Alienation and Self-Knowledge in Maine de Biran
For Maine de Biran, one knows oneself through effort. Crucially, effort involves both a force and a resistance: thus, I am the relation between my soul and my body. Biran may seem to bring the body wholly within the sphere of the self’s interiority, and, indeed, he has often been credited with disco...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal for continental philosophy of religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 7, Issue: 1, Pages: 66-88 |
| Further subjects: | B
Maine de Biran
B Alienation B effort B Self B Body |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | For Maine de Biran, one knows oneself through effort. Crucially, effort involves both a force and a resistance: thus, I am the relation between my soul and my body. Biran may seem to bring the body wholly within the sphere of the self’s interiority, and, indeed, he has often been credited with discovering the lived body of phenomenology. This article argues, however, drawing on Emmanuel Falque’s recent reading of Biran, that the Biranian myself turns out to be, to an extent, external to itself. For the organic resistance that I encounter in all my actions, and that is necessary for me to act at all, can never be wholly transparent to me. The very possibility of self-knowledge thus depends on a certain obscurity, even a certain alienation. The article concludes with a brief consideration of the compatibility of Biran’s late, religious writing with his philosophy of effort. |
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| ISSN: | 2588-9613 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for continental philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/25889613-bja10082 |
