Date of Award

Fall 2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Philosophy

Committee Chairperson

Matthew Pierlott, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Steven James, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Robert Main, Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to introduce a phenomenological theory wherein the problem of disharmony, or what can also be viewed as the problem of reality, can be understood and, insofar as it is possible, resolved. I will attempt here to develop my theory of the phenomenon in terms of its relation to nine other concepts: reality, appearance, experience, the idea, essence, nature, existence, the will, and the psyche or “mind.” In the process, I will provide a general explanation of how my theory of the phenomenon is informed by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Jung, as well as of the similarities and differences between my perspective as a phenomenologist and the perspectives presented by Husserl, Heidegger, and Sartre. To sufficiently articulate the phenomenon of disharmony and how it involves the problem of reality, I must first ask and answer a more fundamental question: “what is a phenomenon?” The ‘phenomenon’ should be understood, firstly, as a concept, and a concept only exists as a fact for individual consciousness; and yet, that which the concept signifies is not another concept but a reality beyond the concepts of ‘phenomenon’ and ‘reality’. These concepts only exist as psychic abstractions; though the phenomenological description of “reality” is limited to the domain of consciousness, reality beyond consciousness—or transcendent reality—is not necessarily limited to “reality” as it appears to or is experienced by the psyche.

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