Experimental phenomenology for consciousness.

Abstract

Experimental phenomenology is the science of subjective experience conducted with scientific methods. Conceptually framed in empirical and descriptive psychology, it makes it possible to develop a science of consciousness per se, based on proper observables, methodologies, and measurement, to determine the nature and the relationships of dependence among phenomena. In experimental phenomenology, the description, manipulation, and demonstration of subjective experiences are performed at the level of appearances only. The study presents the assumptions, the object, and the methods of the approach. It does so in contrast with contemporary theories of consciousness by emphasizing its differences with respect to both psychophysics and introspectionism, with which it is often confused.

Experimental phenomenology, a challenge.

“…It is certainly true that a well-known Husserlian claim against any form of naturalization of phenomenology, that is, its reduction to natural sciences, surely played a role in its exclusion from scientific appreciation (Albertazzi, 2018(Albertazzi, , 2019bHusserl, 1965). There is general skepticism concerning whether a science of phenomena of consciousness or a neutral science of appearances (Stumpf, 1906), its methodological implications, its measurement and mathematical modelling can be really feasible without adopting a reductionistic viewpoint (Albertazzi, 2015b(Albertazzi, , 2021. For the time being, as said, an appreciation of phenomenology in science is often restricted to its descriptive value, being usually considered a heuristic means for the presence of physical objects, and ascribing it a consequent probabilistic valence.…”

“…phenomenology is due to Albert Michotte, who considered meaning to be "the" core of this approach, because directly experienced and intrinsically given to perception (Michotte, 1952; see also Albertazzi, 2021;Johansson, 1973. As to the original idea in Stumpf, see Spiegelberg, 1994). In phenomenological sense, however, as mentioned, meaning is not to be understood in linguistic terms, but as an immediately perceivable qualitative information embedded and made manifest by the phenomena themselves given to awareness.…”

Body, Self and Others: Harding, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty on Intersubjectivity

“…Being human means relating and being directed to something other than oneself. [88] (p. 86) 25 Finding meaning in the world and others seems to require openness to the world and others. Hence, conscious first-person openness is a natural complement to such a world-focused/other-focused outlook.…”

“…In particular, Stumpf's students Wertheimer, Koffka and Köhler developed the Gestalt tradition. Douglas Harding's radical empiricism can be understood to have components of both a descriptive phenomenology and experimental phenomenology (on the latter see [24][25][26][27][28]). Unlike many phenomenologists, however, he uses phenomenology to motivate metaphysical theories, so in this sense he is more of an empiricist than a phenomenologist.…”

The Perceptual Organisation of Visual Elements: Lines

“…The study has two systematic backgrounds. The first one is experimental phenomenology [ 27 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. To conceive a geometry adequate for visual appearances, instead of starting from axiomatic geometry and its definitions to analyse the properties of visual lines, the study analyses and experimentally explores their characteristics as subjectively perceived.…”