In search for the demos: an existentialist dialectical view of nomos and phusis

Download

10216087 (1).pdf

Date

2021-9-17

Author

Oktaykan, Can Berk

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

356
views

1070
downloads

The thesis is propelled towards a rethinking of the preponderant tenets of an existentialist dialectical conception of totalizing projects undertaken by different parts of social totalities. With an overriding interest in reconstruing the present human potentialities that are afforded by the late capitalist relations of domination, production and reproduction, the ontological premises and epistemological preconditions that enable this theorization of praxis are unraveled. Taking his cue from the Adornian modification of the Hegelian dialectics, Spinozist postulation of material action as predicated upon an ingrained element of immanence and the Aristotelian preeminence attributed to dunamis, the author tries to retrace an existentialist pathway through the dialectical materialism of Marx, Engels and Lenin. Responsive to the call that is emanated by the theoretical peculiarities of traversing that pathway, he, then, endeavors to come to terms with some relevant ideas drawn from the corpus of Schopenhauer, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Lukács, etc., putting the finishing touches on that theoretical effort by engaging in frequent dialogues with Sartre’s existentialist dialectics. Although not being a thoroughbred historicist himself, he, then, puts the theoretical insights he garnered into a historical perspective, thus working toward the achievement of a multi-level double hermeneutics of human potentialities past and present. That existentialist dialectical attempt to reconstruct a diachronics of re-coded textualities that are organized into antagonistic totalities focuses on the collective projects that have been conducted by archaic and classical communities in order to realize the acuteness of the pain that is inflicted from our curbed human potentialities.

Subject Keywords

Dialectics, Sartrean existentialism, Totalisation, Nomos, Phusis

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/92154

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

The value of sociability in Rousseau, Hegel, and Nietzsche Karatekeli, Emre; Turan, Şeref Halil; Department of Philosophy (2021-5) This thesis investigates the political philosophies of Rousseau, Hegel, and Nietzsche, as regards the relation between sociability and freedom. Firstly, I argue that Rousseau’s fundamental view undergoes a drastic shift in that while in the Second Discourse he regards the human being as essentially individualistic, in the Social Contract he dismisses egoism and argues for the establishment of sociability in the name of general will to materialise human freedom. Secondly, I discuss how Hegel proves the neces...
The theory of capitalism and its ontological foundations: comparative study of Marx and Deleuze&Guattari Kocagül, Volkan; Sol, Ayhan; Department of Philosophy (2006) The main objective of this thesis is to examine the theory of capitalism and its ontological foundations through the major works of Marx and Deleuze&Guattari. In his monumental book called Capital, Karl Marx develops an account of capitalism based on his understanding of philosophy of which takes its roots from Hegel and Feuerbach. Additionally, English political economy and French socialism serve as reliable grounds for Marx’s analysis. In light of the writings of these historical precursors, Marx constitu...
Critical analysis on marxist orthodoxies: a contribution of social history of political theory Koçak, Berkay; Birler, Reşide Ömür; Department of Political Science and Public Administration (2017) This thesis aims to identify the different approaches to historical materialism in a way describing the existing controversy between Political Marxism and mainstream (Orthodox) Marxism especially concentrating on their perspectives viewing the history of political thought. As the unique effort to understand the origins of political theory, the discipline namely ‘the social history of political theory’ -which was founded and developed by Ellen Meiksins Wood (1942-2016)- is revisited and reevaluated in compar...
THE CONCEPT OF AKRASIA IN ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY: PLATO, ARISTOTLE, AND THE STOICS Akkökler Karatekeli, Büşra; Turan, Şeref Halil; Department of Philosophy (2022-9) This thesis investigates the concept of akrasia, with particular attention given to its sundry interpretations in the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics. In this inquiry, I argue that these philosophers agree on the lack of knowledge of the akratic person, while they differentiate from each other as to what this missing knowledge is. Irrespective of their rejection or acknowledgement of akrasia due to their conceptions of the soul, I argue that Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics share the common ...
Revisiting immanence and conatus in Spinoza Yaylım, Berk; İnam, Ahmet; Department of Philosophy (2015) This thesis focuses on the concept of immanence in Spinoza’s philosophy and its importance in explicating theory of knowledge and conatus. While accounting for immanence, it will seek not only his metaphysics but also a critical discussion of transcendence and emanation. After the metaphysical system behind his philosophy is explained, his defense of necessitarianism will be emphasized. In this study, under the light of these, a coherent interpretation of Spinoza’s solutions, how these relate to his theory ...

Citation Formats

C. B. Oktaykan, “In search for the demos: an existentialist dialectical view of nomos and phusis,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2021.