En deçà de la tautologie symbolique du cogito Variations sur Descartes et Augustin à travers Levinas et Marion

In this paper, I explore the thesis according to which ipseity cannot be conceived of without acknowledging a radical absence and alterity in its very core that makes it possible. To develop this thesis, I draw on Levinas’ reading of Descartes and Marion’s reading of Augustine. After a brief introductory part on what we could call, with Marc Richir’s term, the symbolic tautology of ipseity, I show how such a tautology is deconstructed by Levinas’ interpretation of the idea of the infinite in Descartes’ Third Meditation. I then proceed to contrast the results of this reading with Marion’s take on the problem of the memoria in Augustin’s Confessions. Both readings point towards a radical and immemorial dimension of absence that – by impeding the self from fully possessing itself – makes paradoxically ipseity possible in the first place. In the conclusion, I pose the question of whether – in order to account for this absence that reveals a transcendence in the most inner intimate of the self – one has to abandon phenomenology for ethics or some kind of new theology or if a strictly phenomenological description of this dimension of the experience of ipseity is possible.

Phase separation near the charge neutrality point in FeSe1-xTex crystals with x < 0.15

Our study of FeSe$ _ {1-x}$Te$ _ {x}$ crystals with x $<$ 0.15 shows that the phase separation in these compositions occurs into phases with a different stoichiometry of iron. This phase separation may indicate structural instability of the iron plane in the studied range of compositions. We tentatively propose an explanation of the structural instability of the iron plane in the studied layered compounds in terms of the possible change in the bond polarity and the peculiarity of the direct $d-d$ exchange in the iron plane in the framework of the basic phenomenological description such as the Bethe-Slater curve. With this approach, when the distance between iron atoms is close to the value at which the sign of the magnetic exchange for some $d$ orbitals changes, structural and electronic instability can occur. Anomalies in the crystal field near the point of charge neutrality can also be a significant component of this instability.

Phenomenological justification of psychoanalysis

The article is a preliminary sketch of the phenomenological description of the experience of psychoanalysis, in order to phenomenologically justify the fundamental psychoanalytic concepts and phenomena. The phase structure experience of the psychoanalysis is considered, namely: analyst’s anxiety, psychoanalytic reduction, psychoanalytic analysis and interpretation. In addition, the first part of the article is devoted to the main aspects of logical-phenomenological critique of psychoanalysis. First of all, the critique of the associative, mechanistic, speculative theory of psychoanalytic practice that its phenomenological inadequacy leads to a gap between psychoanalytic theory and practice. This fact is especially emphasized in the phenomenological psychology of Arthur Kronfeld and the Daseinanalysis of Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss. Hence, the article is an attempt to outline another way to bridge this gap, by phenomenological justification of the experience of psychoanalysis.

A Phenomenology of the Liturgy of Maundy Thursday

In this article, I propose a phenomenological analysis of the liturgy of Maundy Thursday, as it is celebrated in the contemporary Anglican Church of Canada. As an example of liturgy, Maundy Thursday is particularly generative for phenomenological description because of its affective range and drama. A participant in the liturgy is given the opportunity to experience a combination of grief, lament, remorse, joy, thanksgiving, kindness and compassion, care for the body, vulnerability and humility, as well as fear and confusion. Situated on the threshold between Lent and Easter, it is a richly complex moment in the liturgical year and combines, in a creative and affective tension, celebration with mourning, order with chaos, and love and service with betrayal and repentance.

Life-World, relevance and power. Phenomenology and social critique

Does the phenomenological paradigm omit the examination of the problem of power? Frequently formulated criticisms of phenomenological thought underline that it would be characterized by oblivion of power. The following line of argument will demonstrate that phenomenology and phenomenologically oriented sociology do have the theoretical potential to open up a critical perspective as well as to analyze phenomena of power. The focus will be on the basic question on how the phenomenological perspective can be used to investigate power structures, social inequality, justice, violence, subjective and intersubjective experiences of alienation and suffering. In this sense some reflections will be presented on how phenomenological description is used as critical diagnosis. The paper deals on the one hand with criticism of the phenomenological paradigm of an alleged oblivion of power, and on the other hand it reflects upon the this paradigm'spotential of with respect to a formulation of social critique.