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Weil, Truth and Life: Simone Weil and Ancient Pedagogy As a Way of Life
No full textContemporary philosophers, wary of the vaulted metaphysical systems proposed by Enlightenment thinkers, have explored alternative avenues of doing philosophy. Unfortunately, these "new" philosophical systems often neglect their roots in ancient philosophical practice. The purpose of this thesis is to textually ascertain the ancient concept of philosophy as a way of life in the contemporary philosophical work of Simone Weil. This connection is demonstrated in two distinct yet related ways. The practical pedagogy demonstrated through biographical work and student lecture notes provide a distinct vision of her life's bent toward practical philosophy. In addition, her Notebooks, read in light of Pierre Hadot's interpretation of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, demonstrate the pervasiveness of this way of life in her personal textual engagement. In Weil, therefore, we find an important contemporary instance of continuing and reinterpreting the ancient philosophical practice where she finds her philosophical origin
Truth in Art: a Dialogue With Gadamer
No full text"One of the most contentious issues in aesthetics is whether or not there can be truth in art. This is so because the question of the possibility of truth in art implicitly assumes two other fundamental questions: the nature of truth and the nature of human understanding. In his treatment of truth in art, Gadamer comes down roundly on the side of the possiblity of truth in art. In this thesis, I show how Gadamer's approval of truth in art hinges on his notion of hermeneutics and his belief in art's transformative power, and propose that his account of truth in art is still a viable and creative approach to the question today. After taking a look at the Kantian, Heideggerian, and Aristotelian background with which Gadamer is operating in his treatment of truth and art, I trace where this led Gadamer, specifically in the sense of his move to have aesthetics so closely connected to hermeneutics. Through interaction with work by Mary Devereaux, I highlight some concerns over Gadamer's use of tradition and of order as a fundamental feature of the artwork, and give an account of how those concerns may be addressed.
Natality From Chaos: Hannah Arendt and Democratic Education
No full textThis thesis considers contemporary education from a philosophical angle via the work of Hannah Arendt in light of education's key place a the intersection of responsibility for the past, empowerment to effect change in the present, and hope for the future. Chapter 1 sets out an understanding of human community as a chaotic system in the technical sense via Arendt's concept of natality, applying this understanding to the project of education as a way of helping educators facilitate students' ability to contribute something new without controlling students' potentially unique contributions. Chapter 2 questions in more detail the applicability of some of Arendt's philosophical and political ideas to multicultural education, addressing also the need for setting goals for action without assuming a deterministic, mathematically linear process. Chapter 3 examines Arendt's firm distinction between education and politics in the context of globalization and the possibility of continual renewal and transformation of our world
Rule Makers and Rule Breakers: Proceedings of a St. Michael's College Symposium (1-2 October 2004)
No full textThe Dominican Order gradually evolved rules governing contact between a Dominican pastor and a woman penitent. In the context of these rules, the care given to Catherine of Siena as reported by Raymund of Capua and as confirmed in the letters of Catherine herself can only be termed irregular. The paper attempts to identify the principles underlying and legitimating pastoral irregularity
Michel Foucault's ascesis and the Christian epistemologization of the subject in Foucault's genealogical technique de soi
No full textMaster's Thesis 2006In this thesis I examine Foucault's later writings in the 80s on the technology of the self and engage current scholarship that discusses the applicability of Foucault's use of this concept for understanding freedom in Christian theology. After a detailed examination of Foucault's writings on this subject matter I show that lie sharply contrasts an "aesthetics of existence," a term referring to the self in ancient Greece, from a Christian technology of the self. This latter term I show is in fact precisely what Foucault exposes as a constrictive technology of the self which he credits as making an indefinite subject into a predicable, knowable and definite subject. Bringing this prevalent distinction into the greater scholarship on Foucault, I challenge some readings that support the view that a premodern Christian ascesis functioned as an inspirational source for Foucault's "critical ontology" of the modern subject
Discourse and the Common Good: Legitimation and Plurality in Habermas and MacIntyre
No full textNot supplie
A 'Sex'tet on Love: New Visions for Female Subjectivity and Mutuality
No full textA love ethic is the ground of agency and subjectivity for both men and women, and mutuality is the heart of love. Many feminist scholars are working to articulate and understand love by examining women's identity and language. In this thesis, I explore a language used for love and desire through theoretical examination and poetic expression. Using a dialectical relationship between the text and the reader, this project demonstrates that mutual love depends on access to language that can express love and sexuality. Three central texts are used: 'All About Love: New Visions' by bell hooks, 'I Love to You: Sketch of a Possible Felicity in History' by Luce Irigaray and 'Love Lyrics from the Bible: The Song of Songs, a New Translation' by Marcia Falk. In six sections of theoretic analysis and poetry, I show that female subjectivity and agency are conditions for mutuality in both love and sexuality
Stout's Democracy without Secularism: But is it a Tradition?
Get PDFThis article critiques Jeffrey Stout's suggestion in Democracy and Tradition that the practice of critical democratic questioning itself forms part of a historically unique secular tradition. While the practice of democratic questioning makes a valuable contribution to the project of fostering an "enlarged mentality" among the adherents of any particular tradition, Stout's contention that this practice itself points to the existence of a substantive tradition, one that stands apart from and is not reliant upon the moral sources of the traditions it engages, remains problematic
