After first studying classical and Indian philosophy at University, Claire Petitmengin worked as a consultant in information
system design for ten years. She then returned to academic life and began a thesis with Francisco Varela as research advisor (, L’Harmattan, 2001). She is now a senior lecturer at the GET (Groupe des Écoles de Télécommunications), and member of the CREA (a well known research institute in Paris, dealing with cognition and epistemology).
Her current research is in pre-reflective subjective experience and in the methods enabling individuals to become aware of and describe such experiences. She is also interested in the interaction and mutual enrichment of “first person” and “third person” descriptions, in the context of “neuro-phenomenological” projects, such as anticipation. Claire Petitmengin, “Describing one’s Subjective Experience in the Second Person. An Interview Method for the Science of Consciousness”Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences(2006), pp. 229-269. Claire Petitmengin, Vincent Navarro, Michel Baulac, “Seizure Anticipation: Are Neuro-phenomenological Approaches Able to Detect Preictal Symptoms ?”, Epilepsy and Behavior (2006), pp. 298-306. Claire Petitmengin, “Towards the source of thoughts. The gestural and transmodal dimension of lived experience”, Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 14, n° 3 (2007), pp. 54-82. Claire’s current research is in pre-reflective subjective experience and in the methods enabling individuals to become aware of and describe the dynamics of this experience. She is interested in the epistemological consequences of this approach, and in its educational and therapeutic applications. Claire also studies the process of mutual enrichment of “first person” descriptions and “third person” data (i.e. data that are collected by an external observer or experimenter), notably in the context of “neuro-phenomenological” projects.