Rethinking givenness: an assessment of Jean-Luc Marion's saturated phenomena

In this thesis I will argue that Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenology of givenness, far from being a masked theology, arises from and remains consistent with the fundamental principles of phenomenology traditionally conceived. In support of this position, I will assess his principal phenomenological work, Being Given. I will show that Marion’s conception of the saturated phenomenon, reduced to its own occurrence as an excess of effects over every nexus of causes, takes Husserl’s contention that givenness determines phenomenality to its logical conclusion. What is seen is thus sprung from this unseen self-givenness. This is most plainly experienced in the realms of art and gift giving. Bearing this in mind, and with an eye to establishing its historical antecedents, I will show how such saturated phenomena, quite apart from being of theological origin, have their roots in Immanuel Kant’s treatment of art, and, more specifically, his conception of the sublime