AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Benjamin S. Lindsley, for the Masters Degree in Philosophy, presented on APRIL 14, 2016, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: COMPARING CONCEPTIONS OF DOUBT IN ZEN BUDDHISM AND KIERKEGAARD MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Douglas Berger This thesis compares the concept of existential doubt as depicted by Søren Kierkegaard with the concept of existential doubt espoused by Keiji Nishitani in his interpretation of Zen Buddhism in order to ultimately show the conceptual similarities between both traditions’ concepts of negation, reflection, and methods for eliminating doubt. These points of philosophical concurrence will advance the assertion that Divine unity in the Christian tradition and enlightened becoming in the Zen Buddhist tradition both require an existential-doubt-induced annihilation of self-conception, facilitated through a supra-subjective re-orientation, which starts from the standpoint of subjective immediacy and resettles at the ground of absolute nothingness. This explication will serve as a means to guide the existential inquirer through the experience of doubt and offer tangible methods to assuage the maladies which accompany the experience.

As much of the scholarly literature shows, gender has served as a central organizing force for knowing and theorizing about sexuality. The governmentality of sexuality in Western societies over the last 200 years has led to sex being discursively implicated with reproduction, and this has had a profound effect on the ways sexuality has been theorized and understood in terms of gendered desire. The aim of this dissertation is to theorize an alternative approach to sexuality that decenters gender and gives attention to the materiality of sex and the body. Using existentialism and phenomenology, this dissertation offers a particular challenge to heteronormative conceptions of “sexual orientation” and “sexual identity” for their ostensibly timeless and enduring quality, or being. The research presented herein theorizes sexuality through an ontology of becoming that takes into account the diverse, multi-faceted nature of sexuality as a series of temporal experiences, attractions, desires, sensations, practices, and identities – that is, as a phenomenon. A genealogical methodology is used to trace the discursive history of sexuality and demonstrate how modernist discourses of sexuality have influenced how sexuality is known and experienced. This research emphasizes the discursive constraints on knowledge about sexuality. In considering an alternative framework, the principles of existentialism and phenomenology are critically examined through the works of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Attention is then turned toward a non-classical paradigm of science to elaborate on an ontology of becoming and its significance for understanding the development of sex and sexuality. In conjunction, contemporary biological research is introduced to expand upon de Beauvoir’s (1996) analysis of “the data of biology” on sexual difference and to help situate the sexed body as dynamic and developmental. An existential phenomenological approach theorizes sexuality as a self-project and the dialectical becoming between the sexed body and the sexual self. Because both the body and the self are contingent becomings that are open to instability and change, so too is sexuality. This alternative approach offers particular attention to the body in sexuality and considers the materialities of sexual desire. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-02-04 00:33:41.993

Gilles Deleuze once famously stated that Spinoza’s remark that ”we do not know beforehand what a body can do” should be read as a cri de guerre against a philosophical tradition that ever since antiquity has devalued the role of the body in the formation of knowledge. This paper further investigates the role of the body in Spinoza’s Ethics by examining what I shall call the becoming-active of the body. Commentators often interpret activity as pertaining to the formation of rational thought through the so-called ”common notions” in the Ethics. However, in doing so, they often neglect the central role played by the body in the process of becoming active. Thinking, for Spinoza, is always ”in the midst of things”, and as such it must be interpreted according to the basic affective relationality of the body. The act of thought; the activity of thinking, must be understood as an expression of a more fundamental activity of the body if we are to remain true to the implications of Spinoza’s monistic ontology. The goal of this paper, then, is to show how the becoming-active of the body is a necessary correlate to the activity of the soul in the Ethics. By demonstrating this, I will show in the concluding sections of my investigation, how the role played by the body and affectivity in Spinoza’s philosophy forces us to reconsider not only ethics, but the activity of thinking in general.

The field of language learning motivation has traditionally been a 'self'-centred one, characterising the individual learner as subject to influence by, but essentially separate from, the sociocultural environment. Models of language learning motivation have been concerned with theorising the self, but have not fully accounted for the role of the other. The recent emergence of sociocultural approaches has seen a welcome move towards addressing this gap, theorising the language learner as engaged in complex relationships with various others, all constituted by and constituting their sociocultural contexts. Within this paradigm, researchers have begun to consider ways in which language learning motivation may be part of broader motivation for learning in various life domains - intellectual, social, emotional, ethical - though this is as yet an emergent area of scholarship. This study adopts one such sociocultural approach, namely Ushioda's person-in-context relational view (2009, 2011). Using a theoretical framework and innovative dialogical research design based on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, I present dialogues describing the learning experience and motivation of six English-language learners, and create a definition and interpretation of language learning motivation as ideological becoming, a process of learning to be in the world. This definition and interpretation integrate the language learner and their social context in ways which understand language learning motivation as socially constructed, involving relations with many different others; which understand language learning motivation as part of motivation towards broader personal and social growth and development; and which foreground learners' own voices and perspectives. In accounting for the reciprocal influence between the language learner and the world as heard through learners' own voices, this study offers an important conceptual contribution to the language learning motivation field. Furthermore, it represents a methodological contribution to both the language learning motivation field and to qualitative inquiry more broadly. Finally, it offers political and practical contributions, and makes suggestions for future research and researchers.

The goal of this thesis is to bring Rogers and Kierkegaard into productive conversation with each other, across disciplines, around the themes of self, authenticity, and relationality. The purpose is to show that people can still learn a great deal from these thinkers, particularly by reading each of them in light of the other. Rogers and Kierkegaard wrote in different historical periods and cultural settings. However, by identifying some cognate concepts (in English) we can appreciate how, for both of them, the central task of life is to promote human well-being, in community with each other, and in humble relation to a higher good or ideal. This thesis shows more specifically that Rogers' theory of person-centeredness and Kierkegaard's theory of Christian neighbor-love both reflect the conviction that being an authentic self if necessary for sustaining good relationships with others. Both authors argue that being in right relationship with others is, in turn, essential to self-actualization and authenticity.

Although the term empowerment is frequently and broadly used across disciplines, the meaning of the term is often ambiguous. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of individual members of Renters' Rights Group (RRG), a community development group focused on promoting safe and affordable housing, thereby creating a better understanding of the phenomenon of empowerment. The seven study participants, four males and three females, five of whom were Aboriginal, had been active members of RRG for two years or more. The theoretical framework for this study was Parse's Theory of Human Becoming. Four core concepts were identified as contributing to participants' sense of empowerment: connecting, struggling, contributing, and changing. The findings from this study can be used by nurses and other professionals who work with marginalized individuals or groups. Incorporation of Parse's Human Becoming Theory into practice, education, and research, may facilitate the reflection of caring upon which nursing is founded.

Being is Becoming: selves are constantly changing, always in process, and never able to arrive at a coherent identity. Contemporary discussions of sexual and gendered identity have replaced the view that heterosexuality is an innate or natural category with views that sexuality is fluid and multiple. Consequently, desire is a creative force in the engendering of sexual subjectivities and new social communities, rather than a negative force that limits gendered development to a heteronormative model. With this in mind, this thesis has three interrelated, yet distinct aims. The first is to explore the concept of sexual subjectivity, asking questions such as do human beings have a knowable sexual identity? And how have Freudian psychoanalysis and Foucauldian poststructuralism contributed to our contemporary understandings of sexuality? My second aim is to clarify Deleuze and Guattaris philosophy of becoming, using the metaphor of the rhizome to link feminist philosophy, queer theory, and subsequent deconstructions of sexual identity. My third project is to identify what is meant by becoming queer, including how it challenges the authority of heteronormative institutions. In order to demonstrate the potentialities of becoming queer, I conduct a case study of Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millans performance project Lesbian National Parks and Services. Through their performance art practice, Dempsey and Millan challenge dominant narratives of heterosexuality and fixed gender identity, offering a starting point for discussions of the reciprocity between artistic practice, social movements, and academic discourse. In addition, they demonstrate how queer becomings participate in an ethics of accountability, that is, as materially-situated, localized subjectivities they are able to alter and transform their environments.

Although the term empowerment is frequently and broadly used across disciplines, the meaning of the term is often ambiguous. The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of individual members of Renters' Rights Group (RRG), a community development group focused on promoting safe and affordable housing, thereby creating a better understanding of the phenomenon of empowerment. The seven study participants, four males and three females, five of whom were Aboriginal, had been active members of RRG for two years or more. The theoretical framework for this study was Parse's Theory of Human Becoming. Four core concepts were identified as contributing to participants' sense of empowerment: connecting, struggling, contributing, and changing. The findings from this study can be used by nurses and other professionals who work with marginalized individuals or groups. Incorporation of Parse's Human Becoming Theory into practice, education, and research, may facilitate the reflection of caring upon which nursing is founded.

Being is Becoming: selves are constantly changing, always in process, and never able to arrive at a coherent identity. Contemporary discussions of sexual and gendered identity have replaced the view that heterosexuality is an innate or natural category with views that sexuality is fluid and multiple. Consequently, desire is a creative force in the engendering of sexual subjectivities and new social communities, rather than a negative force that limits gendered development to a heteronormative model. With this in mind, this thesis has three interrelated, yet distinct aims. The first is to explore the concept of sexual subjectivity, asking questions such as do human beings have a knowable sexual identity? And how have Freudian psychoanalysis and Foucauldian poststructuralism contributed to our contemporary understandings of sexuality? My second aim is to clarify Deleuze and Guattaris philosophy of becoming, using the metaphor of the rhizome to link feminist philosophy, queer theory, and subsequent deconstructions of sexual identity. My third project is to identify what is meant by becoming queer, including how it challenges the authority of heteronormative institutions. In order to demonstrate the potentialities of becoming queer, I conduct a case study of Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millans performance project Lesbian National Parks and Services. Through their performance art practice, Dempsey and Millan challenge dominant narratives of heterosexuality and fixed gender identity, offering a starting point for discussions of the reciprocity between artistic practice, social movements, and academic discourse. In addition, they demonstrate how queer becomings participate in an ethics of accountability, that is, as materially-situated, localized subjectivities they are able to alter and transform their environments.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) offers over 25 different outdoor recreational and outreach educational programs that target different audiences and utilize different types of delivery systems. This study was an evaluation of an educational program called Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW). The evaluation produced a measurement instrument that evaluated program effectiveness and tested the instrument on past participants. The questionnaire determined respondents’: (1) history of program participation, (2) knowledge of TPWD’s mission and purpose, (3) level of involvement in selected outdoor recreational activities before and after program participation, (4) knowledge of basic outdoor recreational regulations and behaviors, (5) level of compliance with a variety of outdoor recreational behaviors, (6) attitudinal position on opposing statements on outdoor recreational ethics or behaviors, and (7) demographic characteristics. The two groups surveyed were all participants of BOW between 1993 and 1998 (n = 1,240) and the control group (n = 61) made of women who had signed up for the program but had not yet attended. Sampling error for the participants was high, but met the statistically acceptable range of repeatable results at +/- 3%. The only demographic difference (P ≤ 0.05) between groups was age, i.e., BOW participants were older (χ2 = 46.3) than the control group (χ2 = 40.8). Chi-square tests showed differences in awareness of the missions and goals of TPWD. GLM tests detected no differences (P ≤ 0.05) between the participants and the control group in general outdoor knowledge, behavior given various outdoor recreational scenarios and ethical positions on dichotomous statements. However, there were differences between groups on some items within each of those categories. On those items the r2 value (≤ 0.02) showed that the difference found between groups had little to do with program participation. Respondents’ comments focused on the BOW program, the questionnaire, and TPWD. Study findings are discussed in the context of the program evaluation process. Several recommendations for future program evaluations and concluding remarks are included in this thesis.