Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Conversations with the sub-physical:

Exploring human constructions of

existential meaning

in interactions with

designed objects

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Embodied experience

proprioceptivesomato-sensory

neuro-motorinteroceptive

Cognitive experience

conscious experienceneuro-chemical

processes autonomic systems

cognitionPhenomenal experience

Perception of reality

truth

What is real?

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Authentic

visible meta-physical

Inauthentic

(everyday)

Invisible (hidden)

sub-physical

phenomenal meaning

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Temporality(time)

Relationality (Relationship to others)

Cognition(thinking & doing)

Spatiality(lived space)

Corporeality (body)

physicality

Sensorial

(five senses)

Affect(emotions, feelings)

Perception

Meta-physical experience

Sub-physical experience

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

…a little ToE

TAXONOMYof

EXPERIENCE(ToE)

4. OUT THERE - Contextual factorsExistential factorsEnvironmental factorsLegal / political / economic factorsSocial, ideological factorsTechnological factors

1. THE BODY - Somatic experienceSensorial

oSightoTouchoSmelloTasteosound

Comfort (ergonomics, human factors)Appearance (aesthetics)

2. THE HEART - Affective experiencePositively valenced affect 1 - 7Negatively valenced affect 7 - 1

3. THE HEAD - Cognitive experienceConnation – reflective experienceCognition – reflexive experience

New Mobility Vehicles (NMV’s)

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

How the methods interact

SEEing – a questioning process

A ToE stores

the information

about an

experience

?Sub-physical aspects of the experience – existential approach

Meta-physical aspects of the experience - hermeneutic approach

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Hermeneutical analysis - SEEing meta-physical meaning in authentic experience

How can a meta-physical

insight be reconstituted

within the context of a

new existential

experience?

‘Essential’ meanings

Existential analysis - SEEing sub-physical meaning in in-authentic experience)

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

SEEing

….the meta-physical essence of an experience

Steps 1,2,3ToE

1. Collect data

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort

Data processing

What do I know about this on the surface?

Step 4All the meanings

Plural meanings

Cause and Effect

What else does it mean?

Step 5The most important or essential

Essential meanings

Is the experience the same if it is not here?

How important is it to the nature of the experience?

Step 6Beyond form and functional aspects

Metaphysical meanings

What is special, unknown, novel or unexpected

Step 7Weighting

Ranking

Intensity

Sorting by intensity

Step 8Resorting

most intense?

Most intense, metaphysical, essential

Step 9Describe the most intense – the essence

Metaphysical?

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Steps 1,2,3ToE

1. Collect data

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort

Data processing

What do I know about this on the surface?

Asks: What do I know about this on the surface?

Steps 1,2,3 - ‘Doing a ToE’

1. Collect information

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort into data

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Steps 1,2,3ToE

1. Collect data

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort

Data processing

What do I know about this on the surface?

Step 4All the meanings

Plural meanings

Cause and Effect

What else does it mean?

Cause and EffectAsks: What else does it mean?

Step 4Teasing out the full plurality of meanings

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Steps 1,2,3ToE

1. Collect data

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort

Data processing

What do I know about this on the surface?

Step 4All the meanings

Plural meanings

Cause and Effect

What else does it mean?

Step 5The most important or essential

Essential meanings

Is the experience the same if it is not here?

How important is it to the nature of the experience?

Asks: Is the experience the same if this meaning is not here?How important is this meaning to the nature of the experience?

Step 5Determining the most important or essential meanings

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Steps 1,2,3ToE

1. Collect data

2. Write descriptions

3. Sort

Data processing

What do I know about this on the surface?

Step 4All the meanings

Plural meanings

Cause and Effect

What else does it mean?

Step 5The most important or essential

Elements of embodied experience

…but what about the existential part

…embodied experience

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Philosophy - phenomenology

Psychology - behavioral

Neuropsychology

Neurophysiology

Neuroscience

Cognitive science

Perception

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Existential analytic of ‘essential’

meanings

Stage 1: Inauthentic (everyday level)

experience

Asks: What is the phenomenal

embodiment of this experience; the

ordinary, everyday, pre-ontological,

preneotic, 'existential‘, physically

related aspects of the experience which

help to make the experience what it is.

This layer of ordinary-ness shows itself

in explicit somato-sensory interactions

with implicit layers of embodied

meaning or perception

These meaning structures might be considered in terms of;

Physical (body)

Proprioception

Body image & Body schema

(conscious and autonomic /

prenoetic)

Actions, movement and motor

schemas

Object (form and function)

interactive ecological experience

Contextual factors (spatial)

Perception – a blurry inter-modal, phenomenal space between mental and the physical experience

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Phenomenal analytic of ‘essential’

meanings

Stage 2: Explicating the ‘essence’ of the

experience

Asks: What is the phenomenal ‘essence’

of this experience?

What is indicated as its substantive,

intrinsic sub-physical soul?

What does the embodied experience

point to that is immediately hidden?

…really, really really

Sub-physical (mind)

Perceptions - simulations

noetic – self reflection –

consciousness

Intention – beliefs - desires

inter-subjectivity (relationship to

other)

Agency & Ownership

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Re Hidden-ness

There are “aspects of the structure

of consciousness that are more

hidden, those that may be more

difficult to get at because they

happen before we know it.

They do not normally enter into the

phenomenal content of experience in

an explicit way, and are often

inaccessible to reflective

consciousness”

Gallagher, 2005, p.2

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

NVivo

Qualitative Data Analysis

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Applying this theory to empirical data using NVivo

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

ESSENCES OF EMBODIED NMV EXPERIENCE

Essence: Feeling empowered or important

(41 passages / 15%)

Node description: I feel special or empowered by

association with the activity, the event gives me a

heightened sense of self worth

Experiential fragments:It is a lifestyle association that conveys ‘coolness’

tothese vehicles, the elemental feeling of being

part ofthe environment but still being protected from itDriving in crisp, cold, sometimes wild weather

andbeing well clothed, You are really in it and can

seemore of it, The feeling is less that you are IN a

vehiclebut more traveling on one thru the world,

desirable,unique, wantable, covetable, feeling a surge of

power,being aware of other road users and pedestrians,other road users, standing out, etc.

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

Hermeneutical analysis - SEEing meta-physical meaning in authentic experience

A meta-physical insight might be

reconstituted in the context of a

new existential experience which

generates a new …. perception …

and so on

Stage5‘Essential’ meanings

Existential analysis - SEEing sub-physical meaning in inauthentic experience

Ian Coxon University of Technology Sydney

...thank you

I would welcome

your comments, suggestions

and valuable critique