Stephen Darwall

The concept of place is ultimately a matter of ethical significance—of where something fits in a nexus or structure of meaning.  Often this meaning is quite personal, involving a sense of presence we associate with a place.  This essay investigates this connection through a study of Wordsworth’s poem, “Tintern Abbey.”  It argues that the notion of a presence-infused place is ultimately that of a second-personal space.  Presence is a matter of second-personal openness.  Therefore, when presence infuses place, it makes its space second-personal also.