Phenomenology of Unclear Phantasy
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Phenomenology of Unclear Phantasy Stefano Micali1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Two disciplines have greatly contributed to a new understanding of phantasy and imagination in contemporary thought: phenomenology and psychoanalysis. These two different approaches to Phantasie developed almost simultaneously at the beginning of the twentieth century. The examination of Phantasie can focus on the concrete form of the phantasm as a unique object formation—or better, as scene. The attention can also be directed to the style of imagining as specific intentionality. Whereas the second line of research has been extensively studied in the context of phenomenological investigation, psychoanalytical inquiry has greatly contributed to the understanding of the phantasm as scene. In the present paper, the author primarily examines the notion of phantasy from a phenomenological perspective. More specifically, the author intends to show the inner tensions between the concept of pure phantasy as intentional act and the manner of appearance of unclear phantasy. If we consider the essential traits of the appearances of unclear phantasies (protean form, abruptness, and intermittence), the unclear phantasies cannot be considered as quasi-perceptions of a fictional object, since no intentional object constitutes itself in this confused dimension. To speak of unclear phantasy almost seems redundant. In the history of philosophy, the notion of phantasy has tended to be opaque from the very beginning. For example, one of the most obscure concepts of the whole Aristotelian corpus is the notion of φαντασία, elaborated in De Anima 3.3, as several commentators have emphasized (Caston 1996; Dow 2010; White 1985). The ambiguousness of phantasy is also due to its mediating function between different orders. Within different theoretical frameworks (from Aristotle to Avicenna, from Vico to Kant), phantasy is considered to play such a mediating role between perception and thought. In my view, two disciplines have greatly contributed to a new understanding of phantasy and imagination in contemporary thought: phenomenology and * Stefano Micali [email protected] 1
Husserl‑Archives: Centre for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy, KU Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierplein 2, Box 3200, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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psychoanalysis. These two different approaches developed almost simultaneously at the beginning of the twentieth century. As two distinct lines of research, they are, in my view, also the most promising for future investigation on this subject: the examination of phantasy benefits from a focus on the concrete form of the phantasm as a unique object formation, or better, as scene. The attention can also be directed to the style of imagining1 as specific intentionality. Whereas the second line of research has been extensively studied in the context of phenomenological investigation, psychoanalytical inquiry has greatly contributed to the understanding of the phantasm as scene. In the present p
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