A Further Thought on “…the Third Realm”

Upon initially completing Varieties of Presence, I failed to notice a very sly tactic used by Noë: putting a chapter about how to philosophize at the very end of a book about matters that are primarily of interest to neuroscience, biology, and psychology. These, especially the former two, are fields which generally pay little attention to philosophy despite the fact that they are participating in philosophy when they explore ideas, publish work, or think about how to redirect their research when they hit a stump. (I hope the reason I was initially blind to this it because I am already inclined to philosophize fairly well) No matter the reader’s background, Noë seems to want to leave fresh in his or her mind that there is a third realm core of every problem, whether scientific, social, political, historical, interpersonal, etc… So, the opportunity to do philosophy is always there. It is up to those involved to take advantage of that opportunity.