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Investigation of the Romantic Themes and Tensions in Classical American Pragmatism

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Investigation of the Romantic Themes and Tensions in Classical American Pragmatism INVESTIGATION OF THE ROMANTIC THEMES AND TENSIONS IN CLASSICAL AMERICAN PRAGMATISM A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY NİL AVCI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY JANUARY 2017 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tülin GENÇÖZ Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil TURAN Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Ahmet İNAM Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul R. TURAN (Ankara U., PHIL) Prof. Dr. Ahmet İNAM (METU, PHIL) Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil TURAN (METU, PHIL) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış PARKAN (METU, PHIL) Asst. Prof. Dr. Senem KURTAR (Ankara U., PHIL) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Nil AVCI Signature : iii ABSTRACT INVESTIGATION OF THE ROMANTIC THEMES AND TENSIONS IN CLASSICAL AMERICAN PRAGMATISM Avcı, Nil Ph.D., Department of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnam January 2017, 202 pages This thesis aims to elaborate on and defend the idea that Classical American Pragmatism shares the same themes, interests, concerns and tensions with German Romanticism. The basic proposal is that the paradoxical romantic theme of absence pointing beyond or implying more and the romantic notion of infinite strife closely connected with this theme express themselves in epistemological, ontological, ethical forms through the pragmatic philosophies of Charles Sanders Peirce and William James. In order to investigate these romantic conceptions, we focus on the romantic artistic project and romantic transformation of philosophy through the claims of Friedrich Schlegel and Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis). First, we show that the concept of absence in its epistemological form emerges as the tensional togetherness of the impossibility of comprehensive understanding and the necessity of it in the form of an ideal. As a consequence of this tension romantics transform knowledge into a pluralistic, dynamic, self-destructive and self-producing, infinite process of iv poesy which can be found in pragmatism in the form of the open-ended collective hermeneutic practice. Second, the concept of absence constitutes ethical orientation of both romantics and pragmatics in the forms of infinite struggle for self-perfection and amelioration. Finally, the notion of absence in its metaphysical aspect leads to the process metaphysics and the comprehension of the subject as constant becoming. Pragmatism romantically relies on the creative and transformative freedom of the individuals seeking their self-redemption from their alienated situation which is to be perpetually approximated but never reached. Keywords: American Pragmatism, German Romanticism, Bildung, Infinite strife, Semiotics v ÖZ KLASİK AMERİKAN PRAGMACILIĞINDA ROMANTİK TEMA VE GERİLİMLERİN İNCELENMESİ Avcı, Nil Doktora, Felsefe Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnam Ocak 2017, 202 sayfa Bu tez Klasik Amerikan Pragmacılığı’nın Alman Romantisizm’i ile ortak temalar, ilgiler, kaygılar ve gerilimler paylaştığı fikrini detaylı bir şekilde incelemeyi ve savunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Temel öneri hep ‘daha fazlası’nı ima eden ya da ‘ötesi’ne işaret eden çelişkili romantik yokluk temasının ve bu tema üzerine kurulan sonsuz mücadele fikrinin Charles Sanders Peirce ve William James’in felsefelerinde epistemolojik, ahlaki ve ontolojik formlarda kendini gösterdiğidir. Bu romantik kavrayışları incelemek için Friedrich Schlegel ve Friedrich von Hardenberg’in (Novalis) fikirleri dolayımıyla romantik sanat projesi ve felsefenin romantik dönüşümü üzerinde duruyoruz. İlkin yokluk kavramının epistemolojik formunda bütüncül bir kavrayışın zorunluluğunun ve imkânsızlığının gerilimli birlikteliği olarak ortaya çıkışını gösteriyoruz. Bu gerilimin sonucu olarak romantikler bilgiyi çoğulcu, dinamik, kendini yıkan ve kuran bitimsiz bir üretim etkinliği olarak vi düşünürler ki bu etkinlik pragmacılarda ucu açık, kolektif, hermeneutik bir pratik olarak tespit edilir. İkinci olarak yokluk kavramı hem romantik hem de pragmacı ahlaki tutumları sonsuz mükemmelleşme ve iyileşme mücadelesi kavramlarında içerilerek kurar. Son olarak bu kavram romantik ve pragmacı süreç metafiziğine ve oluş halindeki özne anlayışlarına yol açmaktadır. Pragmacılık romantik bir şekilde bireyi yabancılaşmasından kurtaracak yaratıcı ve dönüştürücü özgürlüğe güvenir fakat bu kurtuluş sonsuzca yaklaşıldığına inanılırken asla gerçekleşmeyecek olandır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Amerikan Pragmacılığı, Alman Romantizmi, Bildung, Sonsuz mücadele, Göstergebilim vii To My Parents and Beloved Monik viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Ahmet İnam for his support, encouragement, wisdom and sense of humor which helped me to reach serenity again whenever I stumbled not only during my PhD study but during all my academic life. His mentorship is unique. I also would like to thank my thesis committee members Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan, Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul R. Turan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Barış Parkan and Asst. Prof. Dr. Senem Kurtar for their criticisms and comments. I would like to thank The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for its financial support both during my PhD study (2211/A scholarship) and my research at Emory University (2214/A grant), Atlanta, US. During the research I had the chance to know and work with one of the most knowledgeable pragmatist Prof. Dr. John Stuhr whom I would like to thank too. I would like to thank my father Mahmut Avcı for his rationality and patience, and my mother Sevgi Avcı for her love and the technical support she provided to my practical life. My beloved sister Deniz Ezgi Avcı Vile was always with me for intellectual and emotional support. My sincere thank goes to her. I would like to thank Özge Önenli, Işıl Çeşmeli, Hakan Çeşmeli, Aslı Yalçın and Emir Zülfikar Özer for their signatures which proved that they had trusted my steadiness and intellectual labor. I feel deep gratitude for Işıl Çeşmeli. In complete truthfulness, without her this thesis would not have been completed. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ..................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ ......................................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 2. GERMAN ROMANTICISM ..................................................................................... 10 2.1. Romantic Literary Project .................................................................................. 10 2.2. Romantic Philosophy ......................................................................................... 25 2.2.1. Philosophy as Progressive Poetry ............................................................ 25 2.2.2. Romantic Bildung through Love ............................................................... 49 3. AMERICAN PRAGMATISM .................................................................................... 65 3.1. Charles Sanders Peirce ....................................................................................... 68 3.1.1. Philosophy as Semiotic Inquiry ................................................................ 68 3.1.2. Ethics of Evolutionary Love ...................................................................... 97 3.2. William James ................................................................................................... 118 3.2.1. Philosophy as Transformative Hermeneutics ....................................... 118 3.2.2. Ethics of Meliorism and Hope ................................................................ 135 4. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 155 x REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 164 APPENDICES A. CURRICULUM VITAE ..................................................................................... 175 B. TURKISH SUMMARY ...................................................................................... 177 C. TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU ...................................................................
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