This website will introduce you to my ideas and
my interests. I live in the Bay Area of California, I work as a
psychotherapist and teach philosophy, and I have strong interests in
literature and art. On this website, you will find some of my own
essays, as well as texts that were formative for my thinking.
The focus of my interest is, roughly speaking,
the philosophy of the subject. The theorists I have collected here and
who were most influential for me are Lacan, Freud, Adorno,
Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Kant, Hegel, and Thomas. I believe that
traditional philosophical thinking is in a state of transformation, and
one of the reasons for this is a shift in our understanding of the
relationship between mind and reality. The scientific revolutions during
the 20th Century have demonstrated that this relationship is more
complex than was commonly thought. The mind-body connection is as
mysterious as ever, and we begin to realize that not only is it
impossible to comprehend the reasons for the order we perceive in the
universe, but also that our own thought-process remains enigmatic to us.
Philosophers have to adjust to the identity crisis which results
from the doubts that have invaded even the notion of the "subject"
itself. How do we respond to the realization that the ego is not as
autonomous as it wants to be, and that the transparency of
self-consciousness is not a natural constant, but a delusional process
that converts experiences of alienation into personal identity?
The same holds true on the collective and the
global level. History teaches us that it is not a linear process:
under the right circumstances, whole societies can very easily fall into
a state of collective paranoia and barbarism. And how do we know that
our belief in technological advancement, endless historical
progress, and in our ability to control nature, is not itself a kind of
delusion? We begin to realize that the identity of the subject is not
something fixed and static, but a continuous flow, a (sometimes failing)
process of adaptation that cannot be controlled or predicted. How do we
survive in this world of change, and maintain a sense of uniqueness and
individuality? Thinking, which is not just the recounting of other
people's ideas or opinions, has to go through an intense process of
self-examination before it yields some insights into reality.
In this situation, it is sometimes helpful to
look towards other disciplines for orientation or clues. I have
included a few ideas and links from the realms of mathematics, logic,
physics, and computer science, because these fields interest me, and
they determine our understanding of reality more than anything else.
I also invite you to visit the images and poetry
sections. You will find some of the photographs I took since I
discovered digital cameras a few years ago, as well as a small
collection of my favorite poems and literature from various
countries.
Finally, I encourage you to leave a comment in
the web log, and your email for the mailing list. You will get an
occasional update, a commentary, or an announcement from me if you sign
up.
Thank you for visiting, and enjoy the readings!
Jürgen Braungardt
