Friday, August 30, 2019

Sense-Experience and Dualism

In ordinary experience, sense-information is acquired by the functioning of the sense-organs, in coordination with other parts of the body, e. g. the sighting of a puddle to be side-stepped.  Now, Sense-Experience can be distinguished from Motor-Experience, but only analytically, just as inhalation from exhalation.  For, concretely, they are combined in the behavior of an organism.  In contrast, for many Philosophers, Sense-Experience is the foundation of Experience, and what it is distinguished from, if not antithetical to, is Reason.  In many of these cases, Sense-Experience is conceived as inferior to Reason, but, in others, to the contrary, and in at least one case, i. e. Berkeley, it is the source of divine communication.  In all of them, the distinction is the fundamental Philosophical topic, i. e. Empiricism vs. Rationalism.  But, regardless of which is privileged, Sense-Experience is implicitly conceived as absolutely independent of Motor-Experience, which is usually not even recognized in either system. In other words, this debate that dominates Modern Philosophy presupposes the disembodiment of Sense-Experience, as a continuation of the long tradition of Mind-Body quasi-Dualism.  It thus perpetuates the fracturing of the Human Organism that has its origins at least as far back as Parmenides, and is profoundly reinforced by Medieval Theology, i. e. the doctrine of the Salvation of the Soul.

No comments:

Post a Comment