Toward a New Conception of Human Subjectivity for the Age of Globalization: Revisiting the Hegelian Vision of “Spiritual Subjectivity”

My major argument in this dissertation is that Hegelian spiritual subjectivity can and should serve as a philosophical basis for envisioning a new conception of human subjectivity for the age of globalization. Why, then, does globalization demand a new conception of human subjectivity at all? What constitutes the Hegelian spiritual subjectivity such that it is not only relevant and but also necessary to the contemporary, postmodern context of globalization? My dissertation largely addresses these two questions. As for the first question, it requires my critical analysis of the context in which we are living. We are living in an era of globalization whose primary driving force is globalizing capitalism. Among many challenges posed by capitalist globalization today, I claim, it most importantly challenges us to reflect deeply upon the anthropological question of “what it means to be authentically human.” The human being that capitalist globalization is eager to promote and produce is none other than a faithful global consumer who, without critical thinking, simply succumbs to one’s sensuous inclinations or desires in their sheer particularity, contingency, and arbitrariness, who is easily attracted to the external appearances and sensible images of commodities endlessly released onto the market, and who thus is always ready to buy them both online and offline. And I suspect that this anthropology of capitalist globalization seems to be justified philosophically by the contemporary intellectual movement known as postmodernism, particularly by its thesis of the “death of the subject” which argues that human subjectivity is merely an after-effect of the pre-subjective, extrinsic processes of language, culture, power, ideology, the unconscious, etc. In other words, postmodernist anthropology (the death of the subject), regardless of its real intent, may function as a philosophical basis and ideological justification for capitalist globalization’s disgraceful reduction of human beings to mere consumers who are, without subjectivity, subjected to the imperialism of a globalizing market. And this erosion of human subjectivity is all the more serious given that the contemporary globalizing world imperatively calls for our more ethical and political thoughts, sensibilities, and actions than ever before to orient it toward peaceful co-existence and co-prosperity for all. In this regard, I insist that we need a new conception of human subjectivity for this postmodern context of globalization, which includes following three important elements in their internal relations: self-transcending drive toward universality, self-determined or autonomous action, and solidaristic relationship with others—that is, a sort of cosmopolitan or global citizen who is constantly universalizing oneself through self-transcending, self-determined ethico-political actions in solidarity with others to advance the common good for all members of the global community. I argue that this new perspective and conception of human subjectivity for the age of globalization finds its philosophical archetype par excellence in Hegel’s philosophy of subjectivity as spiritual subjectivity. Here my second question is addressed: What constitutes the Hegelian spiritual subjectivity? Historically, Hegel’s philosophy of spiritual subjectivity is his critical response to the so-called modern turn to the subject. In opposition to the post-Cartesian tendency to characterize subjectivity as a self-identical, self-sufficient substance, defining itself from itself without reference to things other than itself, which is already given once and for all, Hegel puts forth a developmental view on the human subject that could, in turn, transcend the dualism of subjectivity and objectivity operative in the modern project. Namely, for Hegel, the human subject must be conceived not just as a substance but essentially as a “spirit,” i.e., as a dialectical movement of being-for-itself (self-conscious identity with itself; substantiality) and being-for-others (socio-historical relation to others; relationality) toward the Absolute (absolute universality; telos). And I find paradigmatically in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit how such Hegelian spiritual subjectivity actually emerges and develops gradually—from subjectivity-in-itself (subjectivity in the womb) through subjectivity-for-itself (the birth of subjectivity) to subjectivity-in-and-for-itself (the growth of subjectivity with its ultimate culmination in absolute subjectivity). By “absolute subjectivity” here Hegel means precisely the final stage in which the implicit, immanent telos of human subjectivity that has been present throughout all developmental forms of human consciousness becomes explicit and fulfilled, namely, in which the human subject becomes fully broadened or universalized and sees all beings as intrinsically interrelated in their distinctive otherness. Importantly, according to Hegel, this can be made possible only when the human subject conceives of God as Absolute Spirit, as absolute universality per se and thereby conceives of all beings as self-expressive moments of God in his trinitarian movement. In short, the Hegelian spiritual subjectivity can be defined as the dialectical movement of its three constitutive moments, i.e., the Absolute or God as absolute universality (the immanent telos), self-conscious identity (being-for-itself), and concrete historical relatedness (being-for-others), each of which is homologous with the above-mentioned three constitutive elements of my proposed new conception of subjectivity for the age of globalization respectively, i.e., self-transcending drive toward universality, self-determined or autonomous action, and solidaristic relationship with others. It is in this sense that I argue the current context of globalization crucially needs as a new anthropological vision the Hegelian spiritual subject that intrinsically thinks, wills, and acts for something greater than itself as it constantly relates itself to others not in a monological way but in a dialectical way

Forgotten Island of the Liberator: Haiti’s Influences on Victor Schœlcher’s Abolitionism, 1833-1848

What fashioned Victor Schœlcher’s radical abolitionism? Does his 1848 demand for the immediate abolition of slavery and full citizenship for the formerly enslaved testify loyalty to universal values of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution? Incorporating transatlantic perspectives, this article excavates an unacknowledged element in the making of Schœlcher’s abolitionism by reassessing his ties with Haiti. As he was a passionate defender of the Haitian Revolution and also a very severe critic of the Republic of Haiti, the crucial components of his abolitionism were derived from his wrestling with these contradictions. Although his interaction with Haiti ultimately contributed to “Silencing the Haitian Revolution,” we also find an invisible but significant dialogue between the first emancipation and the second one in 1848, and also between metropolitan abolitionists and the enslaved in the colonies.Qu’est-ce qui a façonné l’abolitionnisme radical de Victor Schœlcher ? Le fait qu’il ait revendiqué, en 1848, l’abolition immédiate de l’esclavage et la citoyenneté complète pour les esclaves affranchis témoigne-t-il de sa délité aux valeurs universelles des Lumières et de la Révolution française? Le présent article met au jour un élément méconnu dans la genèse de l’abolitionnisme de Schœlcher en réévaluant ses liens avec Haïti dans une perspective transatlantique. Les éléments cruciaux de son abolitionnisme découlaient en fait de son tiraillement entre deux tendances contradictoires chez lui : la défense passionnée de la Révolution haïtienne et la critique sévère de la République d’Haïti. Bien que son interaction avec Haïti ait nalement contribué à « faire le silence sur la Révolution haïtienne », nous constatons également un dialogue invisible, mais significatif, entre la première émancipation et la seconde, survenue en 1848, ainsi qu’entre les abolitionnistes métropolitains et les esclaves dans les colonies

Mercury Isotopes as Biogeochemical and Ecological Tracers: Assessing Mercury Sources and Exposure Pathways in Food Webs.

Monomethylmercury (MMHg) is a toxic and bioaccumulative compound that poses serious health threats to wildlife and humans consuming fish. There are significant uncertainties concerning the MMHg sources and exposure pathways to aquatic food webs and mercury stable isotope studies are beginning to shed new light on these processes. In Chapter 2 and 3, we conducted a series of controlled feeding experiments to understand the behavior of mercury isotopes during bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in freshwater and marine food webs. We found that there is an absence of mercury isotope fractionation during bioaccumulation, trophic transfer, and transport of MMHg between food sources and different tissues within fish. We used this information to develop the application of mercury isotopes as a monitoring tool for identifying MMHg sources in natural environments. In Chapter 4 and 5, we applied mercury isotopes to investigate the MMHg sources and exposure pathways in coastal marine food webs and in lacustrine-terrestrial transition food webs. Our work has elucidated spatial and ecological variability in MMHg sources as well as movements between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This dissertation demonstrates that mercury stable isotopes can enhance our knowledge of the complexities of MMHg sources and biogeochemistry in natural ecosystems.PHDEarth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113416/1/saeyunk_1.pd

Superfluid-like spin transport in the dynamic states of easy-axis magnets

The existing proposals for superfluid-like spin transport have been based on easy-plane magnets where the U(1) spin-rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken in equilibrium, and this has been limiting material choices for realizing superfluid-like spin transport to restricted class of magnets. In this work, we lift this limitation by showing that superfluid-like spin transport can also be realized based on easy-axis magnets, where the U(1) spin-rotational symmetry is intact in equilibrium but can be broken in non-equilibrium. Specifically, we find the condition to engender a non-equilibrium easy-cone state by applying a spin torque to easy-axis magnets, which dynamically induces the spontaneous breaking of the U(1) spin-rotational symmetry and thereby can support superfluid-like spin transport. By exploiting this dynamic easy-cone state, we show theoretically that superfluid-like spin transport can be achieved in easy-axis magnets under suitable conditions and confirmed the prediction by micromagnetic simulations. We envision that our work broadens material library for realizing superfluid-like spin transport, showing the potential utility of dynamic states of magnets as venue to look for spin-transport phenomena that do not occur in static magnetic backgrounds.Comment: 7 pages and 2 figure

Uncertainties in atmospheric mercury modeling for policy evaluation

Mercury (Hg) contamination is an issue of a growing environmental and public health concern. Atmospheric chemistry transport models for Hg are a critical tool for understanding the sources, processes, and fate of Hg. Uncertainties in multiple aspects of atmospheric Hg models, however, limit their application for policy evaluation and for monitoring global trends in atmospheric Hg concentrations. This review aims to identify uncertainties in atmospheric Hg modeling that are relevant in the context of policy and for informing decision-making. We focus on specific requirements of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty signed in 2013 to protect human health and the environment from Hg, to demonstrate how existing uncertainties in atmospheric Hg modeling can influence our ability to evaluate source-receptor relationships. Modeling studies of source attribution suggest that major uncertainties in atmospheric Hg modeling arise from anthropogenic emissions, biogeochemical cycling, and atmospheric chemistry. Uncertainties in these aspects of modeling are expected to increase under the Convention, with regulation of anthropogenic emissions, changes in atmospheric conditions, and legacy and natural Hg source contribution to the global biogeochemical cycle. These uncertainties can interact with one another and with the current Hg species measurement capability and pose challenges to effectively monitoring trends in atmospheric Hg. Developing additional means to attribute simulated atmospheric Hg trends and improve source-receptor relationships in atmospheric Hg models would improve our ability to evaluate the Convention's effectiveness.117sciescopu

Meaning of Wearing Faux Fur

The purpose of this study is to Understand meanings of consuming faux fur from the perspective of consumer culture theory