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The teachings of St. Feofan (1815-1894), together with his celebrated Russian translation of the Philokalia, played a major role in the spiritual revival of nineteenth century Russia, earning him the reputation of one of the greatest Russian theoreticians of Orthodox mysticism. Yet Feofan also provoked fierce criticism of such eminent Russian thinkers as Nicolas Berdyaev. This study focuses on one of the most significant elements of Feofan's legacy: the notion of legitimacy of spiritual diversity. This idea permeates Feofan's discussions of the striking dissimilarities demonstrated by persons engaged in ascetic and spiritual pursuits. It is highlighted by the fact that Feofan derives his positive attitude to diversity from within the tradition generally perceived as intolerant of dissent and non-conformity. Based within a wider context of Orthodox mystical tradition, this study examines Feofan's major writings, his work with the texts of the Philokalia, and his public and private correspondence. Attention is given to such pivotal concepts as his notions of the spirit and the heart; intimate communion with God; and the cardinal importance of spiritual self-consciousness. The study reveals Feofan's indebtedness to Byzantine ascetic spirituality, as well as his unusual openness to Western thought - reflected in his innovative synthesis of patristic asceticism and German romantic psychology. This study also addresses the ambivalence of Feofan's inner conflicts: namely, between his passionate belief in spiritual self-determination and his authoritarian teaching on 'silent submissiveness'; and between his defence of the legitimacy of spiritual diversity within the realm of ascetic experience and his unwillingness to extend that same principle beyond the limits of his own tradition. The thesis is not only the first critical account in English of Feofan's spiritual teaching, but is also an ecumenical exercise in which attitudes toward religious diversity within the Russian monastic tradition are examined by a Russian evangelical.

In this dissertation I consider the question, "Is it possible to think the subject qua subject or must any theoretical attempt to understand the subject necessarily reify it?" To answer this question, I appealed to Immanuel Kant's distinction between theoretical and practical reason, noting that practical reason could think the subject as a free soul rather than as a naturally-determined object. I then divided the sciences of the subject into four general types to determine which science could think the subject qua subject. Three sciences were shown to necessarily reify the subject: empirical psychology, rational psychology, and heteronomous ethics. I then paralleled Kant's insight with Michel Foucault's analyses of the human sciences, showing the concrete consequences of objectification. Using Foucault's work on ethical practice and askesis as a guide, I returned to Kant and explained how practical reason can think the subject qua subject only insofar as it considers the subject as something to be made rather than a theoretical object to know. I then posed the question, “What are the necessary conditions for someone to be a subject of possible experience?” which led into a Kantian-inspired theory of love and intersubjectivity. Finally, I concluded that contemporary psychology is mired in an impasse between happiness and freedom, insofar as therapeutic practice is no longer an ethic. I suggest the need for a practical psychology to solve this impasse. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Philosophy / PhD; / Dissertation;

Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / This dissertation creates a Jewish theology of asceticism focused on articulating the ideals toward which Jewish observant life is directed, a method for reflecting on the ‘ends’ of a Jewish life well lived in relationship to practice. I apply this theological asceticism to an analysis of Jewish liturgical prayer (tefilat keva), arguing that it is a desire-forming practice that causes practitioners to reimagine human flourishing and what leads to true satisfaction. My approach to this topic is modeled on a careful analysis and evaluation of the Anglican theologian Sarah Coakley’s “new asceticism” in light of Charles Taylor’s “maximal demand.” I augment Coakley’s definition of asceticism to fit a Jewish theological anthropology articulated by Rabbi Israel Salanter. I then apply this ascetic discourse to the study of the daily practice of liturgy. The Jewish liturgical asceticism I develop draws together elements from the Catholic James Fagerberg’s liturgical theology, the Presbyterian theologian James K. A. Smith’s theories about how liturgy forms a social-imaginary, and R. Israel Salanter’s teachings on the formation of desire (ta’avah) through the practice of hitpa’alut. The dissertation ends with an application of this method for theologically reflecting on the desire forming power of a daily prayer life through a close reading of elements of the weekday morning service, shacharit. This dissertation offers a Jewish theological account of the formative power of liturgical prayer on human desire. It also creates an approach for thinking more broadly about desire formation as a key component in the ideal goals of a normative Jewish lifestyle. This theological project will benefit communities of practice looking to better understand the wisdom of their inherited spiritual practices, educators and communal rabbis looking to commend traditional Jewish ways of life, Jewish theologians looking for an approach to discussing the ideals within Jewish life in a way that stays rooted in practice, and scholars of Jewish liturgy who are looking for methods for studying liturgy as a formative act and not merely an historical text. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

I show that we have reason to believe a view on scientific theory change can be discerned in what I call the “Copernicus passages” of Nietzsche’s published work—specifically, the incommensurability thesis. Since this view denies what Maudemarie Clark calls the “equivalence principle,” she claims incommensurability cannot reasonably be attributed to Nietzsche. I argue, however, that we can reasonably attribute incommensurability to Nietzsche in the Copernicus passages, so my reading should not be ruled out. The first upshot to this project is that I provide a reading of passages that have received no scholarly attention to date. The second upshot is that we can understand Copernicus in light of the broader, better-known themes in Nietzsche’s published work: Nietzsche’s moral skepticism about the value of self-denial motivates his opposition to the ascetic ideal and to the emerging dogmas of scientists.

This thesis analyzes pain with respect to Nietzsche&#039 / s Dionysus-Crucified distinction. This distinction, which Nietzsche underlies, reveals his philosophical project. The meaning of pain is at the core point of this distinction. These two deities symbolizes attitudes towards life and pain in it. Dionysus represents the affirmation of becoming and tragic wisdom / and Crucified (Christ) represents despise and escape from life or ascetic ideals. In this sense, the dissertation will first trace Nietzsche&#039 / s world view. Then the following discussions will present a detailed analysis of ascetic ideals (and their genealogical roots), and tragic wisdom from the perspective of Nietzsche for consideration.

Cette thèse est une réflexion sur la vitalité de la thématique du désert dans le domaine de la littérature. Cette thématique, dans le cas présent, est indissociable de celle du monachisme primitif, puisque le corpus que nous interrogeons, constitué de : Les Marches de sable, Marie d’Égypte et Macaire Le Copte, se présente comme hagiographique. Le lien entre désert et monachisme dans ces trois romans est au centre de cette réflexion qui s’efforce de comprendre et de mettre en lumière la nécessité pour des écrivains contemporains de reprendre cette thématique. Le désert nous est tantôt apparu comme le lieu de l’expérience spirituelle dans toute son ambivalence : espace de tentation par le diable, mais aussi espace d’élévation ascétique. Tantôt, il est un prétexte qui permet aux écrivains de porter un regard lucide sur la société actuelle, en voie de réification voire tout simplement d’ores et déjà réifiée. Pour finir, le désert nous est apparu comme un moyen pour ces trois écrivains de mettre en évidence leur conception non seulement de l’espace littéraire, qui apparaît de fait comme un espace paradoxal en ce sens qu’il peut à la fois être un espace de partage et un espace de réclusion, mais aussi de l’écrivain et de son travail. Il en ressort que l’écrivain est à l’image de l’ermite, c’est-à-dire une sorte de quêteur d’absolu / This thesis is a thought about the vitality of desert thematic in literature field. In this case, this thematic is inseparable from that of primitive monasticism as the corpus in question; I mean Les Marches de sable, Marie d’Egypte and Macaire Le Copte is presented as hagiographic. Therefore, the link between desert and monasticism in these three novels has led us to identify contemporary writers’ need of keeping bringing up such thematic. The desert has appeared as the place of spiritual experience in all its ambivalence, I mean devil temptation space, but also ascetic elevation space. To the writers, it is also a way to bring a lucid eye to the current society which is being reified because one cannot say only that it is already reified. In conclusion, to these three writers, not only the desert is a way to evidence their conception of literary space which really appears as a paradoxical space as it can at the same time be a sharing and a seclusion space, but also a writer’s workplace. It appears that the writer is image of hermit, that is, he is a sort of absolute seeker

Submitted by Caroline Periotto (carol@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-10T17:52:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLAA.pdf: 1105982 bytes, checksum: 5a1b1b86335d222e7cba7369adb4fcee (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-10T19:31:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLAA.pdf: 1105982 bytes, checksum: 5a1b1b86335d222e7cba7369adb4fcee (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-10T19:31:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLAA.pdf: 1105982 bytes, checksum: 5a1b1b86335d222e7cba7369adb4fcee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-10T19:42:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissLAA.pdf: 1105982 bytes, checksum: 5a1b1b86335d222e7cba7369adb4fcee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / This work deals primarily with the possible relationships and differences between Nietzsche and Foucault, considering the philosophical tonic each, from the way they understand and use the genealogical method. Then it makes a detailed analysis of the concept of resentment and ascetic priest present in the Genealogy of Morals. Finally, presents some possible correlations between resentment and pastoral concept of power Foucault, in order to explore their psychological substrate, a possible genesis of religious institutions and the proposal of a new concept, the ascetic teacher who comes to pass the ascetic priest for the appearance of the teacher in middle age. / Este trabalho trata, primeiramente, de possíveis relações e diferenças entre Nietzsche e Foucault, considerando a tônica filosófica de cada um, a partir da forma como eles entendem e utilizam o método genealógico. Em seguida, faz-se uma análise detalhada do conceito de ‘ressentimento’ e de ‘sacerdote ascético’ presentes na genealogia da moral. Por fim, algumas correlações possíveis são tecidas entre o ressentimento e o conceito de poder pastoral de Foucault, a fim de explorar seu substrato psicológico, uma possível gênese das instituições religiosas com a proposta de um novo conceito, o de mestre ascético, que trata da passagem do sacerdote ascético para o aparecimento do professor na Idade Média.

With this dissertation, firstly, I address the issue of Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) so-called ‘immoralism’. When he calls himself an ‘immoralist’ and even ‘the first immoralist’ (EH Destiny 2), he seems to be the first philosopher to consider morality as something negative, something we had better got rid of. Yet, he favours ‘noble morality’ and ‘higher moralities’ which he insists ought to be possible (BGE 202). I shall interpret Nietzsche’s explicit claim of ‘immoralism’ and his ‘campaign against morality’ as a rejection of a particular kind of morality ¾ Christian morality ‘that has become prevalent and predominant as morality itself’ (EH Destiny 4). His ‘immoralism’ does not reject the idea of an ethical life. Nietzsche favours a ‘supra-moral’ version of life (GM II 2&BGE 257). The move from a moral to a supra-moral orientation to life implies a kind of self-overcoming, a process which has both a ‘negative’ (‘destructive’) and a ‘positive’ (‘productive’) side. Firstly, I shall give an account of the ‘negative’ side, which involves Nietzsche’s genealogical critique of morality. In his Genealogy, Nietzsche criticizes the man of ressentiment, the metaphysical two-worlds distinction: ‘true world’ and ‘apparent world’, and the ascetic ideal of the will to truth, which he considers as a will to nothingness (GM III 28). His notion of perspectivism advocates a plurality of values and perspectives as opposed to any notion of an absolute truth. Then, I shall look into his ‘positive’ ethic, as exemplified in the figures of Zarathustra and the Übermensch, and the paradox of the Übermenschas ‘the annihilator of morality’ (EH Books 1) and as ‘the designation of a type of supreme achievement’ (EH Books 1). By proclaiming a process of ‘self-overcoming of morality’ (BGE 32), I believe that Nietzsche proposes an experimental morality in order to improve mankind. He considers morality as a pose, as progress (BGE 216), and ‘mere symptomatology’ (TI ‘Improvers’ of Mankind 1). Morality is the effect, or symptom of a continuous improvement within an individual. Nietzsche seeks to make us become aware of our continuous self-improvement, that we should invent our own virtue (A 11) in order to become what we are. Nietzsche envisions the possibility of evolving a magnanimous and courageous human type who is capable of giving style to his character (GS 290), the supreme human achievement ¾ the Übermensch. His idea of the Übermensch implies a never-ending struggle for self-perfection and self-fulfilment. There are affinities between Nietzsche’s philosophy and Buddhism, such as emphasizing practice, the recognition of the transient nature of human existence, and an emphasis on impermanence. Buddhist teachings show various feasible ways to attain enlightenment and buddhahood. The path to enlightenment and buddhahood can be shown to share some features with Nietzsche’s process of self-overcoming, which leads to self-transformation and self-perfection. The emphasis on the practice of the spirit of Bodhisattva by Humanistic Buddhism seems to lend itself as complement to Nietzsche’s philosophy, a notion I explore in the concluding chapter of the dissertation. / Dissertation (MA (Philosophy))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Philosophy / unrestricted

This master thesis is composed of two sections, a theoretical and a practical one. The first chapter of theoretical part is focused on medieval European art with emphasis on a medieval artist and a wall painting. Next chapter describes ascetic life through religious order and their significant personalities. This part is primarily focused on a life of saint Augustin. The third chapter is about a project of Department of art which is focused on a creation of haptic models for sightless people and it describes its outputs. The practical part introduces a creation of haptic model according to a wall drawing of saint Augustin. This drawing is placed in cloister of a former Dominican monastery in České Budějovice. It represents a final conception of unordinary haptic model which is created in an embossed linear drawing.