The spatial structure of unified consciousness

In this dissertation, I defend two theses: first, that experiences with spatial phenomenology represent space as single and unitary, and, second, that every experience has a spatial phenomenology. The two theses entail the conclusion that the unity of conscious spatial representation is necessary for the unity of consciousness. This means that unified consciousness has a (partially) spatial structure. In what follows, I adopt the mereological conception of unified consciousness according to which experiences are unified just in case they are parts of a subject’s total phenomenal state. I also assume that the unity relation is a relation among experiences. Most philosophers working on the unity of consciousness reject the conclusion that unity of consciousness requires the unity of spatial representation. But in my dissertation I show that there are compelling reasons to accept the two theses that jointly entail it. First, I argue that all spatial perceptual representations represent space as single and unitary. Then, I argue that non-perceptual spatial experiences: imagination experiences, recollective experiences, as well as experiences of afterimages and phosphenes have the kind of spatial content that relates the locations represented in these experiences to the locations represented in perception. In short, the locations represented in perceptual and non-perceptual experiences are represented as belonging to the same space. Secondly, I argue that experiences standardly taken not to possess spatial phenomenology, such as conscious thoughts and moods, either do in fact possess such phenomenology (thoughts), or wholly depend for their own phenomenology on spatially unified experiences (moods). When it comes to conscious thoughts, I argue that the view that they exhibit spatial phenomenology is dialectically privileged over its denial. This means that granting spatial phenomenology to conscious thoughts is a more reasonable default starting position. Considerations marshalled from the philosophical accounts concerning what it’s like to have conscious thoughts, as well as those marshalled from the literature on the pathologies of cognitive experience (especially schizophrenia) strongly suggest that what it’s like to have thoughts does involve awareness of the thoughts’ locations (typically in one’s head). When it comes to mood experiences, I argue that all it takes to account for the phenomenal character of such experiences are modifications to other, non-mood experiences. Such modifications are not, however, free-standing experiences for which the question of unity arises. This is because the unity relation is a relation between experiences, not between non-detachable aspects of a single, free-standing experience. Hence, the view that for the mood experience to obtain, other experiences must simply be modified in certain ways is compatible with the view that spatial unity is necessary for phenomenal unity. This is because the relation between an experience and its modification is not the phenomenal unity relation. The way mood experiences are unified with other experiences is wholly captured by the way in which a modification of an experience is unified with that experience. And this is not a phenomenal unity relation. On the other hand, the experiences that collectively give rise to the mood experience are spatially and phenomenally unified. Hence, mood experiences do not pose a special problem for my account. I conclude that unified consciousness requires unified conscious spatial representation. Consciousness has a spatial structure

Where is the Action?

Taking a set of studies about business action as the empirical starting-point, this paper looks at the various ways in which action is represented. The overall research question can be stated as follows: how is business action reconstructed in our narratives? The texts analysed are collected from research on exchange relationships in the field of marketing. To analyse how these texts depict business action, four narrative constructions are focused: space, time, actors, and plots. The categorisation and analysis are summarised and followed by a set of concluding implications and suggestions for the use of narratives aiming to reconstruct business action in the making.Marketing; narrative; plot; marketing methodology; business action; industrial marketing research

Listeners’ Bodies in Music Analysis: Gestures, Motor Intentionality, and Models

In this article I demonstrate how listeners understand musical processes with their bodies, and how their gestures can be used to build analytical models. Specifically, I draw on the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty to argue that situated, active listeners project their motor intentional gestures inside music, where they reconstitute the very nature of musical space and its objects according to their own unique perspective. Rather than passively reflecting gestures of performers, these listeners use their own bodily states to create the structure and meaning of music. I illustrate how those states can be mobilized for analysis by taking quantifiable features of gestures—acceleration and temporal profiles—as models of musical structure, and by using those models as a basis for analytical narratives. I focus on three pieces—Olga Neuwirth’s Vampyrotheone, Elliott Carter’s ASKO Concerto, and Thomas Adès’s Living Toys—in which motion-capture studies revealed the different roles of listeners’ gestures in organizing musical experience

Embodiment and Grammatical Structure: An Approach to the Relation of Experience, Assertion and Truth

In this thesis I address a concern in both existential phenomenology and embodied cognition, namely, the question of how ‘higher’ cognitive abilities such as language and judgements of truth relate to embodied experience. I suggest that although our words are grounded in experience, what makes this grounding and our higher abilities possible is grammatical structure. The opening chapter contrasts the ‘situated’ approach of embodied cognition and existential phenomenology with Cartesian methodological solipsism. The latter produces a series of dualisms, including that of language and meaning, whereas the former dissolves such dualisms. The second chapter adapts Merleau-Ponty’s arguments against the perceptual constancy hypothesis in order to undermine the dualism of grammar and meaning. This raises the question of what grammar is, which is addressed in the third chapter. I acknowledge the force of Chomsky’s observation that language is structure dependent and briefly introduce a minimal grammatical operation which might be the ‘spark which lit the intellectual forest fire’ (Clark: 2001, 151). Grammatical relations are argued to make possible the grounding of our symbols in chapters 4 and 5, which attempt to ground the categories of determiner and aspect in spatial deixis and embodied motor processes respectively. Chapter 6 ties the previous three together, arguing that we may understand a given lexeme as an object or as an event by subsuming it within a determiner phrase or aspectualising it respectively. I suggest that such modification of a word’s meaning is possible because determiners and aspect schematise, i.e. determine the temporal structure, of the lexeme. Chapter 7 uses this account to take up Heidegger’s claim that the relation between being and truth be cast in terms of temporality (2006, H349), though falls short of providing a complete account of the ‘origin of truth’. Chapter 8 concludes and notes further avenues of research

The teaching apparatus : Understanding the material entanglement of practices in the upper secondary classroom

Utdanning er en levende prosess som består av hverdagslige undervisningssituasjoner og deres romlige og kroppslige sammenhenger. Materialiteten i pedagogisk praksis blir i økende grad adressert i forskning. Imidlertid er empiriske beretninger om hvordan materielle praksiser oppstår i faktiske klasseromsundervisningssituasjoner sjeldne. Derfor tar denne doktorgradsavhandlingen sikte på å forstå ‘undervisningens’ materielle kompleksiteten gjennom å undersøke hvordan den oppstår som et relasjonelt og kollektivt forhandlet fenomen i et norsk videregående klasserom. For å undersøke dette bruker avhandlingen et sosiomateriell rammeverk og et videobasert etnografisk forskningsdesign. I tråd med rammeverket plasseres det analytiske fokuset på den diskursive rollen som materielle relasjoner og prosesser spiller i pedagogiske møter. Bruken av videoopptak i kombinasjon med en etnografisk tilnærming støtter prosjektets empiriske utforskning av hvilke materiell-diskursive praksiser som har betydningsfulle konsekvenser i undervisning. Oppgaven består av tre artikler og en kappe. Mens artiklene følger tett de kroppslige og romlige prosessene i videregående klasserom, fokuserer hver artikkel på et spesifikt sett av materielle relasjoner i undervisningssituasjonene. Den første artikkelen handler om forskningspraksisen og de etiske relasjonene i feltet. Ved å trekke på relasjonell etikk og tidligere konseptualiseringer av kontinuerlig samtykkepraksis, utforsker artikkelen hvilke måter forskeren kan tilnærme seg informert samtykke som en situert og relasjonelt konstituert prosess. Artikkelen bruker empiriske eksempler fra feltarbeidet for å diskutere prinsippet om informert samtykke som et refleksivt og etisk verktøy som kan brukes gjennom hele forskningsprosessen, inkludert i fasene før, underveis, og etter feltarbeidet. Artikkelen argumenterer for at ‘eksplisitt og implisitt (re)forhandlet samtykke og dissens’ er en måte for forskere å kalibrere sin etiske respons med en relasjonell og prosessuell forståelse av kvalitativ forskning. Den andre artikkelen undersøker hvordan romlige og kroppslige prosesser kan forståes som å produsere ‘undervisning’ som et fenomen. Artikkelen bruker begrepene affekt, orientering og justeringer (‘alignment’) for å undersøke hvordan klassens handlinger etablerer klasserommets ‘romlige politikk’. Diskusjonen belyser hvordan spesifikke orienteringer fikk betydning (‘came to matter’), gjennom å gi retning til elevenes oppmerksomhet og responser, og ble etablert som legitime måter å ‘gjøre skole’ på. Et tilbakevendende mønster i dette klasserommet var elevenes praksis med å orientere seg mot hver situasjons regler, grenser og muligheter. Artikkelen hevder derfor at praksisen med å ‘tilpasse seg den lokale konfigurasjonen av response-ability’ var en kroppslig og romlig prosess som formet ‘undervisning’ som fenomen. Den tredje artikkelen undersøker hvilke materiell-diskursive praksiser som har betydning (‘matter’) i videregående undervisningssituasjoner og hvordan deltakernes kropper ble formet og formet av disse praksisene. Artikkelen kombinerer et posthumant sosiomateriell praksisbegrep med de agentisk realistiske begrepene material-diskursivitet og apparatus for å skape en relasjonell redegjørelse for hvordan flere praksiser oppstår og samarbeider. De empiriske eksemplene viser hvordan to distinkte praksiser fremtrer fra det analytiske arbeidet: ‘Oppgavepraksisen’ og ‘vennskapspraksisen’. Artikkelens hovedargument er at disse to praksisenes gjensidige forviklinger fører til at de virker sammen som en større materielt og relasjonelt arrangement, kalt ‘undervisningsapparatusset’. Konseptet bidrar med et nytt perspektiv på undervisning. Ved å rette oppmerksomheten mot det sammenvevde og uforutsigbare prosessene i klasserommet, tillater dette konseptet en finmasket forståelse av undervisningen og dens relasjonelle kvaliteter. Samlet sett viser denne studiens funn hvordan flere materiell-diskursive praksiser er involvert i å produsere fenomenet undervisning, inkludert oppgaver-, vennskap, og forskningspraksiser. Avhandlingens argumenter styrker eksisterende forskning på undervisning som komplekst relasjonelt og kontekstuelt fenomen. Avhandlingens konseptualisering av undervisning som et apparatus legger vekt på at kropper, rom og praksiser inngår som aktive deler i dens materiell-diskursive produksjon. Avslutningsvis hevdes det at denne artikulasjonen tillater en alternativ, ikke-instrumentell tilnærming til å vurdere undervisningens kvaliteter.Education is a living process that consists of everyday teaching situations and their spatial and bodily interrelationships. The materiality of educational practice is increasingly addressed in research. However, empirical accounts of how material practices emerge in actual classroom teaching situations are rare. Therefore, this PhD thesis aims to understand the material complexity of ‘teaching’ by investigating how it arises as a relationally and collectively negotiated phenomenon in a Norwegian upper secondary classroom. The thesis employs a sociomaterial framework and a video-based ethnographic research design to address this aim. In line with this framework, the analytical focus is on the discursive role played by material relations in educational encounters. The use of video recordings in combination with an ethnographic approach supported the empirical exploration of which material-discursive practices ‘matter’ in teaching situations. The thesis consists of three articles and an extended abstract. While the articles provide close tracings of the bodily and spatial processes in the upper secondary classroom, each focuses on a distinct set of material relations and practices in the teaching situations. The first article concerns the research practice and its ethical, in-field relationships. By drawing on relational ethics and previous conceptualisation of continuous consent practices, the article explores how we can approach informed consent as a situated and relationally constituted process. The article uses empirical examples from the ethnographic fieldwork to discuss the principle of informed consent as a reflexive and ethical tool that can be used throughout the inquiry, including its pre-fieldwork, fieldwork and post-fieldwork phases. The article argues that ‘explicitly and implicitly (re)negotiated consent and dissent’ is one way for researchers to align their ethical responsiveness with a relational and processual understanding of qualitative research. The second article examines how spatial and bodily processes produce ‘teaching’ as a phenomenon. The article uses the concepts of affect, orientation and alignment to investigate how the class enacts the spatial politics of the upper secondary classroom. The discussion illuminates how specific orientations came to ‘matter’ as legitimate ways of ‘doing school’ through the direction of attention and alignment of responses. A recurrent pattern of this classroom was the students’ practice of orientating towards each situation’s boundaries, rules and allowances. The article contends that the practice of ‘aligning with the local configuration of response-abilities’ was a bodily and spatial process that shaped the phenomenon of teaching. The third article investigates which material-discursive practices ‘mattered’ in the upper secondary teaching situations and how participants’ bodies were shaping and being shaped by these practices. The article combines a posthuman sociomaterial concept of practice with the agential realist concepts of material-discursivity and apparatus to create a relational account of how multiple practices emerge and co-operate. The empirical examples show how two distinct practices emerged from the analytical work: ‘the practice of tasks’ and ‘the practice of friendship’. The article’s main argument is that these two practices’ mutual entanglement co-perform a larger sociomaterial arrangement, termed ‘the teaching apparatus’. The concept of a teaching apparatus offers a new perspective on teaching. By drawing attention to the classroom’s inter-connectedness and unpredictability, the conceptualisation of a teaching apparatus allows for a more fine-grained understanding of teaching and its relational qualities. Overall, this study's findings show how multiple material-discursive practices are involved in producing the phenomenon of teaching, including the practices of tasks and friendship, as well as the practices of research. The thesis’ arguments strengthen existing research accounts of teaching as a complex relational and contextually embedded phenomenon. The thesis conceptualises a teaching apparatus that emphasise bodies, spaces and practices as active parts of its material-discursive production. In conclusion, it is argued that this articulation offers an alternative, affirmative and non-instrumental approach to considering the qualities of teaching.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Пројектантски принципи за постизање просторности у ентеријеру

Achieving spatiality is one of the essential topics in designing the ambience in which a certain visual effect can be carried out or a higher level of spatial comfort obtained. The methods relied on to achieve this are various: from shaping the physical boundaries of space by use of open plan, flexibility, enfilade or circular connection, partial, directed or complete opening of space towards its surroundings, up to application of some of the optical illusions that redefine the experience of space boundaries. Depending on the method used, spatial contours can be clearly defined or more or less obvious, or a space can be formed, which does not reveal all its qualities through static observation, inviting the viewers to pass through it in order to fully perceive it. If there is a lack of physical possibilities, and also as an addition to previous methods, it is also possible to change the perceptive image of the space through virtual build-up with the help of some of the optical illusions. The aim of this paper is systematization and critical examination of basic designers’ principles which, in the domain of organization, shaping or materialization of the interior, achieve a higher level of spatiality.Постизање просторности је једна од есенцијалних тема када је у питању пројектовање амбијента у коме се жели постићи одређени визуелни ефекат, или остварити виши ниво просторног комфора. Методе којима се то постиже могу бити различите: од уобличавања физичких граница простора применом отвореног плана, флексибилности, анфиладе или кружне везе, делимичног, усмереног или потпуног отварања простора према окружењу, па све до примене неке од оптичких илузија којима се редефинише доживљај граница простора. У зависности од примењеног метода, просторне контуре могу бити јасно одређене и мање или више очигледне, или се може формирати простор који не открива све квалитете приликом статичног посматрања, већ је неопходно проћи кроз њега да би се сагледао. У одсуству физичких могућности, али и као допуну претходних приступа, могуће је изменити перцептивну слику простора виртуелном доградњом помоћу неке од оптичких илузија. Постоје различити приступи којима се може утицати на визуелну перцепцију посматрача и формирање представе о границама простора. Циљ рада је да се размотре и систематизују основни пројектантски принципи којима се у ентеријеру може постићи виши ниво просторности. У анализи су размотрени карактеристични примери, код којих је примењен бар један од пројектантских принципа (отворени план, флексибилност простора, анфилада или кружна веза) којима се у физичком смислу конфигуришу границе простора, као и различити приступи којима се може утицати на перцепцију посматрача и формирање виртуелне представе о границама простора, као што су примена боје, светла или огледала у ентеријеру

Perception, Temporality And Symbol: A Study Of Man With Cockerel By Ranbir Kaleka (2001-2002)

This article makes an early attempt to emerge a dialogue between neuroscientific theories of perception and video art while proposing alternate lenses to view Kaleka’s installation in the context of Indian contemporary video art. The author proposes that Neuroaesthetics as a field may benefit from studying screendance and audience engagement because the conceptual complexity offered by screendance has the potential to throw light on cognitive and affective systems during emergent aesthetic episodes. Time and symbol, two critical elements that pave the way for new perception, and how these elements transform into materiality in Kaleka’s work are discussed. This discussion reveals in more depth, the illusory loop that Kaleka constructs in order to engage the audience in a deeper and more critical perception of the human condition at the interface of society, politics and economics with the techniques of video art. While the paper places greater emphasis on perception of an artwork by its audience, artists may be able to use the neurocognitive model analysis to develop different engagement strategies with their audiences. The author’s intention is to delve into an expanded investigation of aesthetic experience and perception using the elusive links between art and science

A process model of the formation of spatial presence experiences

In order to bridge interdisciplinary differences in Presence research and to establish connections between Presence and “older” concepts of psychology and communication, a theoretical model of the formation of Spatial Presence is proposed. It is applicable to the exposure to different media and intended to unify the existing efforts to develop a theory of Presence. The model includes assumptions about attention allocation, mental models, and involvement, and considers the role of media factors and user characteristics as well, thus incorporating much previous work. It is argued that a commonly accepted model of Spatial Presence is the only solution to secure further progress within the international, interdisciplinary and multiple-paradigm community of Presence research