Congratulations to Jeremy Garbe for a successful thesis defence!
We are excited to share that Jeremy Garbe has successfully defending his MA in Philosophy!
Supervised by Professor Kyla Bruff, Jeremy’s thesis was titled, ‘The Limits of Existential Freedom: An Exploration of the Efficacy of Philosophical Literature in Existentialism’.
Read more about his research below.
Members of the examination board included: his supervisor, Prof. Kyla Bruff, Gordon Davis (chair of the defence), and examiners Prof. David Matheson and Prof. Erik Stephenson.
“This thesis project argues that literature is a meaningful form of philosophizing. In Chapter 1, I outline the relationship between the reader and author in literary works. In Chapter 2, I establish that genre is an important aspect of philosophy and argue that literature is a genre that is interrelated with philosophy, as embodied by the existentialist tradition. In Chapter 3, I explain the importance of the literary genre for Nietzsche, Sartre, and Beauvoir in the conveyance of their philosophies. In Chapter 4, I provide an explanation of the key concepts of existential literature that make it uniquely suited to the expression of existential freedom. In Chapter 5, I look to examples of expository and literary works by the existentialists, arguing that literature emphasizes the importance of community for the existentialist project. Finally, I conclude that philosophy should reconsider genre and incorporate literature into an understanding of existential philosophy.”