The Self Before God? Rethinking Augustine's Trinitarian Thought

2007 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Drever
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Psychological Model ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
The Trinity

What is often termed the modern crisis of the Western self—the problems associated with the proto-Cartesian and proto-Kantian conceptions of the self—has given rise to attempts not only to confront the crisis constructively, but also to trace its origin. In one philosophical reading of the development of the crisis in the Western self, Augustine stands as one of its forefathers. In this reading, Augustine's anthropology is anchored firmly within Platonism and is viewed as a key precursor of the tradition leading to the modern, autonomous self of Descartes and Kant. Such a reading often focuses on Augustine's somewhat idiosyncratic self-analysis in Confessionum libri [Conf.] XIII, and points to his so-called psychological model of the Trinity found in De Trinitate [Trin.]. It is argued that his method of inward movement, which involves the utilization of the structures of individual consciousness as an analogy to the immanent Trinity, in conjunction with his analysis of the individual self in Conf., becomes a basic foundation for the modern private, autonomous self.

scholarly journals On Pre-reflectivity of Self-consciousness in the Traditions of Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Schmücker
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Pure Consciousness ◽  
Reflective Consciousness ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Over Time

By pointing out different forms of pre-reflective consciousness and comparing them to the concepts of self in Advaita and Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, it could be shown that both schools apply a kind of consciousness that corresponds to Frank’s concept of self-consciousness and self-knowledge. As demonstrated, the first form of pre-reflective consciousness complies with the advaitic teaching of an unchangeable eternity of consciousness, which is subjectless and understood as being without time and space, even as being omnipresent. It appears impossible to relate it to something else without it being objectified. The Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta school reinterprets the concept of pure consciousness and accepts it as objectifiable consciousness, which is now considered “knowledge”. At the same time it presupposes a kind of individual consciousness which is called “I”. Moreover, this school uses the argument that consciousness is unobjectifiable against the Advaitin to establish that objectifying does not imply the cessation of consciousness, that is, in their case the consciousness of the individual self. Rāmānuja thus theorises, a thesis continued by Veṅkaṭanātha, that knowledges (saṃvit) can be remembered over time because, first, they are based on a constant self, that is, a pre-reflective “I”-consciousness, and secondly, through this “knowledge”, they can be known again by referring to itself in another state (avasthā) than it earlier held. But what does this mean for the familiarity of (self‑)consciousness? Is it mediated? The self, the “I”-consciousness, is always in a new, changed state of knowledge. As far as self-luminosity is possible, even if the self can be objectified, it is possible to say, without negating consciousness, that it is immediately aware of being in a special state if this can be proven through different means of knowledge.

scholarly journals The Person and Religious Poetry in Malay

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-261
Author(s):  
Harry Aveling ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
The Self ◽  
Close Connection ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
Religious Poetry ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Religion And Poetry

Accepting that there is a close connection between religion and poetry, the paper focuses on the person that is presented in poetry in Malay in response to the Divine. The concept of “the person” used contains three elements: (a) the human identity – our common physiological and psychological qualities; (b) the social identity – arising from our membership in the various groups that make up our particular society; and, (c) the self – the unique personal sense of who I am. It argues that the person in Malay religious poetry is largely a “social identity” the self surrendered to God through membership in the Muslim community. Keywords: religious poetry, person, human identity, social identity, the individual self

Confession, conscience, and selfhood on trial

2018 ◽  
pp. 124-177
Author(s):  
Laura Kounine
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The Self ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Linear Pattern ◽  
Moral Question ◽  
Modern Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Over Time

This chapter deals with the role of the self and conscience in defending oneself against the charge of witchcraft. To add depth to intellectual concepts—and teleologies—of the self, we must understand how the individual self was understood, felt, and experienced. Particularly for the crime of witchcraft, the crux of the trial was premised on the moral question of what kind of person would commit such a crime. Those on trial for witchcraft in the Lutheran duchy of Württemberg invoked the idioms of ‘mind’, ‘conscience’, ‘heart’, or ‘self’ in constructing their defence. Through four case studies, ranging from 1565 to 1678, this chapter examines the different ways in which people could conceptualize their person, and shows that change over time in the ‘development’ of the modern self was not a uniform or directly linear pattern.

scholarly journals Who Am I? An Ethnographic Study Exploring the Construction of Organizational and Individual Self among Indian IT Employees

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
A. Venkataraman ◽  
Chandra Shekhar Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Self ◽  
It Industry ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Team Player ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

The self is both a sociological and a psychological construct. It is investigated in this paper from the perspectives of sociology of work, critical management studies and employment relations. Accordingly, drawing upon ethnographic research, this article seeks to unravel how an employee defines herself or himself in two realms—the organizational and the personal—respectively against the background of changing Indian IT industry marked by uncertainty and rising job insecurity. It examines how these two realms converge to bring about an individual’s sense of ‘dasein’ or being. The self is entwined in the value chain of the Indian IT labour process and, within it, soft HRM discursive practices seek to constitute and mould the ‘disciplined confessional self’ who is supposed to be not only autonomous but a proactive and proactive team player. This article identifies the sources from which the self finds definitions and validation in the liquid modern context of the ‘gig economy’. It seeks to reflect upon the ramifications arising out of the interplay between Western and Indian managerial repertoires and, finally, the interplay of caste and class against changing Indian societal norms and expectations. In doing so, it looks at the micro and macro means through which the self seeks to obviate its incoherence and find resonance and fullness. Given the volatile political economy of the Indian IT industry labour process, much of the work is repetitive and fragmented, and individuals feel alienated and burnt out after the initial excitement of experiencing the Sapient or Cisco way of life. They adopt various coping mechanisms reminiscent of Burawoy’s (1985) respondents to fight job insecurity and to secure their peer group’s acceptance. Thus, the onus of negotiating inherent dualities for finding meaning in the organizational realm, and yet leaving room for a transcendental individual coherent self whose larger ‘internal conversation’ transcends the existential concern of the structured antagonism of the wage–employment relationship, lies upon the individual rather than the organization.

scholarly journals Possédés par l’image de soi. Les identités, les identifications et l’inconscient collectif sur les réseaux sociaux

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 313-321
Author(s):  
Ana Taís Martins ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
The Self ◽  
Collective Unconscious ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
Réseaux Sociaux ◽  
Individual Consciousness ◽  
Practices Of The Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Reseaux Sociaux

"The stable identity, an invention of modernity, seems today to be shaken, giving way to multiple and even ephemeral identifications of which social networks form a remarkable catalog. Are we living in a time when we no longer know who we are? This article proposes setting in relation the practices of the self with the questions of the construction of identity, assuming as a condition of possibility the dissociation of the individual consciousness from the collective unconscious. The intention is to examine the question in the light of the contributions of Jung on archetypes and the collective unconscious and Delory-Momberger on the construction of the ego through life stories."

On Tanabe’s Logic of Species

1998 ◽  
pp. 97-101
Author(s):  
Makoto Ozaki
Keyword(s):  
Specific Form ◽  
The Self ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Kyoto School ◽  
The Third ◽  
Kyoto School Of Philosophy ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Nishida Kitaro ◽  
The Trinity

Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962), another pole of the so-called Kyoto-School of Philosophy of modern Japan, attempts to construct a dialectical, triadic logic of genus, species and individual as a creative synthesis between Eastern and Western philosophy. Although the formal pattern of his method is influenced by the Hegelian dialectic, the way of his thinking is rather prevailed by Kantian dualism. This makes a sharp contrast to his mentor Nishida Kitaro, whose logic of Topos or Place qua Absolute Nothingness is criticized as all-embracing and static in character by him. The difference between them might be parallel to that of Greek and Latin theology concerning the Trinity. Tanabe never presupposes any preexistent entity as the primordial One in the eternal dimension, but rather maintains the individuality as the free subjective agent in the field of history. The dichotomy between the universal and the individual is overcome in and through the mediation of the third term— the species — as the negatively self-realized, specific form of the genus. The species, however, turns out to be the self-estrangement, when it loses the perpetually negative mediation of the free subjective activity of the individual.

scholarly journals APPLICATION OF IZOF MODEL FOR ANXIETY AND SELF-EFFICACY IN VOLLEYBALL ATHLETES: A CASE STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 338-343
Author(s):  
Francine Caetano de Andrade Nogueira ◽  
Maurício Gattás Bara Filho ◽  
Lelio Moura Lourenço
Keyword(s):  
Athletic Performance ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Case Series ◽  
The Self ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Important Time ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

ABSTRACT Introduction: The relation between psychological variables and their influence on athletic performance have been considered a crucial differential at important time points of the season. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the validity of the IZOF model from a multidimensional perspective of anxiety, and to investigate the possibility of extending the IZOF theory to the self-efficacy construct. Methods: Seven male professional volleyball players participated in the study. The Individual Self-Efficacy Scale for Volleyball and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2 reduced version were answered by the players before all matches throughout a season. At the end of each match, athletic performance was obtained through the Data Volley program. Results: The results showed the IZOF of self-efficacy and of each subscale of anxiety for the professional team athletes who participated in more than 10 matches during the season. The athletes showed significant variability in scores, ranging from 3 to 5 points for cognitive anxiety, 2 to 7 points for somatic anxiety, 2 to 14 points for self-confidence, and 12 to 54 points for self-efficacy. The findings also indicated that IZOFs are different in an intra- and inter-individual way. We also observed that the number of matches, in percentages across all zones (below, in, and above the IZOF), indicated that Middle Blocker 1 and Opposite 1 presented the best profiles among the 7 players analyzed, as all their variables are in the IZOF zone in the majority of matches, a fact that represents a desired profile for these athletes. Conclusion: Through the analysis of the data, we can attest to the applicability of the IZOF theory for professional volleyball athletes from the multidimensional perspective of anxiety and the possibility of extending the theory to the self-efficacy construct in an attempt to predict the performance of volleyball athletes from this variable. Level of evidence IV; Case series.

Alzheimer's Disease Victims: The “Unbecoming” of Self and the Normalization of Competence

1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Fontana ◽  
Ronald W. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Self ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Mental Deterioration ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

This study examines the importance of routinized practices for the self Alzheimer's disease victims are observed in their daily lives. The deterioration of self is discussed, followed by a discussion of routinized actions and normalization practices by caregivers that allow the patients to be seen as competent selves. Finally, the last remnants of the self in Alzhiemer's patients are discussed. The authors conclude that when the individual self undergoes an “unbecoming” process, due to the mental deterioration caused by the disease, it is largely social practices that allow the self to continue to exist in the eyes of others.

Toward a Field Model of the Self

2000 ◽  
pp. 44-59
Author(s):  
Eugene Fontinell
Keyword(s):  
Field Model ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Past ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self

This chapter considers the suggestive irony of living in an age characterized by both an obsessive concern for the ego or individual self and a denial that there is any such reality. The first characteristic is manifest in the charges that contemporary experience is best described as narcissistic, or that the present generation is the “me” generation, or that the past is a hedonistic culture in which self-satisfaction is the dominant if not exclusive value. The chapter shows that the denials of the ego or the individual self come from the more intellectually sophisticated segments of the community, taking such various forms as Buddhist “no-self‘ doctrines and structuralist and deconstructionist movements.

Living on the Edge

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-283
Author(s):  
James I. Porter
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Ethical Reflection ◽  
Care Of The Self ◽  
Self Help ◽  
The Face ◽  
Intuitive Conceptions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Nature And Society ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
The Universe

Roman Stoicism is typically read as a therapeutic philosophy that is centered around the care of the self and presented in the form of a self-help manual. Closer examination reveals a less reassuring and more challenging side to the school’s teachings, one that provokes ethical reflection at the limits of the self’s intactness and coherence. The self is less an object of inquiry than the by-product of a complex set of experiences in the face of nature and society and across any number of flashpoints, from one’s own or others’ beliefs, actions, values, and relationships to the difficulty of sizing up one’s place in the universe. The pressures of natural and ethical reflection put intuitive conceptions of the self at considerable risk. The Roman Stoic self proves to be vulnerable, contingent, unbounded, relational, and opaque—in short, a rich matrix of problems that point beyond the individual self and anticipate contemporary critiques of the self.

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