2022 – 2024: Limit-Phenomena and Nonsense. A Phenomenological Approach

ABSTRACT

This research project aims to provide a phenomenological account to the problem of limit-phenomena in phenomenology, by resorting to the notion of nonsense and its plurality of forms: the “refusal of sense” (i.e., what is inherently not given to consciousness), the “surpassing of sense” (i.e., what is exceeding the consciousness), and the “withdrawal of sense” (i.e., what is withdrawing our production of sense). In each of these cases, I will account for the specific modifications of intentionality. On the one hand, I will offer a systematic phenomenological account of the objective side of the experience, from the point of view of limit-phenomena that have their source in three distinct phenomenological orders: in things within the world, in the other, and in the self. On the other hand, I will explore the subjective side of the experience, from the point of view of the act’s thetic character (as impossibility, making possible, and making impossible) and the affectivity of the subject (as obturating, saturated, and destroying moods).

Postdoctoral research PROJECT INFO

  • Project director: Dr. Remus BREAZU
  • Project title: Limit-Phenomena and Nonsense. A Phenomenological Approach
  • Project code: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0753
  • Contract no.: PD 68
  • Program: Postdoctoral research (PD) projects
  • Financed by: UEFISCDI
  • Period of Time: April 2022 – March 2024
  • Funding: 249.712 lei

RESEARCH TEAM

Current team:

EVENTS

  • International conference Phenomenology and the Limits of Experience, University of Bucharest, 21-23 September 2023. Conference is organized with the support of the following projects: PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0735, PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2021-0753, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0791, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0479. Organizing Committee: Alexandru Bejinariu, Remus Breazu, Cristian Ciocan, Christian Ferencz-Flatz, Paul Marinescu;

Stage III — January-March 2024

During the third stage of the research project, I focused on the following aspects:

  • Edmund Husserl’s concept of limit-phenomenon;
  • The concepts of constitution and sense-bestowal;
  • The concept of sense-withdrawal and its ambiguity.

The outcomes of this stage are as follows:

  • Acceptance to co-edit a special issue for Human Studies, “Phenomenology and the Limits of Experience”;
  • The submission for publication of a scientific article to an international journal indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection;
  • The resubmission for publication of a scientific article to an international journal indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection.

Stage II — January-December 2023

During the second stage of the research project, I focused on the following aspects:

  • Edmund Husserl’s concept of limit-phenomenon;
  • The concept of sense-surpassing;
  • The concepts of constitution and sense-bestowal;
  • The concept of sense-withdrawal.

The outcomes of this stage are as follows:

  • The presentation of the paper titled “The Surpass of Every Measure of the Senses. On the Sublime” at the international conference “Sensory Methodologies. Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology,” Reykjavík, Iceland, April 29, 2023;
  • The presentation of the paper titled “Sense-bestowal and sense-withdrawal” at the international conference “Phenomenology and the Limits of Experience,” Bucharest, Romania, September 23, 2023;
  • Participation in the organisation of the international conference “Phenomenology and the Limits of Experience,” which took place in Bucharest from 21 to 23 September, 2023;
  • The submission for publication of a scientific article to an international journal indexed in the Web of Science, Arts and Humanities;
  • Publication of a research article in a collective volume

Stage I — April-December 2022

During the first stage of the research project, I focused on the following aspects:

  • Edmund Husserl’s concept of limit-phenomenon;
  • Various limit-phenomena that are characterized by the refusal of sense, such as dreamless sleep, fainting, death, the materiality of the work of art, the gaze of the other;
  • The way Edmund Husserl approaches death in his posthumous works;
  • The way Martin Heidegger approaches death in his transcendental period;
  • The concept of scientificity in phenomenology.

The outcomes of this stage are as follows:

  • The presentation of the paper “The Science of Phenomenology and the Refusal of Sense” at the international conference “Phenomenology and the Sciences. The Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology,” Padua,
    Italy, September 15, 2022.
  • The submission for publication of a scientific article to an international journal which is indexed in the Web of Science, Arts and Humanities.

2022—2024

  • Alexandru Bejinariu, Remus Breazu, Cristinan Ciocan (Eds.), Special Issue Human Studies: Phenomenology and the Limits of Experience (forthcoming);
  • Remus Breazu: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science), 2024;
  • Remus Breazu, „Refuzul sensului din privirea celuilalt“ in: Studii în hermeneutica pre-judicativă și meontologie. Vol. 7, ed. Viorel Cernica, Bucharest: Editura Universității din București – Bucharest University Press, 2023, pp. 221-243; ISBN: 978-606-16-1453-0;
  • Remus Breazu: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science), 2023;
  • Remus Breazu: “XXX”, submitted for publication at „xxx” (Web of Science), 2022.

2023

2022

  • Remus Breazu, The science of phenomenology and the refusal of sense, at the Annual Conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology: Phenomenology and Science, 13-15 September 2022, University of Padova.