The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Cultures

This work represents a combination of different genres: cultural history, philosophical anthropology, and textbook. It follows a handful of different but interrelated themes through more than a dozen texts that were written over a period of several millennia. By means of an analysis of these texts, this work presents a theory about the development of Western Civilization from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The main line of argument traces the various self-conceptions of the different cultures as they developed historically. These self-conceptions reflect different views of what it is to be human. The thesis is that in these we can discern the gradual emergence of what we today call inwardness, subjectivity and individual freedom. As human civilization took its first tenuous steps, it had a very limited conception of the individual. Instead, the dominant principle was that of the wider group: the family, clan or people. Only in the course of history did the idea of what we know as individuality begin to emerge. It took millennia for this idea to be fully recognized and developed. The conception of human beings as having a sphere of inwardness and subjectivity subsequently had a sweeping impact on all aspects of culture, such as philosophy, religion, law, and art. Indeed, this conception largely constitutes what is today referred to as modernity. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that this modern conception of human subjectivity was not simply something given but rather the result of a long process of historical and cultural development.

Pedagogic Theories

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Hämäläinen
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Pedagogic Theory

“Pedagogue” (παιδαγογος) was originally a term for a slave who was responsible for the care of children in the household. Later the meaning of the word expanded to mean educator and teacher. A pedagogic theory deals with the nature and structure of educational action, teaching, and upbringing. Pedagogic theories are connected with belief and value systems, concepts of man and society, and philosophies of knowledge and political interests. Thus, it is rather difficult to define a pedagogic theory exactly. In general, the concept of pedagogy refers to a systematic view of organizing education. It discusses the issues of how to educate and what it means to be educated. In this sense, a pedagogic theory is a theory of educational action, or a systematic view and reflection of pedagogic practice. Pedagogic theory is a systematic conceptualization of the process of education and conditions of human development in both the individual and the societal life sphere. It deals with processes of upbringing, teaching, learning, and social and cultural development. Aims and means, values and norms, and objectives and methods of education are systematically reflected therein. Pedagogic theory building starts with two fundamental anthropologic questions: What is a human being, and what should he or she be? Combining these questions, pedagogic theory examines educational aims and means of helping human beings to develop toward what they should be. Pedagogic reflection and theory building are based on the idea that—in the words of Immanuel Kant—a human being can become human only through education. Studying childhood from the vantage point of pedagogic theories focuses on the development of a pedagogic way of thinking over the course of time.

Meanings and Functions of Money in Different Cultural Milieus

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 475-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dov Cohen ◽  
Faith Shin ◽  
Xi Liu
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Economics ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Economic Need ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Descriptive Models

We explore the psychological meanings of money that parallel its economic functions. We explore money's ability to ascribe value, give autonomy, and provide security for the future, and we show how each of these functions may play out differently in different cultural milieus. In particular, we explore the meanings and uses of money across ethnic groups and at different positions on the socioeconomic ladder, highlighting changes over the last 50 years. We examine the dynamics of redistribution between the individual, the family, and the state in different cultures, and we analyze the gendering of money in the world of high finance and in contexts of economic need. The field of behavioral economics has illustrated how human psychology complicates the process of moving from normative to descriptive models of human behavior; such complexity increases as we incorporate the great diversity within human psychology.

scholarly journals Alterity is a Negative Concept of the Same

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-24
Author(s):  
Grant Farred
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
First Line ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Negative Concept

Philosophical anthropology is a tradition that is as old as philosophy itself, so much so that it might be said to be indistinguishable from philosophy itself. Philosophical anthropology, extending as it does from Socrates to Sartre, best describes the work of V.Y. Mudimbe. Anthropology, broadly conceived as the science that studies human origins, the material and cultural development of humanity (philosophical anthropology concerns itself with human nature, particularly what it is that distinguishes human beings from other creatures and how philosophy allows human beings to understand themselves), is always Mudimbe’s first line of philosophical inquiry. It is certainly Mudimbe’s interest in anthropology that allows him to conduct his investigations into Africa, its modes of thinking, and colonialism and its continuing effects on the continent. Writing on the latter issue in The Invention of Africa, Mudimbe, with his customary deftness of mind, argues that colonialism and its aftermath cannot by itself account for the continent’s extant condition: “The colonizing structure, even in its most extreme manifestations . . . might not be the only explanation for Africa’s present-day marginality. Perhaps this marginality could, more essentially, be understood from the perspective of wider hypotheses about the classification of beings and societies.”[ Making sense of Africa, in Mudimbe’s terms, must begin with a hypothesization that explicates how “beings and societies” come to be classified, the anthropological undertaking par excellence, which also requires a study of the forces that construct, implement and maintain these classifications.

scholarly journals FAMILY ISSUES IN THE HUMANITARIAN AGENDA OF RUSSIAN MEDIA

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-24
Author(s):  
Nayalia O. Avtaeva ◽  
Tatiana D. Chemodanova
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Editorial Staff ◽  
Editorial Office ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Family Issues ◽  
The Family ◽  
Russian Media ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Individual

The humanitarian agenda of the media is characterized by a primary focus on the problems of the individual. Traditionally addressing the contradictions of social life, the humanitarian agenda puts the individual, personal beginning in the foreground. The family is a small social group, a social cell made up of several individuals and characterized by a number of characteristics, so the family theme can be considered as the optimal vector for implementing the humanitarian agenda. The key objective of this article is to analyze the relationship between social journalism and the humanitarian agenda in the media. The empirical basis is modern, socially oriented domestic media, which contribute to the humanization of the media space. The information policy of such media is based on the fact that the main value in editorial office publications is human beings. One of the brightest representatives of socially oriented media is the magazine Russian Reporter, whose editorial staff emphasized that the main value in publications is the individual, and any problems in the magazine are covered through the prism of an ordinary person. On the example of this publication, we can trace how organically family issues fit into the humanitarian agenda of Russian media. The main research method is a content analysis of publications in the Russian print media.

scholarly journals 'Honour Killings' in Modern Societies: A Sociological Perspective

ICR Journal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 532-535
Author(s):  
Alina Zvinkliene
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Family ◽  
Public Recognition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Personal Feeling

The issues of ‘honour’ - and in particular honour-related crimes - in modern societies undisputedly need more public reflection and discussion, especially at the meeting points of different cultures. The ‘concept of honour and shame’ - although not the only factor - is very important for understanding the background of domestic violence. This applies also - although in no way exclusively - to those Muslim family structures that are based on particular cultural traditions. The division of honour into ‘true’ and ‘artificial’ honours indicates that honour can be used to legitimate the hierarchy between members of the family. From a sociological perspective, the minimalist definition refers to honour as a right to respect. This means that honour exists both subjectively and objectively. It exists subjectively as a personal feeling as being entitled to respect. However, it exists also objectively as a public recognition of the public value of the individual. Honour/dishonour-shame always has a form of publicity.

scholarly journals THE MAKING OF THE EARLY MODERN BRITISH FAIRY TRADITION

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 1135-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
RONALD HUTTON
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
British Culture

ABSTRACTThis review is intended to examine the development of representations of elves and fairies in British culture between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries. It will argue that a very clear two-stage evolution in those representations can be found in literary sources, from an inchoate range found in different kinds of text, with no apparent collective identity, to a coherent sense of a kingdom, to which the common word ‘fairy’ could be applied, to an intense interest in, and discussion of, the nature of fairies. The first development occurred in the late middle ages, and the second after the Reformation, and both were pan-British phenomena. These literary changes were, moreover, paralleled at each stage, and perhaps responsible for, changes in perception in culture at large. The alterations in representations of these non-human beings, with no clear status in Christian theology, may have wider implications for an understanding of late medieval and early modern cultural history.

scholarly journals Anika Stroganov and russia n regional art of the 16th century

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (04) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
S. Voroshin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Character Traits ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Art Patronage ◽  
Industrial Activities ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The Family ◽  
Material Capital

The article is devoted to the study of the personality of Anika Fedorovich Stroganov, the entrepreneur and philanthropist, who formed the foundations of the conduct of commercial and industrial affairs, ktitor and art patronage activities of the dynasty. To understand the factors that influenced his worldview and were reflected in the art of the Late Middle Ages, the author chose the theory of identity, which determines the involvement of a person in certain areas of culture. In the course of the study, the author identified historical figures who, by their example, influenced the formation and development of Anika Fedorovich. The author make an attempt to identified those character traits that led to the success of the family not only in commercial and industrial activities, but also in the patronage of art. The material capital and spiritual baggage formed by Anika Stroganov became the foundation for the prosperity and cultural development of many subsequent generations. The article reveals preconditions of humanistic ideals, characteristic of subsequent representatives of the dynasty and who found their expression in the art they support.

scholarly journals The Role of the Bible in the Formation of Philosophical Thought in Kievan Rus’ (as Exemplified by Ilarion of Kiev, Kliment Smolatič, and Kirill of Turov)

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Justyna Kroczak
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Family ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The article is an attempt to critically evaluate the manifestations of the philosophical culture sprouting in Rus’. With the baptism in the Byzantine Rite, Rus’ in the 10th century joined the family of Christian nations and defined the future direction of her own cultural development. The Middle Ages in Rus’ were eminently theocentric. Literature (which was mostly translated from the Greek in Bulgarian monasteries) had a religious character. Sacral content, assimilated in Rus’ mainly through the Old Church Slavonic (due to the scarce knowledge of Greek) had a decisive influence on formation of the philosophical worldview of Rus’ intellectual elite. The Bible thus became the main reference framework for the first Rus’ thinkers-philosophers: Ilarion of Kiev († 1055), Kirill of Turov († 1183) and Kliment Smolatič († 1164). Ilarion of Kiev, the first metropolitan of the Kievan Rus’ in his rhetoric work (which postulated the superiority of the New Testament to the Old) expressed a philosophical thesis of the equality of all Christian nations before God. Kliment Smolatič, the second metropolitan of Rus’, in his Letter to Presbyter Foma, defended the allegorical method of interpretating the Bible. Kirill of Turov, in his turn, in his Parable of the human soul and body allegorically tried to answer the question about the relationship of the body and the soul. For the Rus’ thinkers the content of the Bible served as a pretext for philosophical reflection, e.g. on the role of man in the universe, on the nature of reality, on the relation between matter and spirit. In their works we find the beginnings of the theory of knowledge, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics.

Matrimonial Politics in Thirteenth-Century Aragon: Moncada v. Urgel

1980 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Brundage
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Medieval Church ◽  
The Family ◽  
Individual Family ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

Since apostolic times Christians have treated the family as a micro-community which reflects the values and problems of the larger Christian community as a whole. Most communities, including Christian ones, are reluctant to contemplate the possibility that their own existence will end. But although Jesus is said to have promised St Peter that His Church would survive death, and although the notion of the Church as a community that never dies became a commonplace in subsequent ecclesiology, there was no such guarantee of immortality to the individual family. The breakup and restructuring of family units through death or the dissolution of marriage was a reality which medieval Christian communities had to face in each generation. Even so, high-ranking social groups sought to minimise generational disruptions by adopting the fiction of the family that never dies, a notion that is especially familiar to historians of the theory of monarchy in the Middle Ages. The medieval Church was a keen champion of the continuity of domestic units. As Georges Duby has recently pointed out, the Church in the early Middle Ages struggled mightily to make its own theory of marriage prevail over the alternative marriage theory popular among the laity. The ecclesiastical model of marriage, which emphasised the free consent of the contracting parties and the indissolubility of unions, triumphed over the lay model of marriage, which, according to Duby, valued family concerns above the wishes of the individual at the end of the eleventh century in France. The pattern of marriage arrangements that Duby calls the lay model seems to have persisted vigorously until much later in other places, including Catalonia and Aragon. This paper will examine a case from mid-thirteenth century Arago-Catalonia in which the conflict of lay and ecclesiastical marriage ideals features prominently.

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