Search Results (37)

Background/Objectives: End-of-life (EoL) experiences are critically important for everyone involved, giving rise to a set of needs that extend far beyond bio-physiological aspects, to encompass the spiritual dimension as the core of human beings. Understanding the processes of spiritual awakening (SA) assists palliative care professionals in enhancing the quality of care provided to individuals with life-threatening illnesses, as well as to their families. SA is a fundamental occurrence linked to the fulfilment of our spiritual needs when facing an existential crisis, such as the proximity of death. However, its conceptual boundaries need to be clarified to provide qualified and humanized palliative care. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key attributes, antecedents, consequents, and empirical referents of SA at EoL, as well as to clarify the concept’s existing ambiguities. Methods: Walker and Avant’s eight-step concept analysis was used. A literature search was conducted in May 2025 across three databases (PubMed, CINAHL and Scopus). Results: Following the review, 21 articles were included for analysis. The concept analysis revealed four main attribute domains: (1) sensory–perceptual domain; (2) affective/cognitive domain; (3) relational domain; and (4) transcendental domain. Moreover, spiritual consciousness and the existential matrix were antecedents to this concept; revaluation of beliefs, finding spiritual serenity and inner freedom, fostering spiritual growth, and the desire to leave a legacy were its consequences. Conclusions: The concept of SA at the EoL reveals itself to be a complex and multifactorial phenomenon, with a profound impact on a person’s confrontation with finitude. Recognizing and integrating SA into palliative care allows for a more comprehensive understanding of human consciousness. To deal with SA experiences in healthcare settings, a multifaceted approach is needed. This encompasses acknowledging spirituality as a determinant of health, including spiritual care in standard practice, and offering education and training on spiritual care competence for healthcare practitioners. Further transdisciplinary research should be undertaken to explore SA phenomenological variations, guide clinical interventions, and evaluate SA impacts on spiritual well-being and spiritual growth. Full article

This article aims to establish the theoretical foundations for a phenomenology of the invisible, conceived as an ontologically primary dimension of reality. It draws on the work of the realist phenomenologist Hedwig Conrad-Martius (1888–1966) and situates the discussion within the methodological framework of Husserl’s phenomenology—as developed by members of the Munich–Göttingen Circle, of which Conrad-Martius was one of the leading figures, and which employed the methods of Ideation and epoché. This study elaborates three ontological structures, Nothingness, Selfness (ichhaftes Sein), and Transcendence, proposed here as anchor points for addressing the phenomenon of invisibility. Through this, it seeks to extend the phenomenological notion of givenness from what appears to that which resists appearance. Given that Conrad-Martius herself does not explicitly link these structures—as developed in her thought—to invisibility, nor does her writing offer a systematic conceptual development or detailed examination of their broader implications, the author—taking inspiration from Eugen Fink’s notion of “philosophizing-along-with” (Mit-Philosophieren) as a means to achieve a methodological and “theoretical stance”—frames a thematic exploration of invisibility in relation to these structures. The article thus proposes an ontologically grounded phenomenological framework for understanding the invisible as an integral dimension of the totality of reality: the primordial ground preceding all existence (Nothingness), the structural condition of human reality (Selfness), and that which lies beyond both human finitude and existence as such (Transcendence). In doing so, it seeks to contribute to contemporary phenomenological discourse by articulating the invisible as a fundamental mode of Being. Full article

For human beings, accepting loss and absence is a constant effort, particularly when it comes to accepting their own finitude, which becomes apparent as time passes and people leave us. This is closely linked to nostalgia and the processes of remembrance. While there are many nuances, we can distinguish between constructive and destructive nostalgia. The former cannot accept absence or the passage of time and deludes itself into thinking that it can recover what has been lost. The latter recognizes the temptation to recover everything, but knows that this is impossible, and accepts that the past can only be preserved by transforming it into something else. Contemporary technologies that use algorithms can exacerbate the former tendency by manipulating memory processes and distorting the meaning of the virtual. The aim of this contribution is to shed light on the dynamics and implications of nostalgia as it is influenced by algorithms. To this end, it is divided into three stages. In the first stage, nostalgia is examined for its “restraining” power in relation to deterministically progressive philosophies of history, also through a reference to the original philosophical meaning of the term ‘virtual’. In the second stage, the relation to progress is thematized through a reflection on technologies and artificial intelligence, which uses algorithms and devours our data. In the third stage, it will be shown how thinking about nostalgia and artificial and algorithmic ‘intelligence(s)’ can be a valuable test case for distinguishing between the uses and abuses of nostalgia, between constructive nostalgia and destructive nostalgia. Full article

This paper challenges the Western philosophical and theological tradition’s subordination of finitude to the infinite, arguing instead for finitude as the positive ontological foundation of human existence and credible theological discourse. Drawing primarily on Emmanuel Falque’s critique of “the pre-emption of the infinite” and Jan Patočka’s concept of “being shaken,” the study demonstrates how finitude constitutes not a limitation to be overcome but the necessary horizon within which any authentic encounter with transcendence must occur. The argument proceeds through four stages: deconstructing the Cartesian legacy that privileges the infinite over the finite; establishing phenomenological reorientation toward “impassable immanence;” introducing “being shaken” as the existential manifestation of finitude; and addressing critiques of this approach. The paper argues that Christianity’s incarnational logic—particularly Christ’s assumption of human finitude—provides theological validation for this phenomenological insight. The central contribution lies in proposing “credible theology”—theological discourse that derives legitimacy not from abstract rationality but from fidelity to the common human condition of finitude. This approach offers a methodological alternative to traditional fundamental theology by grounding theological reflection in the shared structures of existence. Full article

We present a formal reconstruction of the conventional number systems, including integers, rationals, reals, and complex numbers, based on the principle of relational finitude over a finite field ${\mathbb{F}}_{\mathsf{p}}$. Rather than assuming actual infinity, we define arithmetic and algebra as observer-dependent constructs grounded in finite field symmetries. Consequently, we formulate relational analogues of the conventional number classes, expressed relationally with respect to a chosen reference frame. We define explicit mappings for each number class, preserving their algebraic and computational properties while eliminating ontological dependence on infinite structures. For example, relationally framed rational numbers emerge from dense grids generated by primitive roots of a finite field, enabling proportional reasoning without infinity, while scale-periodicity ensures invariance under zoom operations, approximating continuity in a bounded structure. The resultant framework—that we denote as Finite Ring Continuum—aims to establish a coherent foundation for mathematics, physics and formal logic in an ontologically finite paradox-free informational universe. Full article

This essay argues for the importance of the overlooked theme of natality in the poetry of Louise Glück. In its guise as mortality, human finitude causes pain through the permanence of death; in its guise as natality, finitude can also be an occasion for wonder at the unlikely chance of having been born, and the contingency and possibility for beginning something new associated with natality by Hannah Arendt and others. In Glück’s work, the theme of natality comes across in poems concerning pregnancy, birth, infants, children, and mothers. Several of her poems feature a hybrid identification as child and as mother, a hybridity that enables the apprehension of natality and that leads to a mode of poetic speech that originates in, and is imbricated with, listening as an alternative to knowing. This essay examines some of Glück’s earlier poetry in these terms before turning to her 2006 volume Averno, which retells the myth of Persephone. Undeniably preoccupied with death, Averno is, I argue, equally concerned with birth, mindful that human finitude itself is double or hybrid. Although many poems cast Demeter as a smothering, possessive mother, Averno, at key moments, takes into account a mother’s perspective as well as a child’s. This hybrid identification gives rise to the emergence of an unexpected lyric voice that both listens and sings. Full article

This article offers a theo-phenomenological investigation of the body, exploring the dialogue between contemporary phenomenology—especially its theological turn—and Eastern Orthodox spirituality as found in the Philokalia. Building on the phenomenological distinction between body and flesh and drawing on Orthodox theology’s understanding of the body–soul unity, the article analyzes the intramundanity and finitude of the human body, as well as its transfiguration through ascetic practices and divine grace. The Incarnation of Christ is examined as a central paradigm for rethinking embodiment, revealing the eschatological promise of glorified flesh. Concepts such as ipseity, self-affection, intentionality, and counter-intentionality are employed to articulate a phenomenological vision open to theological transcendence. Ultimately, this interdisciplinary approach affirms the possibility of a body transformed by grace and destined for resurrection. Full article

This paper argues that Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Georges Bataille use voyeurism as a transgressive mechanism to confront death through the female body, a paradoxical site of life and decay. Though Céline’s clinical, disenchanted gaze contrasts with Bataille’s erotic, metaphysical quest, both employ the act of seeing to reveal death’s presence within vitality. In Céline’s works, voyeurism shifts from erotic curiosity to cold observation, framing the female body as a sterile emblem of mortality. In Bataille’s, it becomes participatory, merging ecstasy with dissolution in a sacred yet destructive form. Drawing on Freud and Sodom motifs, this study shows how their gazes transform the female body into a lens for existential finitude, challenging life–death boundaries in 20th-century French literature. Full article

In Edith Stein’s thinking, there is a gradual transition from the discovery of Christianity in her phenomenological studies to the mystical realization of her own role as a Christian. The present paper explores the historical, cultural, and personal circumstances of Stein’s approach to Christianity and reveals how philosophical insights contributed to her Christian commitment and supported her receptivity to mysticism. My thesis is that Stein’s philosophical reflection and the deepening of her personal religiosity are mutually evolving. The thesis of this paper is based on a letter written by Edith Stein to Roman Ingarden in 1927, at a time when she had not yet entered the Carmelite Order in Cologne but was already living as a monk. In this sense, the letter represents a zigzag reflection between past and present events, describing events in the apocalyptic horizon of eternity. Through recurrent reflection on the letter, I argue for the parallel development of mystical insights and philosophical achievements in Stein’s life, and finally, I show that the two are inextricably linked and contribute to a philosophical understanding of her own holocaust. Full article

The question of whether God can be given in first-hand experience is debated in the secondary literature of Michel Henry. Articulating the history and structure of interiority more deeply provides a more precise conceptualization of his interiority to emerge and thus settle the question, namely that Henry’s thought contains both a dualism and duality. Within his dualism, Henry’s interior appearing is foundational, and has no capacity to reconcile with the world’s appearing that asserts exteriority as a foundation of what is given. Yet an interior/exterior duality emerges within Henry’s foundational interiority. Experiences of things like chairs are exteriorly given in life, while experiences of affectivity like gratitude are interiorly given in life. Since interior experiences are unified with our life and are our life, they lack any phenomenological distance that reduce God to finitude. Thus interiority, when both the foundation and the experience, establishes both a possibility for a first-hand experience of God and a glimpse into God’s experience of Godself. The article closes by showing how Henry suggests a name for God when given in first-hand experience: the Holy Spirit. Full article

Posthuman discourse calls for a fundamental shift away from modern anthropocentric thought. This shift stems from the reflection that many of the problems in the modern capitalist world, including climate change, are rooted in anthropocentric attitudes and ways of life. Amid rapid climatic and technological changes, transforming our way of thinking is essential. This paper argues that such a transformation is possible through the exploration of new subjectivities that incorporate the other, transforming the self in the process. It examines how 1930s Korean colonial modernist literature illustrates this search for new subjectivities. Based on this exploration, this paper also concretizes the tendencies and problems in our society, particularly concerning technological fascism, through recent Korean fiction and discusses the significance of the literary imaginations of 1930s colonial Korean modernism in the posthuman era. Full article

This article explores the phenomenology of time and eschatology in the thought of Jean-Yves Lacoste, including his recent book on the philosophy of history. Lacoste’s idea of “the hidden present” is examined within the context of his broader theological and philosophical framework, with a particular focus on the way it addresses the intersection of temporality and eternity. Human temporality is characterized by finitude and death, which are interpreted both philosophically—under the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy—and theologically. Using Husserlian and Heideggerian concepts, Lacoste proposes a theologically inspired conceptual network: phenomenological reduction versus theological reduction, world versus creation, death versus resurrection, care (Sorge) versus eschatological restlessness, and time versus eschaton. All of these describe the liturgical experience of man before God and the possibility of an eternity which, from the point of view of the world and of our experience in the world, can only take on the ever-provisional figure of anticipation. The present article argues for the existence of a theological paradox of eschatology in the writings of the French phenomenologist: even if eschatology is only anticipated, the liturgical man, situated before God (coram Deo), experiences it in an incomplete and apophatic manner. Full article

This article begins with a short reconstruction of the long-forgotten Death of God movement and its development of the concept of a Radical Theology during the 1960s in the United States of America and in Western Germany (The “Death of God” as a Signature of Secular Culture). In my view, protestant theology and the church have thus far failed to discuss Nietzsche’s proclamation of the “Death of God” as a genuine signature of modernity in a constructive way. In refusing the debate, they did not see the theological potential of the diagnostic and ambiguous metaphor “Death of God” as a “tremendous event still on its way”. With regard to a current perspective on Radical Theology (The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism and the Renaissance of Radical Theology), the intention is a creative and radical interpretation of this heretical concept as a step towards a modern religiosity after (the Death of) God which includes a new awareness of the finitude of human life and of its limitations. The theological symbol of the “Death of God” in my concept of “Heretical Religiosity” leads to a new approach to the theology of wisdom as symbolized in the Hebrew Bible by the book of Ecclesiastes (Heretical Religiosity: Radical Theology and Wisdom Literature in the Hebrew Bible). Full article

Transhumanism presents a view of human progress by transcending the human, regarding finitude and suffering to be fundamental problems that must be overcome by radical bioenhancement technologies. Recent theologians have compared Christianity and transhumanism as competing deifications via grace and technology, respectively. Ron Cole-Turner is a cautious yet optimistic interpreter of the relationship between Christian deification and transhumanism, regarding them, on the one hand, to be incompatible based on self-centeredness vs. kenosis, while on the other hand, they can be compatible through a robust theology of creation and transfiguration such that creative human efforts via technology will be an active agent in transforming the world in glory. In this way, Christian transhumanism offers a vision of human progress in deification that transfigures creation through technology. In this paper, I challenge this proposal. I wish to show how transhumanism in any stripe, whether secular, Christian, or other, is fundamentally incompatible with Christian deification for two reasons: (1) incompatible views of progress and (2) incompatible views of human agency in deification. I will address each in turn. I then propose that human progress is infinite growth in the love of Christ. Finally, I suggest how a view of human agency affects how we think about suffering as a means to human progress. Full article

The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses challenges in the field of bioethics, especially concerning issues related to life and death. AI has permeated areas such as health and research, generating ethical dilemmas and questions about privacy, decision-making, and access to technology. Life and death have been recurring human concerns, particularly in connection with depression. AI has created systems like Thanabots or Deadbots, which digitally recreate deceased individuals and allow interactions with them. These systems rely on information generated by AI users during their lifetime, raising ethical and emotional questions about the authenticity and purpose of these recreations. AI acts as a mediator between life, death, and the human being, enabling a new form of communication with the deceased. However, this raises ethical issues such as informed consent from users and the limits of digital recreation. Companies offer services like the Digital Resurrection of deceased individuals and the generation of hyper-realistic avatars. Still, concerns arise about the authenticity of these representations and their long-term emotional impact. Interaction with Thanabots may alter perceptions of death and finitude, leading to a potential “postmortal society” where death is no longer viewed as a definitive end. Nevertheless, this raises questions about the value of life and the authenticity of human experiences. AI becomes a bridge between the living and the dead, partially replacing rituals and mystical beliefs. As technology advances, there will be a need for greater transparency in interacting with AI systems and ethical reflections on the role of these technologies in shaping perceptions of life and death. Ultimately, the question arises of whether we should allow the dead to rest in peace and how to balance the pursuit of emotional relief with authenticity and respect for the memory of the deceased. A deeper ethical consideration is needed on how AI alters traditional notions of life, death, and communication in contemporary society. In this research, an interdisciplinary approach was utilized to conduct a comprehensive systematic review of the recent academic literature, followed by a detailed analysis of two key texts. Central ideas were extracted, and recurring themes were identified. Finally, a reflective analysis of the findings was conducted, yielding significant conclusions and recommendations for future research. Full article