As the World Seems

I must say, I really liked the conclusion of your piece 😉

Thanks! 😊                                                                                                  

I had no clue that Brentano was an inspiration for both Gestalt psychology and phenomenology

Once you go looking for stuff like intentionality you can’t get around Brentano really

Yeah, intentionality always seemed like a topic that was too technical

Do you think I explain it OK?  😊                                                             

As far as I can see, yes, but I’m no philosopher. The way you link it consciousness works really well though

We seem to leave the thinking subject out of the equation when we just look at the brain

Yeah, we can see the stimulus, the thing in the world that causes our impressions

and we can see the chain of effects it has on the brain                      

but it seems like we don’t really look at the one doing the thinking, having the thoughts anymore.😏

Brentano helps a lot there, since he makes it clear it is precisely not the soul or spirit or whatever that is the problem

Right, the whole “psychology without a soul” thing you quote

Yep: Lange’s History of Materialism from 1866.                                   

Ha! You certainly know your stuff.😊

The main point is that phenomenology reminds us that it is not just objects affecting objects, the world affecting the brain

but objects affecting subjects, the world appearing to a conscious mind.

I still think that the last bit might be a bit abstract for a lot of readers, but as I said: I liked it! 😊

So you think the magazine will accept it?                                               

I think so, but there will no doubt be some requests for changes and copyediting to deal with

Great! I look forward to how people will react to it! 😊