Packaged as an investigation into the phenomenon of causation, the paper serves as an introduction to a metaphysics of existence that, while not directly engaging with current debates in Western...Show morePackaged as an investigation into the phenomenon of causation, the paper serves as an introduction to a metaphysics of existence that, while not directly engaging with current debates in Western philosophy and the natural sciences, provides the contemporary framework for how existence (‘wujūd’) should be conceptualized outside the tradition of Islamic philosophy. Though tackling difficult and sometimes incomprehensible subjects, namely primitive ontology, time and the modulation of Being, the content aims to be accessible to the Western reader.Show less
There is increasing awareness of the importance of the body in psychology and philosophy of mind. Embodied accounts of the self are promising in explaining the perceived unity and continuity...Show moreThere is increasing awareness of the importance of the body in psychology and philosophy of mind. Embodied accounts of the self are promising in explaining the perceived unity and continuity characteristic of it: the body provides spatiotemporal locatedness, and embodied experience provides relationships to and interaction with the environment. Given this emphasis on the body, it is surprising to find a lack of consideration of how the embodied self persists through time: as a three-dimensional entity, or rather as a four-dimensional one with temporal parts as well as spatial parts? Conversely, in discussions on persistence over time, a purely mental approach is dominant. I set out to detail the metaphysical debate on persistence, how it is typically applied to persons, and develop a novel account merging various influential lines of thought. The result is an embodied self as a perduring, bio-processual entity.Show less
This thesis discusses the thinking on time by Husserl and Heidegger. Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit and Husserl’s Vorlesungen are the two main sources of study. Husserl’s primary purpose with...Show moreThis thesis discusses the thinking on time by Husserl and Heidegger. Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit and Husserl’s Vorlesungen are the two main sources of study. Husserl’s primary purpose with Vorlesungen is to deliver a phenomenological analysis of the consciousness of time. The preliminary goal that Heidegger sets for himself in Sein und Zeit is to provide an interpretation of time as a possible horizon of Dasein. The main question of this thesis is: What role does the concept of ‘horizon’ play in Seit und Zeit by Heidegger and in Vorlesungen zur Phänomenologie des inneren Zeitbewusstseins by Husserl, and how do these concepts relate to one another? Over the past decades, a number of comparative studies on Husserl’s and Heidegger’s concepts of time have appeared, many of which argue that Husserl’s Vorlesungen strongly depend on a metaphysical thinking on time. Heidegger too is critical towards Husserl, directly or indirectly, due to the fact that to his judgement, Husserl reduces all experience to transcendental subjectivity, which results in everything being present to the subject. The purpose of this thesis, however, is to demonstrate that with Husserl as much as with Heidegger, we can speak of an ontology of time. This is clarified, amongst other things, using Husserl’s concept of ‘horizon’. The horizon concept that Husserl uses, appears to be merely empirical and ontic, as opposed to Heidegger’s existential-ontological horizon concept. Yet this thesis demonstrates that Husserl’s horizon does in fact have ontological attributes. To conclude so appears to be a small contribution to existing studies on Husserl and Heidegger, yet it certainly has consequences for an accurate interpretation and comparison of time concepts by Husserl and Heidegger. Even though the ontological character of time with Husserl is not thematic, it can certainly be found in Vorlesungen and therefore cannot be ignored. As a result, Husserl’s ideas can no longer be considered exclusively metaphysical.Show less
In this thesis I will research the way in which Melancholia and The Hours use unconventional notions of time in order to construct an experience of melancholia which provokes certain views on...Show moreIn this thesis I will research the way in which Melancholia and The Hours use unconventional notions of time in order to construct an experience of melancholia which provokes certain views on melancholia. In order to do this, I will first establish what melancholia has meant over the centuries and how it is perceived today. I will also distinguish melancholia from mourning by using Sigmund Freud’s text on ‘Mourning and Melancholia’. Additionally, I will argue how illnesses are used in the arts in order to introduce a character with a certain personality. Later, I will accumulate onto the two films, whereof first The Hours and then Melancholia, specifically focusing on how the state of melancholia is expressed through the unconventional use of time.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
The conceptual link between space and time is accounted for by two different theories: Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM, Walsh 2003). Within...Show moreThe conceptual link between space and time is accounted for by two different theories: Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT, Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM, Walsh 2003). Within a linguistic framework, CMT provides evidence for an asymmetric conceptual link between space and time, opposed to the symmetric link predicted by ATOM. Casasanto and Boroditsky (2008) and Casasanto (2010) presented evidence in favour of CMT from non-linguistic psychophysical tasks. Longer lines appeared to positively affect participants’ estimation of duration, analogous to metaphors for duration using spatial words such as long and short, but duration did not influence the perception of space (Casasanto and Boroditsky 2008). A subsequent study revealed language specific differences in effects of different stimulus types, parallel to the typical duration metaphors found in these languages (Casasanto 2010). The present investigation of Dutch shows that the relation between duration metaphors and the perception of space and duration is less straightforward than what might be expected on the basis of the accounts of Casasanto and Boroditsky (2008) and Casasanto (2010). The results of an experiment with speakers of Dutch reveal a symmetric link between space and duration in the case of space presented in the form of one-dimensional length, but an asymmetric link is reported in case of more-dimensional size. Overall, this provides evidence for ATOM rather than CMT.Show less
In this thesis I will show that the mood of anxiety has a very significant role in Heidegger's Sein und Zeit. Anxiety is that specific mood which opens Dasein for the nothing that constitutes his...Show moreIn this thesis I will show that the mood of anxiety has a very significant role in Heidegger's Sein und Zeit. Anxiety is that specific mood which opens Dasein for the nothing that constitutes his being. It is this nothing that enables Heidegger to criticize the Aristotelean concept of time and to suggest a more primordial concept of time.Show less
