Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 45 No. 3, 2025.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.21464/fi45308
A Critical Dialogue with Metzinger’s Philosophy of Pure Consciousness
Mark Losoncz
; Univerzitet u Beogradu, Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Kraljice Natalije 45, RS–11000 Beograd
Sažetak
Pure consciousness, as a non-egoistic consciousness without specific intentional content or particular phenomenal qualities, has been a prominent subject of scientific research and philosophical inquiry since the 1960s. However, over the past thirty years the attention paid to the topic has multiplied. The culmination of this process is Thomas Metzinger’s book The Elephant and the Blind, published in 2024, which presents a philosophy of consciousness based on about 1400 reports, considering both spiritual traditions and contemporary scientific insights. After briefly presenting the main theses of Metzinger’s book, this article raises several questions within a critical dialogue. Firstly, it asks whether meditation should be called the “royal road” to pure consciousness, and secondly, it asks whether more attention should be paid to the matter of affective paths to pure consciousness, particularly certain traditions and practices of mysticism. At the same time, considering the thesis that consciousness is inherently self-aware, the article suggests that pure self-consciousness should be understood as self-affection.
Ključne riječi
pure consciousness; Thomas Metzinger; philosophy of consciousness; self-consciousness; affectivity; meditation; mysticism; phenomenology
Hrčak ID:
340420
URI
Datum izdavanja:
14.12.2025.
Posjeta: 874 *