Keywords

Phenomenology; Edmund Husserl; Maurice Merleau-Ponty; Paul Ricœur; Virtual Place; Narrative Selfhood

Abstract

The intent of this thesis is to explore and explicate a phenomenology of virtual place by investigating how environments motivated by computers and smart devices appear within lived experience as well as how these virtual places found and mediate interpretative narratives of self-identity. Many individuals today spend vast portions of their waking hours concerned with or engaged within virtual domains. While contemporary scientific research aims to uncover the effects of this on human psychology, physiology, and social structures, phenomenology must be utilized to reveal the existential, lived dimensions of virtual places. This investigation will be founded upon, but not limited to, the phenomenological work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, and Paul Ricoeur. I show that virtual places are not merely instrumental, but are rather, a new mode of being-in-the-world that shapes how experiences of selfhood manifest to consciousness.

Thesis Completion Year

2026

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Strawser, Michael

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Philosophy

Thesis Discipline

Philosophy

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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