Medical Discourse in Religious Controversy: The Case of the Critique of “Enthusiasm” on the Eve of the Enlightenment

1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Heyd
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Medical Discourse ◽  
The Body ◽  
Divine Inspiration ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Religious Controversy ◽  
Medical Professions ◽  
The Mind

The ArgumentMedicine is only a cultural system of its own. It also performs specific roles in the broader culture of society at large. This article examines the role of medical arguments in the critique of“enthusiasm” on the eve of the Enlightenment. The enthusiasts, who claimed to prophesy and to have direct divine inspiration, were increasingly see in the seventeenth century as melancholics. With the decline of humoral medicine, however, the account of melancholic disturbances – including enthusiasm – that was offered tended to be chemical, mechanistic, and clearly corpuscular. Protestant ministers, in adopting such an account of enthusiasm, also adopted a strict distinction between the realm of the mind (to which true prophecy belonged) and that of the body (in which they located the phenomena of enthusiasm). Such a distinctions served in turn to demarcate more specifically the limits between the clerical and medical professions. Yet in relegating the treatment of enthusiasts to the physicians, rather than seeing the enthusiasts as heretics, the ministers stood in danger of relying too much on a secular profession and secular arguments, thus paving the way to a more general secularization of the ideological basis of the social order.

scholarly journals Approaches to the World

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gesa Lindemann
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spatial Turn ◽  
Linguistic Turn ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
The Social ◽  
Material Turn ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Responding to the critique of methodological ethnocentrism, Lindemann develops a new general social theory that is also highly sensitive to socio-cultural differences. Drawing on Helmuth Plessner’s theory of excentric positionality, social order is understood as a symbolically and technically mediated spatio-temporal order that is integrated by an order of violence. Lindemann hereby brings together three significant aspects of recent debates: the debates on the necessity of a theoretical turn (such as the linguistic turn, the material turn, the body turn, the pictorial turn and the spatial turn); second, the debates on the actor status of non-humans and the borders of the social world, and third, the discussions about the role of violence in structuring social processes.

scholarly journals „Wenn ich es nicht tue, dann macht's ein anderer“ – Subjektwerdungen und Verantwortung

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Klaus Geiselhart ◽  
Tobias Häberer
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
Central Idea ◽  
Autonomous Action ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind

Abstract. Poststructuralist theory focuses largely on describing how and why subjects reproduce the social conditions they have internalised. This is a deconstruction of the central idea of the Enlightenment, the human capacity for autonomous action. At the same time, however, it also denies all individuals any responsibility and ultimately leads criticism into a crisis. Pragmatist philosophy offers the possibility of determining the role of the mind in processes of becoming a subject without abandoning the achievements of the poststructuralist concept of subjectification. The concept of transaction describes how actors constitute each other as subjects within social situations. The relationships that arise through such processes depend, among other things, on the personalities of those people involved. Accordingly, it is possible to identify the responsibility of individuals to govern their social relations and personality development. Since these aspects can only be determined in localised individual cases, this offers a particularly suitable starting point for geographical critic.

scholarly journals Habit, the Criminal Body and the Body Politic in England, c. 1700–1800

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 83-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Martin Dodsworth
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Social Circumstance

This article explores the role that ‘habit’ played in discourses on crime in the 18th century, a subject which forms an important part of the history of ‘the social’. It seeks to bridge the division between ‘liberal’ positions which see crime as a product of social circumstance, and the conservative position which stresses the role of will and individual responsibility, by drawing attention to the role habit played in uniting these conceptions in the 18th century. It argues that the Lockean idea that the mind was a tabula rasa, and that the character was thereby formed through impression and habit, was used as a device to explain the ways in which certain individuals rather than others happened to fall into a life of crime, a temptation to which all were susceptible. This allowed commentators to define individuals as responsible for their actions, while accepting the significance of environmental factors in their transgressions. Further, the notion that the character was formed through habit enabled reformers to promote the idea that crime could be combated through mechanisms of prevention and reformation, which both targeted the individual criminal and sought more generally to reduce the likelihood of crime.

Hypothetical Role of Growth Factors to Reduce Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Significantly through Trained Biological Transformations

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Muresanu ◽  
Siva G. Somasundaram ◽  
Sergey V. Vissarionov ◽  
Liliya V. Gavryushova ◽  
Vladimir N. Nikolenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factors ◽  
Blood Circulation ◽  
Seminal Fluid ◽  
Prostate Gland ◽  
The Body ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Biological Transformation ◽  
The Mind

Background: From the evidence of failed injection-based growth factor therapies, it has been proposed that a naturally triggered uninterrupted blood circulation of the growth factors would be superior. Objective: We seek to stimulate discussions and more research about the possibility of using the already available growth factors found in the prostate gland and endometrium by starting a novel educable physiology, known as biological transformations controlled by the mind. Methods: We summarized the stretch-gated ion channel mechanism of the cell membrane, and offer several practical methods that can be applied by anyone, in order to stimulate and enhance the blood circulation of the growth factors from the seminal fluid to sites throughout the body. This details the practical application of our earlier published studies about biological transformations. Results: A previously reported single-patient case study has been extended, adding more from his personal experiences continually improving this novel physiological training and extending the ideas from our earlier findings in detail. Conclusion: The biological transformation findings demonstrate the need additional research to establish the benefits of these natural therapies to repair and rejuvenate tissues affected by various chronic diseases or aging processes.

The Eighteenth-Century Social Order in Surat: A Reply and an Excursus on the Riots of 1788 and 1795

1991 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Subramanian
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
The Social

The Banias of eighteenth-century Surat, whom Michelguglielmo Torri earlier treated with indifference if not innocence, have invited his wrath since they were brought into focus by the publication of my essay on the Banias and the Surat riot of 1795. In his ‘rejoinder’ to my article, he seeks to wish away their existence altogether (to him there was no specific Bania community, the term merely signifying traders of all communities engaged in the profession of brokerage), and seeks to provide what he regards as an ‘alternative’ explanation of the Muslim–Bania riot of 1795. the Muslim-Bania riot of 1795. It shall be my purpose in this reply to show that his alternative explanation is neither an alternative nor even an explanation, and is based on a basic confusion in his mind about the Banias as well as the principal sources of tension in the social structure of Surat. I shall treat two main subjects in this reply to his misdirected criticisms. First, I shall present some original indigenous material as well as European documentation to further clarify the identity, position and role of the Banias, whom Irfan Habib in a recent article has identified as the most important trading group in the trading world of seventeenth and eighteenth-century India. It is also my purpose to show how the social order of Surat operated under stress by presenting some archival material, the existence of which Torri seems to be completely unaware of, on the Parsi-Muslim riot of 1788.

American Medical Research, Past and Present, Studies of the New York Academy of Medicine Committee on Medicine and the Changing Order

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1949 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-253
Author(s):  
C. D. MAY
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
American Medical ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
York Academy ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
The Social

This monograph is one of a series resulting from studies by the Committee on Medicine and the Changing Order of the New York Academy of Medicine. The objective in this report was to trace the historical development of medical research and to define and describe the role of medical research in the social order particularly as regards support for research from government agencies. The comprehensive grasp of the complexities of medical research which Dr. Shryock reveals commands genuine admiration and respect from anyone engaged in such research. Indeed, few engaged in various aspects of medical research could claim anything like his familiarity with the broad outlines of this field.

scholarly journals Humour in Sports Coaching: ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 744-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nicholas Edwards ◽  
Robyn L Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Ethnographic Film ◽  
The Social ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Sports Coaching

The primary purpose of this article was to investigate the use and manifestation of humour within sports coaching. This was particularly in light of the social significance of humour as a critical component in cultural creation and negotiation. Data were gathered from a 10-month ethnographic study that tracked the players and coaches of Senghenydd City Football Club (a pseudonym) over the course of a full season. Precise methods of data collection included participant observation, reflective personal field notes, and ethnographic film. The results demonstrated the dominating presence of both ‘inclusionary putdowns’ and ‘disciplinary humour’, particularly in relation to how they contributed to the production and maintenance of the social order. Finally, a reflective conclusion discusses the temporal nature of the collective understanding evident among the group at Senghenydd, and its effect on the humour evident. In doing so, the work contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the social role of humour within sports coaching.

Where Does Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index Come From?

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 390-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Cevolini
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Filing Cabinet ◽  
The Social ◽  
Enlightenment Project ◽  
Card Index ◽  
Social Use ◽  
The Mind

Thanks to a grant of the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste, Bielefeld University has started a fifteen-year project (2015–2030) that includes the production of a critical edition of Niklas Luhmann’s extant works and manuscripts, as well as the digitalization of his famous card index. This valuable enterprise has rekindled interest in what many scholars hold to be a ‘holy grail’: a marvelous instrument that aided great creativity and scientific production by the German sociologist. Indeed, people feel that looking inside the filing cabinet is like looking inside the mind of a genius at work. This article suggests a different point of view, rooted in the Enlightenment project of the sociologist of Bielefeld. The main hypothesis is that in the use of a card index as a surprise generator, there is nothing particularly surprising if one considers the evolution of knowledge management in early modern Europe. Rather, the question should be: how it is possible to explain the evolutionary improbability of the social use of ‘machines’ as secondary memories for knowledge management and reproduction? This article provides some suggestions for research and tries to determine where Luhmann’s card index comes from.

scholarly journals The confidence delusion: A sociological exploration of participants’ confidence in sport-for-development

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-398
Author(s):  
David S Scott
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Everyday Lives ◽  
Sport For Development ◽  
Development Capacity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
The Impact

Although sport is widely utilised as a tool for personal development, capacity building, and fostering peace, there are still numerous theoretical gaps in our knowledge about how sport influences individuals’ identities, and how this translates into their everyday lives. Within the academic literature there has been seemingly little focus placed upon participants’ emotional and embodied accounts of their sport-for-development (SfD) experiences. This paper uses phenomenologically-inspired theory to explore individuals’ lived experiences of a SfD course, and their descriptions of the social interactions and feelings of confidence they encountered, in order to address this lack of experiential data. An ethnographic methodology was used to collect data through four sports leadership course observations, and cyclical interviews over 4–10 months with eleven course attendees, plus individual interviews with five tutors. Participants’ understandings of their course experiences and the subsequent influence these understandings had on their lives were described through their use of the term confidence. A further phenomenological and sociological interrogation of this term enabled confidence to be seen as being experienced as a ‘frame’ and ‘through the body’ by participants. This study provides original conceptualisations of confidence in relation to participants’ SfD experiences, as well as important discussions regarding the role of emotions and embodiment in understanding the impact of SfD on participants’ everyday lives.

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