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Introduction
This blog explores the foundational concepts of Krishnachandra Bhattacharya’s seminal work, The Subject as Freedom. It examines Bhattacharya’s unique phenomenological and metaphysical approach to subjectivity, defined primarily as the progressive realization of freedom from the "object." By analyzing the stages of subjectivity, bodily, psychic, and spiritual, the blog elucidates how the subject moves from identification with the external world to the pure self-evidence of the "I." The study highlights the distinction between meant and unmeant contents, the role of introspection as a knowing function, and the ultimate realization of the subject as absolute freedom.
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The Fundamental Distinction: Subject-Object
In Bhattacharya’s philosophy, the starting point of inquiry is the distinction between the "object" and the "subject". The object is defined as that which is "meant," encompassing the contents of sense-perception and everything that refers to it. Conversely, the subject is that of which there is an awareness other than this "meaning awareness". A critical feature of subjectivity is its relationship to language. While an object can be pointed out without words, the subject can only be indicated through speech, specifically through personal pronouns like "I". However, the word "I" does not function like a typical name. When a speaker uses "I," they do not merely express their self; they "incarnate" their self-consciousness in the word. For the hearer, "I" stands for the speaker, but the speaker intends a unique, un-analysable content that the hearer can never intend by the same word if they were to use it themselves. Bhattacharya posits that while we can say "I am this" (identifying with a felt content), we cannot truly say "this is I" in a way that suggests the subject is a meant object. The subject is "unmeant" or "meant as unmeant," placing it beyond the reach of traditional metaphysical disputes that treat reality only as a "meanable" entity.
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The Notion of Psychic Fact
Central to the transition from object to subject is the psychic fact. In spiritual psychology, psychic facts are interpreted as "floating abstractions" from the object. They represent the relatedness of the object to the subject, viewed as a character of the object itself. A psychic fact involves a belief in an objective fact, but it is distinguished by introspection. Introspection is the act of distinguishing a presentation (the known-ness of an object) from the object itself. In simple perception, the object is not consciously distinct from its presentation. However, in non-perceptual knowledge, such as memory or imagination, the distinction becomes explicit. The presentation is a fact to introspection as long as the object presented is believed and distinguished from it.
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The Hierarchy of Subjectivity
Bhattacharya outlines three broad stages of subjectivity, each representing a "mode of freedom" from the object: bodily, psychical, and spiritual.
(a) Bodily Subjectivity
The first stage of freedom begins with the body. To the percipient, one's own body is a "uniquely singular" object. It is not merely an object in space; it is the center round which the spatial world is disposed. The Perceived Body is an external object, yet it is implicitly dissociated from other objects because it serves as the percipient’s point of reference. The felt body is "feeling of the body" from within. The felt body is known to be not in the perceived world, even though it is not yet fully dissociated from the perceived body. This "interiority" marks a significant step toward detachment from objective space.
(b) Psychic Subjectivity
Psychic subjectivity moves beyond the body into the realms of the image and thought. The image is a "quasi-object" that lacks space-position but retains spatial form. Under introspection, the image appears as a "forming of a form", a process and product presented simultaneously. It is "potentially psychical," appearing as a ghostly object that does not yet fully imply belief. Thought represents a higher grade of freedom, characterized by a complete detachment from objectivity. While the image is involved in a "temporal forming," thought as "meaning" is felt to be free from time and is "eternally complete". Nevertheless, thought is still a presentation; it is "about" the object and is introspectively believed to exist outside the subject.
(c) Spiritual Subjectivity
Spiritual subjectivity is "non-presentational," meaning it no longer refers to the object even as a meaning. Unlike thought, which is negative (what the object is not), feeling is a positive subjective fact without reference to objective fact. Bhattacharya describes it as the "knowledge of the unknown". In feeling, the subject is free from meant content, reducing it to a mere symbolism. Introspection is the "pure knowing function". Introspection is not a belief in a fact; it is the "I" itself, the function of speaking or believing that is not itself meant. It represents a complete dissociation from "felt being".
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The Subject as Freedom
The phenomenological progression through physical and psychic stages is a "movement of dissociation", a process was avoided by Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Pure Reason to construct transcendental ego as the fundamental postulate to construct the world like an artist. However, K.C. Bhattacharya introspects the in-depth layers of bodily, psychic, and spiritual self; each stage is a "spiritual discipline of the theoretic reason," a method of "cognitive inwardizing". The ultimate goal is the realization of the subject as absolute freedom. At the level of introspection, the subject is "freedom itself" because it is free from the possible objectivity of being. However, even the introspective "I" is still symbolised as a distinct individual through the spoken word. The final realization lies "beyond introspection," where the subject is no longer understood as a distinct entity but as a "silent self-enjoying I". This absolute self is intuited, not through thinking, but through a self-evident revelation that loses all distinctness in being known. It is the "consummation of the freedom" that was previously only felt as a dissociation from the object.
Krishnachandra Bhattacharya’s "The Subject as Freedom" redefines subjectivity not as a static entity but ecstatic intuition of awareness, as a dynamic process of liberation. By systematically peeling away layers of objective identification, from the perceived body to the eternal meanings of thought, the subject discovers itself as the pure, unmeant function of knowing. In this framework, freedom is not merely an attribute of the subject; the subject, in its truest state, is freedom. Spiritual psychology thus serves as the map for this inward journey, exhibiting the consecutive steps required to retract the subject from the world and realize it in its pure, self-evident intuition.
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