Dear Sylvia,
you wrote, in part:

> This is too mechanical for my taste.
>
What exactly are you referring to? And what kind of mechanism?

> I think the use of "force" is just too simple and leaves out too much,
> particularly with respect to the internal responses of the organism,
> to be an andequate way of thinking the matter through.
>
I was referring to field forces in the phenomenal field (experienced
world including the experienced I). In this phenomenal world the
physical/physiological internal responses of the organism may appear (if
they do) as experienced phenomenal responses in the phenomenal body but
(as is often the case) not as experiences attributed to the phenomenal
body but (for example) as something changing in the athmosphere of the
phenomenal environment. There is no direct correspondance of
physiological changes in our physical body and the phenomenal
experience. For example if I raise my arm my phenomenal experience is
that of lifting my arm with my hand though I know that the corresponding
physiological process is somehow reverse (innervating muscles and so on
from my shoulder downwards; I don't know if I express this correctly in
English but I think it should be clear more or less what I want to say).

> On another of the subjects you dealt with, we have very little access
> to the
> transphenomenological world in ourselves, and perhaps far less of any
> other transphen. realities.  ....
> I can have only subjective knowledge of myself, ....
>
I would say we have no access at all to the 'transphenomenal world in
ourselves', that is a contradiction per se. We have access only to our
phenomenal world. But this my phenomenal world is transphenomenal for
everbody else, like their phenomenal worlds are transphenomenal for me.
Whatever I can try to understand about the phenomenal worlds of other
people   (which are transphenomenal for me) is based on my own
phenomenal experience, on my limited knowledge about the way my
phenomenal world (including my phenomenal self) is 'functioning' and on
my assumption that the phenomenal worlds of other human beings may be
very different from mine but are governed by structurally same or
similar laws. The term 'subjective knowledge of myself' is irritating
for me in this context because what would 'objective knowledge of
myself' mean? (see below)

        .... But my subjective meetings with myself or with others can
never be clear and distinct, can never lead to much if any control, and
only limited prediction of either myself or those other.   ....

I dont' know, should I agree with that or not? Perhaps there are some
difficulties in terminology involved here. 'Meeting myself' is always
and can only be experiential, phenomenal and in this sense 'subjective';
for example being aware of my feelings, encountering my feelings. And
this can be very clear and distinct as well as very peripheral and
cloudy. In Gestalt psychology we don't use the terms 'subjective' and
'objective' but the terms of 'phenomenally subjective' and 'phenomenally
objective' (to point out - besides other things - that for example what
the natural scientist does by reading the scales of one of his measuring
instruments or the brain surgeon does by analyzing slices of the brain
are phenomenal procedures and gaining phenomenal knowledge and NOT
transphenomenal knowledge as some naive scientists may believe or claim;
these procedures and the knowledge gained by them is 'phenomenally
objective' only in the sense that one is aware of and aiming at looking
at things, investigating them by putting aside personal interests, needs
and inclinations besides those more or less clearly stated and using
devices which are appropriate for such proceedures).

> The domain of transphenomenological knowing is very small
> indeed, and is "knowing" only as an analogy to the ways we know about
> most of what we deal with in thought about everyday experience.
>
I think we agree on this.

Warmly,
Gerhard



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                   Dr. Gerhard Stemberger
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