More specifically: if I'm a Christian and believe the human Soul lives on after death is there any way to explain this Soul and its after-life in Phenomenology? I undestand from my reading that the Soul is seen by Phen. as a 'moment', hence it cannot exist as a 'piece' - surely this would mean the Soul dies with the body? Hence, the Christian idea of Soul as eternal must be wrong according to this philosophy. Am I right? Yet there are Christians who claim to be Phenomenologists.
2006-12-17 02:24:25 · 3 answers · asked by sharbleitis 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Phenomenonlogy varies, as you know. A Husserlian would make a strong division between body and mind (or soul), but a Heideggerian would not. A soul is a difficult entity to posit, because if it is not like us, as we are, experiencing with our character of consciousness-- then it is hard to identify with such a substance, despite the fact that it doesn't do much theoretical work in a naturalist schema. Nonetheless, Paul Tillich is the philosopher to go to with respect to souls in phenomenology. In line with Kierkegaard (who is also an important read for the faithful), humans grasp their finite existence in relation to death-- and can reconcile with infinite essence (God) by becoming "Christ-llike".
Walter Benjamin's "Task of the Translator" could be useful to you, as he Platonizes the meaning of a text, beyond any particular language, to which he claims awareness of in translating from one language to another, from a transcendental perspective. Levinas may also be valuable to you. He discusses the ontological priority of concern for the other in the subjective experience.
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Phenomenology isn't restricted to such a Kantian formalization as "we can never know the noumenon" psychologism. Hegel's whole phenomenological project was to develop a logico-deductive method for knowledge of the Spirit (there certainly have been Hegelian Christians) to undermine Kant's assertion. Likewise, even Husserl has a transcendentalist side.
2006-12-17 07:12:15 · answer #1 · answered by -.- 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably not, but I think that people who claim to be Phenomenologist do not totally understand what it means to be so. From what I understand, the basics of phenomena is the belief that the world consists of things-as-they-appear-to-us. Noumena, on the other hand, are things-in-themselves that are outside our experience. Since we cannot go outside of our experience, this limits our reality if we are truly Phenomenologists.
Most people do not believe reality is only in what they have experienced, but a combination of what they have experienced, and the way they shape, organize, and process what they experience - which allows for belief in things that they have not experienced, but they can logically connect to something they have experienced.
So I would say two answers are probably rational here:
1. There are no "true" phenomenologists in this day and age.
2. A true phenomenologist could not believe in after life, but also, he/she could not, not believe in the after life because there is nothing in our experience that can prove or disprove that an after-life exists.
2006-12-17 15:21:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i agree.and if you want more information about it i reccomand you to read the saint book of islamQURAN then you understand how it will be true there life not false as it if smb wants to know the meaning of life must read it.i believe that you will find all answers to your questions.try it please.i hope it will help you.
2006-12-17 11:24:47 · answer #3 · answered by zehra 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋