Natural Education in Wollstonecraft’s Wrongs of Woman and Rousseau’s Emile

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
Catherine Engh
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Crucial Feature ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Aesthetic Sensibility ◽  
Vital Forces

Abstract This essay places Wollstonecraft’s late novel Maria; or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798) in conversation with Rousseau’s thought on natural education in Emile (1762). In both texts, aesthetic sensibility is a foundation of religious belief and a crucial feature of a program of natural education that aims at freedom. Education falters, however, as Rousseau’s student and Wollstonecraft’s heroine are consigned to exile by a prejudiced society. Though Rousseau and Wollstonecraft make strong claims for the moral and liberating possibilities of aesthetic sensibility, they differ in their interpretation of exile. Wollstonecraft rewrites Rousseau’s portrait of the self-sufficient exile to highlight her outcast heroine’s estrangement from the vital forces that animate life and the mind. Natural education fails in Wrongs of Woman because the cultivation of sensibility remains separate from the work of reforming the social structures that discredit women’s reason.

scholarly journals The Social Dynamics of Spirituality and Youthfulness: A Social Interplay Between Disposition and Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan James O. Canete ◽  
Digvijay Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Practical Observation ◽  
Existential Meaning ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Self Transcendence

Issues and topics concerning spirituality is not new in the social sphere. Many great thinkers in the fields of philosophy and theology have tried to excavate the richness of the topic. Though not new a topic, there are still various avenues in the sphere of spirituality that need to be examined and discovered through intellectual abstraction and practical observation; it is a topic that is ancient yet new, an idea suggesting a paradox of time and permanence. The relevance of spirituality cannot be contained in a specific era nor time frame or even in established social structures because it deals with people and their disposition toward life and a certain desire in their very being for transcendence. In other words, spirituality is all about a person’s attitude towards life and a quest for an existential meaning behind every experience that might be of unequalled value or significance. Hence, spirituality is not static but dynamic in its very being, for as long as man desires to go beyond his present state of being and moves into another manner of existence, spirituality is evident; it manifests itself in that affinity for self-transcendence. The term youth, alternatively, also speaks of a dynamic progressive or regressive movement of the self, outside of its present state of being. This study, therefore, is an attempt to phenomenologically interpret and appropriate the concept of spirituality as an unfolding of existence on the concept of youthfulness not just an ordinary process in the life of a person wherein one becomes open for self-improvement or self-transcendence

scholarly journals Synthetic bodies and feeling generators

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-140
Author(s):  
Michela De Carlo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
The Social ◽  
Online Experience ◽  
Online Environments

The main purpose of this paper is to describe emerging forms of art and social practices that arise in the social media era, after the coming together of the self-awareness reflected in online environments and the conscious passivity of individuals to the algorithmic manipulation of desires. Accordingly, what follows is a brief introduction to these new forms of social structures and a description of the elements that shape the perfect projection of ourselves in our online experience, combined with samples of artworks investigating the forms and languages emerging in our social media life.

scholarly journals Pour une balnéothérapie stoïcienne ? Représentations de la baignade et poétique du discours philosophique dans les Lettres à Lucilius de Sénèque

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grégoire Blanc ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Representations ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
The Self ◽  
Care Of The Self ◽  
Philosophical Discourse ◽  
The Social ◽  
Epistulae Morales ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Way

Abstract: The bathing representations throughout the correspondence with Lucilius seems to induct some crucial elements, both rhetorical and ethical, of the Seneca’s writing process. The description, and depiction, of bathing experiences in the Epistulae Morales enlightens the fact that Seneca’s shaping not only a stoic care of the self, but also a thinking and a writing method. Review of that writing pattern shows that the poetics of philosophical discourse may take different leads in the correspondence, from empirical experiences to ethical conceptualization, through literary aemulatio and satirical moral lessons. What appears, then, is a sociopoetical way of writing philosophy. The social representations are indeed orchestrated by Seneca in order to build a philosophical arrangement, which paves the way to a total transfiguration of the mind.

scholarly journals A Theory of War and Violence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
thomas Scheff
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Loops ◽  
The Self ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Social Emotional ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theory Of War ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Looking Glass

It is possible that war in modern societies is largely driven by emotions, but in a way that is almost completely hidden. Modernity individualizes the self and tends to ignore emotions. As a result, conflict can be caused by sequences in which the total hiding of humiliation leads to vengeance. This essay outlines a theory of the social-emotional world implied in the work of C. H. Cooley and others. Cooley’s concept of the “looking-glass self” can be used as antidote to the assumptions of modernity: the basic self is social and emotional: selves are based on “living in the mind” of others, with a result of feeling either pride of shame. Cooley discusses shame at some length, unlike most approaches, which tend to hide it. This essay proposes that the complete hiding of shame can lead to feedback loops (spirals) with no natural limit: shame about shame and anger is only the first step. Emotion backlogs can feed back when emotional experiences are completely hidden: avoiding all pain can lead to limitless spirals. These ideas may help explain the role of France in causing WWI, and Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. To the extent that these propositions are true, the part played by emotions and especially shame in causing wars need to be further studied.

scholarly journals Dialogism and dialogicality in the study of the self

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèle Grossen ◽  
Anne Salazar Orvig
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
The Self ◽  
Material World ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Social Entities

This article stems from the statement that dialogical approaches to a study of the self face a double challenge: that of developing a conception of the self that both avoids social reductionism and accounts for the stability of the self. In discussing this double challenge, we identify three much debated issues: (a) To what does the notion of “Alter” exactly refer? (b) How could we conceptualize the fact that Subject–Alter interactions are not only interpersonal but entail larger social entities, in particular institutions? (c)What importance should we attach to the materiality of objects? We discuss these three questions from two standpoints – that of linguistics and that of psychology – and illustrate our theoretical proposals with an analysis of an excerpt taken from a focus–group discussion. In conclusion, we argue that the dialogism of discourse provides us with some clues about the dialogicality of the mind, whereas the latter invites us to develop a theory showing the importance of interactions in the construction of the self, to pay more attention to the transpersonal dimension of the social, and to consider that the material world contributes to the construction of the self.

The Rhythms of Character in Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill’

2017 ◽  
pp. 181-192
Author(s):  
Helen Rydstrand
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Theatrical Production ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Indirect Discourse ◽  
Prose Style ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Multiple Levels

This chapter investigates the ways that Katherine Mansfield’s ‘Miss Brill’ is constructed through textual rhythms. Specifically, it argues that the story is distinguished by an arrhythmic duality created largely by the way that Miss Brill’s resolutely cheerful voice, which reaches us via free indirect discourse, is repeatedly undercut by a discordant undertone of melancholy. This contributes to a pattern of self-deception repeated at multiple levels of the story, culminating in a fantasy about her everyday life being part of a theatrical production. Mansfield’s mimetic use of rhythm serves a profoundly ethical purpose, using rhythm to sympathetically portray the depth of its subject’s loneliness and to expose the social structures that lead to it. The story also shows the influence on modern prose style of the relatively new field of psychology in its exploration of consciousness, emotion, and the relation between the self and the world. Beyond its ethical concerns, Mansfield’s experiment with rhythms for mimetic purposes also aims to deepen our understanding of the subtle cadences and confluences of inner and outer experience. In this, she contributes to the broader ontological and aesthetic conversations surrounding rhythm in her time.

scholarly journals Desire for the other and the Iterable Identity in the Social Context: A Postmodern Reading of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-97
Author(s):  
Noorbakhsh Hooti ◽  
Ali Salehi
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tennessee Williams ◽  
Multiple Features ◽  
The Social ◽  
Streetcar Named Desire ◽  
A Streetcar Named Desire ◽  
The Mind

Abstract In postmodern outlook, the boundary between the different divisions made inside the mind is blurred. It is the Other of one’s self that indirectly defines the identity of a character or makes it abject. The purpose of this study is to recognize the adjustment identity of Blanche in “The Streetcar Named Desire” in diverse social contexts. The identity of Blanche is under surveillance through some key elements in the postmodern bedrock. The chains of signifiers that are produced by the considered character distinguish the mayhem of the mind that is trying to find a new identity in the altered social context. The study aims to unravel the desire for the Other or the hidden alter that is trying to adapt itself to the new environment while the character is unraveled as abject for the others in the special context. The dangling state of Blanche’s mind is exposed through multiple features of the concepts to embody the blurring border between the Other and the self.

scholarly journals The Human Self: the Illusion of a Riddle

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
G.V. Lobastov
Keyword(s):  
Difficult Problem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Internal Logic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Basis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind

The paper is an attempt to give an inner outline of F.T. Mikhailov’s logic in the study of the human Self. The principles of analysis and the meaningful path of becoming the Self are analyzed, from the problem of the emergence of the mind to the developed, creative and free personality. Reflection of logical categories and their formal and substantive connection with the problems and methods of theoretical research in psychology is carried out. The paper shows the dialectic of the concept of the Self — both in the objective reality and in the self-consciousness of the individual. The subjectness of the Self is presented as an expression of the social whole and the internal logic of its development. This logic of the whole is the potential basis of the creative ability of the Self. The creativity arises in the contradiction between the universal and the specific, the distinction of which is, according to F.T. Mikhailov, the most difficult problem. But it is precisely in the solution of this problem that the solution to the phenomenon of the Self lies. And thus of freedom as the objective self-determination of man in being and in thinking. The reproduction of the logic of thought of F.T. Mikhailov is carried out by the author in his own synthesis of problems that highlight the main line in understanding the problem of the Self.

Reification and the Duty to Work Through the Past: On Critical Theory and Temporality

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-138
Author(s):  
Mathijs Peters
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Working Through ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normative Basis ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract This article focuses on the role that the notion of temporality can and should play in the tradition of Critical Theory. Following an overview of the critical analyses of time found in the works of Marx, Lukács, Weber, Adorno, Fromm, and Marcuse, the article analyzes Hartmut Rosa’s critique of social acceleration and argues that this critique lacks a firm normative basis. This basis is required, however, for one to claim why certain processes of social acceleration are wrong. It is shown that Rosa’s analyses of acceleration contain two suggestions for such a basis: autonomy understood as a narrative identity, and autonomy as defended by Honneth’s theory of recognition. After an exploration of both suggestions, in which the ideas of MacIntyre and Ricoeur are briefly discussed as well, it is argued that a combination of both may result in a specific, normative understanding of reification, which is defended against Honneth’s definition of this concept. Based on an interpretation of passages in Horkheimer and Adorno’s Dialectic of Enlightenment and Adorno’s notion of “working through the past,” the article claims that reification should be understood as a forgetting of the narratives that have shaped the self and the social structures under which this self is formed, and therefore as the inability to recognize the temporal dimensions of the autonomous self.

Providing Freshmen with a Good “Starting-Block”

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikaël De Clercq ◽  
Charlotte Michel ◽  
Sophie Remy ◽  
Benoît Galand
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Pivotal Phase ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Study Task ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Intention To Persist

Abstract. Grounded in social-psychological literature, this experimental study assessed the effects of two so-called “wise” interventions implemented in a student study program. The interventions took place during the very first week at university, a presumed pivotal phase of transition. A group of 375 freshmen in psychology were randomly assigned to three conditions: control, social belonging, and self-affirmation. Following the intervention, students in the social-belonging condition expressed less social apprehension, a higher social integration, and a stronger intention to persist one month later than the other participants. They also relied more on peers as a source of support when confronted with a study task. Students in the self-affirmation condition felt more self-affirmed at the end of the intervention but didn’t benefit from other lasting effects. The results suggest that some well-timed and well-targeted “wise” interventions could provide lasting positive consequences for student adjustment. The respective merits of social-belonging and self-affirmation interventions are also discussed.

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