[Buddha-l] Query about Francisco Varela

[Barnaby Thieme]

Hi Erik

>The weak point of Varela is precisely his biologism, the illusion that you 
>can explain human behaviour and even the meaning of life by means of 
>biological theories.

In my opinion, this is way off. Varela was interested in naturalizing 
phenomenology, but he was also interested in applying phenomenology to 
scientific principles. He was by no stretch of the imagination a scientific 
reductionist or hyper-rationalist. Husserl's critique of science is more 
than a century old, and science has changed a lot since then.

>Varela never had any clue of even the existence of phenomenology and never 
>heard of Husserls and Heideggers refutation of all kinds of scientism.

A quick glance at The Embodied Mind will show you that he includes long 
discussions of phenomenology. I gather that either you weren't aware of 
this, or you believe that one cannot be truly "aware" of the 
phenomenologists without deciding that science has no relevance to 
existential problems. I guess that's a matter of perspective, because in my 
own life philosophical questions have been profoundly illuminated by 
empirical research.

cheers,
Barnaby
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It's my manner. It looks insubordinate, but it isn't, really. - T. E. 
Lawrence

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