)(16)(17)(18)(19). This program intends to build a bridge between phenomenology and natural sciences, particularly biology and neuroscience ("neurophenomenology": (18,20,21)), but also mathematics ("formalized phenomenology": (18,19)). The main goal is to "integrate [phenomenology] into an explanatory framework where every acceptable property is made continuous with the properties admitted by the natural sciences" (19).…”

“…This program intends to build a bridge between phenomenology and natural sciences, particularly biology and neuroscience ("neurophenomenology": (18,20,21)), but also mathematics ("formalized phenomenology": (18,19)). The main goal is to "integrate [phenomenology] into an explanatory framework where every acceptable property is made continuous with the properties admitted by the natural sciences" (19). The need for such an integrative framework has long been recognized by philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty and others, also considering biological, psychological and philosophical arguments (21)(22)(23).…”

Explanation, Enaction and Naturalised Phenomenology

“…78, 53; see also Stendera 2015) and Merleau-Ponty's account of perception as a dialogue between body and world (1945/2012; see also Thompson, 2007). Since its inception, enactivism has explicitly engaged with -and been informed by -the phenomenological tradition (Roy et al, 1999;Varela et al, 2016).…”

The Middle Way to Reality: on Why I Am Not a Buddhist and Other Philosophical Curiosities

“…Elsewhere, I have argued that in advancing a conception of causation that includes consciousness and cognition as efficient causal categories, Abhidharma presents us with a metaphysics of experience: the dharmas--these constituent mental and physical events--are not essences or substances; rather, they are activities, properties, and patterns of connectedness (Coseru, 2019, 116). 13 But the Abhidharma project may also be understood as a kind of naturalized phenomenology (Roy et al, 1999;Coseru, 2012), that is, as a method for bringing into focus, capturing, and categorizing variable mental operations and contents that are normally difficult to attend to, while also submitting to empirical scrutiny about their causal and conditioning factors.…”