Deep Perception: The Direct Awareness of Individual Being and the Practice of Being Who We Are

Deep Perception: The Direct Awareness of Individual Being and the Practice of Being Who We Are argues that direct perceptions of the being or essential character of a person, thing, or situation are possible. These include perceptions of what integrally belongs to that being. The book also argues that these perceptions are enactments and expressions of our own being. While the mainstreams of both analytic and continental philosophy reject the conceivability of such a perception, Jeremy Barris argues that these traditions’ own implicit concepts of being allow and in fact account for its meaningfulness and possibility. Drawing on these implicit concepts and on Zen, Daoist, and some esoteric traditions, Deep Perception develops an account of the nature and logic of these deep perceptions and explores the nature and method of engaging in these perceptions, what is involved in living with them, and their implications for various areas of our conduct.

Jeremy Barris is professor of philosophy at Marshall University.