The Failures and Possibilities of Philosophy in the Material World

Bibliographic Data

ID21206014
AuthorsJessica Van Cleave (0000-0002-2531-3965, Gardner–Webb University, corresponding author), Travis Marn (Southern Connecticut State University), Jennifer Wolgemuth (0000-0002-4124-2239, University of South Florida)
Year2025
Volume18
Issue1
Pages163-173
Publication date2025-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Review of Qualitative Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1940-8447 • E-ISSN: 1940-8455
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/19408447251319433
OpenAlexW4407305027
LanguageEN
References cited17

In this article, we engage the tension between the failures and possibilities of theories to which we hold attachments. The failure of theory for us is also the failure of qualitative research because as scholars who engage in philosophically informed and critical inquiries, research and theory are inextricably bound. Drawing on our individual and collective experiences, we explore moments when the promise of philosophy crumbled as seismic shifts in culture, politics, and public health rendered useless theories we had long relied upon. We attempt to bring the affective feeling of failure into a productive space and explore how the failure of theory in our lives and our research is not static but rather shifts with the material conditions of the world

Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Engineering · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism

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