Location
Tacoma, Washington
Event Website
http://webspace.pugetsound.edu/facultypages/atubert/ConferenceSchedule2016.htm
Start Date
12-2-2016 12:00 PM
End Date
12-2-2016 12:50 PM
Description
In this paper, I use Sylvia Plath’s corpus as a case study to demonstrate how the functional application of philosophy, psychology, and language detect and explain the flourishing and diminishing of the self due to the tension between authentic and inauthentic written expression. I demonstrate the interdisciplinary methodology by way of using philosopher Albert Camus’s philosophy of the absurd to explain why Plath’s self flourishes and diminishes to the point of non-existence (i.e. her suicide). I also show that Plath suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and thus had a maladaptive self that caused her to utilize inauthentic written expression in place of authentic written expression. I then show that the fluctuation of the self can be detected by way of word frequency graphs of the word binaries of Plath’s commonly-used words. The philosophical and psychological theories being applied demonstrate why Plath’s maladaptive self flourished and diminished, while the digital humanities provide an insight into how the flourishing and diminishing of the self can be detected. The functional application of philosophy, psychology, and language in Plath’s case study provides a comprehensive insight into the current state of the self within complex psychopathologies.
Rights
Type
event
Included in
Philosophy, Poetry, and the Self
Tacoma, Washington
In this paper, I use Sylvia Plath’s corpus as a case study to demonstrate how the functional application of philosophy, psychology, and language detect and explain the flourishing and diminishing of the self due to the tension between authentic and inauthentic written expression. I demonstrate the interdisciplinary methodology by way of using philosopher Albert Camus’s philosophy of the absurd to explain why Plath’s self flourishes and diminishes to the point of non-existence (i.e. her suicide). I also show that Plath suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and thus had a maladaptive self that caused her to utilize inauthentic written expression in place of authentic written expression. I then show that the fluctuation of the self can be detected by way of word frequency graphs of the word binaries of Plath’s commonly-used words. The philosophical and psychological theories being applied demonstrate why Plath’s maladaptive self flourished and diminished, while the digital humanities provide an insight into how the flourishing and diminishing of the self can be detected. The functional application of philosophy, psychology, and language in Plath’s case study provides a comprehensive insight into the current state of the self within complex psychopathologies.
https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/psupc/psupc2016/Friday/5