Uninhibited: Redefining & Relocating Rudolf Otto’s Dichotomous “Holy”

This project will present and problematize different dichotomies that exist within the idea of the holy. The dichotomies I am choosing to present are rational and non-rational, the main dichotomy of the holy, soul and spirit, which make up the dichotomy of the self, and lastly, body and mind, the dichotomy regarding the localization of the self. Although Otto’s work is not limited to these three dichotomies, I feel that they are the most crucial to treat. The problems relating to each dichotomy will be argued through inconsistencies in Otto’s ideas. More specifically, I will argue for a redefinition of a priori to exclude the rational, argue that the creature’s individuality belongs to the spirit, and that the self be localized in the body