Date of Award
5-3-2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Calvin Thomas
Second Advisor
Mark Noble
Third Advisor
Paul Schmidt
Abstract
This thesis labors to unpack Georges Bataille’s enigmatic statement, “to laugh is to think”, treating this “impossible thought” as a paradigmatic expression of Bataille’s self-characterized “philosophy of laughter.” Overall, this thesis interrogates Bataille’s “philosophy of laughter” as an attempt to stimulate an “awakening” of consciousness to the dissolution of consciousness. En route, this thesis argues that such an “awakening” evokes a privileged expression of the movement of “communication” around which Bataille’s theoretical writing is structured, positing the “philosophy of laughter” as an effort to solder the movement of “communication” through the domain of epistemology itself.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/9822232
Recommended Citation
Wright, Drew M., "The Impossible Thought of Georges Bataille: A Consciousness That Laughs and Cries." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2017.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/9822232