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Notes on video lecture:
Epoché: The Suspended Attitude
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on May 18, 2016 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
obvious, weird, complex, notice, epoché, double, opposite, conversation, circumspect, ordinary, more, else, background, inquisitiveness, alternative, posit, wrong, physically, attitude, jokes, otherwise, parentheses, semi-sensory, suspension
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we make assumptions all the time to make our way through a                world
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usually these assumptions are operating in the                     
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they shape things if we think about them or not
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sometimes our assumptions are           
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what we expect to experience and what we do experience can diverge
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phenomenology lurks in illusions,           , riddles, and many other forms of art and inquiry
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the phenomenological attitude is one of                                and imagination
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it begins with the suspicion that things might not be as they seem
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maybe the first, most                impression is not the only possibility
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that playful outlook makes us reach for the           
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in doing phenomenology, we deliberately provoke the             -take
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we undermine every assumption and thereby illuminate the dimensions of consciousness that normally unfold beneath             
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this is the rich meaning of observation, of seeing more
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the active creation of variations in consciousness
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in these ways we learn to increasingly see         
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the phenomenologist has two toolboxes
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1. what         ?
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question the first interpretation of what you hear, see, or think
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spin out every conceivable                       
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the tool of observation
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tools to get behind observation, considering the                          (parts of e.g. 3D objects that you don't actually see) and the super-sensory (abstract terms that don't refer directly to objects, e.g. love)
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2. what if?
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here we are invited to change our situation
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either                      altering it
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or envisioning an alternative scenario
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the tool of experimental variation
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change the situation in reality or in imagination and watch what happens
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this reveals contrasts among states of consciousness
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if nothing else, with these toolboxes, you will never be at a loss for                         
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before we began to practice phenomenology, we engaged the world with a natural                 
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it just is what it is
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after doing some phenomenology, we still believe in                  reality
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but perhaps our attitude toward the world shifts
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from the ordinary, natural, unreflective take on the world
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we become                       
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we acknowledge that it might be                   
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that the way we see the world is contingent
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we don't need to take it for granted
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the world, in short, is suspended in                       
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we believe in its reality but we recognize that we constitute that reality
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our own perceptual activity, the doing of seeing,            objects around us
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and we become aware that this is something we do rather than something that is just sitting there
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phenomenologies have a term for this questioning attitude:                           
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a Greek word meaning                     
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we're used to the suspension of disbelieve, pretending that fictional characters are real
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epoché is the                 
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the suspension of belief
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we regard the real as if it were fiction
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the world is still there right in front of us, but it is a world that consciousness makes, not the world of physics

Ideas and Concepts:

Reads like a creed, via tonight's phenomenology class: "Phenomenology lurks in illusions, jokes, riddles, and many other forms of art and inquiry. The phenomenological attitude is one of inquisitiveness and imagination. It begins with the suspicion that things might not be as they seem, that maybe the first, most obvious impression is not the only possibility, and this playful outlook makes us reach for the weird. In doing phenomenology, we deliberately provoke the double-take. We undermine every assumption and thereby illuminate the dimensions of consciousness that normally unfold beneath notice. This is the rich meaning of observation, of seeing more."
The two toolboxes of phenomenology, via tonight's phenomenology class:

"As phenomenologists, we have two toolboxes at our disposal.

The first toolbox is labeled "What else?" In it we find the tool of observation, but also tools to get behind observation, allowing us to consider the semi-sensory (e.g. the hidden sides of objects that we don't actually see) and the super-sensory (e.g. abstract terms that don't refer directly to physical objects, e.g. hope, love or heaven). Using tools in the first toolbox teaches us to question the first interpretation of things we hear, see, or think, and spin out conceivable alternatives.

The second toolbox is labeled "What if?" In this toolbox we have the tool of experimental variation, which allows us to change our situation in reality or in our imagination, and watch what happens. This reveals contrasts among states of consciousness and invites us to experiment with alternative scenarios.

With these two toolboxes, if nothing else, you will never be at a loss for conversation."
On the suspended attitude, via this afternoon's phenomenology class: "Before we began to practice phenomenology, we engaged the world with a natural attitude, or the belief that the world is just is what it is. After doing some phenomenology, we still believe in ordinary reality, but perhaps our attitude toward the world shifts from the ordinary, natural, unreflective take on the world, to a take on the world in which we have become circumspect, i.e. we acknowledge that the world might be otherwise, that the way we see the world is contingent, at some level being produced, that we don't need to take it for granted the way it is. The world, in short, is suspended in parentheses. We believe in its reality but we recognize that our consciousness constitutes that reality. Our own perceptual activity, the doing of seeing, posits objects around us and we become aware that the world is something posited rather than something that is just sitting there waiting for us, exterior to us. Phenomenologists have a term for this questioning attitude:epoché [ἐποχή], a Greek word that means suspension. We're used to the suspension of disbelief, i.e. enjoying a work of literature or a play by temporarily pretending fictional characters are real so that we can enjoy the story. Epoché is the opposite:we suspend belief in the real. We regard the real as if it were fiction, get behind it, and thus experience it as malleable. The world is still there right in front of us, but it is a world that consciousness makes, not the world of physics."
Principles of Phenomenology
Semi-sensations and Positional Consciousness
Phenomenological Superposition
Epoché: The Suspended Attitude
The Principle of Interpretive Exclusivity
The Invariance of Intentionality
Subjectivity, Objectivity, and Intentionality
Internal Time Consciousness
The Experience of the Now