Cookies

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Otherwise, we'll assume you're OK to continue.

Department of Philosophy

Staff

Publication details for Prof Matthew Ratcliffe

Ratcliffe M. (2002). Heidegger’s Attunement and the Neuropsychology of Emotion. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 1(3): 287-312.
  • Publication type: Journal papers: academic

Author(s) from Durham

Abstract

I outline the early Heidegger’s views on mood and emotion, and then relate his central claims to some recent finding in neuropsychology. These findings complement Heidegger in a number of important ways. More specifically, I suggest that, in order to make sense of certain neurological conditions that traditional assumptions concerning the mind are constitutionally incapable of accommodating, something very like Heidegger’s account of mood and emotion needs to be adopted as an interpretive framework. I conclude by supporting Heidegger’s insistence that the sciences constitute a derivative means of disclosing the world and our place within it, as opposed to an ontologically and epistemologically privileged domain of inquiry.