scholarly journals An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Value of Envy

Author(s):  
Jens Lange ◽  
Sara Protasi

AbstractThe public and scholars alike largely consider envy to be reprehensible. This judgment of the value of envy commonly results either from a limited understanding of the nature of envy or from a limited understanding of how to determine the value of phenomena. Overcoming this state requires an interdisciplinary collaboration of psychologists and philosophers. That is, broad empirical evidence regarding the nature of envy generated in psychological studies must inform judgments about the value of envy according to sophisticated philosophical standards. We conducted such a collaboration. Empirical research indicates that envy is constituted by multiple components which in turn predict diverse outcomes that may be functional for the self and society. Accordingly, the value of envy is similarly nuanced. Sometimes, envy may have instrumental value in promoting prudentially and morally good outcomes. Sometimes, envy may be non-instrumentally prudentially and morally good. Sometimes, envy may be bad. This nuanced perspective on the value of envy has implications for recommendations on how to deal with envy and paves the way toward future empirical and theoretical investigations on the nature and the value of envy.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Lange ◽  
Sara Protasi

The public and scholars alike largely consider envy to be reprehensible. This judgment of the value of envy commonly results either from a limited understanding of the nature of envy or from a limited understanding of how to determine the value of phenomena. Overcoming this state requires an interdisciplinary collaboration of psychologists and philosophers. That is, broad empirical evidence regarding the nature of envy generated in psychological studies must inform judgments about the value of envy according to sophisticated philosophical standards. We conducted such a collaboration. Empirical research indicates that envy is constituted by multiple components which in turn predict diverse outcomes that may be functional for the self and society. Accordingly, the value of envy is similarly nuanced. Sometimes, envy may have instrumental value in promoting prudentially and morally good outcomes. Sometimes, envy may be non-instrumentally prudentially and morally good. Sometimes, envy may be bad. This nuanced perspective on the value of envy has implications for recommendations on how to deal with envy and paves the way toward future empirical and theoretical investigations on the nature and the value of envy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-431
Author(s):  
Myriam Martí-Sánchez ◽  
Desamparados Cervantes-Zacarés ◽  
Arturo Ortigosa-Blanch

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the media addresses entrepreneurship and to identify the attributes linked to this phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach The sample is defined in terms of a linguistic corpus comprised of content related to entrepreneurship drawn from the digital editions of the three most important Spanish economic newspapers for the period 2010–2017. Word association and co-occurrence analyses were carried out. Further, a non-supervised clustering process was used as the basis for a thematic analysis. Findings Correspondence between social and media patterns related to the entrepreneurship phenomenon is revealed by the results. It is shown how attributes such as “success”, “innovation”, “ecosystem” and “woman” appear as very relevant and are linked to different co-occurrence scenarios. Relevant thematic groups are also identified related to lexical associations such as innovation, digital economy and public policies linked to entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications It is important to emphasise that this study has identified and explored relationships between words, but not their evolution. Furthermore, conclusions cannot be drawn concerning whether there are differences in how each newspaper has dealt with entrepreneurship because of the way the corpus was constructed. Originality/value The study provides empirical evidence that helps to identify the way media approaches entrepreneurship. The authors carried out the analysis on the media contents and not on the perception of the public on the phenomenon.


Author(s):  
Van Thi Hong Loan

The paper provides empirical evidence for the development of the theory of media agendasetting. The power of the media, according to the theory, has been changed in public relations in Vietnam. Public relations practitioners have power to shape media content as they desire. This research uncovers that public relations practitioners not only impact media agendas as the theory describes, but also do the job of journalists. While public relations practitioners in the West use framing and information subsidies to influence media agendas for the public, this study indicated that practitioners in Vietnam tend to be responsible for public relations editorials that are considered as the main duty of media people. The paper additionally explains the way Vietnamese journalists conduct news to underpin understanding of the characteristics of media relations in the country. This paper also presents a Tripolar model of corporate, media and public agendas which was designed based on the research data.


1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Calnan

Sociologists appear to differ in the way they portray the public's ideas about modern medicine. Some argue that the public accepts that modern medicine is effective, and others say that as a whole the public is skeptical about its value. There is a dearth of empirical evidence about what the public thinks of modern medicine; this pilot study attempts to fill this gap. Tape-recorded interviews were carried out with small samples of women from Social Classes I and II and Classes IV and V to find out what they felt about the value of modern medicine and to identify the criteria that they used to assess a “good” and “bad” medical practitioner. The results showed that there is some degree of skepticism about the value of modern medicine, particularly amongst working-class people. However, the criteria for assessing the performance of a medical practitioner were only rarely seen to be tied up with the criteria used to assess the value of modern medicine.


Author(s):  
Helen M. Gunter

At a time when public education and reform agendas are changing the way we approach education, this book critically examines the key issues facing the public with implications for education policy makers, professionals and researchers. Drawing on empirical evidence gathered over 20 years, the book confronts current issues about social justice and segregation. The book uses Arendtian ideas to help the reader to ‘think politically’ about education and how and why public services education can be reimagined for the future.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
ELENA KALMYKOVA

Abstract In this article, I consider how empirical research on religious belief poses a puzzle for the relationship between religious doctrines and lived religion, and develop one solution to that puzzle. The empirical evidence shows that believers are commonly incorrect about the content of doctrinal statements, and apparently not much interested in that content. I argue that this finding calls for a new understanding of the role of doctrinal commitments in religious life. I propose that in many cases believers relate to doctrinal statements in rather the way that they relate to sacred artefacts, that is, by way of an attitude of reverence and strong adherence, and independently of any attempt to discern the content of doctrinal claims. I note how this account avoids some of the difficulties of alternative solutions, which may undermine the claim of religious beliefs to count as genuine beliefs.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve R. Sabat† ◽  
Rom Harré†

ABSTRACTThe loss of self in Aizeheimer's Disease is examined from a social constructionist view of the nature of the self. Empirical evidence derived from the structure of the discourse and behaviour of three Alzheimer's sufferers is presented to show that self1, the self of personal identity, persists far into the end stage of the disease. Self2, the multiple personae that are projected into the public arena, and which require the cooperation of others in order to come into being, can be lost, but only indirectly as a result of the disease. The primary cause of the loss of self2 is the ways in which others view and treat the Alzheimer's sufferer. Recommendations are made regarding interactions between Alzheimer's sufferers and caregivers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1176-1191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eran Fisher ◽  
Yoav Mehozay

The rise of digital media has witnessed a paradigmatic shift in the way that media outlets conceptualize and classify their audience. Whereas during the era of mass media, ‘seeing’ the audience was based on a scientific episteme combining social theory and empirical research, with digital media ‘seeing’ the audience has come to be dominated by a new episteme, based on big data and algorithms. This article argues that the algorithmic episteme does not see the audience more accurately, but differently. Whereas the scientific episteme upheld an ascriptive conception which assigned individuals to a particular social category, the algorithmic episteme assumes a performative individual, based on behavioral data, sidestepping any need for a theory of the self. Since the way in which the media see their audience is constitutive, we suggest that the algorithmic episteme represents a new way to think about human beings.


Author(s):  
Omar Shaikh ◽  
Stefano Bonino

The Colourful Heritage Project (CHP) is the first community heritage focused charitable initiative in Scotland aiming to preserve and to celebrate the contributions of early South Asian and Muslim migrants to Scotland. It has successfully collated a considerable number of oral stories to create an online video archive, providing first-hand accounts of the personal journeys and emotions of the arrival of the earliest generation of these migrants in Scotland and highlighting the inspiring lessons that can be learnt from them. The CHP’s aims are first to capture these stories, second to celebrate the community’s achievements, and third to inspire present and future South Asian, Muslim and Scottish generations. It is a community-led charitable project that has been actively documenting a collection of inspirational stories and personal accounts, uniquely told by the protagonists themselves, describing at first hand their stories and adventures. These range all the way from the time of partition itself to resettling in Pakistan, and then to their final accounts of arriving in Scotland. The video footage enables the public to see their facial expressions, feel their emotions and hear their voices, creating poignant memories of these great men and women, and helping to gain a better understanding of the South Asian and Muslim community’s earliest days in Scotland.


2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-224
Author(s):  
Erik Gunderson

This is a survey of some of the problems surrounding imperial panegyric. It includes discussions of both the theory and practice of imperial praise. The evidence is derived from readings of Cicero, Quintilian, Pliny, the Panegyrici Latini, Menander Rhetor, and Julian the Apostate. Of particular interest is insincere speech that would be appreciated as insincere. What sort of hermeneutic process is best suited to texts that are politically consequential and yet relatively disconnected from any obligation to offer a faithful representation of concrete reality? We first look at epideictic as a genre. The next topic is imperial praise and its situation “beyond belief” as well as the self-positioning of a political subject who delivers such praise. This leads to a meditation on the exculpatory fictions that these speakers might tell themselves about their act. A cynical philosophy of Caesarism, its arbitrariness, and its constructedness abets these fictions. Julian the Apostate receives the most attention: he wrote about Caesars, he delivered extant panegyrics, and he is also the man addressed by still another panegyric. And in the end we find ourselves to be in a position to appreciate the way that power feeds off of insincerity and grows stronger in its presence.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document