Society or Solitude?

2019 ◽  
pp. 114-154
Author(s):  
Benedetta Zavatta
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The One ◽  

Chapter 4 considers the influence exerted by Nietzsche’s reading of Emerson on the former’s critique of the morality of compassion and on his working out of a moral proposal alternative to this modelled on the relation of friendship. Emphasizing the value of individualism for the well-being of the collective, Emerson brings Nietzsche to understand that pursuing one’s personal advantage, if it is correctly understood, not only does not conflict with the welfare of society but nourishes and supports it. On this basis, Nietzsche on the one hand develops a critique of compassion and altruism as forms of the loss of the self and humiliation of the other, while on the other hand reassessing the value of egoism or, better put, distinguishing egoism as the pursuit of pleasure from a “higher egoism” that consists in pursuing one’s own vocation. Friendship is the relation that best sustains the development both of one’s own and others’ individualities.

Author(s):  
Stefan Krause ◽  
Markus Appel

Abstract. Two experiments examined the influence of stories on recipients’ self-perceptions. Extending prior theory and research, our focus was on assimilation effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in line with a protagonist’s traits) as well as on contrast effects (i.e., changes in self-perception in contrast to a protagonist’s traits). In Experiment 1 ( N = 113), implicit and explicit conscientiousness were assessed after participants read a story about either a diligent or a negligent student. Moderation analyses showed that highly transported participants and participants with lower counterarguing scores assimilate the depicted traits of a story protagonist, as indicated by explicit, self-reported conscientiousness ratings. Participants, who were more critical toward a story (i.e., higher counterarguing) and with a lower degree of transportation, showed contrast effects. In Experiment 2 ( N = 103), we manipulated transportation and counterarguing, but we could not identify an effect on participants’ self-ascribed level of conscientiousness. A mini meta-analysis across both experiments revealed significant positive overall associations between transportation and counterarguing on the one hand and story-consistent self-reported conscientiousness on the other hand.


Author(s):  
Stacy Wolf

This chapter examines the eight female characters inCompany, what they do in the musical, and how they function in the show’s dramaturgy, and argues that they elicit the quintessential challenge of analyzing musical theater from a feminist perspective. On the one hand, the women tend to be stereotypically, even msogynistically portrayed. On the other hand, each character offers the actor a tremendous performance opportunity in portraying a complicated psychology, primarily communicated through richly expressive music and sophisticated lyrics. In this groundbreaking 1970 ensemble musical about a bachelor’s encounters with five married couples and three girlfriends, Sondheim’s female characters occupy a striking range of types within one show. From the bitter, acerbic, thrice-married Joanne to the reluctant bride-to-be Amy, and from the self-described “dumb” “stewardess” April to the free-spirited Marta,Company’s eight women are distillations of femininity, precisely sketched in the short, singular scenes in which they appear.


Author(s):  
Vlad Glăveanu

This chapter addresses why people engage in creativity. This question can be answered at different levels. On the one hand, one can refer to what motivates creative people to do what they do. On the other hand, the question addresses a deeper level, that of how societies today are built and how they, in turn, construct the meaning and value of creativity. Nowadays, people consider creativity intrinsically valuable largely because of its direct and indirect economic benefits. However, creative expression also has a role for health and well-being. Creativity also relates to meaning in life. The chapter then considers how creativity can be used for good or for evil.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Faustino

AbstractThis paper examines Nietzsche’s relation to the therapeutic philosophical tradition paradigmatically represented by the Hellenistic schools. On the one hand, given his project of rehabilitating Western culture and his understanding of the philosopher as a “physician of culture”, Nietzsche seems also to hold a therapeutic understanding of philosophy; on the other hand, he is extremely critical of any (philosophical, moral or religious) attempt to heal mankind. This paper does not aim to solve this tension but rather characterizes Nietzsche’s endeavor in this respect as a therapy of therapy. Through analysis of a) the basic features of the Hellenistic conception of philosophy, b) Nietzsche’s development of the analogy of the “philosophical physician”, c) his diagnosis of culture, and d) his criticism of previous therapists, I show that Nietzsche can be formally included in this tradition of thought, even if this inclusion has implications for the tradition itself. As I suggest, given the self-referentiality of Nietzsche’s therapy, his inclusion in this tradition might in fact simultaneously entail its own self-suppression.


Author(s):  
Christoph Sondermann-Wo¨lke ◽  
Thomas Mu¨ller ◽  
Jens Geisler ◽  
Ansgar Tra¨chtler ◽  
Joachim Bo¨cker

Integrating dependability in self-optimizing systems is a challenging task. Self-optimizing systems incorporate on the one hand the opportunity to apply novel solutions to complex mechatronic systems, but on the other hand constitute a possible risk because of non-determined behavior. The dependability concept in this paper covers both aspects: Increasing safety with self-optimization and minimizing the risk of self-optimization. This dependability concept is combined with the self-optimization process of the active guidance module which is currently under development at the Collaborative Research Center 614 at the University of Paderborn.


Author(s):  
Pau Conde Arroyo

Este artículo trata de problematizar la definición taxonómica de Testo yonqui desde una óptica literaria que atiende a su faceta narrativa para dilucidar los cauces por los que se manifiesta en tanto que ensayo queer. Dicha problematización es abordada desde dos lugares: por un lado, desde la propia obra, atendiendo a las autodefiniciones presentes en el texto, que son examinadas a partir del marco teórico de la autobiografía; y, por otro lado, desde la recepción crítica de Testo yonqui. En último lugar, a la luz de lo anterior, se exponen una serie de tensiones relativas a la relación entre narración, referente y representación en la propuesta experimental del principio autocobaya.   This article aims to question the taxonomical definition of Testo Junkie from a literary perspective that considers its narrative aspect in order to elucidate the ways in which it can be regarded as a queer essay. Such questioning is approached from two angles: on the one hand, from the work itself, examining the self-definitions found in the text, which are studied on the basis of the theoretical framework of autobiography; and, on the other hand, from Testo Junkie’s critic reception. Lastly, the principle of the auto-guinea pig is also explored, in reference to the series of tensions arising from the relationship between narration, referent and representation.


Author(s):  
Adriana Aubert ◽  
Ramon Flecha

Recent scientific literature has published about the Isolating Gender Violence (IGV), the violence exerted by harassers against those who support their victims. IGV provokes suffering to advocates with health and well-being consequences that have been analyzed by more recent research; but IGV provokes also suffering on the victims of gender violence when they see the suffering of those who have supported them and also for their isolation. Thus, the aim of the present study is to explore the health and well-being consequences of IGV on gender violence survivors. The methodology includes three narratives of gender violence survivors whose advocates supporting them were victimized by IGV. The results show, on the one hand, an increase of the health and well-being effects of gender violence already analyzed by scientific literature; on the other hand, new health and well-being effects appear. All survivors interviewed say that, besides those new consequences for their health, the support of those advocates has decreased the global health effects of the total gender violence they suffered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395171985153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia de Vries ◽  
Willem Schinkel

This paper discusses prominent examples of what we call “algorithmic anxiety” in artworks engaging with algorithms. In particular, we consider the ways in which artists such as Zach Blas, Adam Harvey and Sterling Crispin design artworks to consider and critique the algorithmic normativities that materialize in facial recognition technologies. Many of the artworks we consider center on the face, and use either camouflage technology or forms of masking to counter the surveillance effects of recognition technologies. Analyzing their works, we argue they on the one hand reiterate and reify a modernist conception of the self when they conjure and imagination of Big Brother surveillance. Yet on the other hand, their emphasis on masks and on camouflage also moves beyond such more conventional critiques of algorithmic normativities, and invites reflection on ways of relating to technology beyond the affirmation of the liberal, privacy-obsessed self. In this way, and in particular by foregrounding the relational modalities of the mask and of camouflage, we argue academic observers of algorithmic recognition technologies can find inspiration in artistic algorithmic imaginaries.


2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Th. Frederiks

In the past Christians have used various models in relating to people of other faiths. Most are still in use. Four dominant models immediately come to mind: those of expansion, of diakonia, of presence, and of interreligious dialogue. This article discusses the pros and cons of these models and then proposes a fifth model: the model of kenosis. The model of kenosis calls for imitation of the self-emptying act of Jesus in his Incarnation in relation to people of other faiths, based on a shared humanity. Kenosis demands, on the one hand, a total openness for the other, as a fellow human being and a religious person, while, on the other hand, it offers the possibility to be authentically different from the other, in religion, culture, etc. Thus is seems to offer a model for interreligious living and relating, which honors religious differences, give guidelines for relating to each other, and is firmly based in a shared humanity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Emil Angehrn

The paper aims to complete the epistemological opposition of genesis and validity by discussing two types of their interconnection. On the one hand, it deals with genealogical arguments in the context of practical reasoning. This applies for positive justification (e.g. by tradition) as well as for negative delegitimisation (for instance Nietzsche’s genealogical critique of morality). On the other hand, it is about the hermeneutic explication of signification. Historical reflection offers ways to understand the meaning of an institution, the (perhaps hidden) signification of a thesis or a tradition. An informative paradigm thereof is the self-understanding of philosophy concerning its own issues and definition.


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