DissertationsprojektDimitry Okropiridze, M.A.
„Pick up Your Damn Cross and Struggle Uphill“ - Jordan B. Peterson as a Religio-Scientific Therapist of the Postsecular Era" (working titel)
Laufende Promotion
Dimitry is currently finishing his Ph.D. thesis on Jordan B. Peterson and his fusion of religious and scientific discourses in a therapeutic container.
The thesis develops a general theoretical model for interpretation, which is aimed at correcting for epistemological and ontological distortions in the study of religion and beyond. Based upon the varifocal theory of interpretation, Jordan B. Peterson's emergence, reception, and influence are analyzed, as Peterson builds up a therapeutic proposition consisting of religious and scientific discourses. The Analysis culminates with an explanation of Peterson's impact in the postsecular era, i.e. in a globally palpable set of discourses where religious and scientific worldviews exist next to each other as incommensurable entities, structuring the lives of billions of individuals.
Dimitry holds a B.A. in religious studies (minor: classical Indology) as well as an M.A. in religious studies (minor: Transcultural Studies).
Dimitry's current research interests gravitate around the following subjects:
- Global Religious History
- The emergence, transformation, and subversion of individual, collective, and institutional identities in the postsecular era
- The Analytic Psychology of Carl Gustav Jung
- The emergence of Jordan B. Peterson as a globally received religious virtuoso
- The intertwining of religious and scientific discourses
Dimitry's scholarly / scientific approach includes the following elements
- Hermeneutics
- Discourse Analysis
- Poststructuralist theory
- Postfoundationalist theory (Ernesto Laclau)
- Varifical theory (Dimitry's distinct approach, developed in his dissertation)