Thursday, February 19, 2009

Philosophy 118: 18 February, 2009

These notes were taken from my class with Dr. Reyes for Philosophy 118 last 18 February

.:A Review Of Husserl:.

Phenomenology tackles man as conscious being experiencing not just himself, but experiencing everything else. The difference between the study of being and being conscious of being is that the consciousness is not entirely passive or entirely active, but rather, one that mediates the encounter between itself and the given. This mediated encounter is what we come to understand as meaning.

For the phenomenologist, man is self-awareness, man is temporality. For the scientist, man is the only animal that has opposable thumbs, wears jewelry, buries their own dead. While there is conflict in them, the phenomenologist emphasizes that despite the lack of empirical data, any human being will find these experiences in him.

.:The Limited Description:.

Man has a concept of time. Time is a succession of moment after moment, albeit strictly speaking, time is a slice of time-space. In science, the only moment that exists is the moment in the “now”. The past is obliterated, the future has yet to exist.

In contrast, the phenomenological time is concerned with the “now”. While we say that this is the present, it does not correspond to the present we understand in the scientific perception. Phenomenologically, the “now” is partly determined by the past. The present is also affected by an anticipation of the future as well, and it moves towards it. Implied in this is a sense of the self. After all, the only reason man has a sense of past and future is because it has a sense of the self, a self that is continuously there. This is why we feel guilt because of our reference to the past, and we feel hope in our reference to the future.

.:Quotable Quotes:.

“What the hell is the Solvay Process?”

- Dr. Reyes

“A cat buries its own $4!7, but it doesn't bury its own dead.”

- Dr. Reyes

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