DOCSLIB.ORG

Authenticite, Ambiguity and Freedom : Recuperating the Philosophy Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

AUTHENTICITE, AMBIGUITY AND FREEDOM: RECUPERATING THE PHILOSOPHY OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR FOR A CONTEMPORARY ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY TESSA SAUNDERS 2009 PHD Authenticite, Ambiguity and Freedom: Recuperating the Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir for a Contemporary Ethics of Ambiguity Tessa Michelle Saunders Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania April 2009 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I certify that this thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of the candidate's knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Tessa Saunders STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY FOR ACCESS TO COPYING This Thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Tessa Saunders For Tom and James ABSTRACT Authenticiti, Ambiguity and Freedom: Recuperating the Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir for a Contemporary Ethics of Ambiguity The existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir has been criticised for being a "rniserablism"; for throwing us into an absurd universe with no meaning; and for giving an account of freedom which concludes that each can do 'as one pleases' without regard for others due to an inherent lack of meaning in the world. It has been argued that, due to its insistence on an irreducible, 'radical' freedom, it is not possible to develop an ethics based on existentialism and, therefore, that it is of little use in providing any grounds for an ethics today. In this thesis, I argue against such a reading of de Beauvoir' s existentialism, and for a recuperation of the existential notion of authenticite for a contemporary ethics. In order demonstrate the importance of the concept of authenticite, I make an explicit distinction between two conceptions of the 'authentic' self. The more common understanding is of the decontextualised, autonomous and disembodied individual/subject evident in traditional philosophical accounts of the 'authentic' self. The second is what I identify as the authentique self described by de Beauvoir, understood as embodied, situated and contextualised - the self as related ambiguously to others and the world. A primary aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the important interconnections between the concepts of ambiguity and authenticite, and to reveal that the more common notion of 'authenticity' is based (often implicitly) upon a denial of our ambiguous freedom. Taking up the more recent reclamation of the unique philosophical importance of de Beauvoir's account of ambiguity and freedom, which has strong affinities with the existential phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I apply de Beauvoir's account of authenticite, based on ambiguous freedom, to the examination of limits within feminist theory and within the debate over Aboriginal identity in the Tasmanian context. I argue that both of these debates have been limited by their understandings of 'authenticity' and that both would find within de Beauvoir's philosophy of ambiguous freedom a way to move beyond, or at least question, this understanding. I conclude that, by taking seriously the account of ambiguous freedom described throughout de Beauvoir's texts, we are provided with an ethics that allows for openness and joy in our relations with others and which offers a powerful descriptive and explanatory account of some complex contemporary social and political situations. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks must first go to Professor Jeff Malpas, Dr Jack Reynolds and Dr Kim Atkins for their supervision and support during my candidature. I have appreciated their comments, discussions, time and effort over the years it has taken to complete this project. I would especially like to thank Dr Reynolds, who has been my supervisor for the bulk of the project and who has continued to provide supervision and support since leaving the University of Tasmania. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the University of Tasmania Research Higher Degrees Unit, for providing three years of funding in the form of a postgraduate scholarship to pursue this topic. Thanks also to the School of Philosophy at the University uf Tasmania: Heau of School, Marcelo Stamm, as well as Sandra Kellett, Irene Sawford, Sally Lang and Bronwyn Peters for their assistance with the administrative side of things. I would also like to acknowledge fellow Post-Graduate Students, from the School of Philosophy for their discussions, comments during seminars and support. Special thanks to those from room 407 with whom I spent a substantial part of my time: Bruce Wilson, Eliza Goddard, Anitra Gorris-Hunter, David Middleton and Scott Aumont and to Nadia Mahjouri and Miranda Morris for many worthwhile discussions. Heartfelt thanks to my family and friends who have supported me throughout what has been a challenging (and rewarding) time: especially my husband Tom; my son James; and my house-mate, friend and sister-in-law Hannah Jenkins. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ----------------------------------------------------I A CKN OWL ED G EMENTS -------------------------------------- III ABB RE VIA TI ONS --------------------------------------------- V INTROD UC TIO N --------------------------------------------- VI SECTION I: RECLAIMING AMBIGUITY AND AUTHENTICITE IN SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S EXISTENTIALISM------------------- 1 CHAPTER ONE: OVERCOMING INDIVIDUALISM - REUNITING AMBIGUITY AND AUTHENTICITE _____________________________ _ 1 CHAPTER TWO: INTERPRETATIONS OF SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR - RE-THINKING THE IMPORTANCE OF AMBIGUITY FOR A UTHE N TI CITE---------------------------------------------- 30 CHAPTER THREE: AN AMBIGUOUS FREEDOM ________________ _ 82 SECTION TWO: EXPLORING THE CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION OF AN ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY--------------- 126 CHAPTER FOUR: RECLAIMING AMBIGUITY FOR A FEMINIST AUTHENTICITE 127 CHAPTER FIVE: AUTHENTICITY, AMBIGUITY AND THE THREAT OF THE OTHER 169 CHAPTER SIX: RESPONDING ETHICALLY TO THE FREEDOM OF THE OTHER------------------------------------------------ 206 BIB LI 0 GRAP HY-------------------------------------------- 245 iv ABBREVIATIONS The bibliography at the end of this thesis gives full details of the works cited below. Primary texts by Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre are referenced in-text using the following abbreviations, with full bibliographic details in footnotes. BN Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (Sartre) EE An Eye for an Eye EPW Existentialism and Popular Wisdom FC Force of Circumstance LM Literature and Metaphysics PC Pyrrhus et Cineas PL Prime of Life pp Phenomenology of Perception (Merleau-Ponty) RPP Review of the Phenomenology of Perception TEA The Ethics ofAmbiguity TSS The Second Sex WIE What is Existentialism? v INTRODUCTION Since its conception in the late 1930s the French existentialism associated with Jean­ Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir has been criticised for failing to provide contemporary society with an ethics; for focusing too narrowly on the individual and on 'radical freedom'; and for 'pulling the rug out' from beneath us without providing a means to move forward.1 Herbert Marcuse, for example, wrote of Sartre's existential theory that, in questioning the meaning of existence, it reveals the Cogito as the foundation for human existence and that this Cogito is " ... thrown into an 'absurd' world in which the brute fact of death and the irretrievable process of Time deny all meaning".2 Despite many philosophers being inspired and influenced by the various manifestations of existentialism, views like Marcuse' s have endured over time with one contemporary philosopher recently arguing that: ... after breaking the spell of the life-denying doctrines that dominated modernity, existentialism could offer post-modern thinking nothing to hold on to. For, if we rigorously deny that there is no human nature at all, then all the possible grounds for processes of enlightenment in law, politics and ethics are fatally undermined. Once this Humpty Dumpty has been toppled, 1 Critiques of the (particularly Sartrean) existential view of freedom abound. See, for example, Adorono, Theodore, Negative Dialectics, (trans E.B. Ashton), Continuum: New York, 1992; Marcuse, Herbert, "Existentialism: Remarks on Jean-Paul Sartre's L'Etre et le Neant" in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 8, No. 3. March, 1948, pp. 309-336; Grossmann, Reinhold, Phenomenology and Existentialism, Routledge: London, 1984; Follesdal, Dagfinn, "Sartre on Freedom," in The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Schlipp (ed), LaSalle: Open Court, 1981, pp. 392-407; Campbell, Gerald T., "Sartre's Absolute Freedom," Laval Theologique Philosophique, February 1977, pp 61-91; Kruks, Sonia, "Simone de Beauvoir: Teaching Sartre about Freedom", in Simons, Margaret, (ed) Feminist Interpretations of Simone de Beauvoir, The Pennsylvania University Press: Pennsylvania, 1995. 2 Marcuse, Herbert, "Existentialism: Remarks on Jean-Paul Sartre's L'Etre et le Neant" in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 8, No. 3. March, 1948, p 309. vi not even the entire population of sovereign individuals, exercising their free wills, could put him together again.3 In this thesis, however, I argue against this
Recommended publications
  • Pride and Sexual Friendship: the Battle of the Sexes in Nietzsche's Post-Democratic World

    Pride and Sexual Friendship: the Battle of the Sexes in Nietzsche's Post-Democratic World

    PRIDE AND SEXUAL FRIENDSHIP: THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES IN NIETZSCHE’S POST-DEMOCRATIC WORLD Lisa Fleck Uhlir Yancy, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2008 APPROVED: Steven Forde, Major Professor Ken Godwin, Committee Member Richard Ruderman, Committee Member Milan Reban, Committee Member James Meernik, Chair of the Department of Political Science Sandra L. Terrell, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Yancy, Lisa Fleck Uhlir, Pride and sexual friendship: The battle of the sexes in Nietzsche’s post-democratic world. Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science), August 2008, 191 pp., bibliography of 227 titles. This dissertation addresses an ignored [partly for its controversial nature] aspect of Nietzschean philosophy: that of the role of modern woman in the creation of a future horizon. Details of the effects of the Enlightenment, Christianity and democracy upon society are discussed, as well as effects on the individual, particularly woman. After this forward look at the changes anticipated by Nietzsche, the traditional roles of woman as the eternal feminine, wife and mother are debated. An argument for the necessity of a continuation of the battle of the sexes, and the struggle among men and women in a context of sexual love and friendship is given. This mutual affirmation must occur through the motivation of pride and not vanity. In conclusion, I argue that one possible avenue for change is a Nietzschean call for a modern revaluation of values by noble woman in conjugation with her warrior scholar to bring about the elevation of mankind.
  • WSRC3290 ASCP 2018 Conference Program FA.Indd

    WSRC3290 ASCP 2018 Conference Program FA.Indd

    AUSTRALASIAN SOCIETY FOR CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018 AUSTRALASIAN SOCIETY FOR CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY THANKS TO Western Sydney University would like to acknowledge the ≥ Professor Peter Hutchings, Dean of the School of Humanities Burramattagal people of the Darug tribe, who are the traditional and Communication Arts custodians of the land on which Western Sydney University at Jacinta Sassine and the student volunteers Parramatta stands. We respectfully acknowledge the Burramattagal ≥ people’s Ancestors and Elders, past and present and acknowledge ≥ Hannah Stark, Timothy Laurie and student volunteers their 60,000 year unceded occupation of these lands. who organized the PG event ≥ Panel organisers: Dr Suzi Adams and Dr Jeremy Smith; Professor WELCOME Thomas M. Besch; Professor Francesco Borghesi; Dr Sean Bowden; Associate Professor Diego Bubbio; Dr Millicent Churcher; Dr Richard The Conference Organising Committee for 2018 extends a warm Colledge; Dr Ingo Farin; Associate Professor Chris Fleming; Dr John welcome to all our international and Australian participants, and all Hadley; Professor Vanessa Lemm; Professor Li Zhi; Associate Professor others associated with the conference. The ASCP conference is this year hosted by Western Sydney University, at our new Parramatta David Macarthur; Associate Professor Sally Macarthur; Dr Jennifer City campus. The event has been planned and developed across Mensch; Professor Nick Mansfield; Dr Talia Morag; Associate Professor this year by members of the Philosophy Research Initiative. Eric S. Nelson; Professor Ping He; Dr Rebecca Hill; Associate Professor Janice Richardson and Dr Jon Rubin; Dr Marilyn Stendera; Dr Omid Tofighian; Professor Miguel Vatter and Dr Nicholas Heron; Dr Allison CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Weir; Dr Magdalena Zolkos.
  • How Ought We Live?

    How Ought We Live?

    How Ought We Live? The Ongoing Deconstruction of Our Values Mark Nielsen This thesis is submitted to the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the requirements of the PhD in Philosophy 2010 ii iii Dedication For Theresa and Charlotte. iv Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Paul Patton, for his generous support in assisting me in the creation of this thesis. I am particularly grateful for his patience and understanding in relation to the research method I have used. I would also like to thank my co-supervisor, Rosalyn Diprose, for her generous support. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Theresa, for her unwavering support over the years and for reminding me of what is important in life. v Table of Contents Title Page i Thesis/Dissertation Sheet ii Originality Statement, Copyright Statement and Authenticity Statement iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi Introduction: Horizontal Philosophy and the Construction of an Ethical Rhizome 1 Macro-Sociological Plateaus 1. The Salesman as Values Educator: A Lesson From a Primary School Teacher 25 2. Feeling Unhappy and Overweight: Overconsumption and the Escalation of Desire 38 3. The Politics of Greed: Trivial Domestic Democracy 52 Philosophical Plateaus 4. The Democratic Rise of the Problem of ―How Ought We Live?‖ 67 5. Living in the Land of Moriah: The Problem of ―How Ought We Sacrifice?‖ 80 6. Welcome to the Mobile Emergency Room: A Convergence Between Ethics and Triage 101 7. Diagnostic Trans-Evaluation and the Creation of New Priorities 111 8.
  • A Phenomenological Grounding of Feminist Ethics1 Citation

    A Phenomenological Grounding of Feminist Ethics1 Citation

    Penultimate version - A Phenomenological Grounding of Feminist Ethics1 Citation: Please cite the Journal version which has the correct pages etc,. Society of the British Journal for Phenomenology (accepted 11th April 2018, in press) A Phenomenological Grounding for Feminist Ethics, DOI: 10.1080/00071773.2018.1487195 https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2018.1487195 Anya Daly Irish Research Council Fellow, School of Philosophy, University College Dublin, Ireland; Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia. Abstract: The central hypothesis of this paper is that the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty offers significant philosophical groundwork for an ethics that honours key feminist commitments – embodiment, situatedness, diversity and the intrinsic sociality of subjectivity. Part 1 evaluates feminist criticisms of Merleau-Ponty. Part 2 defends the claim that Merleau-Ponty’s non-dualist ontology underwrites leading approaches in feminist ethics, notably Care Ethics and the Ethics of Vulnerability. Part 3 examines Merleau-Ponty’s analyses of embodied percipience, arguing that these offer a powerful critique of the view from nowhere, a totalizing God’s-eye-view with pretensions to objectivity. By revealing the normative structure of perceptual gestalts in the intersubjective domain, he establishes the view from everywhere. Normativity is no longer deferred to higher authorities such as duty, utility or the valorised virtue, but through the perceptual gestalt it is returned to the perceiving embodied
  • Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism

    Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism

    DERRIDEAN DECONSTRUCTION AND FEMINISM: Exploring Aporias in Feminist Theory and Practice Pam Papadelos Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Discipline of Gender, Work and Social Inquiry Adelaide University December 2006 Contents ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................III DECLARATION .....................................................................................................IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................V INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 THESIS STRUCTURE AND OVERVIEW......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS – FEMINISM AND DECONSTRUCTION ............................................................................................... 8 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 FEMINIST CRITIQUES OF PHILOSOPHY..................................................................... 10 Is Philosophy Inherently Masculine? ................................................................ 11 The Discipline of Philosophy Does Not Acknowledge Feminist Theories......... 13 The Concept of a Feminist Philosopher is Contradictory Given the Basic Premises of Philosophy.....................................................................................
  • GROUP a Roshni B Watching Naomi Wolf Interview Harvey Mansfield, on C-SPAN's Show After Words, Was Painful. Their Back And

    GROUP a Roshni B Watching Naomi Wolf Interview Harvey Mansfield, on C-SPAN's Show After Words, Was Painful. Their Back And

    1 GROUP A Roshni B Watching Naomi Wolf interview Harvey Mansfield, on C-SPAN’s show After Words, was painful. Their back and forth battle was reminiscent of witnessing a bloody jousting match. The sound of the lance’s wood splitting matches that of Mansfield’s words when he describes what he believes the role of women in society should be. Mansfield describes the difference between masculinity and manliness as physical appearance versus a general attitude. He explains that men are right to expect their wives to be lying in wait with a martini for them after a long day, and for women to expect nothing in return. Wolf is quick to question why reciprocity should not be expected. Our current generation is full of powerful women that, not only work full-time, but also take care of the household and community. Mansfield argues that men do not feel needed anymore; the importance of their role in society has been reduced. It is not wrong to question, why men have not taken more initiative to have a greater significance in the household. Wolf is able to reveal that Mansfield is a contradiction of himself throughout the interview. His interpretation of a “manly” man is one that does not submit to women; however, he repeatedly submits to Wolf’s criticisms of the book. The strides women have made in the realm of equality are stacking-up. Mansfield may not approve, but society needs women to function properly. Men have allowed themselves to crumble from a Superman- like figure, to a couch-potato that chooses to live off unemployment.
  • Mousiness Garry Wills

    Mousiness Garry Wills

    Mousiness Garry Wills Manliness man and against men in general. Harvey Mansfield by Harvey C. Mansfield. The fact that her man is probably Yale University Press, 289 pp., $27.50 no worse than any other she can I once described in these pages a meet- find may induce her to be resigned to her fate, or it may not. Either ing or the Women's Caucus of the American Bar Association at San Fran- way she cannot be happy in the cisco in 1992. The woman presiding society that was supposed to bring began by asking attendees to stand if the liberation of women. they were the first woman to be an ed- Well, no improvement of society itor of her law school's journal-or the brings perfect bliss in an imperfect first woman to be made senior partner world. But I know few if any women of her firm, to become a law school who would like to go back to the con- dean, to become a judge on her bench, dition of women before they won their and so forth. There were hundreds and recent rights. hundreds of women standing by the Mansfield gives no evidence for time she went through her list. That his certainty that woman "cannot be scene is one of many things that both- happy" in this society. There is one ers Harvey Mansfield-"tbe willing- rough measure of happiness. imperfect ness of women to claim solidarity with too, but better grounded than what other women." He claims that "a man's Mansfield asserts (he calls "assert" "my movement would be more divided favorite word").
  • Master Bibliography for Sports in Society, 1994–2009

    Master Bibliography for Sports in Society, 1994–2009

    1 MASTER BIBLIOGRAPHY Sports In Society: Issues & Controversies, 1994–2015 (5,089 references) Jay Coakley This bibliography is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. CSPS Working Papers may be distributed or cited as long as the author(s) is/are appropriately credited. CSPS Working Papers may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without the permission of the author(s). For more information please visit: www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. 60 Minutes; ―Life after the NFL: Happiness.‖ Television program, (2004, December); see also, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/16/60minutes/main661572.shtml. AAA. 1998. Statement on ―Race.‖ Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association. www.aaanet.org/stmts/racepp.htm (retrieved June, 2005). AAHPERD. 2013. Maximizing the benefits of youth sport. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 84(7): 8-13. Abad-Santos, Alexander. 2013. Everything you need to know about Steubenville High's football 'rape crew'. The Atlantic Wire (January 3): http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/01/steubenville-high-football-rape- crew/60554/ (retrieved 5-22-13). Abdel-Shehid, Gamal, & Nathan Kalman-Lamb. 2011. Out of Left Field: Social Inequality and Sport. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing Abdel-Shehid, Gamal. 2002. Muhammad Ali: America‘s B-Side. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 26, 3: 319–327. Abdel-Shehid, Gamal. 2004. Who da man?: black masculinities and sporting cultures. Toronto: Canadian Scholars‘ Press. www.cspi.org. Abney, Roberta. 1999. African American women in sport. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 70(4), 35–38.
  • Oday the Very Word Manliness Seems Quaint and Obsolete. We Are in The

    Oday the Very Word Manliness Seems Quaint and Obsolete. We Are in The

    oday the very word manliness seems quaint and obsolete. We are in the process of making the English language gender-neutral, and manliness, the quality of one gender, or rather, of one sex, to describe the essence of the enemy we are attacking, the evil we are t._col<lUl\.duu~. Recencly I had a call from the alumni magazine at the university I work, asking me to comment on a former professor of mine now honored. Responding too quickly, I said: "What impressed all of us him was his manliness." There was silence at the other end of the line, the female voice said: "Could you think of another word?" We now avoid using "man" to refer to both sexes, as in the glowing phrase of man" to which America was once dedicated. All the man-words been brought to account and corrected. Mankind has become human­ . man of the year, person of the year; and so on. But even when "man" only male, "manly" still seems pretentious in our new society, and L .uu.cat.cuJtHI!. to it as well. A manly man is making a point of the bad attitude .. ought to be playing down. attempt to make our language gender-neutral reveals something of the ldu.tuu~vu of our democracy today. A gender-neutral language implies a gender­ society, marking a pervasive change in the way we live our lives. Our has adopted, quite without realizing the magnitude of the change, a !PraLctl<:e of equality between the sexes that has never been known before in .~ ..~ ..
  • 1 Curriculum Vitae Harvey C. Mansfield Born

    1 Curriculum Vitae Harvey C. Mansfield Born

    1 Curriculum Vitae Harvey C. Mansfield born March 21, 1932; two children; U.S. citizen A.B. Harvard, 1953; Ph.D. Harvard, 1961 Academic Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship, 1970-71 NEH Fellowship, 1974-75 Member, Council of the American Political Science Association, 1980-82, 2004 Fellow, National Humanities Center, 1982 Member, Board of Foreign Scholarships, USIA, 1987-89 Member, Advisory Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1991-94 President, New England Political Science Association, 1993-4 Joseph R. Levenson Teaching Award, 1993 The Sidney Hook Memorial Award, 2002 National Humanities Medal, 2004 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, 2007 Present Positions: William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Government, 1993 to date; Carol G. Simon Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University Former Positions: Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government, 1988-93 Professor of Government, 1969-88 Chairman, Department of Government, 1973-77 Associate Professor, Harvard University, 1966-69 Assistant Professor, Harvard University, 1964-66 Lecturer, Harvard University, 1962-64 Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1960-62 Office Address: 1737 Cambridge St., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 02138 Telephone: 617-495-3333, or 617-495-2148 (department office) Fax: 617-495-0438; email: [email protected] Books: Statesmanship and Party Government, A Study of Burke and Bolingbroke, University of Chicago Press, 1965. The Spirit of Liberalism, Harvard University Press, 1978. Machiavelli's New Modes and Orders: A Study of the Discourses on Livy, Cornell University Press, 1979; reprinted, University of Chicago Press, 2001. 2 Selected Letters of Edmund Burke, edited with an introduction entitled "Burke's Theory of Political Practice," University of Chicago Press, 1984.
  • Poststructuralism, in a Companion to Philosophy in Australia & New Zealand, Monash University Publishing, Clayton, Vic., Pp.455‐459

    Poststructuralism, in a Companion to Philosophy in Australia & New Zealand, Monash University Publishing, Clayton, Vic., Pp.455‐459

    This is the published version: Reynolds, Jack 2010, Poststructuralism, in A companion to philosophy in Australia & New Zealand, Monash University Publishing, Clayton, Vic., pp.455‐459. Available from Deakin Research Online: http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30061160 Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner. Copyright : 2010, Monash University Publishing A COMPANION TO PHILOSOPHY IN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND I 455 Poststructuralism Poststructuralism Jack Reynolds While it is difficult to precisely define poststructuralism, we can begin ostensively by noting some of the philosophers who are most consistently and famously associated with the term. This includes Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-Franc,:ois Lyotard. As such, poststructuralism refers primarily to those philosophers working in France who contested and problematised the reigning orthodoxy in the humanities and social sciences in the early 1960s, which at that time was structuralism. Before positively considering their work and the way in which their overlapping but not univocal interests came to form what we today refer to as poststructuralism, it is important to consider their immediate predecessor on the French scene, structuralism. Structuralism was both a methodological mode of analysis as well as a more thoroughgoing metaphysical and ontological position, and it was widespread in the 1950s and '60s, whether it be Roland Barthes employing structuralist techniques in literary theory, Claude Levi-Strauss in anthropology, Jacques Lacan in psychoanalysis, or Louis Althusser in relation to Marxism and class analysis. The linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure was also garnering renewed attention. Structuralism sought to arrive at a stable and secure knowledge of a system or a structure, by charting differences within that structure, and it sought to do so without any references to subjectivity and consciousness.
  • Record: 1 HEIDEGGER, JEAN-LUC NANCY, and the QUESTION of DASEIN's EMBODIMENT

    Record: 1 HEIDEGGER, JEAN-LUC NANCY, and the QUESTION of DASEIN's EMBODIMENT

    Record: 1 HEIDEGGER, JEAN-LUC NANCY, AND THE QUESTION OF DASEIN'S EMBODIMENT. By: Sorial, Sarah. Philosophy Today, Summer2004, Vol. 48 Issue 2, p216-230, 25p; Abstract Analyzes the criticism made against Martin Heidegger, which maintains that Heidegger is guilty of reproducing the metaphysical subject because of his refusal to address the question of Dasein's embodiment. Role of Jean-Luc Nancy in extrapolating an ethics of embodiment from Heidegger's thinking; Philosophy and the body; Triadic relation between the body, community and meaning.; (AN 14169782) Database: Academic Search Complete Full Text Database: Author: Sorial, Sarah Title: HEIDEGGER, JEAN-LUC NANCY, AND THE QUESTION OF DASEIN'S EMBODIMENT: AN ETHICS OF TOUCH AND SPACING Source: Philos Today; Summer 2004; 48, 2; pg. 216-230 ISSN: 0031-8256 Publisher: DePaul University © 2004 Copyright DePaul University . Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved. How can one get hold of the body? I am already speechless.1 In Being and Time, Heidegger engages in a radical critique of Western metaphysics, and more specifically, of the metaphysical subject in its Cartesian form.2In this "destruction" of the tradition, part of Heidegger's project is to demonstrate that the conception of the subject elaborated by metaphysics not only severs the subject from the world but also constitutes a disavowal of Dasein's relationality and dependence on the other. For Heidegger, Dasein is here [being-there], it is being-in-the-world in terms of fallenness and thrownness; it is characterized by motion and projection, anticipation and ek-staticity; it is ontologically being-with others and endowed with the possibility of care.