RELATIONAL ATTENTIVENESS: A FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING INTIMACY WITHIN ONTOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS

Abstract

Relational attentiveness is necessary to reconsider being-in-the-world, especially our interactions with more-than-human subjectivities. As a form of being-with, relational attentiveness allows for greater attunement and engagement. This dissertation proposes philosophically to redefine and consolidate “attentiveness,” a term historically recognized for its importance but only referenced tangentially in contemporary philosophy and never accorded the status or rigor of a philosophical concept. Reframing Heidegger’s imperative question: What is called thinking? as What is called thinking-with? in concert with the work of vibrant materialist Jane Bennett, highlights attentiveness with the more-than-human. Although Bennett discusses the vibrancy of objects and affords the potential for an extension to other nonhuman subjectivities, she does not explicitly pursue this inquiry. Exploring a relationship with more- than-human and thus redefined subjectivities through relational attentiveness, intimacy, and sharing enables the subject to perceive and engage within interludes of vibrant space. I define relational attentiveness as attention to meaning rather than purpose, which necessitates a departure from Cartesian dualism; I define a new concept of subjectivity that departs from and extends the metaphysics of the subject. I argue that relational attentiveness is necessary to shift notions of subjectivity by clarifying previously unregarded subjects within the vibrancy of spatial-temporal interludes. I develop a polyphonic methodology and use 7 intertextual analysis, to consider the singularity of the voices present, both in their autonomous merit and in the greater harmony of relational attentiveness. In the mainstay of my methodological structure. I, too, become a voice in the polyphony and model an ethic of polyphonic engagement. In each chapter, I present members of the polyphony and their distinct contributions, both human and more-than-human. Engaging with the singularity of each voice develops the woven structure of my methodology, underscoring the dire need for increased relationality to engage with our worlds through curiosity rather than adherence to narratives of progress, technology, and the Metaphysical limits of speech and language.https://digitalmaine.com/academic/1067/thumbnail.jp