Table Of Content

<ATSKSWVIUIDUEOZTIBYDOTEFLJWFHTECESHHCOOIEN"ETTRROFI"DGn1O"""5SAH4"0B"dT">"ev"ca"on2mc2e0isn"ginACwoarnes:cioAuspnreasgsmRaetiscesarochf,eVxpoelruimenecin4g3"" OnBecomingAware Advances in Consciousness Research Advances in Consciousness Research provides a forum for scholars from differentscientificdisciplinesandfieldsofknowledgewhostudyconsciousness initsmultifacetedaspects.ThustheSerieswillinclude(butnotbelimitedto) thevariousareasofcognitivescience,includingcognitivepsychology,linguis- tics, brain science and philosophy. The orientation of the Series is toward developingnewinterdisciplinaryandintegrativeapproachesfortheinvestiga- tion, description and theory of consciousness, as well as the practical conse- quencesofthisresearchfortheindividualandsociety. SeriesB:Researchinprogress.Experimental,descriptiveandclinicalresearch inconsciousness. Editor MaximI.Stamenov BulgarianAcademyofSciences EditorialBoard DavidChalmers,UniversityofArizona GordonG.Globus,UniversityofCaliforniaatIrvine RayJackendoff,BrandeisUniversity ChristofKoch,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology StephenKosslyn,HarvardUniversity EarlMacCormac,DukeUniversity GeorgeMandler,UniversityofCaliforniaatSanDiego JohnR.Searle,UniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley PetraStoerig,UniversitätDüsseldorf †FranciscoVarela,C.R.E.A.,EcolePolytechnique,Paris Volume43 OnBecomingAware:Apragmaticsofexperiencing EditedbyNatalieDepraz,FranciscoJ.VarelaandPierreVermersch On Becoming Aware A pragmatics of experiencing Natalie Depraz UniversitédelaSorbonne(ParisIV) Francisco J. Varela LENA,CNRS&CREA,Paris Pierre Vermersch CNRS,Paris JohnBenjaminsPublishingCompany Amsterdam / Philadelphia TM ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican 8 NationalStandardforInformationSciences–PermanenceofPaperforPrinted LibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1984. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData OnBecomingAware:Apragmaticsofexperiencing/editedbyNatalieDepraz,FranciscoJ. VarelaandPierreVermersch. p. cm.(AdvancesinConsciousnessResearch,issn1381–589X;v.43) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindexes. 1.Experience.2.Awareness.I.Depraz,Natalie.II.Varela,FranciscoJ.,1946-III. Vermersch,Pierre.IV.Series. B105.E9 O5 2002 128´.4-dc21 2002074567 isbn9027251673(Eur.)/1588112438(US)(Hb;alk.paper) isbn9027251630(Eur.)/1588112160(US)(Pb;alk.paper) ©2003–JohnBenjaminsB.V. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyform,byprint,photoprint,microfilm,orany othermeans,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. JohnBenjaminsPublishingCo.·P.O.Box36224·1020meAmsterdam·TheNetherlands JohnBenjaminsNorthAmerica·P.O.Box27519·Philadelphiapa19118-0519·usa Table of contents Introduction:Aguidefortheperplexed 1 Whatareweupto? 1 Towhomarewetalking? 3 Sowhat’sthebottomline? 6 Aninvitation 11 Acknowledgments 11 PartI:Thestructuraldynamicsofbecomingaware Chapter1.Thebasiccycle 1.1 Overallpresentation 15 Enteringintotheinquiry 15 Aworkingdescription:Threetemporalhorizons 20 Whyasession? 20 Exemplaryvariations 21 1.2 Epoche 24 Thethreecomponentsofepoche 24 Thesuspensionanditsfollow-ups 26 Redirectionandletting-go 31 Thedifficultiesofredirection 34 Pragmaticdifficultiesandhelpinovercomingthem 35 Letting-goandthequalityofattention 37 Thebasicstructureofbecomingaware:Thedoublefold ofreflectionandaffection 41 1.3 Intuitiveevidence 43 Intuitionasgestureandasprocess 43 Thephilosophicalrootsofintuition 44 Thetemporaldynamicoftheintuitiveact 48 Thefragilelightning-boltoftheprocessofintuitivefulfillment: Fromemptinesstogivenness-in-flesh-and-blood 49 Intuitionandaffectivity 54  Tableofcontents Primordialintuitionandimaginaryeideticvariations 55 Thethree-partstructureofinsight 58 Themodeofevidenceasinsertedinabackground 61 Criteriaofappreciationandofcompletion 62 Chapter2.Thestructureofasession 2.1 Expression 65 Expressionisanoptionalandmultiformcomponent 65 Expressionsandlinguisticdescriptions 66 Whenshouldadescriptionbeproduced? 67 Thespecificqualityofsuspensionpropertodescriptive verbalization 68 Thequalityoftheintuitiveevidencepropertoverbalization 70 Modalitiesoflinguisticexpressionfromtheperspective ofaresearchprogram 73 Asketchoftheproblemswithdescriptivecategorization 76 2.2 Validation 77 Whatexpressionandvalidationhaveincommon 77 Validationisanoptionalandmultifariouscomponent 78 Structuresofmediation:First-,second-andthird-person positions 80 Stagesintheprocessofvalidation 85 Chapter3.Surroundingevents 3.1 Upstreamanddownstream 97 3.2 Apprenticeshipandtraining 99 3.3 Facetsofapprenticeship 101 3.4 Progressivegenerativityofexpertise 102 3.5 Relationtomediation 103 3.6 Thetemporalgenerativityofmotivationandafter-effects 107 PartII:Themotivationsforthestudyofexperiencing Chapter4.Thepointofviewoftheresearcher 4.1 Thecognitivessciences 115 (F.J.Varela) Therecentconsciousnessboom 115 Athree-waysketch 118 Irreducibility:Thebasicground 119 Tableofcontents  Casestudies 122 Thenotionofphenomenologicaldata 125 Mutualenlightenment 127 4.2 Psychologyandsubjectiveexperience:Introspection 129 (P.Vermersch) Ahistoricalperspectiveonpsychologyandsubjectivity 129 Theinitialevidenceandthefirstcritiques 130 Thefirstimprovements:Experimentalintrospection 136 Strategiesofcircumvention 145 Datarelativetothefirstpersonpointofviewhavenothad anyimpact 148 Improvementsontheway 151 Conclusion 153 Chapter5.Concerningpractice (N.Depraz,F.J.Varela,P.Vermesch) 5.1 Introduction:Practiceistheprivilegedsiteforgrasping ofexperience 155 5.2 Embodiedpracticesincognitivescience 155 5.3 Adiversephilosophicalbackground:Practicalreason, pragmatism,praxisandhabitus 159 5.4 The“handle”ofcognition:Thepsychologicalview ofknowing-howandcopingwith 163 5.5 Practitionersvalidateandenrichthislevelofanalysis 167 Chapter6.Thephilosophicalchallenge (N.Depraz) 6.1 Theplaceofexperienceinphilosophy 170 ThesituationofPhenomenologywithregardtothehistory ofphilosophy 171 Accesstoexperienceasareturntothe“thingsthemselves” 174 Phenomenologicalexperienceisneitherempiricalnor constructed:Itiseidetic 177 Thetranscendentalcharacterofexperience:Phenomenologyas “transcendentalempiricism” 182 6.2 Thewaysofthereduction 184 Theethosofthereduction 184 Waysinwhichthereductionisprepared 186  Tableofcontents Multipleaccesstothereductiveattitude:Theproblematic oftheways 192 Theethosofthereductivesubject 197 Aidstothereduction 199 Bearingandlimitsofphenomenologicalphilosophy 201 Chapter7.Wisdomtraditionsandthewaysofreduction (F.J.VarelaandN.Depraz) 7.1 Whatdowemeanbyspiritualtraditions? 205 7.2 Thepracticeofmindfulness(shamatha):Thehistoricalcontext 207 Thegrounding 207 Theconsolidation 210 TheMahayanistturn 210 TibetandtheVajrayanistturn 213 7.3 Sittingpracticeandthephenomenologyofexperience 214 Thepointofpracticeno.1:Theshamathamethod 215 Pointofpracticeno.2:Vispashyana 220 Pointofpracticeno.3:Tonglenandempathy 221 Pointofpracticeno.4:Naturalspontaneityassecond spontaneity 223 7.4 Relatingbacktoothermotivations 224 Practiceofshamathasittingmeditationandintrospective psychology 224 Meditativepracticeofthethreeyanasandthe phenomenologicalwaysofthereduction 225 Wherearewe? 231 Openconclusion 233 Postface 237 References 241 Glossaryofterms 253 Index 263 Introduction A guide for the perplexed Whatareweupto? Inthisbookweseekthesourcesandmeansforadisciplinedpracticalapproach toexploringhumanexperience.Since that’salreadyquiteaprogram,pleasebe patientwhileweexplainwhatwemean. Apracticalapproachtohumanexperience The spirit of this book is entirely pragmatic, for at least two related reasons. Firstofall,becauseofourapproach:wewillhavetodiscoverwhatpertainsto ourquestionaswegoalong;wewillhavetolearnonthejob,ratherthangive youready-maderesults.Unedynamiqued’amorçageinthefrenchoriginal.The verbamorcermeanstobait,toentice,tostartorbegin,toprime.Theintended meaninghereistohelpsomethinggetgoingbygivingitalittlehelp,likepush- ingacartojump-startit,runningsomefluidthroughapumpinordertolet itbeginworkingonitsown,orpickingupsometricksofthetradefromyour elderswhileanapprentice.Wewilluse“jump-start,”“learningaswegoalong,” or“learningonthejob,”andsoontotranslateunedynamiqued’amorçage.In otherwords,wemustkeepthingsopeninourexplorationofthisnewfield,a terraincognitaofwhichweknowalmostnothing.Weproceedarmedonlywith asketchy mapandsomesurveyor’stools, andsotheprogressiveunfoldingof thebookfollowstheveryemergenceofconsciousactivityasithappens. Secondly,becauseofourtheme:sincewearenottryingtosetforthapriori anewtheoryofexperienceastheneo-Kantiansmighthavedone,butinstead wanttodescribeanactivity,aconcretepraxis,weinvestigateconsciousactivity insofarasitperceivesitselfunfoldinginanoperativeandimmanentmode,at oncehabitualandpre-reflective.