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Reading Heidegger As an Immigrant, Or 'Displacing Dasein'

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Reading Heidegger As an Immigrant, Or 'Displacing Dasein' Reading Heidegger as an immigrant, or ‘displacing Dasein’: the phenomenological implications of displacement Mersiye Bora Thesis submitted to Royal Holloway, University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy 2017 1 Declaration of authorship I, Mersiye Bora, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Mersiye Bora September, 2017 2 Abstract In Being and Time, Heidegger demands that readers reflect on their own experiences. As a response to this demand, I argue that the experience of displacement is missing from Heidegger’s existential analytic of Dasein, and that the phenomenon of displacement creates a rich discussion between Heidegger’s fundamental ontology and his later writings on art and technology. The task of this work is to establish a dialogue between Heidegger’s writings and the phenomenon of displacement. This thesis is a product of thinking about displacement through Heidegger, and thinking of Heidegger through displacement. The first chapter describes how the meaning of immigration as displacement is effaced in everyday political discourse and quantitative approaches, which have an ontological ground in traditional metaphysics. The second chapter explores Heidegger’s phenomenological ontology through his criticism of western ontology, which allows me to show how displacement becomes a philosophical problem. The chapter further argues that the displaced is Dasein, who has lost the world in which it lives and thereby has become homeless. It also considers the primordial homelessness of Dasein, which shows itself in anxiety, and the homelessness of the displaced. Chapter three investigates the differences and similarities between displacement and anxiety. They are similar in terms of disturbing Dasein’s dwelling in the world; however, while anxiety individualises Dasein, displacement removes Dasein entirely, and thereby displacement appears to disturb the preliminary conditions of an individualised self. Chapter four describes displacement as a breach in the unitary phenomenon of being-in-the-world, arguing that even though fundamental ontology is a useful starting point, the analytic of Dasein falls short of fully describing displacement. The last chapter argues that the displacing effect of the work of art helps us understand the meaning in displacement, revealed by the displaced one’s difficulty assimilating with ordinariness. According to Heidegger, the work of art makes the dwelling place possible; however, displaced artists’ works reveal the impossibility of dwelling like Dasein. 3 Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisors, Professor Nathan Widder and Dr Henry Somers-Hall, for their constant guidance, motivation, and support. I particularly would like to thank Nathan for being a genuinely caring lead supervisor who helped me keep going in the most stressful times for the last two years. I am also grateful to Henry for his encouragement since the earliest stages of this project. I am grateful to Professor Andrew Bowie for his supervision and feedback on my work during the first two years of my PhD. I learned a great deal from him. I also would like to express my gratitude to Dr Rebecca Roache for her invaluable comments and advice in my annual reviews. My thanks also go to Dr Julia Gallagher for her help in various stages on my PhD. I am very fortunate to have met great friends during my stay in the RHUL. I would like to thank in particular Amy Smith, Billur Aslan, Daniela Lai, Ellen Watts, Nikki Soo, Nat Rutherford, and Asma Farah. I am very grateful for having Ezgi Ünsal’s friendship since I arrived in London. I would like to thank Vegalantes Dale Sibborn, Ana Luiza Oliveira, Kaja Fenn, Hannah Southgate, Andy Stirling for being great housemates. I am also grateful for the unconditional support of my friends Belgin Yılmaz, Cansu Uzun, Fatma Tınaztepe Keskin, Sezin Karaağaç, Sevi Sertkaya, and Dilek Kadıoğlu. I would like to thank Ayşe Öztürk, Muradiye Türkay Özmen and Oktay Bora for agreeing to be guarantors for my postgraduate studies; their confidence in me made this project possible. My family has been the main source of inspiration on my writings. I particularly would like to thank my mother Ayşe, my father Necip, and my sister Necmiye for all their love and support throughout the years. I could not have got through the writing of this thesis without the unending patience, confidence, and support of my boyfriend Arnaud Gallois. I acknowledge that my PhD is funded by the Ministry of National Education, the Republic of Turkey. 4 This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my brother Mehmet Bora (1976-1998). 5 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations ................................................................................................ 9 Introduction ................................................................................................. 10 Thesis outline ................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 1 - Enframing the Displaced and the Hot Topic of Immigration .. 30 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 30 How to be Displaced ........................................................................................ 31 Who is the Immigrant? A definition ................................................................ 36 Words about Immigration ................................................................................ 40 Discourse and Idle Talk in Understanding Immigration .................................. 43 Idle Talk on Immigration ................................................................................. 46 Reification and Scientism in the Discourse of Immigration ............................ 50 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 2 - Making Sense of Displacement ............................................... 59 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 59 The Importance of the History of Metaphysics ............................................... 61 Heidegger’s Criticism of Traditional Western Philosophy .............................. 63 Descartes, Heidegger, World............................................................................ 67 Descartes .......................................................................................................... 69 Substance ......................................................................................................... 71 Hermeneutical Discussion of Cartesian Ontology of the World ...................... 73 Introducing Displacement as a Problem for Pre-ontological Understanding which Determines Ontological and Theoretical Interpretation .................................... 79 6 Displacement of a Cave Man ........................................................................... 82 Everyday Encounters with Environment and Society ..................................... 84 a) Ambiguity of the human being ........................................................................... 84 b) Caring-in-the-world ............................................................................................ 86 c) Das Man and the displaced one .......................................................................... 87 Homelessness in Heidegger and the Homelessness of the Displaced One ...... 92 a) Dasein has never been at home: being at home as an illusion ........................ 92 b) Technology as homelessness .............................................................................. 93 c) Universalisation of homelessness: exile ............................................................. 97 d) Homesickness of the philosopher ....................................................................... 99 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 100 Chapter 3 - Displacement and the Problem of the Self in Being and Time ................................................................................................................... 104 Introduction .................................................................................................... 104 Ontological Foundation of the Authentic/Inauthentic State of Dasein .......... 107 What is the Undifferentiated Mode? .............................................................. 110 Anxiety........................................................................................................... 114 Constancy....................................................................................................... 117 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 121 Chapter 4 - Displacement: Not Moving Like Dasein ............................... 122 Introduction .................................................................................................... 122 Open ..............................................................................................................
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