DISSERTATION / DOCTORAL THESIS Titel der Dissertation / Title of the Doctoral Thesis „Self-feeling“ verfasst von / submitted by Mag. Mag. Gerhard Kreuch angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doktor der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) Wien, 2016 / Vienna, 2016 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 792 269 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Dissertationsgebiet lt. Studienblatt / Philosophie field of study as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hans Bernhard Schmid Table of Content Table of Content .......................................................................................................... 3 List of Tables ................................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 11 1. Self-consciousness ................................................................................................. 16 1.1. A brief overview of philosophy of self-consciousness .................................... 16 1.1.1. Two basic distinctions and an attempt to categorize .............................. 18 1.1.2. Two widely accepted properties of self-consciousness .......................... 23 1.1.3. A word on terminology ............................................................................ 29 1.2. Challenges in current philosophy of self-consciousness – The Heidelberg School ..................................................................................................................... 31 1.2.1. Dieter Henrich: Self-consciousness is pre-reflective ............................... 33 1.2.2. Manfred Frank: Is self-consciousness propositional? ............................. 48 1.2.3. The “ex negativo” challenge in pre-reflective accounts .......................... 63 1.2.4. The problem of unity in non-egological accounts ................................... 67 1.3. The affective turn ............................................................................................ 79 1.3.1. Henrich’s take on affectivity .................................................................... 80 1.3.2. Frank’s self-feeling ................................................................................... 87 1.3.3. Pothast’s “sense” and “inner ground” ..................................................... 92 1.4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 105 2. Affectivity ............................................................................................................. 107 2.1. A brief overview of philosophy of human affectivity ................................... 108 3 Table of Content 2.1.1. Characterizing emotions ......................................................................... 109 2.1.2. Feeling vs. cognitive theories of emotion .............................................. 113 2.1.3. Fundamental affectivity .......................................................................... 118 2.2. Matthew Ratcliffe’s theory of existential feelings ........................................ 122 2.2.1. A phenomenological introduction .......................................................... 122 2.2.2. Two basic characteristics ........................................................................ 125 2.2.3. Examples from clinical practice .............................................................. 151 2.2.4. Relationship to mood and emotion........................................................ 156 2.2.5. Existential feeling and thought ............................................................... 160 2.2.6. Taking stock ............................................................................................ 169 2.3. Stephan and Slaby’s complementary work ................................................... 174 2.3.1. Classification of existential feelings ........................................................ 175 2.3.2. Sense of ability ........................................................................................ 186 2.3.3. Existential feeling and self-consciousness .............................................. 189 2.4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 196 3. Self-feeling ............................................................................................................ 198 3.1. The features of self-feeling ............................................................................ 199 3.1.1. Self-feeling is pre-reflective .................................................................... 199 3.1.2. Self-feeling is pre-propositional ............................................................. 201 3.1.3. Self-feeling is a bodily feeling ................................................................. 215 3.1.4. Self-feeling shapes our space of possibilities ......................................... 217 3.1.5. Self-feeling is the affective disclosure of individual existence ............... 220 3.1.6. Possible questions and clarifications ...................................................... 222 3.2. How this account of self-feeling contributes to today’s debates ................. 228 3.2.1. Self-feeling avoids infinite regress and vicious circularity ..................... 228 4 3.2.2. Self-feeling overcomes the “ex negativo” challenge ............................. 237 3.2.3. One unitary fundamental affectivity: Self-feeling complements the theory of existential feelings ........................................................................... 240 3.2.4. Taking stock ........................................................................................... 241 3.3. Self-feeling and unity .................................................................................... 242 3.3.1. Self-feeling and the „care-structure“ .................................................... 243 3.3.2. The problem with the “self”: What is self-feeling about? ..................... 248 3.3.3. Self-feeling can contribute to synchronic and diachronic unity ............ 253 3.4. Appropriateness of self-feeling .................................................................... 254 3.4.1. Criteria from Ratcliffe: Two explicit and one implicit ............................ 256 3.4.2. Appropriateness in philosophy of emotion ........................................... 263 3.4.3. Additional criteria: Biological function, social fitness and consistency . 273 3.4.4. Conclusion: An imperfect portfolio ....................................................... 282 3.5. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 287 4. Self-feeling and thought: Self-interpretation ...................................................... 289 4.1. Self-interpretation ........................................................................................ 290 4.1.1. A terminological framework .................................................................. 290 4.1.2. Self-interpretation and self-feeling ....................................................... 300 4.2. Appropriateness and inappropriateness in self-interpretation ................... 310 4.2.1. Challenges for an appropriate self-interpretation ................................ 310 4.2.2. Four combinations of self-feeling and self-interpretation .................... 313 4.2.3. Three types of self-relatedness ............................................................. 322 4.3. Authenticity .................................................................................................. 324 4.3.1. What kind of self-feeling in authenticity? ............................................. 324 4.3.2. The downside of authentic self-feelings ................................................ 326 5 Table of Content 4.3.3. Evaluation of self-interpretation ............................................................ 328 4.3.4. Self-interpretation integrates two aspects of authenticity .................... 332 4.3.5. Taking stock ............................................................................................ 338 Summary and open questions .................................................................................. 340 Summary of the book ........................................................................................... 340 Open questions for further research .................................................................... 356 Literature .................................................................................................................. 358 Abstract (English) ...................................................................................................... 378 Abstract (German) .................................................................................................... 379 6 List of Tables Table 1: Framework of theories of self-consciousness ............................................. 21 Table 2: Problems in theories of self-consciousness ................................................. 78 Table 3: A terminological framework ...................................................................... 294 Table