Skepticism and the Transcendental Attitude: Part III:
The Performance of the Overall Transcendental Suspension
And the Nature of its Philosophical Consequences*

0.   Pre-Introduction

	In this third paper I will first demonstrate how the overall transcendental suspension (OTS) is put into effect. Then, I would like to discuss the nature of the commitments and consequences entailed in this practice that characterizes the critical work of the transcendental phenomenologist. (1)

In my next series of papers, which will be titled: Entry into the Transcendental Dimension, Parts I-III, I will be examining idealistically oriented mistranslations of Vasubandhu’s Vimsatika where we will need to understand the theoretical commitments, practical exercise and critical consequences of this type of ‘positionless’ transcendental philosophy. In effect, when we suspect a transcendental ‘position’ is in play we will need to demonstrate that an OTS is present in some form or other (because the imposition of the OTS establishes this transcendental transformation). That demonstrated, we would then be in a position to argue that that type of philosophy no longer plays the conventional game of polemics as practiced between realists and idealists et al and that the nature of this philosophy should be read through a transcendental perspective in order to appropriately interpret it! That without understanding the philosophical significance of a transcendental dimension this type of transcendental philosophy cannot be properly translated and/or interpreted! (2)

I.   Introduction

	In the first two papers the need and nature for an OTS were argued for but not practically demonstrated. Essentially the OTS erects an ongoing balance between opposing or contrasting facets of the psyche, this balance then mirrors the nature of the hermeneutic circle in which all processes of intentional consciousness are processed, emerge as emotions, ideas, judgments, responses, etc. In the thorough imposition of the OTS all facets are balanced with their correlative contrasts. This includes all bi-polar modalities (like epistemological versus ontological; process versus content; etc.) and all tri-polar modalities (like analytical versus synthetical versus identificational which parallels the intentional object-state versus intentional field versus the intentional ego/; and in harmonic theory the same isomorphic set of transformations as denoted through the orientations of dissonance-consonance-resolution, etc.). (3)

* For latest version of this paper: www.homestead.com/noelshomepage/noelshomepage3.html	

	This may sound complicated but is simplified by the fact that correctly the OTS is an intuitive process and can be easily entered through the adoption of variety of strategies 
such as, e.g., simulating a skeptical attitude; posing to oneself a question; thinking metaphorically; playing devil’s advocate and considering an opposing point of view; adopting a deprecating attitude; entertaining parallel readings of textual reports with respect to a textual translation of that under investigation; treating the phenomena to hand as mere presentations, mere simulations, i.e., as merely phenomenal; etc. (4)

	Technically, this suspended state of affairs can be achieved by noting what prominent textual features are under investigation and running parallel contrary texts to the same and leaving these parallel texts in a state of suspended balance. Effectively, the thorough OTS is realized when all aspects and facets of the psyche are balanced with respect to each other. (5)

II.   Objectives

In this paper I would ideally like to look into the following:

1.	The practical performance of the OTS,
2.	Commitments and consequences of this practice,
3.	The ensuing philosophical ramifications of this transformation in ‘position.’ (6)

My overall objectives are to sketch out the theoretical nature, practical application and critical ramifications of this style of philosophical examination, and, to prepare the ground for my refutation that the Yogacara Tradition in Buddhist Philosophy is simply idealistic in tenor and, as a consequence, that to translate it though this type of lens is to completely mistranslate and misunderstand the general nature of this type of text! That because this tradition could be described as transcendentally idealistic in complexion in the same vein as our (re-)interpretation of Husserl’s mature transcendental philosophy, that both traditions can act as a commentary on the apparent and not so apparent intentions of the other; besides offering in the process a fruitful commentary on our Postmodern and Contemporary eras! One of the commitments of the OTS is to give no facet of the psyche any form of priority, preference, promotion, precedence, etc., and as a result this style of transcendental philosophy can be neither idealistic nor realistic in tenor. The imposition of the OTS, overtly or covertly, also ensures that this tenor is effectively ‘positionless’ in temper. Of course what is left within those brackets is left untouched (and the ensuing responses of such reflections can be relatively existentially and/or non-existentially re-weighted in the light of current or future motivations). (7)

III.   The Performance of the Overall Transcendental Suspension… 

1.   How is the OTS Performed?

	Ask a question and you start a dis-conjunctive suspension (based on an ‘either/or’). Answer that question and you start a conjunctive suspension (based on the metaphorical ‘like’ and its implication of a ‘both like and not-like’). Finalize that answering process and you realize a process of identity; a state of affairs realized when you place these two suspensions themselves in a state of suspension, i.e., balance… and, then, you have an overall transcendental suspension when these three ‘moments’ are equally weighted and maintained in that state of ongoing balance. (8)

	In imitating the hermeneutic circle, as analyzed by myself, its three moments of analysis, synthesis and identity need only be mirrored by those aspects contrary to analysis, synthesis and identity. But as the contrary of analysis is synthesis, and v.v., it follows that all we need to do is to balance all processes of analysis with synthesis, or v.v., and then balance all processes of identity with their contrary processes of counter-identities. In the latter the psychic weight of all senses of ‘process’ is balanced by the psychic weight of all senses of processed ‘content’. Needless to say, all presentations of content also needs to be mirrored by counter-presentations of content… (9)

	In effect, this sense of ‘balance’ centers the psyche. In this the intentional emphasis is distributed equally between the intentional object-state, the intentional field and the sense/senses of ego-involvement (as per my explication of the hermeneutic circle). (10)

	In the OTS all forms of judgment are suspended, bracketed, put out of action (without disrupting the flow of the content within those metaphorical brackets). Ultimately, all senses of the ontological are balanced against all senses of the epistemological. But, we must ask ourselves, is this practice of the OTS nothing more than a recipe for psychic paralysis, etc., and an ensuing sense of disaster?! (11)

	No, on two counts! For a start, the OTS is a circular affair and in circulating helps to maintain a ‘suspended economy’ in a process of ‘enrichment’ though ongoing thematization. Second, the suspension is not a recipe for perpetual entrapment since the suspension itself need only be ‘suspended’ to be automatically disrupted and terminated, in the process allowing that thematization ‘to speak before the world’ (so to speak). Hence our responses to the changing nature of the world are realized authentically, to that extent possible, from within the OTS. Whereas, in contrast, inauthentic responses are responses inadequately subjected to an OTS; being relatively unbalanced in nature. Implied, moreover, is the fact that as the authentic is the purification of the inauthentic and the inauthentic is a relatively imperfect simulation of the relatively authentic it follows that there can be neither pure authenticity nor a pure inauthenticity, indeed, that there must exist an ongoing state of balance between these two correlative orientations. (12)

	Let me now propose a number of different scenarios in order to apply the ideality of this recipe for an OTS as noted above. (13)

	I hit my thumb with a hammer… how is this type of situation subjected to an OTS? The impressional (qualities of pain) and the emotional flows stemming from this act need to be ‘reversed’ and therein balanced. One way of doing this is by cognitively translating it on to a cognitive textual level, then, ‘reading’ a contrary text in order through such reflection (and meditation) to minimize that sense of received pain. So… “I am in pain… my thumb is sore…” to… “what if I am not in pain… what if my thumb is not sore…?” But, suspending the OTS immediately leaves us with the answer to this questioning… “gee, my thumb is damn sore!” (14)

	I am entertaining the eidetic possibilities of a certain phenomenological state. E.g., I find pleasure at successfully completing a certain task. To balance the same, I entertain the consequences if I had not been so successful, my realization of goals was not met with a sense of success, etc. In the process of suspending the OTS I then re-find that sense of pleasure naturally re-arising in the re-simulation of my successfulness. (15)

	“Is this painting before me a good work of art or a not so good work of art?” In the OTS all fields of judgment are ‘put out of action’, bracketed, subjected to that sort of epoché. By suspending our judgment allows the economy of this investigation to become better thematized so that in the final disruption of this particular OTS our opinion then has the opportunity to find itself re-formed, and, therein, better in-formed. (16)

	By treating this play unfolding before us to an OTS we treat this spectacle as if it were a mere simulation, and v.v. By such means we take it at face value and, therein, allow ourselves to be taken in by the same. On the other hand, we also know that what is unfolding before us is merely a spectacle, a simulation of the world. Great theatre is realized when there is a rich sequence of spectacles whilst it is regarded in and through a balance of this tension between ‘the non-transcendental illusion of reality’ and ‘the transcendental reality of that illusion’. So, in a dramatic simulation of a shoot-out on a stage our heart rate speeds up, yet, we do not seek cover beneath our seats or suddenly feel we must leave the theatre! In contemporary theatre, for the members of that audience, this tension is reinforced when ‘members’ of the audience take place in this shoot-out, or actors step off the stage into the space where the audience is seated (in the process confusing ‘theatrical space’ with ‘non-theatrical space’, and v.v.). (17)

	That philosopher’s position, in the form of a set of arguments, is interesting, but, how do you suspend that? By paralleling contra-texts to their thesis, arguments and conclusion. E.g., the statement ‘that the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu is an idealist’ can be paralleled by the statements ‘that Vasubandhu is a realist’, ‘that Vasubandhu is neither an idealist nor a realist’, ‘that Vasubandhu is a transcendental idealist’, etc. In the performance of the OTS all these statements, in an open or closed list, are entertained simultaneously as equal in merit (if each statement is well-formed semantically)…. (18)

	Basically, the OTS is an ongoing balancing act. Intellectually, it balances one textual reading against its contrary reading/s. Intuitively, it is this seeking for a sense of center commensurate with the nature of that under such reflection or research. Practically, it is the withholding of a definitive solution until a(n adequately pre-informed) situation is better read. The quality of the response ensuring an equal appreciation of that process just entered into (through the realization of a definitive-like sense of resolution wherein our in-depth appreciation of ‘essential’ tensions in the intentional constitution of that under examination are themselves better understood and resolved). (19)

2.   Commitments and Consequences of the OTS?

	Enacting an adequate overt and/or covert OTS ensures that we ‘enter’ the transcendental dimension. What is entailed in this transition (or transformation)? What commitments are in play, and, what commitments and consequences follow from the adoption of the same, and realizations realized therein? (20)

	Our metaphorical ‘entry’ into the transcendental dimension is realized through the auspices of the OTS. In this state of transition there is a transformation of our intentional processes and intentional content in such a manner that they are more in tune with the current nature of that reality to hand. We find ourselves more centered and balanced in outlook, such insight being better thematized through the relative enrichment and comparative purification of that economy as a result of this process of ongoing deferment. What resolutions arrived at are, as a result, more resolved and more resolute in nature. We find our judgments are constructed with a greater sense of propriety, more appropriate and those judgments possess a greater sense of (self-)evidential validity. When the OTS is adequately pre-informed and the OTS is sufficiently enacted then with out exit from this state we should find ourselves in a better position to discern the real, i.e., better appreciate the essential-like nature of its intentional constitution.… (21)

	As stated before, the transcendental perspective is claimed to be a transformation of position into a ‘positionless’ point of view. Through the loss of priority, preference, etc., through the imposition of the OTS, we no long indulge in the trivial pursuits obsessively followed by classical realists and idealists et al. Without a preference for the intentional object-state we no long promote the impossible separation and ‘priority’ of the so-called ‘real’! Equally, without a preference for the intentional field or intentional ego we no long promote the impossible separation and ‘priority’ of the so-called ‘ideal’ in the form of ‘essences’, ‘egos’, ‘minds’, ‘facts’, etc! Indeed, the transcendental sense of ‘position’ is not beholden to this endless, pointless type of ‘philosophical’ game playing! (22)

	Although the transcendental is neutral in its overall perspective still within the brackets life goes on as before. Furthermore, through its critical simulation of the world, as directly engaged in this one-World-of-Life, we should find ourselves better able to appreciate both the complexities and the simplicities of this world-as-found-to-hand in a world-found-before-us! (23)

	In our commitment to ensuring the proper, appropriate and valid performance of the OTS we should find ourselves responding to the situations of this world with a greater sense of propriety, appropriateness and effective validity. In effect, we become more responsive to the ‘call’ of the world, and, our responses should be found to be relatively more existential in the aptness of their functioning. (24)

3.  The Ensuing Philosophical Ramifications of this Transformation 

	Through the adequate imposition of the OTS there is realized a transformation of the nature of our-being-in-the-world. Effectively, we should find ourselves empowered through an improvement of our functioning in this World-of-Life. Phenomenologically, we become insightful into the (intentional) nature of the (constitution of the) world; hermeneutically, we find ourselves better able to translate to ourselves what it is that is occurring in the world-before us (treated as a text or as a series of texts); and, existentially, we should find our responses more appropriate, less self-preoccupied, more in tune with others (as an expression of our relationship situated in a world-of-relationships), etc. (25)

IV. Conclusion

	The sense, meaning and meaningfulness (in the formation of value) realized in the practice of the OTS, and its revelation of a transcendental dimension to the world, is not to be treated as a mystical experience or as a religious technique. On the other hand, there is no reason why the religious philosopher should not be able to use this technique and its accompanying insights in the course of their own expositions since this ‘entry into the transcendental’ is a natural, continual occurring aspect of our existence in this world. Correctly, all that occurs in the formal imposition of the OTS is merely a refinement of what is already occurring on a moment by moment basis in the intentional course of our conscious lives. Nothing more and nothing less! But, this clarification of the intentional nature of our being in this world before-others has ramifications above and beyond that merely entailed in a natural attitude towards the world and its endless controversies (conducted in non-transcendental terms of reference)! Hence the significance of this transcendental transformation of our being in the world greatly exceeds the investment of psychic energy already in play in non-transcendental terms of reference. Indeed, the richness and enrichment of our being is already the province of the transcendental and, consequently, our clarification of this dimension cannot but further assist our passage through this World-of-Life as we stand both with-others and before-others…! (26)

	            						         Noël Tointon, Sydney, 30.3.06.