Phenomenology of Perception

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1. noemaMar 2022
   In Search of Lost Time (Proust) -- the definitive portrait of life, memory and experience

   Phenomenology of Perception (Merleau-Ponty) -- groundbreaking analysis of "the thickness of things" implicit within perception

   Labyrinths (Borges) -- masterful explorations of time, thought, infinity... certain passages of this collection surface in my mind on a weekly basis

   Civilization and Capitalism (Braudel) -- telescopes seamlessly from the microscale to the macroscale, granting a synoptic view of the modern world

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2. noemaApr 2020
   To this I would add a couple of classic mid century studies on perception: Arnheim's "Art and Visual Perception" (which imo should be mandatory for any UI designer), and Merleau-ponty's "Phenomenology of Perception" (this one requires some extensive background reading, but it's well worth the effort)
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3. colorintAug 2017
   You have to consider that computer science is soemthing we do; it is, in a sense, a way that we talk about a way that we conceptualize our own ability to solve problems. This issue only comes up because people confuse our theories about problem solving with our abilities to solve problems. Or put another way, the halting problem is disappointment about metaproblems, that we can't model the model. Even more deeply, we encounter a world in which we have these things ready-made; we come into the world with the capability to do things, but because of that, our capability comes before our understanding of our capabilities, and the whole thing becomes a jumble.

   This opens up onto philosophical traditions that have mostly been obscured behind modern ideas about us being like computers, but you may want to consider something like Merleau-Ponty's The Phenomenology of Perception (or if you're really strong of heart, Husserl's Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology).

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4. edna_piranhaJul 2010
   If you're interested in phenomenology and/or existentialism and works that are somewhat readable (this is subjective of course), I'd suggest:

   1. Maurice Merleau-Ponty - The Phenomenology of Perception

   2. Simone de Beauvoir - Ethics of Ambiguity

   3. Friedrich Nietzsche - Will to Power

   I'd highly recommend NOT reading Being and Time by Heidegger - you'll want to stab your eyes out ten times.

   Outside of pure philosophical texts and more emphasis on fictional works related to philosophy, I'd suggest indirect material that encourage ideas of subjective perception and point-of-view. Examples are works by Franz Kafka, Ryu Murakami and William S. Burroughs.

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5. rayraegahApr 2019
   I've been reading books on philosophy, cognitive science and behavioural psychology for half a decade.

   For ethnography I don't have any recommendations. I've read books largely to complement my thinking, phenomenology and existentialism. Here's what I've read (notable ones):

   Being and Time – Martin Heidegger

   The Principle of Reason – Martin Heidegger

   Phenomenology of Perception – Maurice Merleau-Ponty

   New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time – Ernesto Laclau

   Introduction to Metaphysics – Martin Heidegger

   The Basic Problems of Phenomenology (Studies in Phenomenology & Existential Philosophy) – Martin Heidegger

   History of Western Philosophy – Bertrand Russell

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6. jccalhounFeb 2019
   History of Sexuality part 1 Michel Foucault puts for the repressive hypothesis which I find myself thinking about a lot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Sexuality

   The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life Erving Goffman uses the metaphor of theater to explain how we perform roles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Presentation_of_Self_in_Ev...

   I would say How to Do Things With Words by JL Austin which talks about the power of words to bring things into existence but it really gets into too much detail for me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._L._Austin#How_to_Do_Things_...

   Similarly Phenomenology of Perception by Merleau-Ponty really influenced me but it is really really really long and dense. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_of_Perception

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