Context: The founding idea of neurophenomenology is that in order to progress in the understanding of the human mind, it is indispensable to integrate a disciplined study of human experience in ...cognitive neuroscience, an integration which is also presented as a methodological remedy for the "hard problem" of consciousness. Problem: Does neurophenomenology succeed in solving the hard problem? Method: I distinguish two interpretations and implementations of neurophenomenology: a light or "mild" neurophenomenology, which aims at building correlations between first-person descriptions and neural recordings, and tries to evaluate the validity of first-person descriptions through objective criteria; and a deep or radical neurophenomenology, which aims at investigating the process of co-constitution of the subjective and the objective poles, within lived experience, and tries to evaluate first-person descriptions through processual criteria. Results: While mild neurophenomenology does not solve the hard problem, radical neurophenomenology solves it by dissolving it. Exploring the early stages of phenomenal processes such as the emergence of a perception or an idea highlights: (1) a dimension of experience where the separation usually perceived between the subjective and the objective poles vanishes; (2) micro-actions that instant after instant create and support this process of co-constitution, which Varela called "enaction." This involves on the one hand experiencing concretely the dissolution of the hard problem, and on the other hand verifying the theory of enaction in lived experience. Implications: Radical neurophenomenology is a research programme that enables us to investigate precisely the mutual unfolding of the subjective and objective poles, from its most primitive phases such as perceptual events, to its latest phases such as the co-construction of scientific objectivity and intersubjectivity.
Varela's neurophenomenology was conceived from the outset as a criticism and dissolution of the "hard problem" of the physical origin of consciousness. Indeed, the standard (physicalist) formulation ...of this problem is what generates it, and turns it into a fake mystery. Such dissolution of the "hard problem" is very demanding for researchers. It invites them to leave their position of neutral observers/thinkers, and to seek selftransformation instead. It leaves no room for the "hard problem" in the field of discourse, and rather deflects it onto the plane of attitudes. As a consequence, it runs the risk of being either ignored or considered as a dodge. How can we overcome this obstacle and restore the argumentative impact of neurophenomenology? I propose a metaphysical compensation for the anti-metaphysical premise of the neurophenomenological dissolution of the "hard problem." Yet, this alternative metaphysics is designed to keep the benefit of a shift from discourse to ways of being, that is the latent message of neurophenomenology. A dynamical and participatory conception of the relation between body and consciousness is formulated, with no concession to standard positions such as physicalist monism and property dualism. This conception is based on Varela's formalism of "cybernetic dialectic" and on a geometrical model of self-production. It is in close agreement with Merleau-Ponty's "intra-ontology": an engaged ontological approach of what it is like to be, rather than a discipline of the contemplation of beings. Implications-Taking neurophenomenology seriously implies a radical shift in our way of tackling the "hard problem" of consciousness. There is no question here of theorizing about the neuro-experiential correlation but of including it in a chain of resonance and continuous research that amplifies our lived life. Even metaphysics partakes of this shift.
Context: The pandemic we are going through is an unprecedented situation from which tragic consequences loom. Disturbing and painful though it is, we should, however, remember that it is but a ...symptom of a profound ecological crisis that is already generating tremendous suffering, and threatens with extinction most living species and perhaps all humankind. This ecological crisis is due to our way of life based on frantic consumption, which exhausts the earth’s resources. Problem: Where does this insatiable desire for consumption come from? This article explores the hypothesis that our way of life and the ecological disaster it is bringing about originates in our blindness to what is nevertheless closest to us: our own lived experience. Our awareness of it is not only partial, but mistaken, which leads to dramatic consequences. Method: To check the accuracy of this hypothesis, I collected fine-grained “micro-phenomenological” descriptions of experiences essential to our human lives, such as the emergence of ideas, of perceptions, the process of verbal expression and the experience of intersubjective encounters. I also relied upon the work of researchers who explored them. Results: These investigations highlight, at the heart of these processes, a dimension of experience that we usually do not recognize: the “felt” dimension of experience, where the separation that we usually think we perceive between “inner” and “outer” space becomes permeable and even vanishes. At the cost of considerable tension and without our knowledge, we try to maintain the separation between these two spaces, which has the effect of depriving them both of life, of dis-animating them. Outside space, the non-human “environment” is perceived as an indifferent and inert space, filled with objects intended to be possessed and exploited. We ourselves lose contact with the felt dimension that is the very stuff of experience and the source of meaning. Implications: Most of our activities - education, medicine, architecture, agriculture - are based on this rigid separation and on the concealment and stifling of the felt dimension, which has the effect of exhausting us. The weaker we become, the more we try to satisfy ourselves with frantic consumption, and the more we exhaust the earth. This rupture with the living heart of our experience is therefore an essential condition for the survival of our current economic system, which strives to maintain it. Liberation from this enslavement requires recognizing and loosening the tensions that cut us off from this source. Retrieving contact with our experience is thus an essential condition for us to find the strength to stop transforming any aspect of our life into an object of consumption, and to regain enough lucidity, dignity, and courage to change our model of society.
Maturana’s extensive work has applications in many domains of enquiry, including the study of language and social interaction. I discuss Maturana’s insightful perspective on the role of language in ...human evolution, while also showing its relevance for current approaches of human sociality.
Context: We are presently witnessing a revival of introspective methods, which implicitly challenges an impressive list of in-principle objections that were addressed to introspection by various ...philosophers and by behaviorists. Problem: How can one overcome those objections and provide introspection with a secure basis? Results: A renewed definition of introspection as "enlargement of the field of attention and contact with re-enacted experience," rather than "looking-within," is formulated. This entails (i) an alternative status of introspective phenomena, which are no longer taken as revelations of some an sich slice of experience, but as full-fledged experiences; and (ii) an alternative view of the validity of first-person reports as "performative coherence" rather than correspondence. A preliminary empirical study of the self-assessed reliability of introspective data using the elicitation interview method is then carried out. It turns out that subjects make use of reproducible processual criteria in order to probe into the authenticity and completeness of their own introspective reports. Implications: Introspective inquiry is likely to have enough resources to "take care of itself." Constructivist content: It is argued that the failure of the introspectionist wave of the turn of the 19th/20th centuries is mostly due to its unconditional acceptance of the representationalist theory of knowledge, and that alternative non-representationalist criteria of validity give new credibility to introspective knowledge.
Paper type: application.Background(s):computer science; educational research.Approach:Our approach is very practical: we are focusedon pedagogy and improved classroom practices –what Matthews ...(1997:8) calls “pedagogical constructivism.”Moreover, we discuss the relationships between our work and Papert’s constructionism.Context: The meaning and implications of “computational thinking” (CT) are only now starting to be clarified, and the applications of the Computer Science (CS) Unplugged approach are becoming clearer as research is appearing. Now is a good time to consider how these relate, and what the opportunities and issues are for teachers using this approach.Problem: The goal here is to connect computational thinking explicitly to the CS Unplugged pedagogical approach, and to identify the context where Unplugged can be used effectively. Method: We take a theoretical approach, selecting a representative sample of CS Unplugged activities and mapping them to CT concepts. Results: The CS Unplugged activities map well onto commonly accepted CT concepts, although caution must be taken not to regard CS Unplugged as being a complete approach to CT education. Implications: There is evidence that CS Unplugged activities have a useful role to help students and teachers engage with CT, and to support hands-on activities with digital devices.Constructivist content: A constructivist approach to teaching computer science concepts can be particularly valuable at present because the public (and many teachers who are likely to have to become engaged with the subject) do not see CS as something they are likely to understand. Providing a clear way for anyone to construct this knowledge for themselves gives an opportunity to empower them when it might otherwise have been regarded as a domain that is open to only a select few.
Antidotes to Fragility Vion-Dury, Jean
Constructivist foundations,
07/2021, Letnik:
16, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Odprti dostop
The Covid crisis has revealed profound fragility in advanced societies. And yet antidotes to this fragility exist in biological, cultural and relational fields and allow us to think of a homeostasis ...between fragility and vitality.
La crise de Covid a révélé une profonde fragilité des sociétés avancées. Pourtant, des antidotes à cette fragilité existent dans les domaines biologique, culturel et relationnel et permettent de penser une homéostasie entre fragilité et vitalité.
By introducing us into core concepts of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, Elena Esposito shows their relevance for contemporary social sciences and the study of unsettled times. Contending ...that society is made not by people but by what connects them – as Luhmann does with his concept of communication – creates a fertile ground for addressing societal challenges as diverse as the Corona pandemic or the algorithmic revolution. Esposito more broadly sees in systems theory a relevant contribution to critical theory and a genuine alternative to its Frankfurt School version, while extending its reach to further conceptual refinement and new empirical issues. Fueling such refinement is her analysis of time and the complex intertwinement between past, present and future – a core issue that runs throughout her work. Her current study on the future as a prediction caught between science and divination offers a fascinating empirical case for it, drawing a thought-provoking parallel between the way algorithmic predictions are constructed today and how divinatory predictions were constructed in ancient times.
I clarify the status of the "quasi-metaphysics" associated with neurophenomenology in a previous paper of the same journal entitled "The tangled dialectic of body and consciousness". Here, ...metaphysics serves as a therapy and as a guide, not as a picture of anything. It aims at liberating us from the urge for secure foundations, rather than providing yet another foundational representation.
