Going Beyond Theory: Constructivism and Empirical Phenomenology
Urban Kordeš
Log in to download the full text for free
> Citation
> Similar
> References
> Add Comment
Abstract
Context: Epistemologically, constructivism has reached its goals, particularly by emphasizing the idea of participatory observation, circularity, and the fact that construction is based on experience. However, rather than research, the main occupation of constructivists and second-order cyberneticians seems to lie in making the case for their epistemological idea, which has been exhausted in many aspects. Purpose: To counteract this exhaustion and an increasingly apparent lack of energy, it is argued that constructivism requires a dedicated field of research, a field where it would be possible to test constructivist concepts empirically and thus go beyond mere theoretical discourse. Method: Based on a review of basic constructivist premises and a critical examination of the field of empirical phenomenological research, the article connects their respective findings. Results: The article proposes that empirical research on lived experience (i.e., empirical phenomenology) requires a constructivist epistemological foundation and might therefore be a logical continuation of constructivist endeavours. In such a way, both fields might benefit considerably. Not only would constructivism acquire an empirical tool for testing its ideas, such a partnership might also provide empirical phenomenology with a more suitable epistemological platform than the realism-based research framework of cognitive science (of which it has become an integral part. The possibilities and problems of introducing empirical research into constructivism are also discussed. Implications: The article presents an opportunity to re-think the role and future of constructivism. It suggests educating a new generation of constructivist researchers whose principal goal would be the attempt to study lived human experience. That could also open a path to the experimental grounding of many constructivist insights.
Key words: Empirical phenomenology, radical constructivism, non-trivial systems, neurophenomenology, phenomenological reduction, Francisco Varela
Citation
Kordeš U. (2016) Going beyond theory: Constructivism and empirical phenomenology. Constructivist Foundations 11(2): 375–385. http://constructivist.info/11/2/375
Export article citation data:
Plain Text ·
BibTex ·
EndNote ·
Reference Manager (RIS)
Similar articles
References
Beran M. J., Brandl J. L., Perner J. & Proust J. (eds.) (2012) Foundations of metacognition. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Bitbol M. (2014) Making sense of non-sense in physics: The quantum Koan. In: Cappuccio M. & Froese T. (eds.) Enactive cognition at the edge of sense-making. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke: 61–80.
http://cepa.info/2477
Christoff K., Gordon A. M., Smallwood J., Smith R. & Schooler J. W. (2009) Experience sampling during fMRI reveals default network and executive system contributions to mind wandering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 106 (21): 8719–8724.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Cuffari E. C. & Jensen T. W. (2014) Living bodies: Co-enacting experience. In: Müller C., Cienki A., Fricke E., Ladewig S., McNeill D. & Tessendorf S. (eds.) Body-language-communication: An international handbook on multimodality in human interaction. Volume 2. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin: 2016–2025.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
de Haan S. E. (2010) The minimal self is a social self. In: Fuchs T., Sattel H. & Henningsen P. (eds.) The embodied self: Dimensions, coherence, and disorders. Schattauer, Stuttgart: 12–18.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
De Jaegher H. (2015) How we affect each other. Michel Henry’s “pathos-with” and the enactive approach to intersubjectivity. Journal of Consciousness Studies 22(1–2): 112–132.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Depraz N. (2000) When transcendental genesis encounters the naturalization project. In: Petitot J., Varela F. J., Pachoud B. & Roy J.-M. (eds.) Naturalizing phenomenology. Issues in contemporary phenomenology and cognitive science. Stanford University Press Stanford: 464–489.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Di Paolo E. A. (2015) Interactive time-travel: On the intersubjective retro-modulation of intentions. Journal of Consciousness Studies 22(1–2): 49–74.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Dijksterhuis A., Bos M. W., Nordgren L. F. & van Baaren R. B. (2006) On making the right choice: The deliberation-without-attention effect. Science 311(5763): 1005–1007.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Fasching W. (2012) Intentionality and presence: On the intrinsic of-ness of consciousness from a transcendental-phenomenological perspective. Husserl Studies 28(2): 121–141.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Fernandez-Duque D. & Johnson M. L. (1999) Attention metaphors: How metaphors guide the cognitive psychology of attention. Cognitive Science 23(1): 83–116.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Fernandez-Duque D. & Johnson M. L. (2002) Cause and effect theories of attention: The role of conceptual metaphors. Review of General Psychology 6(2): 153–165.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Foerster H. von (2003) Ethics and second-order cybernetics. In: Foerster H. von, Understanding understanding. Springer, New York: 287–304. Originally published in: Ray Y. & Prieur B. (eds.) (1991) Systèmes, Ethique, Perspectives en thérapie familiale. ESF editeur, Paris: 41–55.
http://cepa.info/1742
Gallagher S. (2003) Phenomenology and experimental design toward a phenomenologically enlightened experimental science. Journal of Consciousness Studies 10(9–10): 85–99.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Giorgi A. (1970) Psychology as a human science. Harper & Row, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Glasersfeld E. von (1974) Piaget and the radical constructivist epistemology. In: Smock C. D. & Glasersfeld E. von (eds.) Epistemology and education. Follow Through Publications: Athens GA: 1–24.
http://cepa.info/1324
Glasersfeld E. von (1991) Knowing without metaphysics: Aspects of the radical constructivist position. In: Steier F. (ed.) Research and reflexivity. Sage Publications, London: 12–29.
http://cepa.info/1420
Gozli D. G. & Brown L. E. (2011) Agency and control for the integration of a virtual tool into the peripersonal space. Perception 40(11): 1309–1319.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Gozli D. G., Ardron J. & Pratt J. (2014) Reduced visual feature binding in the near-hand space. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76(5): 1308–1317.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Gozli D. G., Aslam H. & Pratt J. (2015) Visuospatial cueing by self-caused features: Orienting of attention and action-outcome associative learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Online first.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Gozli D. G., Goodhew S. C., Moskowitz J. B. & Pratt J. (2013) Ideomotor perception modulates visuospatial cueing. Psychological Research 77(5): 528–539.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Grandin T. (1996) Thinking in pictures: Other reports from my life with autism. Vintage, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Havelange V. (2010) The ontological constitution of cognition and the epistemological constitution of cognitive science: Phenomenology, enaction and technology. In: Stewart J., Gapenne O. & Di Paolo E. A. (eds.) Enaction: Toward a new paradigm for cognitive science. MIT Press, Cambridge MA: 335–359.
http://cepa.info/2466
Heekeren H. R., Marrett S. & Ungerleider L. G. (2008) The neural systems that mediate human perceptual decision making. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9(6): 467–479.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Heidegger M. (1962) Being and time. New York: Harper & Row. Originally published in German as: Heidegger M. (1927) Sein und Zeit. Niemeyer, Tübingen.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Henry M. (1973) The essence of manifestation. Translated by G. Etzkorn. Nijhoff, The Hague. French original published as: Henry M. (1963) L’essence de la Manifestation. PUF, Paris.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Huffman G., Gozli D. G., Welsh T. N. & Pratt J. (2015) Hand position influences perceptual grouping. Experimental Brain Research 233(9): 2627–2634.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (1970) The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology. Translated by David Carr. Northwestern University Press, Evanston IL. German original published in as: Husserl E. (1936) Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie. Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie. Philosophia 1: 77–176
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (1973) Logical investigations. Translated by J. N. Findlay. Routledge, London. German original published in 1900; 2nd revised edition 1913.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (1982) Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy. First book: General introduction to a pure phenomenology. Translated by Fred Kersten. Nijhoff, The Hague. German original published in 1913.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (1989) Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy. Second book: Studies in the phenomenology of constitution. Translated by Richard Rojcewicz & André Schuwer. Dordrecht, Kluwer. German original published in 1952.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (1999) Cartesian meditations: An introduction to phenomenology. Nijhoff, The Hague. Originally published in German as: Husserl E. (1950) Cartesianische meditationen und Pariser vorträge. Edited by Stephan Strasser. Nijhoff, The Hague.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Husserl E. (2012) Cartesian meditations: An introduction to phenomenology. Springer, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Izard C. E. (2010) The many meanings/aspects of emotion: Definitions, functions, activation, and regulation. Emotion Review 2(4): 363–370.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Johansson P., Hall L., Sikström S. & Olsson A. (2005) Failure to detect mismatches between intention and outcome in a simple decision task. Science 310(5745): 116–119.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Kant I. (1998) Critique of pure reason. Ttranslated and edited by Paul Guyer & Allen W. Wood. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge MA
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Killingsworth M. A. & Gilbert D. T. (2010) A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science 330: 932.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Klein G., Calderwood R. & Clinton-Cirocco A. (2010) Rapid decision making on the fire ground: The original study plus a postscript. Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making 4(3): 186–209.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Kordeš U. (2005) A peaceful coexistence of epistemologies – Philosophy from the constructivist’s point of view. Kybernetes 34 (1/2): 295–305.
http://cepa.info/2369
Kordeš U. (2015) A better metaphor for understanding consciousness? Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 13(4): 525–533.
http://cepa.info/2512
Lah A. & Kordeš U. (2014) One cannot “just ask” about experience. In: Markič O., Strle T., Kordeš U. & Gams M. (eds.) Kognitivna znanost/Cognitive Sciences. Proceedings of the 17th international multiconference “Information Society – IS 2014.” Volume C. Inštitut Jožef Štefan, Ljubljana: 36–39.
http://cepa.info/2370
Manen M. van (1997) Researching lived experience. Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. The Althouse Press, London.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Pais A. (1982) Max Born’s statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics. Science 218: 1193–1198.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Parnas J. & Gallagher S. (2015) Phenomenology and the interpretation of psychopathological experience. In: Kirmayer L., Lemelson R. & Cummings C. (eds.) Re-visioning psychiatry: Cultural phenomenology, critical neuroscience, and global mental health. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 65–80.
http://cepa.info/2397
Pessoa L. (2008) On the relationship between emotion and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9(2): 148–58.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Petitmengin C. (2006) Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person: An interview method for a science of consciousness. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 5(3): 229–269.
http://cepa.info/2376
Petranker J. (2003) Inhabiting conscious experience: Engaged objectivity in the first-person study of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 10: 3–23.
http://cepa.info/2415
Pieper B. & Clénin D. (2010) Verkörperte Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmung sozialen Handelns. Eine leib-orientierte praktisch-theoretische Forschungsperspektive. In: Böhle F. & Weihrich M. (eds.) Die Körperlichkeit sozialen Handelns. Soziale Ordnung jenseits von Normen und Institutionen. Transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Schlipp P. A. (1998) Albert Einstein, philosopher-scientist: Harper & Row, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Schuetz A. (1941) William James’ concept of the stream of thought phenomenologically interpreted. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 1(4): 442–452.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stawarska B. (2008) Feeling good vibrations in dialogical relations. Continental Philosophy Review 41(2): 217–236.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stawarska B. (2008) “You” and “I,” “here” and “now”: Spatial and social situatedness in deixis. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 16(3): 399–418.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stawarska B. (2009) Between You and I. Dialogical Phenomenology. Ohio University Press, Athens OH.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Stern D. N. (2004) The present moment in psychotherapy and everyday life. W. W. Norton, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Thompson E. (2004) Life and mind: From autopoiesis to neurophenomenology. A tribute to Francisco Varela. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 3: 381–398.
http://cepa.info/1137
Thompson E. (2005) Empathy and human experience. In: Proctor J. (ed.) Science, religion, and the human experience. Oxford University Press, New York: 262–286.
http://cepa.info/2359
Tversky A. & Kahneman D. (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science 185(4157): 1124–1131.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Umpleby S. (2010) From complexity to reflexivity: The next step in the systems sciences. In: Trappl R. (ed.) Cybernetics and systems. Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies, Vienna: 281–286.
http://cepa.info/891
Varela F. J. (1999) The specious present: A neurophenomenology of time consciousness. In: Petitot J., Varela F. J. & Pachoud B. (eds.) Naturalizing phenomenology: Issues in contemporary phenomenology and cognitive science. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA: 266–315.
http://cepa.info/2081
Watzlawick P., Bavelas J. B. & Jackson D. D. (1967) Pragmatics of human communication. A study of interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes. Norton, New York.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Wellmon C. (2010) Goethe morphology of knowledge, or the overgrowth of nomenclature. Goethe Yearbook 17: 153–177.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Zahavi D. (1999) Self-awareness and alterity. A phenomenological investigation. Northwestern University Press, Evanston IL.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Zahavi D. (2007) Killing the straw man: Dennett and phenomenology. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Science 6: 21–43.
▸︎ Google︎ Scholar
Comments: 0
To stay informed about comments to this publication and post comments yourself, please log in first.