The Circle of Acquaintance: Perception, Consciousness, and Empathy

263 Pages·1989·9.914 MB·English

by  David Woodruff Smith (auth.)

THE CIRCLE OF ACQUAINTANCE
SYNTHESE LillRARY
STUDIES IN EPISlEMOLOGY,
LOGIC, METHODOLOGY, AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Managing Editor:
JAAKKO HINTIKKA, Florida State University. Tallahassee
Editors:
DONALD DAVIDSON, University of California. Berkeley
GABRIEL NUCHELMANS, University ofL eyden
WESLEY C. SALMON, University of Pittsburgh
VOLUME 205
DAVID WOODRUFF SMITH
University of California, Irvine
THE CIRCLE
OF ACQUAINTANCE
Perception, Consciousness, and Empathy
KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DORDRECHT / BOSTON / LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Slith. David Woodruff. 1944-
The circle of acquaintance: perception. consciousness. and
empathy / David Woodruff Slith.
p. cm. -- (Synthese library; v. 205)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7923-0252-4
1. Knowledge. Theory of. 2. Perception (Philosophy)
3. Awareness. 4. Empathy. 5. Intentionality (Philosophy)
6. Se.antics (Philosophy) I. Title. II. Series.
BD181.S58 1989
121' .3--dc20 89-2609
ISBN-13: 978-94-010-6922-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-0961-8
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-0961-8
Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates
the publishing programmes of
D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press.
Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada
by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A.
In all other countries, sold and distributed
by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group,
P.O. Box 322,3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
printed on acidfree paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1989. by Kluwer Academic Publishers
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To my wife,
Mary Douglas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF COmENTS ix
PREFACE xv
INTRODUCTION: Acquaintance and Intentionality 1
PART ONE: The Experience of Acquaintance 35
CHAPTER I: Perceptual Awareness 37
CHAPTER II: Consciousness and Self-Awareness 70
CHAPTER III: Empathy and Other-Awareness 112
PART TWO: The Relation of Acquaintance 137
CHAPTER IV: Content in Context 139
CHAPTER V: A Sense of Presence 171
CHAPTER VI: Grounds of Acquaintance 193
BIDLIOGRAPHY 233
INDEX OF NAMES 249
INDEX OF TOPICS 251
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: ACQUAINTANCE AND INTENTIONALITY
1. CURRENTS OF OUR TIME
2. WHAT IS ACQUAINTANCE? 2
2.1. Three Types of Acquaintance 2
2.2. Acquaintance as Intentional Relation 3
2.3. Historical Highlights: on Acquaintance, or Intuition 3
3. IN1ENTIONALITY 6
3.1. Intentional Experiences 6
3.2. Content and Object of Experience 7
3.3. Intentional Characters and Intentional Relations 10
3.4. Intentionality Theory as the "Semantics" of Experience 11
3.5. Traditional Approaches to Intentionality 11
4. PHENOMENOLOOICAL STRUCTURE OR CONTENT 13
4.1. What is Phenomenology? 13
4.2. Phenomenological Description 14
4.3. Mode and Modality of Presentation: Two Components of Content 16
4.4. The Ontology of Contents 18
5. THE CLASSICAL CONTENT THEORY OF INTENTIONALITY 20
5.1. Intentionality via Content 20
5.2. Fundamentals of the Classical Theory 20
6. TOWARD A THEORY OF ACQUAINTANCE 23
6.1. Acquaintance as Indexical Awareness 23
6.2. The Problem of Content and Context 25
6.3. Principles of Acquaintance: the Beginnings of a Theory 28
IX
x ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE: THE EXPERIENCE OF ACQUAINTANCE 3S
CHAPTER I: PERCEPTUAL AWARENESS 37
1. GENERAL STRUCfURES OF PERCEPTION 37
1.1. Perceptual Experience 37
1.2. The Sensuous Character of Perception 38
1.3. The Intentional Character of Perception 39
2. THE DEMONSTRATIVE STRUCTURE OF PERCEPTION 41
2.1. Seeing "This" or "That" 41
2.2. Singularity and Sensuous Presence in Seeing "This" 43
2.3. The Essential Demonstrative 47
2.4. Seeing Merely "That" 49
2.5. Seeing "This Such-and-Such" 50
2.6. In Sum: the Force of Seeing "This" 51
3. PERCEPTUAL INDIVIDUATION: THE WORK OF DEMONSlRATIVE
CONIENT 52
3.1. The Case of the Exploding Perception 52
3.2. Explosion of Identity 53
3.3. Explosion of Kind 56
3.4. Explosion of Appearance 58
3.5. In Sum: the Work of Demonstrative Content 59
4. PERCEPIUAL INDIVIDUATION IN HALLUCINATION AND ILLUSION 60
4.1. Demonstrative Content in Non-Veridical Perception 60
4.2. Hallucination 60
4.3. Temporal Illusion 61
4.4. Spatial Illusion 62
4.5. Causal Illusion 62
4.6. Exploding "This" or "That" 63
4.7. Perceptual Individuation Revisited - and Revised 64
5. PERCEPIUAL ACQUAINTANCE AND SENSUOUS PRESENCE 65
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS XI
CHAPTER II: CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF-AWARENESS 70
1. ACQUAINTANCE IN (SELF-) CONSCIOUSNESS 70
2. SELF AND SELF-AWARENESS 71
2.1. The Self 71
2.2. Presentations of Self 73
2.3. "I": a Fundamental Mode of Self-Awareness 74
2.4. Misconceptions about "I" 76
2.5. The Intentional Force of "I" 79
3. CONSCIOUSNESS AS AWARENESS OF ONE'S EXPERIENCE
- AND OF ONESELF 80
3.1. What is Consciousness? 80
3.2. Inner Awareness of Experience 83
3.3. Inner Awareness of Oneself 88
3.4. The Paradox of the Pure Ego 88
3.5. Cogito Ergo Sum 90
3.6. Consciousness Without Self? Without Self-Awareness? 93
4. THE STRUCTIJRE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: PHENOMENAL QUALITY,
INNER AWARENESS, AND SELF-AWARENESS 95
4.1. Consciousness and Qualia 95
4.2. Consciousness and Inner Awareness 98
4.3. Consciousness Per Se 100
4.4. Self-Awareness in Inner Awareness 102
4.5. From Self-Awareness to Presentation of "I" 105
5. ACQUAINTANCE IN INNER AWARENESS 106
CHAPTER III: EMPATHY AND OTHER-AWARENESS 112
1. ACQUAINTANCE WITII OTHER PERSONS 112
1.1. Seeing "Her" or "Him": Empathy in Perception 112
1.2. The Phenomenological Problem of Other-Awareness 113
xii ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. WHATISEMPATHY? 115
2.1. Traditional Conceptions of Empathy 115
2.2. Empathy as Understanding 117
2.3. Empathy as Feeling 119
3. mE STRUCI1JRE OF EMPATHIC EXPERIENCE 122
3.1. Different Types of Empathic Experience 122
3.2. Qualia, Inner Awareness, and Reproductive Imagination 122
3.3. Empathic Identification 124
3.4. Empathic Judgment or Understanding 125
3.5. Empathic Perception 126
3.6. What does the Quality of Empathy Add? 128
3.7. "I" and "Thou" 131
4. ACQUAINTANCEINEMPATHICEXPERIENCE 133
PART TWO: THE RELATION OF ACQUAINTANCE 137
CHAPTER IV: CONTENT IN CONTEXT 139
1. INDEXICAL AWARENESS IN ACQUAINTANCE 139
2. mE CONTEXT-DEPENDENCE OF ACQUAINTANCE 140
2.1. The Context of Perception 140
2.2. The Context of Seeing Another Person 141
2.3. The Context ofInner Awareness and Self-Awareness 142
3. mE BREAKDOWN OF THE CLASSICAL INTERNALIST, OR CONTENT,
APPROACH TO INTENTIONALITY 144
3.1. The Classical Content Theory 144
3.2. The Breakdown of the Classical Theory 145
3.3. On Two Fregean and Husserlian Forms of Content Theory 147