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Document Type
Text
Exact Creation Date
8-2014
Language
English
Disciplines
Art and Design | Philosophy
Publisher
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts
City
Portland, Maine
Recommended Citation
Blair, Gregory, "Place-produced Thought: The Agency of Place and the Co-production of Knowledge in Heidegger, Baudrillard, and Others" (2014). Academic Research and Dissertations. 7.
https://digitalmaine.com/academic/7
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Description
Place has been a central consideration in much philosophical discourse since at least the ancient Greeks. This dissertation will argue, however, that in certain instances in the history of thinking, place has played a significant and unique role, one beyond typical considerations.
In these specific intellectual projects, place is a method for situating and focusing the development of thought. This relationship with place produces a particular type of thought, one that ontologically fuses place and thinker together. I regard this merger as a topographical convergence of situated contemplation that creates a localized episteme, or in other words, “place-produced thought.” Within this reciprocal relationship between place, thinker, and thought, I argue that the agency of place plays a far more significant role than it is routinely ascribed.
Throughout this thesis, I also argue for the distinctive possibilities of indigenous knowledge. Much of this argument is built upon certain instances of thinking with/in place, in which the place itself asserts its agency and influence into the actual production of thought. My argument is constructed in a manner that illustrates how this relationship between thinker and place is much different than other approaches of creating a relationship with one’s surroundings. Finally, I have tried to elucidate the innovative and irruptive possibilities for place-produced thought—important sources of new identities, thoughts, boundaries, and modes of being. In an increasingly globalized and technological world, the potential value and efficacy of such thought needs to be considered.