This thesis attempts to illuminate new approaches to the thought of Jean Baudrillard, by understanding his unique phenomenological approach and radical affirmation of experience. This will be considered through an exploration of some interesting distinctions between his work and Friedrich Nietzsche’s. Where Nietzsche attempts to fall out of exchange with the world, it will be found that Baudrillard’s work is attempting to enact a kind of tension with things. This aspect of Baudrillard’s work will be examined through some interesting connections to the later work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, specifically through the concept of reversibility. These connections and distinctions will gather in some important insights on Baudrillard’s approach to the topics of void, the hyperreal and relationality. Moreover, through exploring the intricacies of his phenomenological approach, I hope to understand more clearly what it means to sink into appearances, and to locate the subject wholly within the tensions of relations and forces enigmatic to it. / Graduate

Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2004

Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2002. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Stony Brook University, 2008. / This official electronic copy is part of the DSpace Stony Brook theses & dissertations collection maintained by the University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives on behalf of the Stony Brook Graduate School. It is stored in the SUNY Digital Institutional Repository and can be accessed through the website. Presented to the Stony Brook University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy; as recommended and accepted by the candidate's degree sponsor, the Dept. of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-60).

Thesis (M.A.)--Stony Brook University, 2008. / This official electronic copy is part of the DSpace Stony Brook theses & dissertations collection maintained by the University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives on behalf of the Stony Brook Graduate School. It is stored in the SUNY Digital Institutional Repository and can be accessed through the website. Presented to the Stony Brook University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Art; as recommended and accepted by the candidate's degree sponsor, the Dept. of Art. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-71).

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Restricted until May 2005. Bibliography: leaves 88-89.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Villanova University, 2006. / Philosophy Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Texte remanié de: Diss. / Bibliogr. p. 267-276. Index.

This thesis explores the relationship between the early writings of Marcel Proust and the visual arts through a phenomenological approach drawing on Merleau-Ponty's theory of perception. Proust's juvenilia are studied in four chapters with regard to respectively four genres of painting: genre scenes and still lives, in particular by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Chardin; garden scenes and landscapes of the botanical world as depicted in Ruskin, Monet, and the Pre-Raphaelites; seascapes and atmosphere depiction in Turner, Monet, and Whistler; portrait paintings by Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Blanche. The thesis does not aim to trace any direct influences of these painters on Proust, but, rather seeks to identify aesthetic commonalities between Proust and these artists, with an emphasis on their similar visions and ways of perception. It will pay particular attention to the aspects of colour and light, as well as space and time, making use of the Merleau-Pontian theory that underlines a participatory mode of perception where the body integrated with the world occupies a pivotal position. The thesis addresses the uniqueness of the young Proust's vision as an apprentice stage, which allows us to identify early aesthetic tendencies that will be developed in À la recherche du temps perdu.

En la Fenomenología de la Percepción se distinguen dos modos de estudiar el lenguaje: Una es la corriente empirista, que supone al lenguaje como un fenómeno que se interpreta como la acción de ciertos estímulos del cuerpo, asociando los vocablos a las imágenes conectadas a través del aparato nervioso. Por otra parte, se encuentra la lingüística que proviene de la tradición intelectualista, la cual contrarresta los trabajos empiristas aduciendo que el lenguaje es una elaboración de la propia conciencia. la encargada de significar el mundo exterior con sus categorías y pensamientos. Para Merleau-Ponty, tanto el empirismo como el intelectualismo, al elaborar sus hipótesis sobre el lenguaje y la relación mundo-sujeto, olvidan el punto de partida que al fenomenólogo le interesa retomar: hay una relación primera entre el sujeto y el mundo, anterior a toda concepción, a toda formulación del lenguaje, que se establece en la percepción, que es génesis de nuestras certidumbres. Lo novedosos de la obra de Merleau-Ponty es señalar este problema y deconstruir este “verdeckt”, volviendo al silencio y encontrar en él –a través del cuerpo- los orígenes del lenguaje. Merleau-Ponty dirá que en este esfuerzo de volver sobre el olvido, supone elaborar un itinerario sobre las etapas por las cuales se pueden entender la posibilidad de la emergencia del lenguaje a partir de la relación cuerpo - mundo. Para el autor, se debe volver a esa relación preconcebida (fe perceptiva), en la que no hay pensamientos que determinen nuestra experiencia. Desde el vínculo cuerpo-mundo, descubriremos de qué manera Merleau-Ponty logra integrar las concepciones anteriores. Sin rechazarlas ni suprimirlas, propone una síntesis en la cual, lo que tiene de unilateral el empirismo y el intelectualismo podría superarse en una dialéctica que las integre y cuyo secreto se encontraría en la temporalidad de la existencia humana. Para proponer esta perspectiva, Merleau-Ponty tiene que subrayar que el contacto con el mundo comienza antes del conocimiento, es decir, con la percepción. / Tesis