Selbstbewegung in virtueller Realität als perzeptives Fiktum
Abstract
Abstract This paper examines the avatar as the primary means through which users engage intentionally with virtual environments. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s concept of the lived body (Leib) and Husserl’s image-theoretical considerations of the perceptual fictum, the paper conceptualises movement in virtual reality as ‘as-if’ movement. While this does not constitute genuine locomotion, it nevertheless presents itself experientially as walking. This ‘as-if’ walking occurs in a digitally generated environment where two dimensions of virtuality intersect: the virtual space of possibilities for embodied experience, and the actualisation of movement as effective ‘as-if’ walking.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
Embodied and Extended Cognition
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie
- Volume
- 74
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 57–68
- Publication date
- 1 February 2026
- Language
- EN