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Exploring the being of knowing

The Philosophical Object.

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Phenomenology says that we all have subjective worlds that are reflected in our opinions and views.

The Speculative Realist conference philosophers spoke to the point of how that formulation of reality leads to a closed loop of philosophical correlation. Thus, their problem has been how to find something outside of this closed system.

The concern of an orientation upon objects is how that correlation occurs outside of the talk about it, encompassing the talk about how we are to get outside of it.

The issue here then arises between an object which withdraws from view (Harman) and the subject which is never expressed or communicated (Lyotard).

The difference, I say, lay more with orientation and less with ontological ubiquity. More with the manner that the subject is able to view the world and less with how there is a “real” world that subjects can only partially view.

The difference is thus between the phenomenon and the object. Less about how we situate philosophical definitions and more about the manner of being able to see.

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A note on how I use AI. I write everything on this blog myself: the ideas, the arguments, the words. I do use AI, but as an editor, not a co-author. It helps me with grammar, formatting, and structure. That use is recent: AI has been part of my process only for roughly the past year’s worth of posts. Everything older was written without it, because there was nothing like it to use. What I have found is that AI most often misinterprets what I write philosophically, so its suggestions are usually wrong, and a good deal of my attention and editing goes into sculpting each post until it reflects the ideas correctly. The ideas are never AI’s.

For transparency, I keep a Word document of my original writing and the full exchanges, back and forth with the AI, that produced each post. If anyone is interested in how a piece came together, that record is available.

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4 responses to “The Philosophical Object.”

  1. But all is perception just like Berkeley once said. We are spirit and we can’t help perceiving and understanding objects in a subjective way

    • Yes. That’s why I like the two routes. Becuase once subjectivity is understood to be complete in its correlation, that there is no “real world” out there, that it is indeed merely an organism moving along its determined track, then we have to reconcile the part that indeed “sees” thus duality, of choice, empirical, world-out-there. The juncture is most often recoursed to a “immenent-transcendence”. But this is just a reaction against being fully known, exposed, understood. Hence the dual nature is spirit also, as faith or as chosen: hope and true knowledge.

      Human beings don’t really want to be known truly Becuase then we can be controlled. So it’s really the “control” that is the issue, and not much else.

    • The issue, I think, for the benefit of the most people is how to control what human beings do and yet allow them thier subjective freedom. Inevitably control is what allows for the most people to survive and be happy. So some of ethics involves how we determine how much people are qualified to live.

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About this blog

Essays in mental health philosophy—less “tips,” more why things work (or don’t). I look at the first principles under therapy, psychiatry, psychology, and everyday life, and occasionally share notes from papers and books-in-progress.

This space stands alongside—not inside—my counseling practice. If you’re seeking therapy in Colorado, there’s a link in the footer.

About the author

Lance Kair, LPC, blends philosophy, mindfulness, and counseling to help clients find agency, meaning, fulfillment, and healing through deep understanding, self-awareness, and compassionate therapeutic collaboration.

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