Estrangement and responsibility: Heidegger's account of selfhood

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dc.contributor.advisorCrowell, Steven
dc.creatorBurch, Matthew I.
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-03T18:32:00Z
dc.date.available2018-12-03T18:32:00Z
dc.date.issued2008
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.
dc.format.extent282 pp
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS PHIL. 2009 BURCH
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>.
dc.identifier.digital304531646
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/103629
dc.language.isoeng
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.
dc.subjectPhilosophy
dc.subjectPhilosophy, religion and theology
dc.subjectAuthenticity
dc.subjectDeath
dc.subjectEstrangement
dc.subjectHeidegger, Martin
dc.subjectResoluteness
dc.subjectResponsibility
dc.subjectSelfhood
dc.titleEstrangement and responsibility: Heidegger's account of selfhood
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentPhilosophy
thesis.degree.disciplineHumanities
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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