THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM(S) IN DESCARTES’ “MEDITATIONS” AND HUSSERL’S “CRISIS” (Part 2)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/fd2020.05.117

Keywords:

ontological (traditional) mind-body problem,, conceptual mind-body problem, transcendental phenomenology, the lived-body (der Leib), Descartes, Husserl

Abstract

The main topic of this paper is the mind-body problem. The author analyzes it in the context of Hus- serlian phenomenology. The key texts for the analysis and interpretation are Descartes’ magnum opus “Meditations on the First Philosophy” and Husserl’ last work “The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology”. The author claims that already in Descartes’ text instead of one mind-body problem, one can find two: the ontological mind-body problem (mind-brain relation) and conceptual one (“mind” and “body” as concepts). In Descartes’ “Meditations”, the ontological level is explicit, while the conceptual level is implicit. In Husserl’s “Crisis”, on the other hand, the situation is different: the conceptual level of the problem (as the opposition between transcendental phenomenology and natural sciences) is explicit, while the ontological level is implicit. Nevertheless, it seems that Husserl has answers to both the “traditional” as well as the “conceptual” mind-body problems.

Author Biography

Andrii LEONOV

Master of Philosophy, Doctoral Student at the Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Rice University, MS 14, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas, 77251-1892, United States

References

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Published

2020-12-04

How to Cite

LEONOV, A. (2020). THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM(S) IN DESCARTES’ “MEDITATIONS” AND HUSSERL’S “CRISIS” (Part 2). Filosofska Dumka, (5), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.15407/fd2020.05.117

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