Garry Hagberg
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199234226
- eISBN:
- 9780191715440
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199234226.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language
The voluminous writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein contain some of the most profound reflections of our time on the nature of the human subject and self-understanding — the human condition, ...
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The voluminous writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein contain some of the most profound reflections of our time on the nature of the human subject and self-understanding — the human condition, philosophically speaking. This book mimes those extensive writings for a conception of the self. And more specifically, the book offers a discussion of Wittgenstein's later writings on language and mind as they hold special significance for the understanding and clarification of the distinctive character of self-descriptive or autobiographical language. The book also undertakes a philosophical investigation of selected autobiographical writings — among the best examples we have of human selves exploring themselves — as they cast new and special light on the critique of mind-body dualism and its undercurrents in particular, and on the nature of autobiographical consciousness more generally. The chapters take up in turn the topics of self-consciousness, what Wittgenstein calls ‘the inner picture’; mental privacy and the picture of metaphysical seclusion; the very idea of our observation of the contents of consciousness; first-person expressive speech; reflexive or self-directed thought and competing pictures of introspection; the nuances of retrospective self-understanding, person-perception, and the corollary issues of self-perception (itself an interestingly dangerous phrase); self-defining memory; and the therapeutic conception of philosophical progress as it applies to all of these issues. The cast of characters interwoven throughout the discussion include, in addition to Wittgenstein centrally, Augustine, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Iris Murdoch, Donald Davidson, and Stanley Cavell, among others.Less
The voluminous writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein contain some of the most profound reflections of our time on the nature of the human subject and self-understanding — the human condition, philosophically speaking. This book mimes those extensive writings for a conception of the self. And more specifically, the book offers a discussion of Wittgenstein's later writings on language and mind as they hold special significance for the understanding and clarification of the distinctive character of self-descriptive or autobiographical language. The book also undertakes a philosophical investigation of selected autobiographical writings — among the best examples we have of human selves exploring themselves — as they cast new and special light on the critique of mind-body dualism and its undercurrents in particular, and on the nature of autobiographical consciousness more generally. The chapters take up in turn the topics of self-consciousness, what Wittgenstein calls ‘the inner picture’; mental privacy and the picture of metaphysical seclusion; the very idea of our observation of the contents of consciousness; first-person expressive speech; reflexive or self-directed thought and competing pictures of introspection; the nuances of retrospective self-understanding, person-perception, and the corollary issues of self-perception (itself an interestingly dangerous phrase); self-defining memory; and the therapeutic conception of philosophical progress as it applies to all of these issues. The cast of characters interwoven throughout the discussion include, in addition to Wittgenstein centrally, Augustine, Goethe, Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Iris Murdoch, Donald Davidson, and Stanley Cavell, among others.
Nikolas Rose and Joelle M. Abi-Rached
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149608
- eISBN:
- 9781400846337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149608.003.0008
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Development
This chapter explores the neurobiological self. It argues that the emerging neuroscientific understandings of selfhood are unlikely to efface modern human beings' understanding of themselves as ...
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This chapter explores the neurobiological self. It argues that the emerging neuroscientific understandings of selfhood are unlikely to efface modern human beings' understanding of themselves as persons equipped with a deep interior world of mental states that have a causal relation to their action. Rather, they are likely to add a neurobiological dimension to human beings' self-understanding and their practices of self-management. In this sense, the “somatic individuality” which was once the province of the psy- sciences, is spreading to the neuro- sciences. Yet psy is not being displaced by neuro: neurobiological conceptions of the self are being construed alongside psychological ones.Less
This chapter explores the neurobiological self. It argues that the emerging neuroscientific understandings of selfhood are unlikely to efface modern human beings' understanding of themselves as persons equipped with a deep interior world of mental states that have a causal relation to their action. Rather, they are likely to add a neurobiological dimension to human beings' self-understanding and their practices of self-management. In this sense, the “somatic individuality” which was once the province of the psy- sciences, is spreading to the neuro- sciences. Yet psy is not being displaced by neuro: neurobiological conceptions of the self are being construed alongside psychological ones.
Holger Zaborowski
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576777
- eISBN:
- 9780191722295
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576777.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter discusses Spaemann's self-understanding as a philosopher. It will be concerned with questions such as what philosophy in a late modern context essentially is, what role it plays, and how ...
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This chapter discusses Spaemann's self-understanding as a philosopher. It will be concerned with questions such as what philosophy in a late modern context essentially is, what role it plays, and how it is properly pursued.Less
This chapter discusses Spaemann's self-understanding as a philosopher. It will be concerned with questions such as what philosophy in a late modern context essentially is, what role it plays, and how it is properly pursued.
P. F. Strawson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199587292
- eISBN:
- 9780191728747
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587292.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This chapter explores possible responses to the question ‘Why Philosophy?’ The query is worth considering because of two other questions which are sometimes posed. The first is blunt enough: ‘What's ...
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This chapter explores possible responses to the question ‘Why Philosophy?’ The query is worth considering because of two other questions which are sometimes posed. The first is blunt enough: ‘What's the use of it?’ The second is, or seems, a bit more sophisticated: viz. ‘Why is it that, unlike the natural sciences, there seems to be no development, no progress in philosophy?’ It argues philosophy should aim at general human conceptual self-understanding.Less
This chapter explores possible responses to the question ‘Why Philosophy?’ The query is worth considering because of two other questions which are sometimes posed. The first is blunt enough: ‘What's the use of it?’ The second is, or seems, a bit more sophisticated: viz. ‘Why is it that, unlike the natural sciences, there seems to be no development, no progress in philosophy?’ It argues philosophy should aim at general human conceptual self-understanding.
O. D. Creutzfeldt
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198523246
- eISBN:
- 9780191724510
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198523246.001.0001
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Molecular and Cellular Systems
The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary ...
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The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.Less
The cortex continues to be the subject of intense scientific curiosity, as it has been for the past thirty years. It is the most highly developed part of the brain, yet the youngest in evolutionary terms. It is fundamental to human behaviour, thinking, and self-understanding, and a study of its structure and performance must encompass aspects of anatomy, physiology, psychology, and neurology. This book provides an account of the structural and functional organisation of the cerebral cortex from the point of view of one of the pioneers in the field. It is a revised and updated translation of the original German text, and brings together the biological, psychological, and philosophical strands of enquiry relating to this area of the brain.
Dave Boothroyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719055980
- eISBN:
- 9781781700921
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719055980.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
Never has a reconsideration of the place of drugs in our culture been more urgent than it is today. Drugs are seen as both panaceas and panapathogens, and the apparent irreconcilability of these ...
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Never has a reconsideration of the place of drugs in our culture been more urgent than it is today. Drugs are seen as both panaceas and panapathogens, and the apparent irreconcilability of these alternatives lies at the heart of the cultural crises they are perceived to engender. Yet the meanings attached to drugs are always a function of the places they come to occupy in culture. This book investigates the resources for a re-evaluation of the drugs and culture relation in several key areas of twentieth-century cultural and philosophical theory. Addressing themes such as the nature of consciousness, language and the body, alienation, selfhood, the image and virtuality, the nature/culture dyad and everyday life – as these are expressed in the work of such key figures as Freud, Benjamin, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze – it argues that the ideas and concepts by which modernity has attained its measure of self-understanding are themselves, in various ways, the products of encounters with drugs and their effects. In each case, the reader is directed to the points at which drugs figure in the formulations of ‘high theory’, and it is revealed how such thinking is never itself a drug-free zone. Consequently, there is no ground on which to distinguish ‘culture’ from ‘drug culture’ in the first place.Less
Never has a reconsideration of the place of drugs in our culture been more urgent than it is today. Drugs are seen as both panaceas and panapathogens, and the apparent irreconcilability of these alternatives lies at the heart of the cultural crises they are perceived to engender. Yet the meanings attached to drugs are always a function of the places they come to occupy in culture. This book investigates the resources for a re-evaluation of the drugs and culture relation in several key areas of twentieth-century cultural and philosophical theory. Addressing themes such as the nature of consciousness, language and the body, alienation, selfhood, the image and virtuality, the nature/culture dyad and everyday life – as these are expressed in the work of such key figures as Freud, Benjamin, Sartre, Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze – it argues that the ideas and concepts by which modernity has attained its measure of self-understanding are themselves, in various ways, the products of encounters with drugs and their effects. In each case, the reader is directed to the points at which drugs figure in the formulations of ‘high theory’, and it is revealed how such thinking is never itself a drug-free zone. Consequently, there is no ground on which to distinguish ‘culture’ from ‘drug culture’ in the first place.
Sandra Lynch
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748617272
- eISBN:
- 9780748652358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748617272.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This book provides a philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship, explaining the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to ...
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This book provides a philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship, explaining the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to the subject. It considers ideals of intimacy and fusion in the context of claims that such ideals are unrealistic and even dangerous. Cicero's scepticism about friendship in the public realm is compared with the Aristotelian view of friendship as a genuine political bond, and with Derrida's development of that view via an exploration of Aristotle's alleged and provocative announcement ‘O my friends, there is no friend’. Tensions between love and respect, identity and difference, a focus on the self and a focus on the other are closely examined. From Aristotle to contemporary theorists, the book explores the conditions that enable the development of self-understanding in friendship; the delicate and unstable pairing of concepts such as inclination and duty; and distinctions between self-love, self-esteem, and self-concern in relations between friends.Less
This book provides a philosophical exploration of the meaning and significance of friendship, explaining the persistence of friendship today in the light of the history of philosophical approaches to the subject. It considers ideals of intimacy and fusion in the context of claims that such ideals are unrealistic and even dangerous. Cicero's scepticism about friendship in the public realm is compared with the Aristotelian view of friendship as a genuine political bond, and with Derrida's development of that view via an exploration of Aristotle's alleged and provocative announcement ‘O my friends, there is no friend’. Tensions between love and respect, identity and difference, a focus on the self and a focus on the other are closely examined. From Aristotle to contemporary theorists, the book explores the conditions that enable the development of self-understanding in friendship; the delicate and unstable pairing of concepts such as inclination and duty; and distinctions between self-love, self-esteem, and self-concern in relations between friends.
Henriette van der Blom
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199582938
- eISBN:
- 9780191723124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199582938.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the place and function of ancestral tradition (mos maiorum) in Roman culture and political discourse. Central issues such as ownership of the ancestors, the extent and limits to ...
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This chapter explores the place and function of ancestral tradition (mos maiorum) in Roman culture and political discourse. Central issues such as ownership of the ancestors, the extent and limits to claims based on references to ancestral tradition, and the link between mos maiorum and historical examples are taken up to show the vital role of ancestral tradition and historical examples in Roman self‐understanding, self‐presentation to the outer world and justification for world rule. It is argued the Romans operated with several interpretations of maiores, the ancestors, to mean both specific ancestors within a family and a broader sense of maiores as ancestors for all Romans in general, both of which had impact on political rhetoric.Less
This chapter explores the place and function of ancestral tradition (mos maiorum) in Roman culture and political discourse. Central issues such as ownership of the ancestors, the extent and limits to claims based on references to ancestral tradition, and the link between mos maiorum and historical examples are taken up to show the vital role of ancestral tradition and historical examples in Roman self‐understanding, self‐presentation to the outer world and justification for world rule. It is argued the Romans operated with several interpretations of maiores, the ancestors, to mean both specific ancestors within a family and a broader sense of maiores as ancestors for all Romans in general, both of which had impact on political rhetoric.
Mark Bevir
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150833
- eISBN:
- 9781400840281
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150833.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter looks more closely at the main organizational expression of the religion of socialism, namely, the Labor Church movement. Previous historians have usually explained the rise of the Labor ...
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This chapter looks more closely at the main organizational expression of the religion of socialism, namely, the Labor Church movement. Previous historians have usually explained the rise of the Labor Church as part of a transfer of religious energy to the political sphere and then explained its demise by reference to the continuing process of secularization. In contrast, it focuses on the religious self-understanding of the Labor Church. It begins by explaining the rise of the movement by reference to the immanentist theology with which so many Victorians and Edwardians responded to the crisis of faith. Thereafter, it appeals to the ideas of the movement in order to explain its appeal, structure, and activities and to suggest that the decline of the movement reflected the weaknesses of its theology as a political theory.Less
This chapter looks more closely at the main organizational expression of the religion of socialism, namely, the Labor Church movement. Previous historians have usually explained the rise of the Labor Church as part of a transfer of religious energy to the political sphere and then explained its demise by reference to the continuing process of secularization. In contrast, it focuses on the religious self-understanding of the Labor Church. It begins by explaining the rise of the movement by reference to the immanentist theology with which so many Victorians and Edwardians responded to the crisis of faith. Thereafter, it appeals to the ideas of the movement in order to explain its appeal, structure, and activities and to suggest that the decline of the movement reflected the weaknesses of its theology as a political theory.
Shuttleworth Sally
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199582563
- eISBN:
- 9780191702327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199582563.003.0015
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter examines changes in the conception of the child as the bearer of the future in England during the 1890s. This development was highlighted in Alexander Chamberlain's The Child: A Study in ...
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This chapter examines changes in the conception of the child as the bearer of the future in England during the 1890s. This development was highlighted in Alexander Chamberlain's The Child: A Study in the Evolution of Man. This novel portrayed the child as the embodiment both of all past history and an expression of future possibility and the child becomes the key to self-understanding, to a realm of a lost past, and also the guarantee of a more positive future. Similar sentiments can also be found in Stanley Hall's Adolescence.Less
This chapter examines changes in the conception of the child as the bearer of the future in England during the 1890s. This development was highlighted in Alexander Chamberlain's The Child: A Study in the Evolution of Man. This novel portrayed the child as the embodiment both of all past history and an expression of future possibility and the child becomes the key to self-understanding, to a realm of a lost past, and also the guarantee of a more positive future. Similar sentiments can also be found in Stanley Hall's Adolescence.
Steven Heine
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195160031
- eISBN:
- 9780199850273
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195160031.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter begins with a discussion of how one can achieve power that becomes part of character rather than something that can be taken away or lost. It then discusses how doubt can lead to a ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of how one can achieve power that becomes part of character rather than something that can be taken away or lost. It then discusses how doubt can lead to a profound reflection that serves to elevate self-understanding, and the delicate balance between structure and anti-structure.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of how one can achieve power that becomes part of character rather than something that can be taken away or lost. It then discusses how doubt can lead to a profound reflection that serves to elevate self-understanding, and the delicate balance between structure and anti-structure.
Mary Farrell Bednarowski
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195167962
- eISBN:
- 9780199850150
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195167962.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
St. Joseph's Hope Community, an enterprise in Minneapolis, Minnesota that began as a homeless women's shelter, is a compelling example of some of the new forms that healing is taking in ...
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St. Joseph's Hope Community, an enterprise in Minneapolis, Minnesota that began as a homeless women's shelter, is a compelling example of some of the new forms that healing is taking in cities—healing, particularly, of neighborhoods whose earlier capacity to sustain a good, if not affluent, life for its residents has declined to a state that is not only lacking in basic necessities but dangerous. Overall, one of the main points of interest in the story of Hope as a generator of healing in the inner city is its constant attention to matters of self-understanding, public identity, and motivation. The community's essential strength is its capacity for candid self-critique that does not deteriorate into paralyzing self-denigration. Staff and neighbors alike are always willing to reassess and go in new directions. Hope wants to heal the traumas and divisions that cause so much suffering by offering hope in the urban core. Hope wants to do all these things for the sake of justice.Less
St. Joseph's Hope Community, an enterprise in Minneapolis, Minnesota that began as a homeless women's shelter, is a compelling example of some of the new forms that healing is taking in cities—healing, particularly, of neighborhoods whose earlier capacity to sustain a good, if not affluent, life for its residents has declined to a state that is not only lacking in basic necessities but dangerous. Overall, one of the main points of interest in the story of Hope as a generator of healing in the inner city is its constant attention to matters of self-understanding, public identity, and motivation. The community's essential strength is its capacity for candid self-critique that does not deteriorate into paralyzing self-denigration. Staff and neighbors alike are always willing to reassess and go in new directions. Hope wants to heal the traumas and divisions that cause so much suffering by offering hope in the urban core. Hope wants to do all these things for the sake of justice.
Christopher Cowley (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226267890
- eISBN:
- 9780226268088
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226268088.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This book explores a new area, the philosophy of autobiography. There are many long-standing philosophical discussions surrounding concepts relating to autobiography: the self, personal identity, ...
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This book explores a new area, the philosophy of autobiography. There are many long-standing philosophical discussions surrounding concepts relating to autobiography: the self, personal identity, narrative, understanding others, self-understanding, the reliability of memory, self-deception, the meaning of life. There has also been sustained interest among literary critics in the genre of autobiography. However, there is relatively little that brings these philosophical debates together to ask: what is it we are doing, exactly, when we write an autobiography? And the related question of: what do we understand when we read someone else's autobiography? Finally, the volume also asks: what is special about a published autobiography, as opposed to a single individual thinking about her life, or a self-description spoken to a friend, or the writing of a personal diary? This volume brings together ten diverse contributions from different perspectives and disciplines, exploring some answers to these questions: Marya Schechtman, Garry L. Hagberg, Christopher Hamilton, Marina Oshana, John Christman, Somogy Varga, D.K. Levy, Merete Mazzarella, J. Lenore Wright, and Áine Mahon.Less
This book explores a new area, the philosophy of autobiography. There are many long-standing philosophical discussions surrounding concepts relating to autobiography: the self, personal identity, narrative, understanding others, self-understanding, the reliability of memory, self-deception, the meaning of life. There has also been sustained interest among literary critics in the genre of autobiography. However, there is relatively little that brings these philosophical debates together to ask: what is it we are doing, exactly, when we write an autobiography? And the related question of: what do we understand when we read someone else's autobiography? Finally, the volume also asks: what is special about a published autobiography, as opposed to a single individual thinking about her life, or a self-description spoken to a friend, or the writing of a personal diary? This volume brings together ten diverse contributions from different perspectives and disciplines, exploring some answers to these questions: Marya Schechtman, Garry L. Hagberg, Christopher Hamilton, Marina Oshana, John Christman, Somogy Varga, D.K. Levy, Merete Mazzarella, J. Lenore Wright, and Áine Mahon.
Hans Joas and Klaus Wiegandt (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846311383
- eISBN:
- 9781846315800
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846315800
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
What is the cultural identity of Europe? Are there specifically European values? Questions such as these are at the centre of a considerable number of political and scholarly debates in contemporary ...
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What is the cultural identity of Europe? Are there specifically European values? Questions such as these are at the centre of a considerable number of political and scholarly debates in contemporary Europe. This book examines innovations and value traditions of Europe to produce an image of contemporary European self-understanding. It combines two possible approaches, examining both specific cultural traditions (‘Athens’ and ‘Jerusalem’) and specific values (‘freedom’ and ‘rationality’).Less
What is the cultural identity of Europe? Are there specifically European values? Questions such as these are at the centre of a considerable number of political and scholarly debates in contemporary Europe. This book examines innovations and value traditions of Europe to produce an image of contemporary European self-understanding. It combines two possible approaches, examining both specific cultural traditions (‘Athens’ and ‘Jerusalem’) and specific values (‘freedom’ and ‘rationality’).
Marina Oshana
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226267890
- eISBN:
- 9780226268088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226268088.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter discusses the aspects of a person’s identity or “selfhood” that must be available to the person, and the manner in which these must be available, in order for the person to function as a ...
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This chapter discusses the aspects of a person’s identity or “selfhood” that must be available to the person, and the manner in which these must be available, in order for the person to function as a self-governing agent. One functions as a self-governing agent when one anticipates one’s intentions as leading to action by way of self-monitoring behavior. This requires access to the beliefs, values, dispositional traits, memories, and skills that undergird the person’s motivational psychology and that make possible recognition of oneself as a temporally-extended being. This affords a person a psychic connection with his past activity, enabling the person to think of himself, to treat himself, and to be treated by others as a being whose life stretches to the future. Case studies are employed to show that self-governing agency is largely absent in the lives of persons beset by disorders of memory.Less
This chapter discusses the aspects of a person’s identity or “selfhood” that must be available to the person, and the manner in which these must be available, in order for the person to function as a self-governing agent. One functions as a self-governing agent when one anticipates one’s intentions as leading to action by way of self-monitoring behavior. This requires access to the beliefs, values, dispositional traits, memories, and skills that undergird the person’s motivational psychology and that make possible recognition of oneself as a temporally-extended being. This affords a person a psychic connection with his past activity, enabling the person to think of himself, to treat himself, and to be treated by others as a being whose life stretches to the future. Case studies are employed to show that self-governing agency is largely absent in the lives of persons beset by disorders of memory.
Martin Schmidt
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789888028450
- eISBN:
- 9789882207059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888028450.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
The theoretical perspectives explored in this book have been helpful frameworks in understanding how and why students come to care about the material they study in class, care about their fellow ...
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The theoretical perspectives explored in this book have been helpful frameworks in understanding how and why students come to care about the material they study in class, care about their fellow classmates, and care about their society. The Chinese learner seeks to understand herself in the context of the whole. The frameworks proposed in this chapter encourage an integral approach to education—seeing the parts in connection to the whole. The definition of social conscience as self-understanding and social awareness accommodates a synergy of the traditional Chinese emphasis on self-cultivation with study of the most relevant contemporary issues of the day. Teaching for social conscience, therefore, offers a strategy by which Hong Kong's bold education reforms can “reassert humanity into a previously technicist system.” This integrated, self-society dynamic offers a meaningful approach to meet the needs of Chinese and non-Chinese learners in the twenty-first century.Less
The theoretical perspectives explored in this book have been helpful frameworks in understanding how and why students come to care about the material they study in class, care about their fellow classmates, and care about their society. The Chinese learner seeks to understand herself in the context of the whole. The frameworks proposed in this chapter encourage an integral approach to education—seeing the parts in connection to the whole. The definition of social conscience as self-understanding and social awareness accommodates a synergy of the traditional Chinese emphasis on self-cultivation with study of the most relevant contemporary issues of the day. Teaching for social conscience, therefore, offers a strategy by which Hong Kong's bold education reforms can “reassert humanity into a previously technicist system.” This integrated, self-society dynamic offers a meaningful approach to meet the needs of Chinese and non-Chinese learners in the twenty-first century.
Adam S. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251506
- eISBN:
- 9780823253005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251506.003.0033
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter states that Latour's claim is that, in order to understand the revelatory force of religion, we must allow religious objects to speak for themselves. This means both making room for ...
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This chapter states that Latour's claim is that, in order to understand the revelatory force of religion, we must allow religious objects to speak for themselves. This means both making room for dismissed objects and stemming the backwash of scientific expectations into religious self-understanding. Between the iconoclasm of a scientific approach to religious objects that dismisses them and the idolatry of a religious burlesque that freezes them, Latour advocates “iconophilia.”Less
This chapter states that Latour's claim is that, in order to understand the revelatory force of religion, we must allow religious objects to speak for themselves. This means both making room for dismissed objects and stemming the backwash of scientific expectations into religious self-understanding. Between the iconoclasm of a scientific approach to religious objects that dismisses them and the idolatry of a religious burlesque that freezes them, Latour advocates “iconophilia.”
Arthur Aughey
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719068720
- eISBN:
- 9781781701300
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719068720.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter provides an account of the historic strengths and weaknesses of what is called the English idiom, based on E.P. Thompson's essay ‘The Peculiarities of the English’. It explains ...
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This chapter provides an account of the historic strengths and weaknesses of what is called the English idiom, based on E.P. Thompson's essay ‘The Peculiarities of the English’. It explains Thompson's argument that England is unlikely to capitulate before a Marxism which cannot at least engage in a dialogue in the English idiom. The chapter contends that there are powerful survivals of self-understanding in the case of Englishness which continue to inform contemporary national identity, and that they have a future as well as a past. It suggests that it is the interpenetration of changing circumstances and idiomatic continuity which sets the tone of contemporary understanding of Englishness.Less
This chapter provides an account of the historic strengths and weaknesses of what is called the English idiom, based on E.P. Thompson's essay ‘The Peculiarities of the English’. It explains Thompson's argument that England is unlikely to capitulate before a Marxism which cannot at least engage in a dialogue in the English idiom. The chapter contends that there are powerful survivals of self-understanding in the case of Englishness which continue to inform contemporary national identity, and that they have a future as well as a past. It suggests that it is the interpenetration of changing circumstances and idiomatic continuity which sets the tone of contemporary understanding of Englishness.
JAMES T. FISHER and MARGARET M. MCGUINNESS
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823234103
- eISBN:
- 9780823240906
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823234103.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Support for reflective intelligence about Catholicism has proven controversial in the Catholic Church and even in academies sponsored by the Church. Research and teaching about Catholicism requires ...
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Support for reflective intelligence about Catholicism has proven controversial in the Catholic Church and even in academies sponsored by the Church. Research and teaching about Catholicism requires resources, human and material, and that support has proven hard to come by. This chapter provides a short commentary on the development of Catholic Studies in the United States over the last thirty years. It focuses on the way in which debate about Catholic Studies has been an important factor in the development of American Catholic institutions and ministries, and self-understanding, since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). It locates the movement for Catholic Studies programs at the heart of this political tumult, with the scramble for access to potential donors, the need to secure institutional and moral support and other pre-requisites for flourishing Catholic Studies programs now implicated in the cultural and religious politics of Catholic identity and mission, a struggle waged not only on campuses but also in the Church broadly construed.Less
Support for reflective intelligence about Catholicism has proven controversial in the Catholic Church and even in academies sponsored by the Church. Research and teaching about Catholicism requires resources, human and material, and that support has proven hard to come by. This chapter provides a short commentary on the development of Catholic Studies in the United States over the last thirty years. It focuses on the way in which debate about Catholic Studies has been an important factor in the development of American Catholic institutions and ministries, and self-understanding, since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). It locates the movement for Catholic Studies programs at the heart of this political tumult, with the scramble for access to potential donors, the need to secure institutional and moral support and other pre-requisites for flourishing Catholic Studies programs now implicated in the cultural and religious politics of Catholic identity and mission, a struggle waged not only on campuses but also in the Church broadly construed.
Carola Lentz
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748624010
- eISBN:
- 9780748652969
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748624010.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, African Studies
This book draws on two decades of research and provides a social and political history of North-Western Ghana. It traces the creation of new ethnic and territorial boundaries, categories and forms of ...
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This book draws on two decades of research and provides a social and political history of North-Western Ghana. It traces the creation of new ethnic and territorial boundaries, categories and forms of self-understanding, and represents a major contribution to debates on ethnicity, colonialism, and the ‘production of history’. It explores the creation and redefinition of ethnic distinctions and commonalities by African and European actors, showing that ethnicity's power derives from a contradiction: while ethnic identities purport to be non-negotiable, creating permanent bonds, stability and security, the boundaries of the communities created and the associated traits and practices are malleable and adaptable to specific interests and contexts.Less
This book draws on two decades of research and provides a social and political history of North-Western Ghana. It traces the creation of new ethnic and territorial boundaries, categories and forms of self-understanding, and represents a major contribution to debates on ethnicity, colonialism, and the ‘production of history’. It explores the creation and redefinition of ethnic distinctions and commonalities by African and European actors, showing that ethnicity's power derives from a contradiction: while ethnic identities purport to be non-negotiable, creating permanent bonds, stability and security, the boundaries of the communities created and the associated traits and practices are malleable and adaptable to specific interests and contexts.
