Attention, Not Self PDF
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Attention, Not Self Attention, Not Self Jonardon Ganeri Attention is of fundamental importance in the philosophy of mind, in epistemol- ogy,inactiontheory,andinethics.JonardonGaneripresentsanaccountinwhich attention, not self, explains the experiential and normative situatedness of human beingsintheworld.Attentionconsistsinanorganizationofawarenessandactionat thecentreofwhichthereisneitherapracticalwillnoraphenomenologicalwitness. Attention performs two roles in experience, a selective role of placing and a focal roleofaccess.Attentionimprovesourepistemicstanding,becauseitisinthenature ofattentiontosettleonwhatisrealandtoshunwhatisnotreal.Whenattentionis informed by expertise, it is sufficient for knowledge. That gives attention a reach beyondtheperceptual:forattentionisadeterminablewhosedeterminatesinclude theepisodicmemoryfromwhichournarrativeidentitiesaremade,theempathyfor others that situates us in a social world, and the introspection that makes us self- aware. Empathy is other-directed attention, placed on you and focused on your states of mind; it is akin to listening. Empathetic attention is central to a range of experiencesthatconstitutivelyrequireacontrastbetweenoneselfandothers,allof which involve an awareness of oneself as the object of another’s attention. An analysisofattentionasmentalactiongainsaysauthorialconceptionsofself,because itisthenatureofintendingitself,effortfulattentioninaction,tosettleonwhattodo and to shun what not to do. A conception of human persons as beings with a characteristiccapacityforattentionoffershopeforresolutionintheconflictinethics betweenindividualismandimpersonalism. 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OXDP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©JonardonGaneri Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin Impression: Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber: ISBN –––– Printedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CRYY LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,26/10/2017,SPi Contents Epigraphs ix Introduction Part I. The Priority of Attention Attention and Action Attention,NotSelf TheAgent-CausalSelfDenied AttentionasMentalAction Buddhaghosa’sAttentionalism Consciousness ConcomitantsandCauses FindingConsciousness FourDefiningFeatures Thought and World IntentionalityisIrreducible AspectsofAttention TheFeelingforReality FunctionalDefinitions AWorldNormativelyAlive Part II. Attention and Knowledge The Content of Perceptual Experience MindednessandtheEpistemicRoleofExperience DoesLinguisticCapabilityPervadeExperience? FeltEvaluationandActionSolicitation LabellingandCognitiveAccess PhenomenalQualityOverflowsCognitiveAccess IntentionalismRevisited vi CONTENTS Perceptual Attention TheTwoRolesofAttention Thinking-OfandThinking-Through AttentionandPerceiving-As PerspectiveandObjectFiles Attention and Knowledge AttentionalJustification CognitivePenetration AttentionandImagination Attention,Knowledge,andExpertise Part III. The Calling of Attention Orienting Attention APuzzleaboutAttention CanthePuzzlebeDissolved? DoesthePuzzleTradeonanAmbiguity? SubliminalAttention CrossmodalityandSubliminalOrienting A Theory of Vision Vision’sThreeStages PrimaryVisualAcknowledgement SubliminalSeeingandPhenomenalQuality The Disunity of Mind WhyMindisnotanInternalSense Low-LevelMind:Forerunning High-LevelMind:Inter-Cognizing Top-DownEffectsontheModulesofMind Working Memory and Attention LateGate-Keeping MindinRunningMode InternalMonitoringDenied TheTheatreSimileReworked Attention:WindownotSpotlight CONTENTS vii Part IV. Attention Expanded Varieties of Attention AttentionisnotaNaturalPsychologicalKind IntendingasAttention IntrospectionasAttention MindfulAttention DividedAttention AttentionandSelection Narrative Attention TimeandtheSelf EpisodicMemoryasAttention AutonoeticConsciousnessandOwnership EpisodicMemoryandReflexiveMentalFiles Empathetic Attention Empathy:TheAwarenessofOthersasOthers EmpathyasAttention EmpathyasExperientialAccess TestimonyandImagination EmpiricisminthePhilosophyofMind Part V. Attention and Identity Identifying Persons FreedomfromAlienation TheConceptofaLivingBeing PersonsasLociofValueandSignificance Disgust:AnImmuneSystemforCognition OntheEcotonalityofMindandLife CravingasAutonoeticLonging Self and Other OneselfasObjectofAnother’sAttention PhenomenologyandtheNormative IndividualismandImpersonalismRejected viii CONTENTS Finitude and Flow AttentionandCentring Self-NarrativesandSurvival AttendingtoWhatMattersattheEndofLife Postscript: Philosophy Without Borders Acknowledgements List of Figures and Boxes Bibliography Index OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,26/10/2017,SPi Epigraphs Wesay:‘Ididn’tsee;myattentionwaselsewhere.Ididn’thear;myattention waselsewhere.’Foritisthroughtheattentionthatoneseesandhears.Therefore, evenwhensomeonetouchesusontheback,weperceiveitthroughtheattention. —Brḥ adāraṇyakaUpanisạ d(c.thcenturyBCE.BU..) Andwhatistheproximatecauseforknowledge,forseeingthingsastheyreally are?Itshouldbesaid:attention. —SaṃyuttaNikāya(c.rdcenturyBCE.S.ii.) Attentionisthecentringofconsciousnessevenlyandcorrectlyonasingleobject; placingiswhatismeant.Itsfunctionistoeliminatedistractors. —Buddhaghosa,ThePathofPurification(c.CE;Path[iii.]) Thefunctionofconsciousnessmustbetolinkusattentivelytothephysicalworld that contains us...Attention ultimately functions as a sort of life-blood for a whole range of mental phenomena; or perhaps better expressed, as a kind of psychic space...A system of experience constitutes a continuous ongoing phe- nomenon which is a sort of circle or centre of awareness. This awareness is the Attention. —BrianO’Shaughnessy,ConsciousnessandtheWorld (:,,) (UsedwiththekindpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress) Attentionprovidesawindowforconsciousnessthroughwhichwebecomeawareof asmallsubsetofrealbindingsamongathrongofillusoryphantomobjects. —AnneTreisman,‘ConsciousnessandPerceptualBinding’in A.CleeremansandC.Fritheds.,TheUnityofConsciousness, Binding,Integration,andDisassociation(:) (UsedwiththekindpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress)
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