Perception and the Inhuman Gaze: Perspectives from Philosophy, Phenomenology, and the Sciences (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)

The diverse essays in this volume speak to the relevance of phenomenological and psychological questioning regarding perceptions of __the human__. This designation, __human__, can be used beyond the mere identification of a species to underwrite exclusion, denigration, dehumanization and demonization, and to set up a pervasive opposition in __Othering__ all deemed inhuman, nonhuman, or posthuman. As alerted to by Merleau-Ponty, one crucial key for a deeper understanding of these issues is consideration of the nature and scope of perception. Perception defines the world of the perceiver, and perceptual capacities are constituted in engagement with the world – there is co-determination. Moreover, the distinct phenomenology of perception in the spectatorial mode in contrast to the reciprocal mode, deepens the intersubjective and ethical dimensions of such investigations. Questions motivating the essays include: Can objectification and an __inhuman gaze__ serve positive ends? If so, under what constraints and conditions? How is an __inhuman gaze__ achieved and at what cost? How might the emerging insights of the role of perception into our interdependencies and essential sociality from various domains challenge not only theoretical frameworks, but also the practices and institutions of science, medicine, psychiatry and justice? What can we learn from atypical social cognition, psychopathology and animal cognition? Could distortions within the gazer’s emotional responsiveness and habituated aspects of social interaction play a role in the emergence of an __inhuman gaze__? __Perception and the Inhuman Gaze__ will interest scholars and advanced students working in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, psychology, psychiatry, sociology and social cognition. “This volume brings together diverse areas of philosophical and interdisciplinary research around the richly ambiguous theme of ‘the inhuman gaze,’ which raises fruitful questions concerning the status of the transcendental subject in phenomenology, the nature of embodiment and perception, our understanding of psychopathology, the meaning of objectivity, and our ethical relationships to others like and unlike ourselves. It is a timely and exciting volume of essays with both a compelling focus and an impressive scope.” – Laura McMahon, Eastern Michigan University, USA The diverse essays in this volume speak to the relevance of phenomenological and psychological questioning regarding perceptions of the human. This designation, human, can be used beyond the mere identification of a species to underwrite exclusion, denigration, dehumanization, and demonization, and to set up a pervasive opposition in Othering all deemed inhuman, nonhuman, or posthuman. As alerted to by Merleau-Ponty, one crucial key for a deeper understanding of these issues is consideration of the nature and scope of perception. Perception defines the world of the perceiver, and perceptual capacities are constituted in engagement with the world – there is co-determination. Moreover, the distinct phenomenology of perception in the spectatorial mode in contrast to the reciprocal mode, deepens the intersubjective and ethical dimensions of such investigations. Questions motivating the essays include: Can objectification and an inhuman gaze serve positive ends? If so, under what constraints and conditions? How is an inhuman gaze achieved and at what cost? How might the emerging insights of the role of perception into our interdependencies and essential sociality from various domains challenge not only theoretical frameworks, but also the practices and institutions of science, medicine, psychiatry and justice? What can we learn from atypical social cognition, psychopathology and animal cognition? Could dist Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgements 9 List of Images, Figures, and Tables 12 Introduction 14 Part I The Gaze in Classical Phenomenology: Perspectives on Objectification 32 1 Defending the Objective Gaze as a Self-transcending Capacity of Human Subjects 34 2 Two Orders of Bodily Objectification: The Look and the Touch 57 3 On Eliminativism’s Transient Gaze 76 4 Not Wholly Human: Reading Maurice Merleau-Ponty with Jacques Lacan 90 5 Disclosure and the Gendered Gaze in Simone de Beauvoir’s Ethics 98 Part II Vision, Perception and Gazes 110 6 Inside the Gaze 112 7 Perception and its Objects 122 8 Technological Gaze: Understanding How Technologies Transform Perception 141 9 The Inhuman Gaze and Perceptual Gestalts: The Making and Unmaking of Others and Worlds 156 Part III Psychiatry, Psychopathology, and Inhuman Gazes 172 10 Values and Values-based Practice in Psychopathology: Combining Analytic and Phenomenological Approaches 174 11 The Inhuman and Human Gaze in Psychiatry, Psychopathology, and Schizophrenia 189 12 Overcoming the Gaze: Psychopathology, Affect, and Narrative 205 13 From Excess to Exhaustion: The Rise of Burnout in a Post-modern Achievement Society 218 14 Phenomenology of Blackout Rage: The Inhibition of Episodic Memory in Extreme Berserker Episodes 231 Part IV Beyond the Human: Divine, Post-human, and Animal Gazes 250 15 Wondering at the Inhuman Gaze 252 16 What Counts as Human/Inhuman Right Now? 267 17 Beyond Human and Animal: Metamorphosis in Merleau-Ponty 284 Part V Sociality and the Boundaries of the Human 296 18 Voice and Gaze Considered Together in ‘Languaging’ 298 19 Disability and the Inhuman 311 20 Social Invisibility and Emotional Blindness 321 21 What Are You Looking At? Dissonance as a Window Into the Autonomy of Participatory Sense-Making Frames 337 List of Contributors 348 Index 356 "The essays in this book analyze the concept of the "inhuman gaze", as conceptualized by Merleau-Ponty, from a variety of different philosophical and theoretical perspectives, including phenomenology, philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, psychiatry, and psychopathology. The underlying motivation of the contributions is to question perceptions of "the human", and how this designation can be used to underwrite concepts of exclusion, denigration, dehumanization and demonization. The variety of perspectives featured across the volume speak to relevance of the phenomenological and psychological character of perceiving others as human or inhuman, in tandem with its expression in various social phenomena. The essays respond to pressing questions related to this phenomenon, including but not limited to: How is an inhuman gaze achieved and at what cost? How might the emerging insights of the role of perception into our interdependencies and essential sociality from various domains challenge not only theoretical frameworks, but also the practices and institutions of science, medicine, psychiatry and justice? What can we learn from atypical social cognition, psychopathology and animal cognition? Perception and the Inhuman Gaze will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of psychiatry, and social cognition"-- Provided by publisher