Oh dear. I am going to worry this one for awhile. Why is it staying on my mind? (Attachment?) :-)
Iím talking about the damn tree. Itís still falling. Making noise. Iím reading about Franz Brentano, who invented descriptive psychology and inspired all kinds of folk, including Edmund Husserl. The book is Introduction to Phenomenology. The discussion Iím just now reading is about intentionality.
The author of this book, McDermot Moran, states: ěIntentionality is the doctrine that every mental act is related to some objectî (47). The relational element is what just jumped me, and this example quoted from Brentano: ěThere is no hearing unless something is heard, no believing unless something is believed; there is no hoping unless something is hoped for . . . and so on, for all the other psychological phenomenaî (48). (I keep coming around to what Enoch said, that the sound, if we can't hear it, doesn't exist for us, but I canít seem to rest there, so let me pound on this a bit longer.) I think what Iím resisting is the human-centricity of this construction, which poses ěobjectsî and ěexistenceî as only that which is perceptible to human consciousness. I think there are things out there! Outside of my limited awareness, beyond my perception, exceeding what I can comprehend. Now, in terms of consciousness, there is an object of my intention. It is unnameable, unperceived, unknown, but I believe in it. Does it matter, then, if I canít hear it?
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