Husserl's approach to transcendental intersubjectivity

It is our intention in the course of the development of this thesis to give an account of how intersubjectivity is "eidetically" constituted by means of the application of the phenomenological reduction to our experience in the context of the thought of Edmund Husserl; contrasted with various representative thinkers in what H. Spiegelberg refers to as "the wider scene" of phenomenology. That is to say, we intend to show those structures of both consciousness and the relation which man has to the world which present themselves as the generic conditions for the possibility of overcoming our "radical sol itude" in order that we may gain access to the mental 1 ife of an Other as other human subject. It is clear that in order for us to give expression to these accounts in a coherent manner, along with their relative merits, it will be necessary to develop the common features of any phenomenological theory of consdousness whatever. Therefore, our preliminary inquiry, subordinate to the larger theme, shall be into some of the epistemological results of the application of the phenomenological method used to develop a transcendental theory of consciousness. Inherent in this will be the deliniation of the exigency for making this an lIintentional ll theory. We will then be able to see how itis possible to overcome transcendentally the Other as an object merely given among other merely given objects, and further, how this other is constituted specifically as other ego. The problem of transcendental intersubjectivity and its constitution in experience can be viewed as one of the most compelling, if not the most polemical of issues in phenomenology. To be sure, right from the beginning we are forced to ask a number of questions regarding Husserl's responses to the problem within the context of the methodological genesis of the Cartesian Meditations, and The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. This we do in order to set the stage for amplification. First, we ask, has Husserl lived up to his goal, in this connexion, of an apodictic result? We recall that in his Logos article of 1911 he adminished that previous philosophy does not have at its disposal a merely incomplete and, in particular instances, imperfect doctrinal system; it simply has none whatever. Each and every question is herein controverted, each position is a matter of individual conviction, of the interpretation given byaschool, of a "point of view". 1. Moreover in the same article he writes that his goal is a philosophical system of doctrine that, after the gigantic preparatory work. of generations, really be- . gins from the ground up with a foundation free from doubt and rises up like any skilful construction, wherein stone is set upon store, each as solid as the other, in accord with directive insights. 2. Reflecting upon the fact that he foresaw "preparatory work of generations", we perhaps should not expect that he would claim that his was the last word on the matter of intersubjectivity. Indeed, with 2. 'Edmund Husserl, lIPhilosophy as a Rigorous Science" in Phenomenology and theCrisis6fPhilosophy, trans". with an introduction by Quentin Lauer (New York.: Harper & Row, 1965) pp. 74 .. 5. 2Ibid . pp. 75 .. 6. 3. the relatively small amount of published material by Husserl on the subject we can assume that he himself was not entirely satisfied with his solution. The second question we have is that if the transcendental reduction is to yield the generic and apodictic structures of the relationship of consciousness to its various possible objects, how far can we extend this particular constitutive synthetic function to intersubjectivity where the objects must of necessity always remain delitescent? To be sure, the type of 'object' here to be considered is unlike any other which might appear in the perceptual field. What kind of indubitable evidence will convince us that the characteristic which we label "alter-ego" and which we attribute to an object which appears to resemble another body which we have never, and can never see the whole of (namely, our own bodies), is nothing more than a cleverly contrived automaton? What;s the nature of this peculiar intentional function which enables us to say "you think just as I do"? If phenomenology is to take such great pains to reduce the takenfor- granted, lived, everyday world to an immanent world of pure presentation, we must ask the mode of presentation for transcendent sub .. jectivities. And in the end, we must ask if Husserl's argument is not reducible to a case (however special) of reasoning by analogy, and if so, tf this type of reasoning is not so removed from that from whtch the analogy is made that it would render all transcendental intersubjective understandtng impos'sible? 2. HistoticalandEidetic Priority: The Necessity of Abstraction 4. The problem is not a simple one. What is being sought are the conditions for the poss ibili:ty of experi encing other subjects. More precisely, the question of the possibility of intersubjectivity is the question of the essence of intersubjectivity. What we are seeking is the absolute route from one solitude to another. Inherent in this programme is the ultimate discovery of the meaning of community. That this route needs be lIabstract" requires some explanation. It requires little explanation that we agree with Husserl in the aim of fixing the goal of philosophy on apodictic, unquestionable results. This means that we seek a philosophical approach which is, though, not necessarily free from assumptions, one which examines and makes explicit all assumptions in a thorough manner. It would be helpful at this point to distinguish between lIeidetic ll priority, and JlhistoricallJpriority in order to shed some light on the value, in this context, of an abstraction.3 It is true that intersubjectivity is mundanely an accomplished fact, there havi.ng been so many mi.llions of years for humans to beIt eve in the exi s tence of one another I s abili ty to think as they do. But what we seek is not to study how this proceeded historically, but 3Cf• Maurice Natanson;·TheJburne in 'Self, a Stud in Philoso h and Social Role (Santa Cruz, U. of California Press, 1970 . rather the logical, nay, "psychological" conditions under which this is possible at all. It is therefore irrelevant to the exigesis of this monograph whether or not anyone should shrug his shoulders and mumble IIwhy worry about it, it is always already engaged". By way of an explanation of the value of logical priority, we can find an analogy in the case of language. Certainly the language 5. in a spoken or written form predates the formulation of the appropriate grammar. However, this grammar has a logical priority insofar as it lays out the conditions from which that language exhibits coherence. The act of formulating the grammar is a case of abstraction. The abstraction towards the discovery of the conditions for the poss; bi 1 ity of any experiencing whatever, for which intersubjective experience is a definite case, manifests itself as a sort of "grammar". This "grammar" is like the basic grammar of a language in the sense that these "rulesil are the ~ priori conditions for the possibility of that experience. There is, we shall say, an "eidetic priority", or a generic condition which is the logical antecedent to the taken-forgranted object of experience. In the case of intersubjectivity we readily grant that one may mundanely be aware of fellow-men as fellowmen, but in order to discover how that awareness is possible it is necessary to abstract from the mundane, believed-in experience. This process of abstraction is the paramount issue; the first step, in the search for an apodictic basis for social relations. How then is this abstraction to be accomplished? What is the nature of an abstraction which would permit us an Archimedean point, absolutely grounded, from which we may proceed? The answer can be discovered in an examination of Descartes in the light of Husserl's criticism. 3. The Impulse for Scientific Philosophy. The Method to which it Gives Rise. 6. Foremost in our inquiry is the discovery of a method appropriate to the discovery of our grounding point. For the purposes of our investigations, i.e., that of attempting to give a phenomenological view of the problem of intersubjectivity, it would appear to be of cardinal importance to trace the attempt of philosophy predating Husserl, particularly in the philosophy of Descartes, at founding a truly IIscientific ll philosophy. Paramount in this connexion would be the impulse in the Modern period, as the result of more or less recent discoveries in the natural sciences, to found philosophy upon scientific and mathematical principles. This impulse was intended to culminate in an all-encompassing knowledge which might extend to every realm of possible thought, viz., the universal science ot IIMathexis Universalis ll •4 This was a central issue for Descartes, whose conception of a universal science would include all the possible sciences of man. This inclination towards a science upon which all other sciences might be based waS not to be belittled by Husserl, who would appropriate 4This term, according to Jacab Klein, was first used by Barocius, the translator of Proclus into Latin, to designate the highest mathematical discipline. . 7. it himself in hopes of establishing, for the very first time, philosophy as a "rigorous science". It bears emphasizing that this in fact was the drive for the hardening of the foundations of philosophy, the link between the philosophical projects of Husserl and those of the philosophers of the modern period. Indeed, Husserl owes Descartes quite a debt for indicating the starting place from which to attempt a radical, presupositionless, and therefore scientific philosophy, in order not to begin philosophy anew, but rather for the first time.5 The aim of philosophy for Husserl is the search for apodictic, radical certitude. However while he attempted to locate in experience the type of necessity which is found in mathematics, he wished this necessity to be a function of our life in the world, as opposed to the definition and postulation of an axiomatic method as might be found in the unexpurgated attempts to found philosophy in Descartes. Beyond the necessity which is involved in experiencing the world, Husserl was searching for the certainty of roots, of the conditi'ons which underl ie experience and render it pOssible. Descartes believed that hi~ MeditatiOns had uncovered an absolute ground for knowledge, one founded upon the ineluctable givenness of thinking which is present even when one doubts thinking. Husserl, in acknowledging this procedure is certainly Cartesian, but moves, despite this debt to Descartes, far beyond Cartesian philosophy i.n his phenomenology (and in many respects, closer to home). 5Cf. Husserl, Philosophy as a Rigorous Science, pp. 74ff. 8 But wherein lies this Cartesian jumping off point by which we may vivify our theme? Descartes, through inner reflection, saw that all of his convictions and beliefs about the world were coloured in one way or another by prejudice: ... at the end I feel constrained to reply that there is nothing in a all that I formerly believed to be true, of which I cannot in some measure doubt, and that not merely through want of thought or through levity, but for reasons which are very powerful and maturely considered; so that henceforth I ought not the less carefully to refrain from giving credence to these opinions than to that which is manifestly false, if I desire to arrive at any certainty (in the sciences). 6 Doubts arise regardless of the nature of belief - one can never completely believe what one believes. Therefore, in order to establish absolutely grounded knowledge, which may serve as the basis fora "universal Science", one must use a method by which one may purge oneself of all doubts and thereby gain some radically indubitable insight into knowledge. Such a method, gescartes found, was that, as indicated above by hi,s own words, of II radical doubt" which "forbids in advance any judgemental use of (previous convictions and) which forbids taking any position with regard to their val idi'ty. ,,7 This is the method of the "sceptical epoche ll , the method of doubting all which had heretofor 6Descartes,Meditations on First Philosophy, first Med., (Libera 1 Arts Press, New York, 1954) trans. by L. LaFl eur. pp. 10. 7Husserl ,CrisiS of Eliroeari SCiences and Trariscendental Phenomenology, (Northwestern U. Press, Evanston, 1 7 ,p. 76. 9. been considered as belonging to the world, including the world itself. What then is left over? Via the process of a thorough and all-inclusive doubting, Descartes discovers that the ego which performs the epoche, or "reduction", is excluded from these things which can be doubted, and, in principle provides something which is beyond doubt. Consequently this ego provides an absolute and apodictic starting point for founding scientific philosophy. By way of this abstention. of bel ief, Desca'rtes managed to reduce the worl d of everyday 1 ife as bel ieved in, to mere 'phenomena', components of the rescogitans:. Thus:, having discovered his Archimedean point, the existence of the ego without question, he proceeds to deduce the 'rest' of the world with the aid of innate ideas and the veracity of God. In both Husserl and Descartes the compelling problem is that of establ ishing a scientific, apodictic phi'losophy based upon presuppos itionless groundwork .. Husserl, in thi.s regard, levels the charge at Descartes that the engagement of his method was not complete, such that hi.S: starting place was not indeed presupositionless, and that the validity of both causality and deductive methods were not called into question i.'n the performance of theepoche. In this way it is easy for an absolute evidence to make sure of the ego as: a first, "absolute, indubitablyexisting tag~end of the worldll , and it is then only a matter of inferring the absolute subs.tance and the other substances which belon.g to the world, along with my own mental substance, using a logically val i d deductive procedure. 8 8Husserl, E.;' Cartesian 'Meditation;, trans. Dorion Cairns (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1970), p. 24 ff.

Collaborative reflection : supporting one practitioner's development of online learning communities /

This is a study of one participant's reflective practice as she worked to develop online communities in a face-to-face science course. Her process of reflective practice was examined in order to address factors that influenced her learning path, and the benefits and challenges of collaborative action research. These research goals were pursued using a collaborative action research methodology, initially chosen for its close match with Schon's (1983) model of reflective practice. The participant's learning fit vnth Mezirow's (1991) model of transformative learning. She began with beliefs that matched her goals, and she demonstrated significant learning in three areas. First, she demonstrated instrumental learning around the constraints of workload and time, and achieving online learning community indicators. Second, she demonstrated communicative learning that helped her to see her own needs for feedback and communication more clearly, and how other process partners had been a support to her. Third, her emancipatory learning saw her revisiting and questioning her goals. It was through the reflective conversation during the planned meetings and the researcher's reframing and interrogation of that reflection that the participant was able to clarify and extend her thinking, and in so doing, critically reflect on her practice as she worked to develop online learning communities. In this way, the collaborative action research methodology was an embodiment of co-constructivism through collaborative reflective practice. Schon's (1983) model of reflective practice positions a lone practitioners moving through cycles ofplan-act-observe-reflect. The results fi"om this study suggest that collaboration is an important piece of the reflective practice model.

Effects of reflection and social isolation on crayfish behaviour /

Visual stimuli and socialization influence exploratory behaviour in crayfish. The predominant components of spontaneous exploratory behaviour were determined by observing the activity of solitary adult crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) in a glass aquarium containing fresh water and no objects. Five distinct behaviours were observed: rearing up (climbing on the wall), turning around, cornering (facing the comer), backward walking, and crossing (crossing the midline of the aquarium). The frequency of rearing up, cornering and turning around decreased when reflection from the glass wall was blocked with black cardboard, black paint or non-reflective transparent plastic. In a tank containing mirrors on one side and non-reflective plastic on the other, crayfish cornered, reared up, and turned around more in front of the mirrors. Socialization was necessary for crayfish to respond to the reflection. Crayfish that were housed in pairs for two weeks exhibited more rearing up, turning around and cornering in front of the mirrors than in the non-reflective side. Crayfish isolated for two weeks did not show these differences. Socialized crayfish also exhibited more rearing up, turning around and cornering than did isolated crayfish. Thus, crayfish respond to visual stimuli provided by a glass tank, but the responds depends on socialization.

A qualitative analysis of reflection in undergraduate and graduate programs

The purpose ofthis study was to explore various types ofreflection and to explore reflection on action, reflection as a practice, and reflection as a process. In doing this, the intent was to discover the perceived benefits of reflection in the classroom and to provide guidelines for future use at the undergraduate and graduate level. The qualitative components in this study included the data collection strategy of semistructured interviews with 2 undergraduate students, 2 graduate students, 1 undergraduate studies professor, and 1 graduate studies professor. The data analysis strategies included a within-case analysis and a cross-case analysis. Through the interviews participants discussed their experiences with the use ofreflection in the classroom. Through the completion ofthis analysis the researcher expected to discover the benefits ofreflection at this level of education, as well as provide suggestions for future use. Both undergraduate and graduate students and professors were found to benefit from the use of reflection in the classroom. The use ofreflection in the undergraduate and graduate classroom was found to improve student/teacher and student/peer relationships, foster critical thinking, allow for connections between learned theory and life experience, and improve students' writing abilities. Based on the results ofthe study the implications ofreflection for the undergraduate and graduate classroom and for further research are provided.

Dialogue journal writing: a tool for critical reflection in the adult ESL learner

This study attempted to determine whether or not dialogue journal writing encouraged critical reflection in the adult ESL (English as a Second Language) learner. According to research in adult education and anecdotal evidence, the process ofdialogue journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the adult learner. However, little research has been conducted to examine whether or not journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the second language learner. As a result, ten low-intermediate level adult ESL students from Brock University's Intensive English Language Programme participated in a dialogue journal writing programme in their writing class. The participants wrote journal entries over a 10-week period, and were interviewed once throughout the process to determine their perceptions ofthe journal writing experience. They also were observed by the researcher throughout the journal writing sessions to establish whether any behaviours or intrusions might affect the participants' writing processes. After the content ofthe journals and the interviews, and the observations made by the researcher were analysed, it was confirmed that, for these participants, dialogue journal writing did not necessarily encourage critical reflection. Moreover, the participants' perceptions ofjournal writing were that it helped them to practise the syntax, vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns ofEnglish; nevertheless, it did not foster critical reflection or thinking.

Valuing and encouraging critical reflection in pre-service teacher education

This qualitative study was designed to investigate aspects related to valuing and encouraging critical reflection in pre-service teacher education. An examination of the place and function of practicum logbooks as used at Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers' College, a small private college which offers pre-service teacher education formed the core of the research. An analysis of the practicum logbooks written by five student teachers during three different practicum placements was performed at two levels. First, a content analysis served to identify general and specific categories within the practice teaching contextas a learning experience. Secondly, in-depth intuitive and thematic analyses of the entries which related specifically to reflection as a learning experience gave rise to critical questions. Throughout the process, the five participants formed an active and involved group of co-researchers, adding their voices to the narrative of the learning experience. Variables such as personality type, learning style and self-directedness added a dimension which deepened and emiched the study. The result of the study suggests that practicum logbooks form a valuable base for valuing and encouraging critical reflection in pre-service teacher education. The results also suggest that not all students appear to be equally capable of critical reflection. Recognizing that teacher education exists as a continuum appears to support the findings that in their journey along this continuum, student teachers not only move from reflection-on-action to reflection-in-action, but also from content to process to premise reflection. An awareness of contributing factors such as personality type, degree of risk-taking, preferred learning style and self-directedness on the part of teacher-educators will serve to create a climate of trust in which student teachers can safely develop critical reflection, using practicum logbooks as one possible medium.

Reflection Reframed: The Process of Photography as Strategy for Teachers' Reflective Practice

Teacher reflective practice is described as an effective method for engaging teachers in improving their own professional learning. Yet, some teachers do not understand how to effectively engage in the reflective processes, or prefer not to formalize the process through writing a reflective journal as taught in most teacher education programs. Developing reflective skills through the process of photography was investigated in this study as a strategy to allow enhanced teacher reflection for professional and personal growth. The process of photography is understood as the mindful act of photographing rather than focusing on the final product-the image. For this study, 3 practicing educators engaged in photographic exercises as a reflective process. Data sources included transcribed interviews, participant journal reflections, and sketchbook artifacts, as well as the researcher's personal journal notes. Findings indicated that, through the photographic process, (a) teacher participants developed new and individual strategies for professional leaming; and (b) teacher participants experienced shifts in the way they conceptualized their personal worldviews.

Using Poetry, Story, and Reflection to Understand Professional Self After Personal Loss

This research investigated professional identity transformation after personal loss. Through autoethnographic methods, I explore how my personal experience of my sister’s breast cancer and death affected my identity as a diabetes educator in the health culture. I discover a transformation of a professional who focuses on evidence-based medicine to a professional who values connection, therapeutic alliance, and mindfulness with patients and self in the diabetes education encounter. Using a holistic perspective on transformational learning, I integrate the poem “Wild Geese” to a collection of written narratives to connect my personal loss experience to my professional life. By unpacking the generated stories and using poetry, I conduct a process of critical and self-reflection to discover how my identity as a health professional has transformed and what makes meaning in my role as a diabetes educator in the health culture. I consider concepts of a conscious self, social relations and language and discover themes of knowledge exchange, food, and empathy as forms of language expression. These language expressions are not present in my professional life as I focus on rational, logical facts of evidence-based medicine and standardized education methods. Through this reflexive process, I hope to understand how my professional practice has changed, where I place an importance on connection, therapeutic alliance, and mindfulness. I move away from always “doing” in my professional life to focus on my state of “being” in my professional world. Rather than knowledge acquisition as the only factor in professional development, this study contributes to an understanding of additional qualities health professionals may consider that focus on the patient education encounter.

Responses to Reflection in Two Invertebrate Species

The present thesis investigates the responses to reflection in both the crayfish Procambarus clarkii and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Responses to reflection in crayfish depend on social status and the current work suggests that learning and memory consolidation are required for these responses to be altered. Crayfish were treated to either massed or spaced training fights prior to reflection testing. The results show that subordinate crayfish treated to spaced training display a response typical of subordinate crayfish but subordinate crayfish treated to massed training exhibit a response typical of dominant crayfish. Fruit flies are shown to be attracted to reflection and responses to reflection are described here for the first time. Responses in fruit flies are shown to be dependent on social status. The frequency of behaviours were altered in isolated flies but not socialized flies. The addition of pheromones cVA and 7,11-HD were used to investigate how the addition of chemical cues altered responses to reflection in fruit flies. Socialized fruit flies treated with cVA exhibited an increase in the frequency of behaviours on both mirrored and clear glass walls, while isolated flies exhibited a decrease. Socialized flies treated with 7,11-HD spent more time on mirrored walls compared to glass walls, whereas the frequency of all behaviours were decreased in isolated flies treated with 7,11-HD.

The Lived Experience of Nursing Students With Formative Assessment Formally Embedded in Clinical Courses: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study

The potential of formative assessment (FA) for informing learning in classroom-based nursing courses is clearly established in the literature; however, research on FA in clinical courses remains scarce. This inquiry explored the lived experience of nursing students using transcendental phenomenology and described the phenomenon of being assessed in clinical courses. The research question guiding the study was: How is the phenomenon of assessment experienced by nursing students when FA is formally embedded in clinical courses? Inherent in this question were the following issues: (a) the meaning of clinical experiences for nursing students, (b) the meaning of being assessed through FA, and (c) what it is like to be assessed when FA is formally embedded within clinical experiences. The noematic themes that illuminated the whatness of the participants’ experience were (a) enabled cognitive activity, (b) useful feedback, (c) freedom to be, (d) enhanced focus, (e) stress moderator, and (f) respectful mentorship. The noetic themes associated with how the phenomenon was experienced were related to bodyhood, temporality, spatiality, and relationship to others. The results suggest a fundamental paradigm shift from traditional nursing education to a more pervasive integration of FA in clinical courses so that students have time to learn before being graded on their practice. Furthermore, this inquiry and the literature consulted provide evidence that using cognitive science theory to inform and reform clinical nursing education is a timely option to address the repeated calls from nursing leaders to modernize nursing education. This inquiry contributes to reduce our reliance on assumptions derived from research on FA in nursing classrooms and provides evidence based on the reality of using formative assessment in clinical courses. Recommendations for future research are presented.