This essay examines Czech philosopher Jan Patočka’s phenomenology as a philosophy of freedom. It shows how Patočka’s phenomenological conceptof worldliness, initially cast within a largely philosophical framework as the domain of human action and transcendence, turned toward a philosophical history of the modern age, viewed as increasingly post-European. Patočka hoped for the moral renewal of a fallen modernity, led first by non-Europeans after the era of decolonization and then by a “solidarity of the shaken” during the dark 1970s of (...) Czechoslovak normalization. The essay starts and concludes by considering the relation between his thought and his dissidence, a link that is more tenuous and indirect than some commentators suggest. (shrink)

이 글은 사르트르 철학에서 ‘감정(émotion)’의 문제를 다룬다. 일반적으로 감정은 수동적으로 촉발된 심적 상태로서, 판단 및 행위의 동인이 되는 것으로 간주된다. 그러나 사르트르에 의하면 감정은 우리의 선택을 촉발하는 동인이 될 수 없다. 감정은 결과로서 선택된 실천과 동일한 것이지 그 근거가 아니기 때문이다. 그런데 어떻게 감정이 실천과 동일한 것일 수 있는가? 감정은 수동성을 가진 것이며, 실천은 주체의 자발성의 표현이 아닌가? 사르트르 감정론의 독창적 면모는 이 지점에서 드러난다. 사르트르에게 감정은 심적 상태가 아닌 ‘의식’이다. 감정을 의식 내에 위치한 사물처럼 간주했던 전통 철학을 비판하며, 사르트르는 (...) 감정이 의식의 ‘상태’가 아니라 의식이 대상을 ‘지향하는 활동’이라 주장한다. 그런데 왜 감정이 의식의 상태가 아닌 의식의 활동으로 이해되어야 하는가? 사르트르 감정론의 핵심을 이루는 이 주장을 이해하기 위해서는 『자아의 초월성』(1935)을 경유해야 한다. 이 저작에서 사르트르는 기존 철학이 임의적으로 가정해 왔던 사물주의적(chosisme) 선입견을 후설 현상학의 지향성 개념에 입각해 비판함으로써 그 자신의 독창적인 현상학적 탐구를 시작한다.BR/이 글은 사르트르의 자아의 초월성을 대상으로 사르트르 감정론의 밑그림을 살펴보려는 기획이다. Ⅱ장에서는 사르트르 감정론의 핵심을 이루는 “감정은 의식이다”라는 명제의 의미를 살펴보고, Ⅲ장에서는 감정의 “초월성”에 관한 사르트르의 논의를 분석함으로써 사르트르에게서 어떻게 감정이 의식인 동시에 의식을 초월해 있는 것인가를 해명할 것이다. 마지막으로 Ⅳ장에서는 내면성의 신화로부터 벗어난 사르트르 감정론의 귀결이 무엇인가를 확인할 것이다. (shrink)

This book explains how to read Plato, emphasizing the philosophic importance of the dramatic aspects of the dialogues, and showing that Plato is an ironic thinker and that his irony is deeply rooted in his philosophy.

Given its use of religious concepts and language, it is tempting to class Fichte’s rarely discussed Staatslehre as a political theology. I argue that the Staatslehre can be classed as a political theology because of the way in which it can be understood in terms of the concepts of immanence and transcendence. The concept of immanence applies to Fichte’s account of history in particular. Fichte himself allows for a moment of transcendence at the very beginning of history. I (...) argue that the concept of transcendence is also implicit in the Staatslehre in relation to some problems faced by Fichte’s own account of the role of the Zwingherr in the historical development and actualization of right and moral freedom, despite his attempt to avoid introducing theologically based explanations of political concepts at this stage of his Staatslehre. (shrink)

Voluntary simplicity (VS) refers to a minimalistic lifestyle of conscious, ecological, and ethical consumption, which is conducive to individual, societal, and environmental well-being. For policymakers and business managers, a key to leveraging this consumer shift is to promote persuasive appeals effectively. This research theorizes that the two forms of VS appeals are systematically associated with distinct temporal landmarks. In particular, we demonstrate that consumers are more likely to engage in biospheric voluntary simplicity (BVS) when priming a temporal landmark as the (...) start of a time period. In contrast, consumers are more likely to participate in egoistic voluntary simplicity (EVS) when priming a temporal landmark as the end of a time period. Notably, the matching effects are driven by distinct mechanisms, such that the effect of a match between a start temporal landmark and BVS appeals is driven by self-transcendence, whereas the effect of a match between an end temporal landmark and EVS appeals is motivated by self-enhancement. Beyond their substantive theoretical significance, our findings provide marketing campaigns with tools to enact strategies that support voluntary simplicity. (shrink)

Two case studies involving waves of claims and public discourse about mysterious aerial sightings in the United States over half a century apart are presented. Most evaluations of such episodes by scientists ethnocentrically portray sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) as the product of deviance, irrationality, or psychopathology The emphasis on natural science approaches to understanding the social sciences is primarily responsible for the present erroneous pseudoscientific status of UFOs, as is the failure to recognize or take as problematic the (...) notion of rationality as a cultural category. Consequently, the symbolic significance of UFOs has been obscured. Contemporary interpretations of UFOs serve the unconscious resurrection of the power and function of omnipotent beings during a secular age. A semiotic culture‐as‐text social anthropology approach is more fruitful as it does not treat rationality as an objective given, but emphasizes the social construction of reality and the translation of unfamiliar symbol systems. (shrink)

This paper will attempt to assess the primary differences between what I take to be the two primary philosophical "traditions" in contemporary French philosophy, using Derrida (transcendence) and Deleuze (immanence) as exemplary representatives. The body of the paper will examine the use of these terms in three different areas of philosophy on which Derrida and Deleuze have both written: subjectivity, ontology, and epistemology. (1) In the field of subjectivity, the notion of the subject has been critiqued in two manners, (...) either by appealing either to the transcendence of the other (Levinas, Derrida) or to the immanent jlux of experience itself, in relation to which the Ego itself is trancendent (Deleuze, Foucault, Sartre, James). (2) In the field of ontology, a purely "immanent" ontology would be an ontology in which there is neither a "beyond" or an "otherwise" Being, nor "interruptions" in Being, both of which would require an appeal to a formal element of transcendence (Deleuze). Such a "transcendent" and aporetic structure, which can never appear or be present as such within Being, is what lies at the basis of the project of deconstruction, with its attendant aporias (Derrida). (3) This distinction, finally, finds parallels in Kant's epistemology, for whom the possible experience is conditioned by purely immanent criteria (Deleuze), whereas what goes beyond the limits of possible experience is transcendent (Derrida). Drawing on these three thread of analysis, the paper concludes with an assessment of what is at stake in the ethical differences between the two traditions. The question of "transcendence" is "What mast I do?", which is the question of morality (a duty or obligation that is beyond being, an "ought" beyond the "is"). The question of "immanence" is "What can I do?" (my power or capacity as an existing individual within being). For Levinas and Derrida, ethics precedes ontology because it is derived from an element of transcendence (the Other); for Deleuze, ethics is ontology because it is derived from the immanent relation of beings to Being at the level of their existence (Spinoza). (shrink)

Examines the issues of self (including gender), truth, and transcendence in classical Chinese and Western philosophy.

Ordinary human perceivers know that visual objects are perceivable from standpoints other than their own. The aim of this paper is to provide an explanation of how perceptual experience equips perceivers with this knowledge. I approach the task by discussing a variety of action-based theories of perception. Some of these theories maintain that standpoint transcendence is required for shape perception. I argue that this standpoint transcendence must take place in the phenomenal present and that it can be explained (...) in terms of the experience of perceivers who jointly attend to an object. Joint perceivers experience objects as being perceived from standpoints other than their own. They operate in what I call “social space”, in which they single out objects by triangulating targets’ locations relative to their co-perceivers’ standpoints on these targets. It is then possible to explain the public character of the objects of individual experience by appeal to what I call “public space”. This is a spatial framework whose locations are presented as standpoints whence joint attention to the target would ensue, were they occupied by co-perceivers. If shape perception requires standpoint transcendence, then shape perceivers operate in public space and are thus capable of singling out targets by triangulating their locations from standpoints other than their own. If it doesn’t, then the introduction of a public spatial framework is an additional step whose introduction explains how perceivers come to experience objects as perceivable from standpoints other than their own. (shrink)

In this provocative new work of social philosophy, Seligman evaluates modernity's wager, namely, the gambit to liberate the modern individual from external social and religious norms by supplanting them with the rational self as its own ...

Seamus Heaney's exploration of identity politics has long been a subject of debate among scholars. While some view him as a creator of his own ethnic identity, others critique him as a fabricator of myths and idealized origins. However, the truth of Heaney’s engagement with ethnic identity is far more nuanced. His journey, evolving from a focus on communal attachment to active alienation, and ultimately to the deconstruction of binary oppositions, marks a significant shift from essentialism to pluralism. This transformation (...) is deeply intertwined with Heaney's evolving aesthetic and philosophical reflections on key identity-related themes—such as place and displacement, nationalist claims and political martyrdom, center and emptiness, and border and transcendence. Through this process, Heaney engages in a continual negotiation of personal and collective anxieties, producing poetry that is marked by ongoing revision and renewal. His reflections on identity and their poetic revisions provide profound insights into the ethical dimensions of his work, which not only enhances our understanding of his intellectual development but also positions him within the broader context of Western intellectual traditions. In light of contemporary global conflicts, Heaney’s poetic engagement with themes of identity, place, border, and transcendence offers valuable perspectives on the relationship between self and other, as well as between in-group and out-group dynamics. This essay considers how Heaney's reflections can inform contemporary philosophical discussions on identity and the ethical implications of belonging in a divided world. (shrink)

The 1929 confrontation between Heidegger and Cassirer in Davos (Switzerland) is pivotal for the history of the twentieth-century philosophy. The stake of that encounter was the appropriation of Kant’s legacy during the first half of the last century and the fate of Neo-Kantianism between the two World Wars. Since then, the “Davos disputation” has become controversial among researchers of the development of philosophical orientations in the twentieth century. Moreover, not only these researchers, but also the attendants of that dispute, express (...) opposite views on its outcome. Central at Davos was the issue of human finitude and transcendence within a Kantian framework. Although Kant addresses this issue most explicitly in his moral philosophy, the research of the Davos disputation tends to focus primarily on theoretical matters. The thesis revaluates Heidegger’s and Cassirer’s debate on human finitude and transcendence against the background of their written interpretations of Kant’s critical ethics. Heidegger’s reading of Kant’s conception of human finitude turns out to underestimate Kant’s views on the human potential for transcending, while Cassirer turns out to overestimate that potential by downplaying Kant’s arguments for ineluctable finitude. According to a moderate interpretative position, halfway between Heidegger’s and Cassirer’s, a finite being has, for Kant, a potential to transcend “within” – not “beyond” – finitude. (shrink)

Aims to rethink ethics and transcendence in light of the phenomenology of empathy and social ontology.

Background The Covid 19 pandemic has led to and continues to pose challenges for healthcare systems globally, especially in intensive care units. This research was conducted to examine the self-transcendence of the leading fighters, intensive care nurses, during the Covid 19 pandemic. Methods The descriptive phenomenological research method was used in the study. The research was carried out between June and December 2020 with the nurses who care for Covid 19 patients in the Covid 19 intensive care service in (...) different provinces of Turkey. The research was completed with 25 participants. A semi-structured interview form prepared based on the Theory of Self-Transcendence (vulnerability, self-transcendence, and well-being) and based on the literature was used to collect data. Ethical considerations Ethical requirements were respected in every phase of the research process. Results: The nurses in the study were found to experience vulnerability due to “administrative loneliness,” “inability to give care,” “fear of being a source of infection,” and “loneliness of patients.” Conclusions It has been found that “improvement in nursing roles and skills,” “being proud for oneself and the team,” “understanding the value of life,” and “feeling like a superhero due to the responsibilities shouldered during the pandemic” support nurses’ self-transcendence, which contributes to physical and mental well-being. (shrink)

A cross-sectional view of the entire complex of Indian spirituality, with special reference to the omnipresent and ramifying tradition of yoga.

“Self-transcendence” is proposed as a way in which individuals might find relief and support in the context of COVID-19, as well as other times of uncertainty. However, the authors propose that the multiple definitions of self-transcendence within existing literature lean towards the complex, sometimes obscure, and imprecisely spiritual. A concern is that this creates a circumstance, where the possibility of supporting self-transcendence in a wider population will become excluding in this complexity. In this paper, we have undertaken (...) a critical summary review focused primarily on historical foundations of the concept of self-transcendence, and key theoretical approaches in which self-transcendence and self-transcendent experiences are discussed with the motive of finding a clarity to understanding self-transcendence and the pathways towards it. We argue that this much-needed clarity in our understanding of self-transcendence may serve as an inclusive and democratized resource in which to support well-being and resilience in the context of COVID and beyond. (shrink)

Henry’s concept of transcendence is highly paradoxical. Most often it seems as though he had simply borrowed Husserl’s classical description of intentionality, as the act of aiming‐at‐something as an independent object, at something given or posited by consciousness outside itself, in the status of a worldly outwardness. This determination of transcendence belongs to Henry’s usual critique of what he calls the ‘ontological monism’ of classical metaphysics and ‘historical phenomenology’. Nevertheless, when Henry endeavours to define the ontological difference between (...) life itself and the living incarnate ego within the sphere of radically subjective immanence, particularly in his last works on truth and on Christianity, he cannot but refer to another concept of transcendence, the theological and metaphysical one. This is a transcendence which claims absolute ontological exteriority, as the being‐in‐itself of the ‘substance’, altogether free of any intentional dependence on the transcendental activity of consciousness. And he uses this last concept to assert, of course, that divine transcendence, as true to the Absolute, is none other than the most radical and deep immanence: the immanence of life itself. (shrink)

Richard Boyd’s “Finite Beings, Finite Goods” is exactly the sort of response a philosopher hopes to evoke. It is perceptive and fair-minded in its reading and criticism of my work, illuminating the agreements and disagreements and the motivations on both sides, and showing points at which my position stands in need of more adequate development. At the same time it is much more than a response, offering a fuller and richer development, on several points, of what was already, in my (...) opinion, the most plausible and promising version of naturalist moral realism. Here I will try to respond in a similar spirit, though on a smaller scale, taking up first issues about consequentialism, and helplessness, and then more metaethical issues, involving what I have called “the critical stance.”. (shrink)

This collection of essays represents the work of fifteen scholars in four disciplines: philosophy, theology, sociology, and cultural studies. It offers an interdisciplinary reflection on the role and impact of technology in society, focusing on the i.

이 연구의 주된 목적은 체험주의(experientialism)의 은유 분석을 통해 유학에서의 초월적 존재의 ‘탄생’과 그것이 정치적ㆍ사회적 구조를 정당화하는 근거로 ‘변용’되어 가는 경로를 추적하는 것이다. 구체적으로 이 연구는 전국시대 말 이후 새롭게 등장한 유학의 초월 개념 ‘태극’(太極) ‘태일’(太一) ‘하늘’[天]이 어떤 은유적 확장을 통해 ‘만물 생성의 시원’을 유추하는 문제에서 ‘정치적ㆍ사회적 구조를 정당화하는 근거’로 변용되는가를 논증하는 것이다.BR 1)『계사전』의 ‘태극’은 우주 만물의 시원(始原)을 설명하기 위한 새로운 은유적 확장물이다. 『계사전』은 『태극은 만물의 시원』 『태극은 우주 만물 변화의 원인자』 등의 은유를 탄생시킴으로써 우주의 생성론적 물음에 답할 수 있도록 유학적 (...) 단초를 제공했다. 2) 여씨춘추의 통일제국에 대한 지향은 만물의 시원을 넘어 객관성ㆍ보편성ㆍ법칙성의 표상하는 『태일=도(道)=군주』 은유를 탄생시켰다. 그리고 『태일=도=군주』 은유를 중심으로 『태일[도]ㆍ군주/만물ㆍ신하』 『군주는 명령을 제정하는 자/신하는 명령을 따르는 자』 은유들을 조직, ‘수직적 계급 구조’를 구축했다. 3) 동중서는 초월자 ‘하늘’을 ‘왕권 신성화의 표상’으로 해석한다. 그는 『군주=하늘』 은유를 중심으로 『인간은 하늘과 동류』 『군주는 하늘의 아들』 『군주의 권능=하늘의 권능』의 은유 체계를 조직, 군주의 힘과 위상을 신격화한다.BR 무엇을 어떻게 의미화 할 것인가는 특정 개념을 사용하는 우리의 ‘목적’과 ‘의도’에 따라 조정되고 확대, 혹은 축소될 수 있다. 그런 의미에서 모든 개념들은 비고정적이다. 이 연구가 시도하는 초월 개념의 탄생과 변용에 대한 검토는 ‘개념 그 자체’에 대한 탐색이 아니라, 그것에 투영된 사용자들의 ‘목적’과 ‘의도’를 읽는 것이다. 그리고 우리의 삶을 지배하고 있는 개념체계를 되돌아보게 하는 것이다. (shrink)

Broader outlook, ethics, and social responsibility have been long-standing concerns in business practices and management. In this regard, an effective management education would play a pivotal role in instilling an ethical grounding among management students, who represent the future management practitioners. Therefore, going beyond the self-oriented perspective and promoting altruistic behavior among them would be significant in establishing broader, socially responsible considerations in organizations. However, little research has investigated how to increase altruistic behavior. To address this need, we propose that (...) Yoga-based practices (YBP) can build-up altruistic behavior by enhancing subjective vitality (SV), self-transcendence (ST), and psychological capital (PsyCap). We report two studies to test this hypothesis. In Study 1, a survey-based study (n = 342), we examine the impact of SV and ST on altruistic behavior mediated by PsyCap. The results from structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized model. In study 2, we examine the impact of YBP on SV and ST using longitudinal randomized controlled experiment design (n = 109). The findings of study 2 suggest that YBP enhanced both SV and ST and that YBP are effective, efficient, and sustainable training tools for building altruistic behavior among management students. We discuss the significance and implications of these findings for organizations, management education, and leadership development. We consider the limitations of our study and suggest directions for future research. (shrink)

It is intuitive to think that divine transcendence is incompatible with the sacredness of nature, especially when transcendence is combined with the idea that God alone is valuable. Divine transcendence seems to demote this-worldly values in favor of union with God in a disembodied afterlife. Divine transcendence also seems to legitimize hierarchies, including male–female and human-nature hierarchies. Divine immanence seems a better alternative. This set of intuitions about transcendence appears regularly in the field of Religion (...) and Ecology, sometimes as an implicit backdrop rather than an explicit position. This backdrop needs to be thematized and evaluated. For those with ecological concerns, divine transcendence and divine immanence need not be mutually exclusive. Rather, divine transcendence (understood non-contrastively) complements divine immanence and is compatible with both animist and polytheist cosmologies. The extent of this mutual compatibility and its importance for environmental concerns has yet to be fully articulated. (shrink)

A Time for Wisdom is for a beleaguered audience that wants to cultivate this virtue and elevate themselves above the noise and toxicity of the modern world. Written by a pair of psychologists, it unpacks the research that has been conducted on the subject in recent years but that hasn't been communicated to readers in a relevant way. What's more, the book takes our current scientific understanding and integrates it with timeless concepts of wisdom that have, for millennia, guided men (...) and women through life's troubles. With this as their foundation, the authors lay out four practices to pursue wisdom in our daily lives. These include receiving knowledge; practicing detachment; experiencing tranquility, and cultivating transcendence. These are profound and spiritual ideas that can quiet the shallow cacophony of the crowd and bring us inner peace. The authors make these practices clear and accessible and show us the immense satisfaction we can enjoy by aspiring to live by them. A Time for Wisdom is an invitation to step outside the circus of contemporary life, to break free from its fanfare of foolishness. It commends a course of action towards the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, towards calm and clear moral reasoning. And it gives us a recipe for self-transcendence so that we-like the great sages and scientists before us-can rise above the immediacy of the moment and a taste of the numinous and the infinite. (shrink)

The doyen of university presidents emeriti, Patrick (Paddy) Masterson remains one of UCD's most admired scholars and leaders twenty-five years after he was its President. A Festschrift is the crowning accolade for an academic, and the present volume is testament to the high esteem in which Paddy Masterson is regarded by his peers. It is also a token of gratitude from his Alma Mater. Outside of Ireland, he has been honoured in Portugal, Italy, the United States, and his beloved France. (...) He shares his intellect and wit by continuing to publish in philosophy and his more recent passion, fiction.. (shrink)

The article seeks to elucidate the status of transcendence in the historiography of secularization through the perspective of collective memory. It discusses two typological models dealing with the basic metaphysical problem concerned with the presence and meaning of transcendence in real human existence. According to the first, the historical reality of secularization causes a break from the collective memory whose roots are in religion. In contrast, the second model considers that despite the deep transformations in the status of (...) religion in a reality of secularization, an experience of historical continuity may also occur there. These models denote the two poles in the argument about the meaning and value of history for modern people. The article suggests a phenomenological analysis of the two models and criticizes their deficiencies. Finally, the “tension model” is outlined as a third alternative that aims at overcoming the binary situation created by the first two in favor of a perspective that necessitates and contains both immanence and transcendence. (shrink)

I offer a close reading of the first part of Sartre's The Transcendence of the Ego, arguing that contrary to widely held interpretation, one of Sartre's main goals in that text is to defend the view that consciousness does not necessitate self-awareness, that not all conscious states need be, ipso facto, states of self-awareness. In addition, I explain that this view about the conceptual relationship between consciousness and self-awareness has important methodological implications. One of the standard strategies for accounting (...) for the possibility of the type of capacity to have I* thoughts and attitudes is based on the assumption that being conscious necessarily entails being self-aware in at least a minimal sense, and then proceeds to explain how it I*-thoughts and attitudes are possible on the basis of those minimal states of self-awareness. Yet if Sartre's account of self-awareness is so much as plausible, this kind of strategy is bound to be incomplete. By helping itself to a notion of minimal self-awareness that is purportedly constitutive of consciousness, it fails to account for what is, by its own lights, the most fundamental form of self-awareness. (shrink)

Hasdai Crescas (1340-1411) fue un filósofo, rabino y figura pública que vivió en un período muy turbulento para las comunidades judías ibéricas y provenzales de la Baja Edad Media. Crescas lanzó una crítica vehemente contra el paradigma aristotélico recibido de la _falsafa_, que fue utilizado por Maimónides para sustentar y probar la existencia, unidad e incorporeidad de Dios, conceptualizado en la _Guía de los perplejos_ como el ser necesario absolutamente trascendente en relación con el ser contingente, es decir, el mundo. (...) En _Or Hashem_, Crescas elabora un concepto alternativo del ser necesario, en el que las dos nociones antitéticas de inmanencia y trascendencia divinas se relacionan con la distinción en el ser necesario entre su esencia simple y sus atributos infinitos. La esencia simple, una e inefable del ser necesario, se expresa en infinitos atributos en el acto eterno y constante de otorgar en la univocidad del ser su bondad y su actualidad a los infinitos seres contingentes. Crescas defiende que el universo, aunque ontológicamente contingente, es infinito en su actualidad. Dios es así concebido como la primera causa, eterna y constante, entelequia y “Lugar del Mundo”. (shrink)