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Full-Text Articles in History of Philosophy
The Self In The Mirror Of Despair: Søren Kierkegaard On The Authentic Christian Life, Yi Shao
The Self In The Mirror Of Despair: Søren Kierkegaard On The Authentic Christian Life, Yi Shao
Undergraduate Honors Theses
Søren Kierkegaard describes a human life as a dialectic of three stages: the esthetic, the ethical, and the religious. He argues that there is a qualitative break between the ethical and religious spheres, which requires a “leap” for the individual to cross. In this thesis, I argue that the key to understanding the concept of the leap is to focus on its inevitable failure. Failure is essential to an individual’s transformation to becoming a Christian, as no human beings in this life can ever achieve authentic faith, become a knight of faith, or arrive at Religiousness B. For an …
Negation & Acosmism: Hegel's Acosmist Reading Of Spinoza, Jared Jones
Negation & Acosmism: Hegel's Acosmist Reading Of Spinoza, Jared Jones
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In this thesis, I argue that Spinoza's views on negation are coupled with a view of being which, although Hegel misunderstands it to an extent, makes it impossible for finite things to exist, as Hegel's "acosmist" reading of Spinoza maintains. I begin by arguing that acosmism would present an internal problem for Spinoza's system in the Ethics, framing the importance of the topic and showing why Hegel's interpretation, as an interpretation, does not work. After that, I first provide an account of Hegel and Spinoza's views on negation. In the process, I give an account of Hegel's views on …
Das Gestell And Human Autonomy: On Andrew Feenberg's Interpretation Of Martin Heidegger, Zachary Peck
Das Gestell And Human Autonomy: On Andrew Feenberg's Interpretation Of Martin Heidegger, Zachary Peck
Undergraduate Honors Theses
In my thesis, I examine the relationship between modern technology and human autonomy from the philosophical perspective of Martin Heidegger. He argues that the essence of modern technology is the Gestell. Often translated as ‘enframing,’ the Gestell is a mode of revealing, or understanding, being, in which all beings are revealed as, or understood as, raw materials. By revealing all beings as raw materials, we eventually understand ourselves as raw materials. I argue that this undermines human autonomy, but, unlike Andrew Feenberg, I do not believe this process is irreversible from Heidegger’s perspective. I articulate the meaning of the …