Ontological Minimalism about Phenomenology

Susanna Schellenberg*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    32 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    I develop a view of the common factor between subjectively indistinguishable perceptions and hallucinations that avoids analyzing experiences as involving awareness relations to abstract entities, sense-data, or any other peculiar entities. The main thesis is that hallucinating subjects employ concepts (or analogous nonconceptual structures), namely the very same concepts that in a subjectively indistinguishable perception are employed as a consequence of being related to external, mind-independent objects or property-instances. These concepts and nonconceptual structures are identified with modes of presentation types. Since a hallucinating subject is not related to any such objects or property-instances, the concepts she employs remain empty. I argue that the phenomenology of hallucinations and perceptions can be identified with employing concepts and analogous nonconceptual structures. By doing so, I defend an ontologically minimalist view of the phenomenology of experience that (1) vindicates Aristotelianism about types and (2) amounts to a naturalized view of the phenomenology of experience.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-40
    Number of pages40
    JournalPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research
    Volume83
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jul 2011

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Ontological Minimalism about Phenomenology'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this