This dissertation deals with epistemological and literary problems surrounding Spanish Baroque reflection on the concepts of experience and perception, two of the most crucial and important notions linked to the origins of Western Modernity. Problems of experience and perception were treated by many Spanish philosophers and literary figures, including, Francisco Suárez, Francisco Sánchez, Miguel de Cervantes, Calderón de la Barca, Baltasar Gracián, and Mateo Alemán.
My approach focuses on the development of these concepts in the Spanish seventeenth century, as an epistemological alternative to the crystallization of the modern Cartesian philosophical paradigm. I am particularly interested in examining the speculation about the ultimate nature of cognition, experience, and perception. I read different textual manifestations of seventeenth century Spanish Baroque thought as an alternate cognitive paradigm that gives raison dêtre to well-known Baroque intellectual qualities of wit, attention, prudence, and discretion, all of which are pragmatically and epistemologically tentative.
In this sense, my central hypothesis is that seventeenth century Spanish thinkers and writers avoid the Cartesian crystallization of the relationship between cognition and perception, by making it more unstable and open to heteronomy and ambiguity. The authors that I study struggle to design a broader idea of human experience and knowledge, and show traces of a heterodox, pre-modern philosophical framework. In numerous examples this approach shows itself to be more capable of dealing with a universe in a constant state of flux, paradoxically typified by both tension and order.
At the same time, my dissertation proves that, although heterodox, the Baroque cognitive gaze is never ingenuous. The primary goal of such epistemological theory is not demarcation between true and false (as in the rationalist model) but open examination using cognitive values of juicio (discernment), agudeza (sharpness) and discreción (discretion). The Baroques epistemological aim is not the ultimate and typically modern- elimination of uncertainty, but the exploration of a different relationship between appearance and being conducted through an original revalidation of the notion of human experience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-12062006-122059 |
| Date | 30 January 2007 |
| Creators | Vivalda, Nicolas Martin |
| Contributors | Dennis Looney, Hermann Herlinghaus, Gerald Martin, John Beverley |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-12062006-122059/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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