Gendlin and New Phenomenology: Naohiko Mimura’s paper

I would like to share with you a piece of literature that is perfect for introducing Gendlin’s philosophy to non-Focusers. You can download the full paper (filename: KU-1100-20231218-07.pdf) from the repository linked below:

Mimura, Naohiko (2023). Gendlin and new phenomenology: the application to rehabilitation medicine. Essays and Studies by Members of the Faculty of Letters (Kansai University), 73(3), 115-134.

Publication history of this paper

This paper is a revised version of his keynote lecture at the 19th Annual Conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology held at the University of Iceland on April 27‒29, 2023. The Nordic Society for Phenomenology, of which the world's leading Danish phenomenologist, Dan Zahavi, is a member, is known as a society where very high-quality research is presented.

About the author

Naohiko Mimura, Ph.D., is a phenomenologist and professor of philosophy specializing in Edmund Husserl. His original specialty was and is the theory of the body as developed in Husserl’s posthumous manuscripts, such as “Ideas, II,” which strongly influenced Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Since 2009, however, he has been writing continuously about Gendlin's philosophy. He has also written about Arakawa & Gins, mentioned in “Saying What We Mean” (Gendlin, 2018), as one of the administrators of their posthumous manuscripts and how they interacted with Gendlin. He has recently applied Gendlin's philosophy to the neurocognitive rehabilitation proposed by Carlo Perfetti.

He does not consciously experience Focusing or TAE as a session. He continues to read Gendlin's philosophical works as texts independent of such experiences. For his previous work on Gendlin's philosophy, see my blog post below:
Prof. Naohiko Mimura, who taught me Gendlin's philosophy

What readership would I recommend?

Introducing Gendlin’s philosophy to those accustomed to working with felt sense in their Focusing or TAE sessions may not be difficult.

However, many of you may have struggled to convey Gendlin’s achievements as a philosopher to non-practitioners of Focusing and TAE.

I assure you that if you are looking for a straightforward introduction to Gendlin's work for those who specialize in what might be called continental philosophy, but which is more specifically “phenomenology” or “philosophy of life (Lebensphilosophie),” this is the perfect paper for you.