Publication
Title
Intersubjectivity, mirror neurons and the limits of naturalism
Author
Abstract
The paper explores the possibilities and limits of naturalizing the experience of intersubjectivity. The existence of mirror neurons illustrates that an experience of intersubjectivity is already present on a more primitive, precognitive, and embodied level. A similar argument had been made in the first half of the twentieth century by phenomenologists, such as Edmund Husserl. This motivated Vittorio Gallese, one of the discoverers of mirror neurons, and other philosophers to connect the functioning of mirror neurons with Husserl’s phenomenology of intersubjectivity as presented in his Cartesianische Meditationen. I argue that such attempts are grounded in an inadequate interpretation of Husserl’s analysis and turn into a circular argument. As such, they bypass a more primordial experience of intersubjectivity, which Husserl thematizes in Ideen II as the experience of an “expressive unity,” and which resists any project of naturalization from within.
Language
English
Source (book)
Thinking togetherness: phenomenology and sociality / Božič, Andrej [edit.]
Publication
Ljubljana : Institute Nova Reijva for the Humanities , 2023
ISBN
978-961-7014-40-2
Volume/pages
p. 103-116
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 19.12.2023
Last edited 22.12.2023
To cite this reference