This project will explore the object of the runner’s high within the territory of Phenomenology, in particular, the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty in The Phenomenology of perception and the work of Martin Heidegger in Being and Time. The runner’s high is generally understood as acute and positive mood changes that occur with running and jogging over long distances, that can be explained by the scientific endorphin hypothesis. However, this project aims to show that this is limited as it does not provide an account of our actual human experience of the runner’s high. It draws on literature and blogs that describe the author’s personal experience of the runners high in order to analyse this phenomenon as it actually appears to us. The application of phenomenology is significant in proving an account of this as it includes the way things are experienced by humans and treats this phenomenon as real and significant. To an extent, this project argues that Phenomenology can provide a valid account of the runner’s high as the application of Heidegger’s work partially provides an explanation of key factors in our experiences of the runner’s high. However, the application of Merleau-Ponty’s work provides a more sufficient account.
Tag: phenomenology
For my project I am going to be conducting a meta-analysis in order to answer a question very close to my heart, of whether Transcendental and Existential Phenomenology should be utilised more in Children and Adolescent Psychotherapy, a career I plan to train towards post-university. Through the application of Husserl and Heidegger’s phenomenology to psychotherapy, I will be challenging whether or not children and adolescents have the capability to identify a self-responsibility while being wholly dependent on their families, or to consciously comprehend transcendentalism enough to help them cope with mental struggles.
This project aims to analyse the deep connection between humanity’s development, both evolutionary and cultural to the production and fascination of music.
Key Concepts and Ideas:
Naturalism – Every mechanism is a result of the laws of nature
Semiotics – The study of signs, representation and meaning.
Reductionism – All sciences and phenomenon can be reduced to a single set of principles; a unifying theory of everything.
Key Philosophers and Researchers:
Darwin, C..
Pierce, C.
Bowman, D.
Cochran, G.
DeNora, T.
Kania, A.
Mithen, S.
Pierre, J.
Rahn, J.
Spano, R.
Using Hegel’s Phenomenology, I examine the movements of self-consciousness apparent in a selection of socio-political incidents in contemporary Europe. Hegel’s work is not a rulebook for action or for history. But we can derive meaning in life only from the conceptual understanding of our experiences. Do all social acts have historical meaning? What part does morality have to play between consciousness and the other? Does true freedom mean the freedom to be righteous in all things?
I will be examining the concept of genius loci – the spirit of a place. This concept has been neglected in Western thought due to the notion that place is merely a portion in space; a position or mere location. Based on Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, I shall argue that a place has intrinsic qualities that shape its particular character. Today, we see a multiplication of non-places which lack such unique qualities, such as airports and supermarkets chains. Our capacity to experience place has been diminished but I will suggest a possible return to place by way of the phenomenological approach and Heidegger’s notion of dwelling.