180209 SE The Field of Between - at the Limits of Cognitive Science and Philosophy (2024W)

Aim of the course: The current world is undergoing a series of chaotic changes. Climate change, with global warming, the resulting natural disasters, serious influences on agriculture, and the overpricing of various things for living: Simultaneously, the technological revolution through artificial intelligence continues. These present phenomena are shaking the foundations of our knowledge. What is needed is attentive reflection: What is knowledge? What is the purpose of our life as human beings? The old questions in philosophy never lose their importance.
The Field of Between stands in the middle of this chaos, between the two fields, the old and the new. We are mediators in our interaction with the old and the new. This Between also applies to the encounter between occidental and non-occidental philosophy. In a word, Western philosophy after the modern era is mainly oriented towards the analytics of precisely analyzing objects of knowledge as objects by separating the thinking subject from the object as the authoritative observer. Non-European philosophy, such as Buddhism, focuses on a different way of thinking. The thinker and observer, as a part of the world, determines the topos in the real world in the here and now and asks himself the question: How can I, together with the present environment, bring the question posed to a solution? The object of the question is brought into a mutual reference of the thinking ego in connection with the environment.
Contents:
In this seminar, the ontology and epistemology of Buddhism form the basis of every topic. This permits a comparative-philosophical dialogue in the following three respects: a) the philosophy of Buddhism and occidental philosophy, b) the state of research in the natural sciences and the corresponding philosophical question, and c) dialogue at the border of cognitive science and philosophy.
“The Field of Between” poses epistemological questions at the intersection of contemporary physics, technology, medicine, and philosophy; furthermore, the theories of cognitive science are considered to be dialogue partner of philosophy. Here the term "philosophy" is taken to mean comprehensive disciplines of thought as a reflective science of all sciences (in the sense of Fichte). Likewise, Reininger’s statement, “philosophy is basically a human science” (Metaphysik der Wirklichkeit, Munich 1970, p. 262), reflects the approach taken in this seminar. It is hoped that the border dividing the natural sciences and technologies from the humanities, human and social sciences – motivated by the prevalent digitalization and information networking in this century –will be partly dissolved.
Method:
Four topics will be explored:
1) The Field of Between - its epistemological meaning
The theory of particle physics upends the theories of classical physics. If we accept the new particle physics as a transition to a new ontology, what unique perspectives and aspects are we presented with?
2) The Logic of Non-Verbality: An intuitive grasp of truth in the middle of life is valued in Zen Buddhism. The active consciousness in connection with the bodily existence (spirit) conveys reality to coexisting being by its presence at the place of life, even without a word about the truth being spoken. In this case, every particular part of acting is involved to an expression in a process to grasp a truth.
3) The principle of the “Absolute contradictory self-identity” by Nishida and the Kyoto School – The principle of “Aporon” by Pietschmann under the influence of Nishida
4) What is the entity of cognition in our time by the dominating technologies and AI?
Details in the seminar.