Crowell, Steven2018-12-032018-12-032009Smith, William Hosmer. "Selfhood, intersubjectivity, and the normativity of moral obligations." (2009) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103676">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103676</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/103676Contemporary analytic philosophers inspired by Kant's practical philosophy have recently attempted present a view of moral obligation that traces the normativity of morality back either to the agent's first-personal autonomy (Christine Korsgaard) or the agent's second-personal interaction with others (Stephen Darwall). In this dissertation, I draw these contributions into conversation with the phenomenological approaches of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Emmanuel Levinas. The solution to the “analytic” problem of moral normativity, I contend, is a “Continental” account of selfhood and intersubjectivity found in phenomenology. The framework for my theory of moral obligation is a Heideggerian understanding of the self as “being-in-the-world,” one that is attuned to Levinasian moments (the experience of obligation in alterity) through a rehabilitation of Heidegger's notion of intersubjectivity as being-with ( Mitsein ). The result is a two-part account of the normativity of morality: the ground of morality itself is second-personal—rooted in the ethical demand intrinsic to other persons—while the ground for particular moral-obligations is first-personal—rooted in the subject's avowal or endorsement of certain ethical norms within a concrete historical situation. Moral obligations, I argue, are those standards to which I hold myself in light of the moral demand for respect I find in the experience of others.331 ppengCopyright 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.PhilosophyPhilosophy, religion and theologyDarwall, Stephen L.Heidegger, MartinHusserl, EdmundIntersubjectivityKorsgaard, Christine M.Levinas, EmmanuelMoral obligationSelfhoodThesis304986462THESIS PHIL. 2009 SMITH