Graduate Student, Philosophy
Thesis Title: From the Transcendental to the Ontological: Hegel, Heidegger, and the Legacy of Transcendental Idealism"
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Walter Brogan
Julie Klein William Desmond |
About
Abstract: In my dissertation I argue that Hegel and Heidegger can be best understood as engaged in an immanent critique and internal reformulation of Kant’s project of transcendental idealism. I show that viewing their respective projects from this common ground allows one to understand the divergent paths they take in their attempt to overcome what they see as the overly epistemological and formal aspects of transcendental philosophy. While both turn to an ontological and historical understanding of the formal transcendental conditions encountered in Kant, Hegel attempts to further complete the critical project of self-grounding and self-determination, while Heidegger tries to show a necessary and constitutive finitude that renders any complete self-determination impossible. I conclude by arguing that the difficulty in accounting for the ontological independence of nature in both Hegel and Heidegger betray the extent to which they are still heirs to the tradition of transcendental idealism.
