Directionally Creator: Owen Barfield & the Future of History
A recording of my dissertation defense
Dear Friends,
I haveβat long lastβdefended my dissertation! Iβve included the recording of it below as well as the abstract. Iβm hoping to eventually publish it as a book; if you are reading this and happen to have any suggestions regarding publishers I might reach out to, please do leave a comment and let me know. Iβm excited to post here more often now that Iβve crossed the major threshold and will soon have more time. In the meantime, please enjoy this recording and let me know what you think of the ideas! Itβs a severe condensation of all that I explore in the 400 page dissertation, but youβll get a good glimpse of the basic contours.
xoxo
Abstract: This dissertation presents Owen Barfieldβs theory of the evolution of consciousness as a legitimate retrieval of metanarrative that can constructively engage the epistemological, ecological, socio-political, and existential challenges of the Anthropocene. By contextualizing Barfieldβs thought in a lineage streaming down from Plato, yet transformed by the Romantic conception of the creative imagination put forth by thinkers like Coleridge and Goethe, I argue that his theory of historyβrather than mere ideologyβis something that one might actually come to perceive through participatory knowing. In this vein, the dissertation aims to show how Barfieldβs critique of secular-materialism has parity with postcolonial theorists while maintaining the salutary ethical and scientific advances brought about in modernity. Following Charles Taylorβs suggestion that liberal societies might better navigate the post-secular present and future by re-engaging the transcendently-indexed moral sources underlying our ethical intuitions, I position Barfieldβs work as one such retrievalβa distinctly sacramental, world-affirming renewal of Christian agape, framed within an evolutionary perspective.
I am just delighted to have Owen Barfield back in the conversation. This looks like a major peice of work. Congratulations.
Magnificent work, Ashton; just finished and you nailed it. Very well done!