On the architectonics of consciousness: the correlation between notions and sensual content

Abstract

The formation a comprehensive image of man requires a multidimensional approach to his inner world that would be concrete at the same time. Such an approach must account for the connections and interactions between the various regions of that inner world, in particular, those between senses and notions. The author points at ways by which a theoretical synthesis of sensuality and thinking could be carried out. He proposes a model of man in his entirety. The goal is to present the phenomena of the sensual domain and the categories of thinking in their own development and subordination. At the same time the goal is to reveal the connections that synthesize them and explore the hierarchical structure of various senses in their correlation with universally-general notions. Together, the thought and the content of senses make up unified forms, blocks and patterns. But what kind of concrete ability connects the sensual and the rational? What kind of synthesizing scheme makes their union possible? Imagination and trust (i.e. openness as a manifestation of the common essence of man and world) can be viewed as potential components of such an ability. When the role of mediators between thought and the senses is played by imagination and basic trust, the chaos of thoughts and senses can be driven into a two-fold developing system.