Research on the genesis of intentionality »

“The paradox of objectless representations: Research on the genesis of intentionality” is the book of the Congolese philosopher, Charles Thomas Kounkou, published on January 5, 2023 by Paari editions.

The 320-page book, currently available on AMAZON, “brings together the research that presided over the seminars that we organized at the doctoral training in Philosophy at the University of Brazzaville during the years 2010-2015. The kick-off of this research was given by the meditation of the famous letter of December 26, 1926 from Martin Heidegger to Karl Jaspers – a letter which preceded by only a few months the publication of Sein und Zeit which intervened in 1927”, according to Charles Thomas Kounkou, who for several years has been trying to awaken the youngest Congolese and Africans to his discipline.

“If the treatise (ie Sein und Zeit) is written ‘against’ someone, it is against Husserl, who saw it right away, but stuck to the positive aspect. (Martin Heidegger, Correspondence with Karl Jaspers, translated from German by Claude-Nicolas Grimbert, Paris, Gallimard, 1996, p. 62). We know, since the work of Rudolf Bernet (see La vie du sujet, Paris, PUF, 1989, pp. 40-92), that the source of the difference between Heidegger and Husserl is constituted by intentionality, insofar as Heidegger opposes the transcendence of Dasein to the intentionality of consciousness which is at work in Husserl. On the other hand, what we know perhaps much less is the genesis of intentionality. If we work on the reconstruction of the philosophical context of the genesis of the question of intentionality, we see that it appears in a particular context – that of the objectless representations which mobilized the efforts of Bolzano, Frege and Twardowski. Credit goes to Husserl for having, by means of intentionality, resolved the paradox of representations which do not represent any object in an important essay which has remained unpublished yet – Intentional Objects. With this essay, there is already the breakthrough of intentionality that Husserl never ceased to attribute to Logical Investigations”, sums up the Congolese philosopher.

Doctor of State in Philosophy (University of Paris IV Sorbonne) and doctor of third cycle (University of Tours), Charles Thomas kounkou taught Philosophy at the Marien Ngouabi University of Brazzaville.

Charles Thomas kounkou currently directs a review of Philosophy entitled: “Les Cahiers Congolais de Métaphysique”.

This review of Philosophy intelligently and admirably designed by Charles Thomas kounkou is a real space for work and discussion governed by the rules of competence, seriousness and above all intellectual probity, so that a meeting can take place between Congolese philosophers but also Africans.

Charles Thomas kounkou quite simply wanted to provide doctoral students and young doctors with a real reception structure for their first work, because, according to him, it is a tragedy when you have finished your doctorate to easily access publication. .

If you are having trouble choosing your bookish gifts for this new year that is beginning, then “The paradox of objectless representations: Research on the genesis of intentionality” is made for you and for all lovers of Philosophy.

Jean-Jacques Jarele SIKA / Les Echos du Congo-Brazzaville