Kant With Foucault: On The Dangers Of The Theoretical Reification Of The Subject To Freedom And The Need For A Practical Psychology

<p>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.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Valentine, Matthew Gordon

Contributors dc:contributor

• James Swindal
• Fred Evans
• Jay Lampert

• Ascetic Practices
• Freedom
• Happiness
• Immanuel Kant
• Michel Foucault
• The Subject

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1527

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2539