tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60742362011-04-21T15:24:00.904-07:00This blog, along with all original posts, has moved to <a href="http://briansawyer.net">Brian Sawyer</a>.Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1160872136819577042006-10-14T17:28:00.000-07:002007-12-19T15:45:47.058-08:00

I outgrew Blogger long ago, but I finally decided to bite the bullet and move to WordPress. I know I'm giving up what little equity I have in "The Grape Press," but I hope the few people who subscribe or read occasionally will follow me.This is my last post at The Grape Press. I'll keep the posts active only as long as I feel I need to and will then delete them without warning or fanfare. All

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1077923163627525072004-05-21T03:06:00.000-07:002004-05-21T13:59:14.170-07:00

The primary reason for beginning this new site is to revive a bit of my intellectual curiosity and perhaps spark some dialogue with others who are interested in doing the same. To get this venture started, the initial posts, which will be quite long, will be serial installments of essays I've written (in what now seems like another lifetime) on a variety of philosophical topics. As the site

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1085165656802361612004-05-20T23:53:00.000-07:002004-05-21T12:35:54.333-07:00

In Being and Time, Heidegger raises "the question of the meaning of Being," a question which he believes has been covered over by the history of ontology and which now "must be treated phenomenologically" (BT 49,50).1 When introducing phenomenology as a methodological conception that "expresses a maxim which can be formulated as 'To the things themselves!,'" Heidegger borrows the term from

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1085165520636656412004-05-20T11:51:00.000-07:002004-05-21T11:54:42.696-07:00

Caputo, John D. "Husserl, Heidegger and the Question of a "Hermeneutic Phenomenology," Husserl Studies, 1 (1984), 157-178. Gelvin, Michael. Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time. Dekalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 1989. Gorner, Paul. "Husserl and Heidegger as Phenomenologists," Journal for the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1992), 147-155.

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1085165562321068792004-05-19T11:52:00.000-07:002004-05-21T11:54:59.036-07:00

1. All quotations from Being and Time refer to Macquarrie and Robinson's translation and pagination. 2. As quoted by Van Buren, pgs 244, 243. 3. This quotation and the quotations in the previous sentence as quoted by Van Buren, pg 241. 4. As quoted by Van Buren, pg 242. 5. As translated and quoted by Gorner, pg 148. 6. As quoted by Caputo, pg 160. 7. As quoted by Caputo, pg 160. 8. As quoted by

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1078349413519400072004-02-14T13:29:00.000-08:002004-03-03T13:34:21.983-08:00

Arendt, Hannah. Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982. Crawford, Donald W. Kant's Aesthetic Theory. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1974. Johnson, Mark. "Imagination in Moral Judgment." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Vol. XLVI, No. 2 (1985), 265-280. Kant, Immanuel. The Critique of Judgement. Trans James Creed Merideth

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1078348674590216382004-02-14T13:16:00.000-08:002004-03-03T13:20:53.763-08:00

In her Lectures on Kant's Political Philosophy, Arendt argues that "judgment of the particular--This is beautiful, This is ugly; this is right, this is wrong--has no place in Kant's moral philosophy" (Arendt 15). Here, Arendt distinguishes between the projects of Kant's third, aesthetic, Critique of Judgment and his second, moral, Critique of Practical Reason, respectively. "Judgment is not

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1069375028838706862003-11-20T21:37:00.000-08:002003-11-21T09:25:27.390-08:00

Through a study of their letters as representative of their amorous philosophical dialogue and their respective philosophical treatises as a product of this dialogue, this paper has shown the failure of Sartre's and de Beauvoir's relationship to achieve authenticity as they themselves defined it. As they each intentionally sought authenticity and found it necessary for the creation of their

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1069374975872861742003-11-20T21:02:00.000-08:002003-11-21T09:25:44.686-08:00

In light of both Sartre's and de Beauvoir's theories, outlined above, concerning freedom, love, and the other, we cannot help but be both shocked and confused by their accounts of their own love, as they expressed themselves to each other in their letters. De Beauvoir continually refers to Sartre with such terms as "my life's own self," claiming, "we really are one person, my beloved" (LTS 45,50)

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1069371906070280292003-11-20T12:55:00.000-08:002003-11-20T15:47:23.093-08:00

The question of authenticity addressed and pursued by Sartre and de Beauvoir in their dialogue, and its relation to reflection and lived experience in-the-world, necessarily implies the development of existential conceptions of human freedom. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir addresses "what today we call . . . authenticity," identifying as authentic all "free and true beings" (SS 241). But this

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1069196066277912432003-11-18T12:21:00.000-08:002003-11-18T16:44:58.400-08:00

Much of the tension Sartre and de Beauvoir face as they work through their understanding of love and freedom involves the question of authenticity. In particular, de Beauvoir and Sartre work through the conflicting conceptions of authenticity as a property of the pre-reflective consciousness or as a reflective philosophical project. In a letter to de Beauvoir, Sartre defines "authenticity" as "

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1069109703809706282003-11-17T12:55:00.000-08:002003-11-17T15:01:59.553-08:00

In his analysis of Platonic dialogues, Gadamer argues against an interpretation which treats the dialogues as "conclusive demonstrations" of Plato's definitive position, instead advising that "the reasonable hermeneutic assumption on which to proceed is that we are dealing with a discussion" (Gadamer 22,5). He maintains that a true discussion can never be simplified into the category of doctrine.

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1068829389696317582003-11-14T12:46:00.000-08:002006-07-05T11:41:29.980-07:00

In a letter to de Beauvoir in December of 1939, Sartre observes, "Everything revolves naturally around ideas of liberty, life, and authenticity," thus outlining the major issues and the nest of questions implied, which he and de Beauvoir faced, and worked through, in the experience of their relationship and in the forging of their philosophies through their dialogue (WTML 282). More specifically,

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1068747921325321672003-11-13T12:56:00.000-08:002003-11-13T16:40:12.060-08:00

Bair, Deirdre. Simone de Beauvoir: a Biography. New York: Summit Books, 1990. Beauvoir, Simone de. The Ethics of Ambiguity. Trans. Bernard Frechtman. New York: Citadel Press, 1994. Beauvoir, Simone de. Letters To Sartre. Trans. Quintin Hoare. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1991. Beauvoir, Simone de. The Prime of Life. Trans. Peter Green. New York: Meridian Books, 1966. Beauvoir, Simone de. The

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1068742893821399722003-11-13T12:32:00.000-08:002003-11-13T16:27:51.320-08:00

In this paper, through a Gadamerian hermeneutical analysis of Sartre's and de Beauvoir's letters while Sartre was away at war, as a written example of their amorous philosophical dialogue, and their later works as products of this dialogue, I show how they failed to achieve "authenticity" in their own relationship as they themselves defined it. Specifically, I address this failure precisely with

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074236.post-1068756072392357572003-11-13T08:55:00.000-08:002003-11-14T11:02:54.010-08:00

The primary reason for beginning this new site is to revive a bit of my intellectual curiosity and perhaps spark some dialogue with others who are interested in doing the same. To get this venture started, the initial posts, which will be quite long, will be serial installments of essays I've written (in what now seems like another lifetime) on a variety of philosophical topics. As the site

Brian Sawyernoreply@blogger.com