Round and Square: Robert Sokolowski

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Showing posts with label Robert Sokolowski. Show all posts

Monday, January 5, 2015

Phenomenology Kitten—Dynamic, Not Static

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On this date on Round and Square's History

8 November 2012—Structure, History, and Culture: The Electoral College (d)
8 November 2011—Editorials: Ethnic Studies

[a] Appearing to consciousness RF

Our attainment of enlightenment is something like the reflection of the

moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water cleft apart...

The whole moon and the whole sky find room enough in a single dewdrop...

—Dōgen, Conversations

So now that we have thought about the philosophical implications of presence and absence, let's realize that all human experience is dynamic. It moves. It changes. Even looking at a cube (or my food dish) is never a static operation. Let's continue with Professor Robert Sokolowski's explanation of that (seemingly) simple cube.

Let us return to the experience of the cube. At a given moment, only certain sides of the cube are presented to me, and the others are absent.

[b] Dynamic RF

But I know that I can either walk around the cube or turn the cube around and the absent sides will come into view, while the present sides go out of view. My perception is dynamic, not static; even if I just look at one side of the cube, the saccadic motion of my eyes introduces a kind of searching mobility that I am not even aware of.

As I turn the cube or walk around it, the potentially perceived becomes the actually perceived, and the actually perceived slips into absence; it becomes that which has been seen, that which is again only potentially seen...the empty intentions become filled and the filled become empty. [1]

Whoa! Hold it right there, perfesser. You mean to say that my experience is moving, turning, twisting, and becoming? [This is a Phenomenology Kitten Rhetorical Question, hereafter PKRQ]. Well, yup, it is, and in several ways. We see the world, and then think about that seen world...even when we can't see it.

The implications for history, anthropology, sociology, economics, and everything else are, well, utterly phenomenal.

And that is why they call me "Phenomenology Kitten" (all is wonder)...

[c] Perception RF

Notes
[1] Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 18. Italics mine.

Bibliography
Sokolowski, Robert. Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

[Originally posted on January 5, 2015]

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Phenomenology Kitten—Implications of Presence (and Absence)

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On this date on Round and Square's History

7 November 2012—Displays of Authenticity: Clearing
7 November 2011—Editorials à la fleur: Introduction

[a] Appearing to consciousness RF

Our attainment of enlightenment is something like the reflection of the

moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water cleft apart...

The whole moon and the whole sky find room enough in a single dewdrop...

—Dōgen, Conversations

Yesterday we thought about presence and absence. Even my wonder-filled (wonderful) eyes can't take in every dimension of what I (think I) see. And yet...I "experience" it. Professor Sokolowski continues on this trajectory. Let's listen.

All experience involves a blend of presence and absence, and in some cases drawing our attention to the mixture can be philosophically illuminating.

[b] All angles covered? RF

When we listen to a sentence being uttered by a speaker, for example, our listening involves a presence of one part of the sentence, flanked by the absence of that parts that have already been pronounced and those that are to come. The sentence itself, as a whole, stands out against the silence, the noise, and the other sentences that precede, follow, or accompany it.

The blend of presence and absence in our experience of a sentence is different from that involved in the perception of a cube, but in both cases there is a blend of presence and absence, of filled and empty intendings. Other kinds of objects would have still other kinds of blends, but all of them would be mixtures of presence and absence.[1]

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This is all beginning to sound a lot like "life." I am continually in the presence of absence, and the absence of presence. If I have this even remotely right, that means that every bit of human history, politics, love, learning, and competition is a combination of presence and absence.

Wow—that might just change the way I think about, well, everything.

And that is why they call me "Phenomenology Kitten" (all is wonder)...

[c] Perspective RF

[Originally posted on January 4, 2015]

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Phenomenology Kitten—Presence and Absence

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On this date on Round and Square's History

6 November 2012—Displays of Authenticity: Vote
6 November 2011—Hurtin' Country: Ring of Fire

[a] Appearing to consciousness RF

Our attainment of enlightenment is something like the reflection of the

moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water cleft apart...

The whole moon and the whole sky find room enough in a single dewdrop...

—Dōgen, Conversations

So let's keep things simple...or at least as simple as they can be in the study of phenomenology. Remember the cube yesterday? We can't see every dimension of it at once, and yet we experience it as a whole.

Well, there are implications in all of this. Let's let Professor Robert Sokolowski keep guiding us here. You see, it's all about presence and absence. And remember that tricky word "intend" (not to mention "cointend"). Click the link here if that is fuzzy.

[b] Big ball o' yarn RF

Objectively, what is given to me when I see a cube is a blend made up of of sides that are present and sides that are absent but cointended. The thing being seen involves a mixture of the present and the absent.

Subjectively, my perceptions, my viewing, is a blend made up of filled and empty intentions. My activity of perceiving, therefore, is also a mixture; parts of it intend what is present, and other parts intend what is absent, the"other" sides of the cube.

Of course, "everyone knows" that perception involves such blends, but not everyone knows their philosophical impact...[1]

And that is precisely where we'll pick things up tomorrow. The philosophical impact of everything being "about" presence and absence is big stuff, and we are going to play with that idea like a big ol' ball of yarn on the floor.

And that is why they call me "Phenomenology Kitten" (all is wonder)...

[c] Examining all sides RF

Notes
[1] Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 17. Italics mine.

Bibliography
Sokolowski, Robert. Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

[Originally posted on January 3, 2015]

Friday, January 2, 2015

Phenomenology Kitten—Intentionality Cubed

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On this date on Round and Square's History

5 November 2012—Structure, History, and Culture: The Electoral College (c)
5 November 2011—Displays of Authenticity: Coffee Names

[a] Appearing to consciousness RF

Our attainment of enlightenment is something like the reflection of the

moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water cleft apart...

The whole moon and the whole sky find room enough in a single dewdrop...

—Dōgen, Conversations

Well, let's get started in earnest with a simple example. As Robert Sokolowski notes in Introduction to Phenomenology, "the example will give us an idea of the type of explanation that phenomenology provides."

And straightforward it is—at least as straight and forward as a cube can be. Let's listen to Professor Sokolowski.

          Consider the way in which we perceive a material object, such as a cube. I
          see the cube from one angle, from one perspective. I cannot see the cube
          from all sides at once. It is essential to the experience of a cube that the
          perception be partial, with only one part of the object being given at any
          moment. However it is not the case that I only experience the sides that are
          visible from my present viewpoint. As I see those sides, I also intend, I
          cointend, the sides that are hidden. I see more than what strikes the eye.
          The presently visible sides are surrounded by a halo of potentially visible
          but actually absent sides. These other sides are given, but given precisely
          as absent. They too are part of what I experience.

[b] Experience RF

Now think about that—really think about it. I experience not only the turkey giblets in gravy in my food bowl...but the bottoms and sides, as well. They are all part of what I experience.

You look at your 2002 Honda Civic in your driveway. You "experience" the whole car (or what's left of it), even though you do not see more than a portion of it. Your experience of the car is total, but what you actually perceive is partial.

And that, right there, is the heart of phenomenology.

Unpacking it will take some time, but I (like you) am patient.

And that is why they call me "Phenomenology Kitten" (all is wonder)...

[c] Wonder RF

Notes
[1] Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 17. Italics mine.

Bibliography
Sokolowski, Robert. Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

[Originally posted on January 2, 2015]