http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/existentialism Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:25:08 -0400 Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:25:08 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1853/the-brain-gut-and-consciousness-microbiology-of-our-mind By Radek Vana - We are never alone. And by this statement, I do not intend to argue for existence of some supernatural entities, aliens or God. We are never alone because we all share our bodies with trillions of symbiotic microorganisms that perform various physiological functions crucial for our health. In fact, they may be responsible for even more than that. Here, I present a view that the symbiotic microbiota is an important part of the complex system constituting our consciousness. By consciousness, I mean the type called phenomenal consciousness (Block 2002) which stands for the subjective experience of... Tue, 29 Dec 2020 12:10 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1853/the-brain-gut-and-consciousness-microbiology-of-our-mind http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1799/unification-of-mind-matter-and-consciousness-through-an-essence-of-relation By Jacob Bell - In contemporary philosophy, the mind-body problem and the problem of consciousness are often viewed through the lens of physicalism, which claims that all that exists is physical. Physicalism in general, and reductive physicalism specifically, remain inadequate in explaining, describing, or understanding consciousness and the mind because such things diverge in their ontological status and thus cannot be fully accounted for from within a physicalist worldview. Accounting for consciousness, for example, requires the acknowledgment that physical facts cannot describe everything, and that phenomenal... Fri, 18 Sep 2020 09:39 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1799/unification-of-mind-matter-and-consciousness-through-an-essence-of-relation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1793/ergodic-textuality-in-egan-and-ozeki-the-rhetorical-dialogism-of-time-being By Taylor G. Hein - Human beings decided that time is linear. We continually assert that is made up of the past, present, and future, proceeding infinitely and mercilessly in an exclusively forward motion. Thus, our lives and our relationships are experienced linearly. Grounded in the fear of its purported rigidity and absoluteness, we lament time’s passing and the war it wages on our bodies and our minds. So, we conclude that we are powerless against it. Over its short history, humanity has proven itself to be epistemologically inclined, desiring to remain in the realm of culturally imposed ideals of &ldquo... Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:56 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1793/ergodic-textuality-in-egan-and-ozeki-the-rhetorical-dialogism-of-time-being http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear By Conner R. Hayes - The fascination with death and the sensationalizing of suicide are prevalent metaphysical themes which traverse all Shakespearean tragedy. These brooding themes, despite their ubiquitous portrayal, take on an idiosyncratic ethical meaning in King Lear. Though naturally nihilistic and bleak, these sentiments serve as more than mere evidence of the existential longing plaguing the psyches of many of Shakespeare’s characters. The yearning to die, and moreover, one’s ability to die, explicates the very metaethical framework and normative ethical epistemology of the play. The characters... Tue, 02 May 2017 12:30 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1641/the-psyscholinguistic-semiotics-and-metanormative-ethics-of-suicide-and-death-in-shakespeares-king-lear http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion By Scot N. DuFour - Albert Camus lived during a tumultuous time that included his experience of World War II and the Algerian War. Camus is most prominently known as an author of fine French literature but he was also a philosopher. While it is debatable whether Camus was an existentialist, a label he personally disliked, his analysis of rebellion in his work The Rebel serves as a relevant argument for the establishment of an ethic based on metaphysical rebellion. Camus faced and was witness to great oppression throughout his lifetime so it is no surprise that he wrote about rebellion. Camus was personally part of... Mon, 01 May 2017 10:41 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1639/does-essence-precede-existence-a-look-at-camuss-metaphysical-rebellion http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1609/the-rebel-hero-albert-camus-and-the-search-for-meaning-amidst-the-absurd By Meghan E. Von Hassel - Man in his search for meaning—everyman— is Albert Camus’ rebel. In The Rebel man must accept and seek to encounter the universe as it presents itself in absurdity. He encounters the universe out of a strange love and a need for something in which he can place his hope: “a moment comes when the creation ceases to be taken tragically; it is merely taken seriously. Then man is concerned with hope.”[1] Rebellion in the face of absurdity finds hope in the beauty of solidarity which is rooted in the dignity of man, namely, that there is value in human life. In the darkness... Tue, 04 Apr 2017 02:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1609/the-rebel-hero-albert-camus-and-the-search-for-meaning-amidst-the-absurd http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1629/theistic-explanations-of-the-ontology-of-consciousness By Rashad Rehman - Consciousness is a thought-provoking phenomenon. In recent decades, though, the philosophy of mind has revealed consciousness to be, in the words of Thomas Nagel, "what makes the mindbody problem intractable" (Nagel, 1979). Though consciousness has made the mind-body problem seemingly intractable, to some philosophers, fi nite and irreducibly subjective conscious experiences call for an explanation (Locke, 1959). It seems to some that a scientific explanation will not and cannot provide an adequate explanation for the existence of consciousness. Although this is controversial, the important natural... Sat, 01 Apr 2017 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1629/theistic-explanations-of-the-ontology-of-consciousness http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/662/finitude-existence-and-community-letting-the-individual-die By Nicole Billitz - Addressing finitude as it relates to existence and community, Jean Luc Nancy and Martin Heidegger recognize finitude to be both the impossibility of being at one with oneself and the radical fragmentation of Being, in terms of mortality. Nancy contends that there is a fundamental relationship between the community and death, which necessitates an ethical imperative to the other, and by association negates violence to the other. For Nancy, existence or “being-with” is necessarily ethical because we are constituted by other beings. For Heidegger, ethics is dwelling in closeness to Being... Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:58 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/662/finitude-existence-and-community-letting-the-individual-die http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/660/viktor-frankls-logotherapy-the-search-for-purpose-and-meaning By Daniel Devoe - Equivalent parts biographical and theoretical, this paper provides a discussion of the main historical events and contributions of Viktor Frankl. Frankl's intellectual development began with a brief immersion in Freud and Alder’s teachings in the early 1920s. He began to formalize the tenets of his theory and therapy, logotherapy, while assisting unemployed Viennese in the Great Depression. Logotherapy maintains that a human’s principal motivation is not to search for power or gratification, but to discover the purpose of existence. Various existential ideas are discussed including... Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/660/viktor-frankls-logotherapy-the-search-for-purpose-and-meaning http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/289/logotherapy-and-the-holocaust-uniting-human-experience-in-extremity-and-normality By Ryan A. Piccirillo - During the Holocaust, Dr. Frankl witnessed extremes of human suffering. He watched men tackle fear, fear destroy men, and prisoners develop tricks to retain their humanity and hold onto hope. His psychological background compelled him to psychoanalyze not only his fellow prisoners, but himself as well. Of his most important observations, his assertion that “an abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior” (Frankl 38), is instrumental in helping the outsider understand concentration camp behavior. He explains that, “it is very difficult for an outsider to grasp... Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/289/logotherapy-and-the-holocaust-uniting-human-experience-in-extremity-and-normality