Beneath Interpretation… Pragmatism Meets Phenomenology

SHUSTERMAN, R. (1991) Beneath Interpretation. In: D.R. HILEY, J.F. BOHMAN, and R. SHUSTERMAN (Eds.) The Interpretive Turn. Cornell University Press. pp102-128

“Interpretation is also practiced and theorized in terms of formal structure with the aim not so much of exposing hidden meanings but of connecting unconcealed features and surfaces so as to see and present the work as a well-related whole.” (p108)

Annotation
The formal structure of interpretation from a pragmatist perspective seeks to connect the parts with the whole experience being interpreted. It is not so much focused on simply revealing the hidden, it is more interested in the connections between the internal and external features of an experience to arrive at a full understanding of its meaning. This separates this from a phenomenological approach that is concerned with revealing the hidden. So pragmatism supports interpretation and synthesised with phenomenology can provide a structure to not only examine an experience through the aesthetic, but also to strengthen the validity of a phenomenological methodology against accusations of being unscientific. Although a full Ihdean postphenomenology is not what is being advocated, there are lessons in the synthesising the best of both philosophies into a practical visual communication methodology. 

A Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective on the Concept of Person… Not Functionalist or Deterministic

LEONARD, V.W. (1994) A Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective on the Concept of Person. In: P. BENNER (Ed.), Interpretive Phenomenology: Embodiment, Caring, and Ethics in Heath and Illness. Sage Publications, Inc. pp43-64

“Disputes in hermeneutic interpretation resolve based on the plausibility of alternative interpretations, and the plausibility of an interpretation, cannot be reduced to a-priori-derived, cut-and-dried criteria.” (p61)

Annotation:
Ihde (2009) states that a criticism of phenomenology is that it is perceived as antiscientific and “locked into idealism or solipsism” (p23). Hirsch (1967, p166) criticises the hermeneutic circle’s circularity of thinking as an imprisonment of thought that can lead to self-confirming hypotheses in the interpreter. The nature of interpretation as understood within a holistic and phenomenological perspective acknowledges that a ‘correct’ interpretation cannot be produced by functionalist or deterministic hard science, as science is not suited to the explaining how humans process and experience the world. From a functionalist and deterministic perspective the hermeneutic methods are viewed at best with scepticism and at worst academic hostility.

Postphenomenology and Technoscience… Hermeneutic Relationship

IHDE, D. (2009) Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures. New York: State University of New York Press.

“Hermeneutic relations. I have always held that human technology (experiential) relations form a continuum. As one moves along a continuum, one finds technologies that engage one’s more linguistic, meaning-orientated capacities. Here, while the engagement remains active, the process is more analogous to our reading or interpreting actions than to our bodily action. There are hints of this in Heidegger’s example of the old style turn signal on old European cars, a pointerlike device that pops up and points as a signifying artefact. Writing, of course, is itself a technology, and it is one of the rare examples partially analysed by Husserl as a technology that changes one’s sense of meaning. But my own earlier examples were drawn from instrument readings. Instrument panels remain ‘referential,’ but perceptually they display dials, gauges, or other ‘readable technologies’ into the human-world relationship. And while, referentially, one ‘reads through’ the artefact, bodily-perceptually, it is what is read.” (p43)

Annotation:
Ihde discusses an experiential continuum in human technology, where the process of active engagement in a technology is more meaning-orientated. It is more about interpreting actions than conscious bodily action. Perceptively the information in the visual affordances and calls to action are referentially ‘read through,’ what is read is ‘bodily-perceived’ for the action to be performed. There is a hermeneutic relationship here that pragmatically is practical but can be revealed phenomenologically. 

Postphenomenology and Technoscience… Hybrid Philosophy

IHDE, D. (2009) Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures. New York: State University of New York Press.

“Postphenomenology is a modified, hybrid phenomenology. On the one side, it recognizes the role of pragmatism in the overcoming of early modern epistemology and metaphysics. It sees in classical pragmatism a way to avoid the problems and misunderstandings of phenomenology as a subjectivist philosophy, sometimes taken as antiscientific, locked into idealism or solipsism. Pragmatism has never been thought of this way, and I regard this as a positive feature. On the other side, it sees in the history of phenomenology a development of a rigorous style of analysis through the use of variational theory, the deeper phenomenological understanding of embodiment and human active bodily perception, and a dynamic understanding of a lifeworld as a fruitful enrichment of pragmatism. And, finally, with the emergence of the philosophy of technology, it finds a way to probe and analyse the role of technologies in social, personal, and cultural life that it undertakes by concrete – empirical – studies of technologies in the plural. This, then, is a minimal outline of what constitutes postphenomenology.” (p23)

Annotation:
How postphenomenology is useful is that it is a hybrid philosophy, and as such it has solved some of the criticisms of phenomenology as being antiscientific and “locked into idealism or solipsism” (p23) by turning to the strengths of pragmatism. Phenomenology offers a “rigorous style of analysis through the use of variational theory” (ibid.) that coupled with pragmatic structures enriches how embodiment and the perception of the human body are understood. 

Postphenomenology and Technoscience… Synthesising Pragmatism

IHDE, D. (2009) Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures. New York: State University of New York Press.

“The enrichment of pragmatism includes its recognition that ‘consciousness’ is an abstraction, that experience in its deeper and broader sense entails its embeddedness in both the physical or material world and its cultural-social dimensions. Rather than a philosophy of consciousness, pragmatism views experience in a more organism/environment model. The reverse enrichment from phenomenology includes its more rigorous style of analysis that develops variational theory, recognizes the role of embodiment, and situates this in a lifeworld particular to different epochs and locations.” (p19)

Annotation:
Pragmatism as a philosophy is enriched by seeing human ‘consciousness’ as a deeper embedment situated in a life-world within a socio-cultural context. This merges with phenomenology in order to analyses how to reveal this. Ihde’s postphenomenology makes connections more with Husserl’s transcendant version of phenomenology than it does with Heidegger’s existentialist version. As my study is Heideggerian I need to be careful what and who I synthesise postphenomenological ideas. What is important though is how pragmatism can be synthesised, which will be useful to ensure pragmatic aesthetics is synthesised into my thesis securely. 

Postphenomenology and Technoscience… Pragmatics and Phenomenology

IHDE, D. (2009) Postphenomenology and Technoscience: The Peking University Lectures. New York: State University of New York Press.

“I have coined a special terminology, reflected in the title, postphenomenology and technoscience. And while a postphenomenology clearly owes its roots to phenomenology, it is a deliberate adaptation or change in postphenomenology that reflects historical changes in the twenty first century.” (p5)

Annotation:
Postphenomenology is useful as although I am staying within phenomenology, Ihde’s ideas do show possibilities to how I can synthesise pragmatic aesthetics with a phenomenological methodology, to reveal and visually communicate an experience of an interaction to help interaction designers.