PHENOMENOLOGY OF LIBERATION: A PHILOSOPHICAL METHODOLOGY

This dissertation consists of an investigation of the problem of liberation in the world from a philosophical perspective. It involves the ultimate ground of being as a transcendent feature while concurrently describing liberation in time as a way in which being reveals himself, struggling, as it were, to overcome the human contradictions. It is this face of the problem that is called existential-ontological. The study is grounded in Kant's ethical system, thus grouping it with the ethical systems of philosophy. The following procedure is used. Kant's ethics serves as the moral kernel of the research. That is to say, as far as struggles for liberation are concerned, only those grounded in the motive of duty are considered appropriate liberation struggles. The Hegelian dialectic is used to develop the vertical dimension of liberation. The development begins with the concept of immediacy with a commitment to duty for a struggle and proceeds to the point of the struggle. Hegel's description of Mind or Spirit qua all reality is addressed, not from the perspective of all reality, but from the standpoint of thought, or reason completing its own program. The following are some results of the study. One of these points to the human subject striving for liberation from evil toward salvation. This is the religious dimension of liberation. The other involves the liberation of thought or reason from sense perception to what Hegel calls the Absolute Idea. This is the liberation of philosophical presuppositions or conclusions. The study reveals inherent problems in reason attempting to finish its own program and makes certain creative recommendations. Finally, there is political liberation involving the nation-state struggling for ultimate fulfillment. The similarities in all of these systems are reviewed against their differences as well as the problems each system contains, the obvious attempt being to overcome the tensions. When this is done the following stands out as our conclusion, or philosophical methodology. There must be, first of all, a moral foundation, or what has been called an ethics of duty to foster the appropriate struggle for liberation. Secondly, there must be a clear educational process. The individual or organization must understand the problem and its roots and have a clear solution. This must be taught to everyone who is to participate in the implementation of the struggle to avoid identifying with hypothetical imperatives as a means of bringing liberation. The final state is usually the strugge itself and this takes different forms. This depends upon the institution in question, whether it is the political institution, thought, or the religious institution struggling for fulfillment.