Travis M DiRuzza
California Institute of Integral Studies, PCC, Graduate Student
- Columbia College, English Literature, Alumnusadd
- Philosophy, Religion, Plato, Plato and Platonism, Plotinus, Neoplatonism, and 29 moreNeoplatonism and late antique philosophy, Iamblichus, Proclus, Dionysius the Areopagite, Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Jacques Derrida, Deconstruction, Carl G. Jung, Psychology, Anthropology, Ecology, Environmental Sustainability, Early Christianity, Christianity, Christology, History of Christianity, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenology, Speculative Realism, Derrida, New Materialism, Speculative Realism (Philosophy), Object Oriented Ontology, Contemporary French Philosophy, Patristics, Aristotle, Romanticism, and Philosophy Of Religionedit
- Travis DiRuzza earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University where he majored in English literature and music... moreTravis DiRuzza earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University where he majored in English literature and music while performing in New York City at venues such as the Knitting Factory and Carnegie Hall. He lived in Paris and worked as a professional double-bassist for many years, performing and recording throughout Europe, including France, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, and Romania, as well as Lebanon. He then moved to Southeast Asia, where he performed and recorded in Thailand, Malaysia, and Nepal. Travis received his master’s degree in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), where he is currently pursuing his PhD. His master’s thesis treats Plato and Derrida, while his dissertation traces the metaphysical concept of participation from its antique origins up through its Christian formulation by Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. Travis also worked at CIIS as the Program Coordinator of the Drama Therapy department for three years. He continues to perform, create, and teach around the world, such as the 2016 summer workshop he co-led in Beijing on psychology and the arts.edit
- Jacob Shermanedit
This master’s thesis explores Derrida’s engagement with Plato, primarily in the texts “How to Avoid Speaking: Denials” and On the Name. The themes of participation and performance are examined through the concepts of mystery and metaxy... more
This master’s thesis explores Derrida’s engagement with Plato, primarily in the texts “How to Avoid Speaking: Denials” and On the Name. The themes of participation and performance are examined through the concepts of mystery and metaxy (μεταξύ). The crucial performative aspects of Plato and Derrida’s texts are often under appreciated. Neither author simply says what he means; rather their texts are meant to do something to the reader that surpasses what could be accomplished through straightforward reading comprehension. This enacted dimension of the text underscores a participatory worldview that is not just intellectually formulated, but performed by the text in a way that draws the reader into an event of participation—instead of its mere contemplation. On this basis, I propose a closer alliance between these authors’ projects than has been traditionally considered.
This is my second comprehensive exam, which traces the the concepts of methexis and energeia from Plato and Aristotle respectively through Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor, with a brief Coda devoted to Gregory Palamas.
This is my first comprehensive exam, which traces the history of apophasis in its historical and philosophical context from Plato through Dionysius the Areopagite.
This master’s thesis explores Derrida’s engagement with Plato, primarily in the texts “How to Avoid Speaking: Denials” and On the Name. The themes of participation and performance are examined through the concepts of mystery and metaxy... more
This master’s thesis explores Derrida’s engagement with Plato, primarily in the texts “How to Avoid Speaking: Denials” and On the Name. The themes of participation and performance are examined through the concepts of mystery and metaxy (μεταξύ). The crucial performative aspects of Plato and Derrida’s texts are often under appreciated. Neither author simply says what he means; rather their texts are meant to do something to the reader that surpasses what could be accomplished through straightforward reading comprehension. This enacted dimension of the text underscores a participatory worldview that is not just intellectually formulated, but performed by the text in a way that draws the reader into an event of participation—instead of its mere contemplation. On this basis, I propose a closer alliance between these authors’ projects than has been traditionally considered.
This essay looks at how conceptions of light reflect the minds from which they emerge, illuminating diverse western historical epochs: Egyptian, ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary.
This essay compares the work of Derrida and Whitehead, reading several areas of unexpected agreement between these thinkers on both epistemological and ontological fronts.
This essay is an interdisciplinary treatment of the painter Nicolas de Staël, the poet René Char, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
This essay is a longer study (mémoire) of the poet Charles Baudelaire's "Les Fleurs du mal".