From Nature to Phusis: Heidegger’s Criticism of Naturalism and the Possibility of Naturalizing Phenomenology

Over the past two decades, the naturalising phenomenology project has made the relationship between phenomenology and naturalism a hotly debated topic. Critics have pointed out that the project is on uncertain ground due to the strong anti-naturalist tendencies underlying phenomenology. When naturalism enters into a dialogue with phenomenology, the interlocutor of choice on the side of phenomenology is usually Edmund Husserl. In my PhD thesis, I argue that Martin Heidegger's more fundamental critique of naturalism makes his philosophy a good starting point for a constructive-critical dialogue on the possibilities and challenges inherent to the naturalising phenomenology project. The central concept in this PhD thesis is the concept of ‘naturalism’ and its meaning in Heidegger's philosophy. The starting point for my research is the idea that the concept of ‘naturalism’ is a relational concept, meaning that to understand it, we need to understand at least two other concepts: ‘science’ and ‘nature’. The way we understand and critique naturalism, or naturalise phenomenology, therefore depends heavily on our underlying understanding of ‘nature’ and ‘science’.

Tim Miechels (1989) obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Philosophy at Radboud University in Nijmegen (both cum laude) in 2011 and 2014, respectively. In 2017 he started working on his PhD dissertation about Heidegger's conception of naturalism. At the same time he started working at Radboud University as a lecturer and at Eindhoven University as assistant lecturer. He has presented insights from his dissertation at numerous international conferences, such as the 'Phenomenology and the Sciences' conference organised by the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology in Padova and the 'Religious Experience and the Phenomenology of Nature' conference organised by the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience in Galway and Sligo. The articles comprising this thesis were published in the acclaimed peer-reviewed journals Humana.Mente, Louvain Journal of Philosophy, and Ekstasis. Revista de Hermenêutica e Fenomenologia.