Documenting the self: Abelard and the individual in history*

2003 ◽  
Vol 76 (193) ◽  
pp. 293-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Clanchy
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Were medieval people aware of themselves as individuals? The history of self-consciousness begins with the Italian Renaissance, Burckhardt argued. Against this, medievalists have often cited Abelard's Historia calamitatum (his ‘story of calamities’). This article argues that Historia calamitatum is a history of Abelard's feelings, especially of his need for fame, and in this way it documents the self. But Historia calamitatum presents two Abelards: he is the ‘Palatine’– courtly, jesting and formidable – and he is equally a humble monk and Christian apologist. How did a medieval individual propagate such persistent and contradictory public images of himself?

scholarly journals Sociological portrait of the self-employed in contemporary Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-836
Author(s):  
Z. T. Golenkova ◽  
Yu. V. Goliusova ◽  
T. I. Gorina
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
The Self ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Real Self

The article considers the development of self-employment in the contemporary society: the history of its representation in legal norms and practices; the scope of informal employment according to statistical and sociological data; definitions of self-employment in the scientific literature. The self-employed are usually defined as not employed in organizations but independently selling goods and services produced by themselves. The global number of the self-employed grows. The authors present an algorithm for calculating the indicator potential self-employed based on the secondary analysis of the 27th wave of the RLMS (2018), and stress the lack of a unified methodology for calculating informal employment. According to the official data, the number of the self-employed in Russia ranges from several thousands to several millions, which confuses researchers who study this phenomenon. The article focuses on the results of the study Self-Employed: Who Are They? (Moscow, 2019), whose object were not potential but real self-employed selected on the basis of online advertisements of their services in Moscow. The authors collected information with the method of semi-formalized telephone interview. Based on the collected data, the authors make conclusions about motivating and demotivating factors of self-employment: independence, freedom in planning time and activity, distrust in the state, lack of social guarantees, unpredictable legislation, and imperfect tax system. Today, the status of the self-employed in Russia is still unclear and often substitutes the individual entrepreneur status in order to apply for tax preferences.

scholarly journals Los inicios de la reflexión sobre música y sociedad en la Grecia antigua

2013 ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
María Luz Rivera Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Harmonious Society ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
The Self ◽  
Sociology Of Music ◽  
History Of ◽  
Utopian Thought ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
Political Works ◽  
The Individual

El presente artículo se propone presentar un panorama de algunos testimonios literarios y filosóficos griegos acerca de los comienzos de la reflexión sociológica sobre la importancia de la música para la configuración armónica de la sociedad y para el mejoramiento personal del individuo en su seno. Según nuestra interpretación, estas dos nociones, que han sido posteriormente recuperadas en la historia del pensamiento utópico y en la sociología –que, desde finales del siglo XIX, ha usado el hecho musical como modelo social– encuentran sus raíces en la tradición de la educación griega, en las ideas del antiguo pitagorismo y en las interpretaciones sobre música y sociedad que incluyeron Platón y Aristóteles en sus obras políticas. Si nuestra hipótesis se confirma, y este artículo es parte de una investigación doctoral sobre la recepción de estas dos nociones en la historia de las ideas y de la sociología, la moderna sociología de la música (Musiksoziologie) dependería directamente de la paideia musical griega y de las ideas utópicas sobre la sociedad ideal a través de la música que provienen de la Grecia antigua.This article aims to present an overview of some Greek literary and philosophical statements about the beginnings of the sociological reflection on the importance of music for the shaping of an harmonious society and for the self-improvement of the individual within it. According to our interpretation, the origin of these two notions, which have been subsequently recovered both in the history of Utopian thought and in sociology –which has used music as a model social since the late 19th Century– can be traced in the tradition of Greek Education, in ancient Pythagoreanism and in the interpretations of music and society offered by Plato and Aristotle in his political works. If our hypothesis is confirmed, and this article is a piece of a PhD research on the reception of these two notions in the history of ideas and of sociology, the modern sociology of music (Musiksoziologie) would depend directly from the Greek musical paideia and from these utopian ideas about an ideal society through music stamming from Ancient Greece.

scholarly journals МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНІ ТА СОЦІАЛЬНО-ФІЛОСОФСЬКІ ПРОБЛЕМИ САМОРЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ТА САМОМОТИВАЦІЇ

World Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (7(35)) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Ободовська С. В. ◽  
Бохан Ю. В.
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
The Self ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
German Philosophy ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Effective System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
The Individual

The article deals with the socio-philosophical aspects and proposes an analysis of the ideas and views of thinkers of different historical epochs and times on the problems of self-realization and self-motivation. The theoretical basis for the study of the aspects of this problem was the fundamental approaches to the self-knowledge and motivation of the personality of the philosophers of antiquity (Epicurus, Socrates, Plato), the Middle Ages (K. Alexandria, St. Augustine), the Renaissance (D. Alighieri, F. Petrarca, M. Montaigne), New Time (B. Pascal, B. Spinoza) and German Philosophy (I. Kant, I. G. Fichte, A. Schopenhauer). The proof of the history of studying the problem of self-realization and personality motivation during its formation allows to emphasize the important essence of the aspiration of individuals to self- motivation as to the ultimate realization of the personal potential of a person. The analysis of motivation and self-motivation as an effective system of self-development and self-realization of the personality is conducted. An attempt has been made to generalize author's studies and representations of the essence of the processes of motivation and self- motivation of the individual and highlighted a number of aspects that focus the attention of researchers in explaining the essence of these processes. The disclosure of the ideas reflected in the study contributes to the further study and development of the structure of the process of self-motivation of the person, the mechanisms for its activation, the creation of pedagogical conditions that stimulate this process in professional activity.

scholarly journals Technological Determinism Goes Aloft: Notes on the Human – Machine Issue in Outer Space Exploration

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-25
Author(s):  
Lika Rodin
Keyword(s):  
Space Exploration ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
The Self ◽  
Technological Determinism ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
National Space ◽  
History Of ◽  
Manned Space ◽  
The Individual

The future of space exploration is unimaginable without broadening the role of technology. Already, the necessity of manned space expeditions is becoming increasingly problematized. This study looks at the role of technology and human – machine relationships unfolding within national space programs through the lens of the 'soft' version of technological determinism suggested by Albert Borgmann. This theoretical tradition recognizes, without neglecting human agency, the shaping effect of technology on human organization, prosperity and actions as well as on individuals' relationships with the self and other. The commodification of technology – economic and ethical – is viewed to be the effects of technological expansion. Ethical commodification is characterized by disattachment of the individual from the natural surrounding and from the self. In the field of space exploration, ethical commodification is associated with the process of automation that developed differently in distinctive national contexts. Thus, if the history of American spaceflight is characterized by the initial struggle against automation, seen to be a means of disempowering astronauts as a professional group, the Russian space program favoured automation from the very beginning. In both contexts, however, automation eventually established itself and continues to shape contemporary perceptions on spaceflight. The accumulated experiences of man-machine interactions are useful for understanding ethical commodification as a social phenomenon. Drawing on the autobiographical narratives of Soviet / Russian cosmonauts, I specify the ways in which ethical commodification of hardware and software manifested itself in spaceflight and how it could be diverted. In conclusion, a perspective that resists alienation is suggested for the enterprise of space exploration at large.

Nietzche, Wagner y el Renacimiento italiano

2001 ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
Giuliano Campioni
Keyword(s):  
Richard Wagner ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
Free Spirit ◽  
German Ideology ◽  
Birth Of Tragedy ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Greek World

The purpose of this essay is to redefine Nietzsche’s relationship with the Renaissance, beyond some outstanding and terrible simplifications, and the literary and aesthetic creations of myths focused on the constellation superman, Renaissance-will-of-power, and Antichrist. Richard Wagner strongly conditions Nietzsche’s ideas with his valuations of the Renaissance. There is, in the young author of The Birth of Tragedy, a strong diffidence on the footsteps of the German ideology of the musician and of his rooted aversion to the Renaissance. The Italian Opera seems to be a false revival of the Greek Opera in its paradigmatic model of the artifice, and of the luxury of a selfish aristocracy, far from the feeling of the Volk. As a philologist and a promoter of a revival of the Greek world in Germany, Nietzsche had in the Italian Renaissance a necessary model of comparison. After an initial hostility followed a freer and more open evaluation that can be read in his posthumous documents, regardig the complexity of its experimental movement. The influence of Burckhardt in particular shows a progressive turning point, considerable for bringing a new definition of his relationship with the musician. The essay pauses on Nietzsche’s notes to the lessons dedicated to The Discovery of the Antiquity among the Italians, which turned out to be a mosaic of quotations from The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. It is certainly the most important document, largely ignored throughout history, of the close relationship between Nietzsche and Burckhardt. On the search for complexity and plurality that characterizes the superior culture, Nietzsche discovers and enhances the value of the Latin Renaissance in direct opposition to the German Renaissance impressed by Wagner’s illusion. With Burckhardt, he discovers the individual man and the poet-philologist, a prototype of the free spirit, putting into practice the detachment from the German myth of the Volk and opening the way to the culture of Romanticism.

scholarly journals Production of the Self during the Age of Confessionalism

1996 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Warren Sabean
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Multiple Selves ◽  
The West ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Sexuality And Gender ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Privacy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual

During the last several decades, the history of the self, its nature, essential shifts, and trajectory have undergone considerable re-examination. The Western Civilization textbook premise that the history of the West and the rise of individualism correlate closely with each other is being critically examined. There are a number of different historical, anthropological, literary, and sociological discourses about bodies, memory, conscience, subjectivity, identity, privacy, sexuality, and gender, which have developed separate narratives about the self, frequently (mostly) in isolation from one another. Some recent feminist theory finds the thesis of individualism irrelevant for women and suggests that the self as a continuing story (autobiography) is gendered. Some theorists counter the creative possibilities of forgetting to a self constructed around a memory core. Multiple selves, schizoid selves, and decentered selves challenge older ideas of identity. The dialectic between public and private produces new problems about who “owns” the self, its image, and its location. Bodies, sexualities, and desire turn out to be shaped and disciplined within hidden forms of power. Old ideas about the rise of the individual and new ones about the pathologies of the self make the self and its history a central issue for contemporary debate.

Calendar as a mediating technology of organization

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-67
Author(s):  
Florian Hoof
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Time Management ◽  
The Self ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Personal Time ◽  
Conduct Of Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Individual

This chapter dwells on the calendar and more specifically on personal time management systems as a technology that mediates between the organization and the individual. The calendar is discussed as a technical medium of standardization and modularization as well as a medium of cultural synchronization, which provides an interface between the demands of an organization and those of its employees. Following Weber’s claim on the interrelatedness of capitalism and the Christian conduct of life, the calendar is discussed as a medium of Protestantism and as an integral part of the media and cultural history of the rationalization of the self.

scholarly journals Generation related self-identity of Lesia Ukrainka (Based on her epistolary heritage)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (46) ◽  
pp. 101-108
Author(s):  
Tetiana Virchenko ◽  
Roman Koz
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Fin De Siecle ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Previous Generation ◽  
Present Generation ◽  
Fin De Siècle ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
History Of Literature

The need to talk about the generation related self-identity of those writers who lived at the change of the century became more acute, because “fin de siècle” is the period of modernization of literature. The objective of the research is both historic-literary and purely theoretical. If in the first area we have to find out the individual identity of Lesia Ukrainka with a certain literary generation, and in the second area one should answer the question of whether the self-identification of the writeress with a certain literary generation can become the cornerstone for writing the history of literature. The process of working with the contents of letters was carried out with the help of systematic interpretation and hermeneutic reading. The main result of the research is the possibility to state that Lesia Ukrainka respected the experience of the representatives of the previous generation, but she desired to be appreciated by critics as part of the present generation gives reason to think that the writeress still identified herself as the representative of modernism.

Sources of the Self From the Renaissance to the 20th Century

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elwin Hofman
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
John Locke ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Self ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Absence Of Power

The history of the self studies continuities and changes in ideas about and experiences of the individual mind through time, attending to questions of individuality, identity, stability, self-possession, and interiority. Traditionally, this subject has often been approached as an intellectual history, analyzing philosophers’ explicit writings about the self. Through the work of people such as René Descartes, John Locke, and Immanuel Kant, scholars have traced a growing sense of individuality and self-possession since the 16th century, and an increasing feeling of inner depth since the 18th century. The focus on intellectual sources of the self has been criticized, however, by scholars who stress the importance of practices and of social differences. They have broadened the scope of the field by looking at cultural sources, such as autobiographical writing, literature, art, rituals, and festivities. Still other historians have criticized the absence of power in many accounts of the history of the self and stress the institutional and political sources of the self, including religious institutions, schools, and legal systems. Throughout these different approaches, debates continue about whether a “modern self” can be traced, and when such a modern self can be situated. While many recent scholars stress the need to examine different cultures of the self at any given time in their own right, others argue that it remains important to trace grand shifts in this history.

scholarly journals (DE)FORMATION JOURNEY IN THE ELIAS CANETTI AUTOBIOGRAPHY NARRATIVE

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-297
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Matos-de-Souza
Keyword(s):  
Direct Contact ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Self ◽  
The World ◽  
Elias Canetti ◽  
History Of ◽  
Migratory Routes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Totalitarian Regimes ◽  
History Of Western Civilization

This article addresses the Elias Canetti’s autobiography from a formative point of view  searching for another meaning for the trip concept, in which desire and pleasure are not present, as one would expect from a sightseeing tour or trekking, but a journey that, involuntary and forcibly, crosses the individual, (de)forming them. Accordingly, the refuge, the escape, the self-exile, they relate a path of personal tragedies that gains other meanings when narrated. Elias Canetti’s autobiographical narrative is divided in three volumes – “The tongue set free”, “The torch in my ear” and “The play of the eyes” – and tells us about the author’s migratory routes across a Europe crumbling under wars and totalitarian regimes which arose in the first half of the 20th century.  His testimony is an account of a world that catches a glimpse of totalitarian experiences and the trivialization of evil that marks the history of Western civilization. Elias Canetti’s writings narrates the roads he had to take to avoid direct contact with the Great Wars, and exposes certain (de)formative aspects of migration, as well as how these experiences, so open to uncertainties and rid of any guaranties, appear before the eyes of a young man from a rich family, whose mother tried to protect from the perils of the world. This feature is one of many highlights, a sine qua non element in his stories, because that is where all the terror and pain lie for those who flee their homeland to venture into foreign lands in an almost instinctive attempt to survive. It is in this sense that we work the concept of (de)formation in its relation with the concept of journey.

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