Estrangement and responsibility: Heidegger's account of selfhood

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dc.contributor.advisorCrowell, Stevenen_US
dc.creatorBurch, Matthew I.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-03T18:32:00Zen_US
dc.date.available2018-12-03T18:32:00Zen_US
dc.date.issued2008en_US
dc.description.abstractMy dissertation examines Heidegger's phenomenology of estrangement and responsibility. I argue that one of the central issues of Being and Time is the possibility of an estranged individual's transformation into a responsible self. For Heidegger, each agent's original condition is one of estrangement—or a failure to be oneself—because socialization, although a necessary condition of agency, often encourages integration at the expense of self-determination. Estrangement thus involves being held at a distance from one's autonomy, and one can overcome this condition and become a self only by making the inward movement to ‘be-responsible’ or ‘resolute’. Pace Heidegger's critics, then, I show that resoluteness does not represent a bare valorization of the will but rather a way of life that involves, at the very least, satisfying the following four criteria: (1) delimiting the sphere of action for which I can be held accountable, (2) taking responsibility for my decisions and the standards in light of which I make them, (3) sustaining the commitments that are definitive of my identity and thereby preserving my integrity, and (4) carrying out my existence with an ethical regard towards the freedom of those upon whom my own capacity to act depends.en_US
dc.format.extent282 ppen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS PHIL. 2009 BURCHen_US
dc.identifier.citationBurch, Matthew I.. "Estrangement and responsibility: Heidegger's account of selfhood." (2008) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103629">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103629</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.digital304531646en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/103629en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectPhilosophyen_US
dc.subjectPhilosophy, religion and theologyen_US
dc.subjectAuthenticityen_US
dc.subjectDeathen_US
dc.subjectEstrangementen_US
dc.subjectHeidegger, Martinen_US
dc.subjectResolutenessen_US
dc.subjectResponsibilityen_US
dc.subjectSelfhooden_US
dc.titleEstrangement and responsibility: Heidegger's account of selfhooden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentPhilosophyen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanitiesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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