In this thesis, I will discuss what the self-image is and what it can tell us about the position of the self in intersubjective relations. I will do this by answering the question: What is the self...Show moreIn this thesis, I will discuss what the self-image is and what it can tell us about the position of the self in intersubjective relations. I will do this by answering the question: What is the self-image? It is by its very definition, not an individualising image, which means it is a process that puts the self as being opposed to its surroundings but is a connecting and inherently harmonising mental process. It is inherently an image both of, and formed by, the horizon of the self. To explain this, I will use the understanding of a horizon given to us by Edmund Husserl. Even though this concept is found in a theory that gives us an individualising understanding of the self-image, it will show us that it is indeed not individualising but harmonising. By individualising I mean the affirmation of the identity of the self as a being moving through a space full of Others and objects alien to him. As such the self-experiences themselves as being opposed to them and in some cases clearly in a power struggle with the Other. Harmonising means that the world within the horizon appears as being inherently part of the identity of the self. As such it shows the self as not being surrounded by foreign things but by things that are already a part of it.Show less
Truth as correspondence to reality does not seem to play a role within Merleau-Ponty’s hermeneutical ontology. I will argue that truth however still has a place in this ontology. Through a reading...Show moreTruth as correspondence to reality does not seem to play a role within Merleau-Ponty’s hermeneutical ontology. I will argue that truth however still has a place in this ontology. Through a reading of several of Merleau-Ponty’s texts on the philosophy of expression, I will show that truth plays a vital role in expression. I will argue that within expression, truth does have a role in establishing meaning as a style, creating the depth in which meaning can appear.Show less
This thesis discusses Jean-Paul Sartre's treatment of the body in his work 'Being and Nothingness'. It discerns two different 'functions' of the body in light of Sartre's philsophy: on the one hand...Show moreThis thesis discusses Jean-Paul Sartre's treatment of the body in his work 'Being and Nothingness'. It discerns two different 'functions' of the body in light of Sartre's philsophy: on the one hand, the body plays the part of guaranteeing the main ethical premise of the book, while on the other, it performs the function of resolving the structural philosophical tension that lays at the heart of Being and Nothingness: an ontological dualism. Ultimately, this thesis will claim that the ethical and ontological requirements that Sartre places on the notion of the body are incompatible. The ontological requirement presupposes that the essence of the body is to be inauthentic, which conflicts with the ethical demand of the body as authentic.Show less
This thesis addresses the main question: why do we value the experience of engaging with fiction, through the sub-question: how can we avoid functionalism in answering the main question? First, the...Show moreThis thesis addresses the main question: why do we value the experience of engaging with fiction, through the sub-question: how can we avoid functionalism in answering the main question? First, the thesis introduces the distinction between functionalist and non-functionalist accounts. Secondly, it discusses an account – that of John Gibson’s – that comes very close to providing a non-functionalist account. Thirdly, it is argued that Gibson’s account still falls short of being non-functionalist. Lastly, the thesis proposes a positive view that relies on interpretation in explaining the value of our experience of fiction in non-functionalist terms.Show less
If one looks at love in popular culture one sees that the current attitude towards love is one of idolatry. This thesis explains what this popular conception of love is (largely) based on. Current...Show moreIf one looks at love in popular culture one sees that the current attitude towards love is one of idolatry. This thesis explains what this popular conception of love is (largely) based on. Current love has its roots in Christianity and thus, by extension, Platonic thought. This thesis therefore examines some of the most essential characteristics of love in Christianity. These characteristics help to analyze the resemblance between love in Christianity and love in popular culture. Furthermore this thesis explores whether or not popular love could have been born out of ancient Greek philosophy or that these resemblances between popular and Christian love come from the fact that both schools are simply right about the nature of love. It is for that reason that this thesis briefly examines the potential heritage (of love) between Christianity and ancient Greece. Moreover, while it is impossible to prove that Christianity and popular culture are not right about love, this thesis provides a secular conceptualization of love which does not share the previously mentioned essential characteristics. This conceptualization ‘love as bestowal and affirmation’ is deeply rooted in the works of Singer, May and Nietzsche and will provide a secular view on love. This to show that it is possible to create a probably conceptualization of love completely separate from the Christian framework.Show less
Nietzsche, disciple of Dionysus and lover of music, thought about the question of the ideal music throughout his life. The early Nietzsche of Die Geburt der Tragödie (1872) greatly admired his...Show moreNietzsche, disciple of Dionysus and lover of music, thought about the question of the ideal music throughout his life. The early Nietzsche of Die Geburt der Tragödie (1872) greatly admired his friend Wagner, whose music he considered to be the ideal Dionysian music and so the great hope for the overcoming of the crisis of modernity. Later, this friendship would collapse, and what remained for Nietzsche was Der Fall Wagner, as his late polemical book is named. Grand Style (“großer Stil”) became the new Dionysian aim for the arts and hope for the overcoming of the crisis of modernity. The background of this thesis is the crisis of modernity, to which the Dionysian is to be the solution. The question I will answer is why Nietzsche’s Dionysian musical ideal changed over time from Wagner to Grand Style.Show less
In society we seem to value authenticity over inauthenticity, whether it be in lifestyle, philosophical treatises or even artefacts which have to be certified of authenticity in order to attribute...Show moreIn society we seem to value authenticity over inauthenticity, whether it be in lifestyle, philosophical treatises or even artefacts which have to be certified of authenticity in order to attribute a certain validity to an object. Somehow it is significant to own a claim on the authorship or origin of something in the world, as a patent, to make our life just that bit more meaningful or outstanding. However, there is no such thing as the ‘content’ of authenticity, no fixed formula at least, as it is a concept that adapts to its context continuously; parallel to cultural changes and needs. This is why authenticity is often perceived as a quest, whether it is attained through commendable endeavours or returned to through thorough introspection; whether it is regarded as a state you arrive at or a moment that shines up. This paper will try to offer a philosophical reflection on this employment of a language of authenticity by focusing on and connecting two movements of philosophical thought, namely the thought of Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976), specifically in Being and Time (1927) and the critical theory of the Frankfurt School by Max Horkheimer (1895 – 1973) and Theodor W. Adorno (1903 – 1969), specifically in Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947). Heidegger explicitly speaks of a notion of authenticity (eigentlichkeit) in his theory on Being. I will argue that, even though the word ‘authenticity’ is not particularly mentioned, a sense of that term is implicitly present in the work of Horkheimer and Adorno. To put it more precisely, I will try to investigate whether a sense of authenticity like that of Heidegger’s is to be found in their work. This means that Heidegger will serve as a point of departure. For such a comparison I believe Horkheimer and Adorno’s insights on ‘Culture Industry’ are most relevant to the issue.Show less
This thesis examines different types of ethical singularity which can be read in the novel the Waves by Virginia Woolf. Its focus is on the interpretations by Maurice Blanchot and Gilles Deleuze of...Show moreThis thesis examines different types of ethical singularity which can be read in the novel the Waves by Virginia Woolf. Its focus is on the interpretations by Maurice Blanchot and Gilles Deleuze of this novel. Both Blanchot and Deleuze read their version of ethical singularity in the Waves, in this thesis I will present their views and confront them to my own reading of ethical singularity in the novel. Blanchot understands ethical singularity from a transcendent perspective and Deleuze within a framework of immanence. It is peculiar to see that their different readings can be defended with evidence from the same novel, and their different strategies make for an interesting comparison. I will discover if the novel complies with either of these readings, or if it takes up a position of its own. I will argue that both Blanchot’s transcendentaltist approach and Deleuze’s immanentist approach provide justified insights into the Waves but that the novel exemplifies a different account of ethical singularity which combines and exceeds both.Show less
