This research analyzes logical concepts from the perspective of phenomenology. Logical concept is ability to understand what an ‘abstract object’ or a ‘logical form’ is, such as being, non-being, possibility, impossibility, identity, resemblance, and ...
This research analyzes logical concepts from the perspective of phenomenology. Logical concept is ability to understand what an ‘abstract object’ or a ‘logical form’ is, such as being, non-being, possibility, impossibility, identity, resemblance, and causality. Phenomenology attempts to describe and analyze how objects appear to us, and to make this appearance the final basis for all sciences. Likewise, ‘phenomenology of logic’ attempts to describe and analyze how logical forms appear to us, and to make this appearance the final basis for logic and metaphysics. Phenomenology of logic is needed to thoroughly examine the nature of logical forms and our understanding of them.
This research not only explains Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology of logic, but also, based on this, develops a phenomenology of logic in a new way. So far, there have been studies explaining Husserl’s phenomenology of logic, but there have been no studies developing one in a new way. In his early works such as Logical Investigations, Husserl systematically analyzed consciousness of logical forms and established a general theory about them. The insights there are important foundations for a phenomenology of logic. However, there was a serious problem with Husserl’s theory. And the right answer has not been given so far to what the problem is and how it should be fixed. I show that the problem lies in Husserl’s ‘data theory’ and ‘internal consciousness theory.’ Data theory is a position that there is a mental state which is not intentional, and internal consciousness theory is a position that the subject must somehow be conscious of his consciousness in order to be conscious of the world. These positions are incompatible with ‘intentionalism’, a position that all mental states are intentional, which is another important motive for Husserl.
Therefore, phenomenology of logic must be developed in a new way. To this end, an in-depth ‘genetic’ research is needed. I explain Husserl’s in-depth analyses on consciousness, focusing on his later works such as Analyses Concerning Passive Synthesis and C-Manuscripts. It is revealed that consciousness should be thoroughly explained through ‘motivation’ as ‘affection’ and ‘action,’ and that consciousness should be thoroughly explained through emotions and desires. What is important here is that ‘epistemic’ emotions and desires are distinguished from ‘practical’ emotions and desires. Epistemic emotions and desires pursue ‘coherent’ objects. On the other hand, practical ones pursue objects according to one’s various innate or acquired preferences. In virtue of this, it is revealed that all epistemic attitudes, such as belief, doubt, assumption, and conception, are epistemic desire. An epistemic desire manifests itself in a way that when an object is experienced, another object is expected to be experienced. When the expected object is experienced, the desire is satisfied, and when the expected object is not experienced, the desire is frustrated. Further, various new objects are recognized in virtue of the various rules of motivation or ‘apprehension(Auffassung),’ which make one to expect an object from another object.
Through this, it is possible to explain how consciousness of logical forms come into being. Logical forms can be recognized in virtue of ‘epistemic emotions.’ Logical forms can be recognized in virtue of the pleasure and displeasure experienced in the satisfaction and frustration of epistemic desires. An object’s ‘being’ and ‘possibility’ can be recognized in virtue of the pleasure which is experienced because an epistemic desire for the object is satisfied. An object’s ‘non-being’ and ‘impossibility’ can be recognized in virtue of the displeasure which is experienced because an epistemic desire for the object is frustrated. ‘Identity,’ ‘resemblance,’ and ‘causality’ of objects can be recognized in virtue of the pleasures which are experienced because epistemic desires for the objects are satisfied in a unified way. According to the new theory, various logical forms are recognized because pleasure and displeasure experienced in the satisfaction and frustration of epistemic desires are expected in accordance with the various rules of motivation. The new theory not only overcomes the problem of Husserl’s theory, but also explains consciousness of logical forms in a coherent way.
Thanks to the new theory, various logical concepts can be analyzed in a systematic manner. Consciousness of being, non-being, indeterminacy, probability, possibility, impossibility, and sets, which are ‘logical values’ or ‘modes of being(Seinsmodalität)’ of objects, can be analyzed. Consciousness of identity, part-whole relation, resemblance, relation-term relation, and causality, which are ‘logical relation’ of objects, can be analyzed. Consciousness of proposition and truth, which belong to ‘meaning,’ can be analyzed. In virtue of this, the unique relation of all logical concepts can be revealed. Logical concepts are uniquely related in a way that one concept depends on another concept, or they depend on the same concept, or they found the same concept. Likewise, the unique relation of all logical forms can be revealed. Logical forms are uniquely related in a way that one form must be understood in order to understand another form, the same form must be understood in order to understand them, or they must be understood in order to understand the same form.
Therefore, this research has rich philosophical implications. It has not only phenomenological and psychological implications, but also logical and metaphysical implications. It allows intentionalism to be carried through in phenomenology, motivates internalism about meaning, and reveals the nature of Husserl’s ‘transcendental idealism.’ In virtue of explaining episteme as desire, it explains the parallel of episteme and praxis, motivates voluntarism, explains what apprehension is in a coherent way, and reduces cognitive phenomenology to emotional phenomenology. Furthermore, it explains what logical forms are in a coherent way, proposes an alternative logic which solves problems of standard logic, and allows to solve metaphysical problems concerning possibility, universals, state of affairs, and truth. Through this, it is revealed that phenomenology is not just a study about consciousness and mind, but is itself ontology or contributes to ontology.