Tag: Philosophy

  • Freedom and Structure: Sartre’s Praxis as a Critique of Foucault’s Theory of Discourse

    Freedom and Structure: Sartre’s Praxis as a Critique of Foucault’s Theory of Discourse

    1. Introduction This essay compares and contrasts Foucault’s and Sartre’s approaches to understanding history, firstly by examining Foucault’s theory of discourse in his The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969) and Sartre’s concept of individual praxis from his Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960). While Sartre’s Critique was not a response to Foucault’s philosophy, as it was published almost a decade prior to Foucault’s Archaeology,…

  • The Meaning of Everydayness

    The Meaning of Everydayness

    Published 29 September 2024Last updated 4 October 2024 Here I am, sitting in a quiet room, typing away. There you are, sitting or standing or what have you: reading this article that caught the eye. Here we are, breathing, being. But what does it mean to be? Existential philosophers such as Heidegger and Sartre would…

  • Why Has Being Become Manifest as a Burden? An Exploration of Anxiety in Being and Time

    Why Has Being Become Manifest as a Burden? An Exploration of Anxiety in Being and Time

    1. Introductions This essay explores Heidegger’s concept of anxiety in Being and Time and aims to seek clarification for its root cause while answering the question: Why has Being become manifest as a burden? (Heidegger, 1962, p. 173). Section 2 outlines the project of Being and Time, which provides the context for our exploration and…

  • (Review) On a Judgment of One’s Own: Heideggerian Authenticity, Standpoints, and All Things Considered

    (Review) On a Judgment of One’s Own: Heideggerian Authenticity, Standpoints, and All Things Considered

    McManus, D. (2019). On a Judgment of One’s Own: Heideggerian Authenticity, Standpoints, and All Things Considered. [Online]. 128 (512). pp. 1181–1204. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzx045. In this illuminating account of Heidegger’s notion of authenticity (Eigentlichkeit), McManus thoroughly explores Heidegger’s descriptions of authentic existence in Being and Time through an in-depth review of primary and secondary literature, including…

  • Exploring Bergson’s Concept of Intuition: A Phenomenological Critique

    Exploring Bergson’s Concept of Intuition: A Phenomenological Critique

    1. Introduction This essay aims to explore Bergson’s concept of intuition in Time and Free Will, and compare it with ideas in phenomenology, particularly in Husserl and Heidegger. Section 2 provides the context for our exploration by discussing Bergson’s concept of consciousness as ‘duration’ (la durée), which is grasped by intuition, and section 3 delves…

  • How Can the Concept of Embodiment and Intersubjectivity Be Understood in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty?

    How Can the Concept of Embodiment and Intersubjectivity Be Understood in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty?

    Introduction In the Göttingen lectures of 1907, particularly Ding und Raum (Thing and Space), Edmund Husserl delved into the relationship between the lived body and the phenomena of space and time as they are experienced, in conjunction with related discussions on sensuous perception, memory, fantasy and time consciousness, which pioneered a phenomenological tradition that went…

  • (Review) The A Priori: Merleau-Ponty’s ‘New Definition’

    (Review) The A Priori: Merleau-Ponty’s ‘New Definition’

    Shahid, S. (2022). ‘The A Priori: Merleau-Ponty’s ‘New Definition’’, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 30(4), pp. 399-419. Available at: 10.1080/09672559.2022.2108102. Introduction Sidra Shahid begins her article by quoting Merleau-Ponty in his magnum opus, Phenomenology of Perception, on his claim of having pronounced a ‘new definition of the a priori’ [p. 399]. She then swiftly introduces the reader…

  • The Perceptual Field of Being-in-the-world

    The Perceptual Field of Being-in-the-world

    In the previous post (Yes or No: Is There an External World?), we are introduced to Heidegger’s notion of Being-in-the-world and have succinctly exhibited the significance of ‘world’ and its constitution. In this post, we shall further clarify the extent of the phenomenality of Being-in-the-world and seek to understand the world of perception as revealed…

  • Yes or No: Is There an External World?

    Yes or No: Is There an External World?

    As the title suggests, as of recent, I was pressured into giving a categorical answer to what I deem to be a false dichotomy, for reasons that I shall elaborate later. The question was raised by an acquaintance who grew frustrated with my responses when there was an exchange of metaphysical views between us, which…

  • Breath by Breath

    Breath by Breath

    By Dicson Candra Wijaya25 February, 2023 Being in the world, this world, is an undeniable reality for each and every one of us. For without it, I wouldn’t be writing; nor you, reading; or anybody else who potentially comes across this essay (no matter how remotely). Each of us living, having lived; breathing, having breathed.…