Self-identity and powerlessness / by Alice Koubova.

• Author: Koubová, Alice.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Contemporary Phenomenology 8.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (251 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In Self-Identity and Powerlessness , Alice Koubová proposes a conception of human existence that does not essentially depend on the definition of self-identity. The author shows that the philosophical stress on human identity fails to grasp essential aspects of human existence. By emphasizing the moments of Dasein’s powerlessness in Heidegger’s fundamental ontology, she develops — in her analysis of various philosophers, literary examples, and social psychology —an original phenomenology of alternation of existence and affair. How necessary is identity for thinking? Are we capable of philosophical thought even when we have neither ourselves, nor the world under our full control? Is it possible to relax, become powerless, and yet think precisely? These questions are to be answered in this book.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1. The Principle of Identity in Heidegger’s Descartes -- 2. The Impossibility of a Powerless Da-sein and a Powerful World in Fundamental Ontology -- 3. Paul Ricoeur: Third Mode through Narrativity -- 4. The Powerlessness of Self-Relating and the Power of the World: Exemplification -- 5. Happy Powerlessness, Relaxed Da-sein -- Bibliography -- Index of Subjects -- Index of Modern Authors.