Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

Ben Mijuskovic (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

520 Seiten

2018
Brill (Verlag)
978-90-04-37564-2 (ISBN)

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Current research claims loneliness is passively caused by external conditions: environmental, cultural, situational, and even chemical imbalances in the brain and hence avoidable. In this book, the author argues that loneliness is actively constituted by acts of reflexive self-consciousness (Kant) and transcendent intentionality (Husserl) and is, therefore, unavoidable. This work employs a historical, conceptual, and interdisciplinary approach (philosophy, psychology, literature, sociology, etc.) criticizing both psychoanalysis and neuroscience. The book pits materialism, mechanism, determinism, empiricism, phenomenalism, behaviorism, and the neurosciences against dualism, both subjective and objective idealism, rationalism, freedom, phenomenology, and existentialism. It offers a dynamic of loneliness, whose spontaneous subconscious sources undercuts the unconscious of Freud and the “computerism” of the neurosciences by challenging their claims to be predictive sciences.

"Mijuscovic demonstrates a psychological framework in which the self is motivated by a fear of loneliness and the desire for intimacy. The author thoroughly substantiates his perspective via a ‘History of Ideas’ format, which engages Plato’s metaphor of ‘the Battle between the Gods and the Giants,’ an allusion to the historical debate between idealists and materialists. Ultimately, these two groups and their allies attempt to address the question: can senseless matter think? The idealists, with whom Mijuscovic identifies, assert the reality of the self, reflexive self-consciousness, and the spontaneity of the mind."

-Joshua Marcus Cragle, University of Amsterdam, Journal of Thought, Fall/Winter 2019

"Ben Mijuskovic continues his ambitious life project in this fifth installment of an interdisciplinary series in consciousness and loneliness within philosophical, psychological, and literary discourse. Mijuskovic possesses the unique combination of academic, clinical, and professional experience to cross the aisle between philosophers and therapists. Such a CV emboldens his argument for a return to a metaphysical argument for human consciousness culminating in intrinsic and inevitable loneliness. Embracing this universal reality is the first step to philosophical grounding and psychological wholeness. His methodology, argumentation, and conclusions tend to be highly provocative in the age of contemporary neuroscientific and pharmaceutical predominance."

-Michael D. Bobo, Norco College, Philosophy in Review 40.1 (February 2020)

Ben Mijuskovic, Ph.D (University of California, San Diego), is a tenured Associate Professor, and teaches at California State University. He is a licensed Clinical Therapist and author of 4 books and 60 articles.

Part 1
1 Introduction to the Simplicity Argument and its Relation to Previous Studies

2 The Simplicity Argument: Meanings, Relations, and Space

3 The Simplicity Argument and the Freedom of Consciousness

4 The Simplicity Argument and Immanent Time-Consciousness

5 The Simplicity Argument and the Quality of Consciousness

6 Neuromania and Neo-Phrenology versus Consciousness

Part 2
7 The Simplicity Argument versus a Materialist Theory of Mind

Part 3
8 The Bicameral Mind, the Abyss, and Underworlds

9 Loneliness: In Harm’s Way

10 Metaphysical Dualism, Subjective Idealism, and Existentialism

By Way of an Epilogue

Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	10.12.2018
Reihe/Serie	Cognitive Science ; 327
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	789 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie der Neuzeit
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
ISBN-10	90-04-37564-3 / 9004375643
ISBN-13	978-90-04-37564-2 / 9789004375642
Zustand	Neuware