Transcendental-Phenomenological Analysis of Consciousness: Receptivity and Spontaneity as Conditions for the Possibility of Experience

Abstract

The study is devoted to the transcendental-epistemological problem of the gen­esis of consciousness and is aimed at identifying the conditions for the possibi­lity of cognition, depending on which the structure of conscious in general and the structure of specific objects are formed. The transcendental-phenomenolo­gical reflection that deals with the immanent in consciousness does not allow solving the problem of understanding cognition as the relationship of the cogniz­ing subject to things that exist independently of him. The analysis of the con­ditions for the possibility of cognition as a relation of subjectivity to other, pro­posed in the article, shows how receptivity (rethought taking into account the criticism of the concept of “sensory givenness”) and the spontaneity can pro­vide the emergence of consciousness and cognitive processes of the conscious level. This offers the basis for opening the complex structure of subjectivity, in­cluding not only the conscious, but also the preconscious level that influences the organization of consciousness. Considering the transcendental nature of con­sciousness, but not implying its absolutization, this approach opens the pro­spects of solving the problems in the philosophy of consciousness, including the aspects of the “hard problem”.