Intersubjectivity and Embodiment in the Field of Psychotherapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2 supplement) ◽  
pp. 141-152
Author(s):  
Kata Dóra Kiss

"Intersubjectivity is one of the most important concepts of the phenomenological school of thought. The approach assumes that our being in the world is based on relations with Others. The idea has a central role not only in the philosophy of perception but in psy-sciences as well. Mostly all branches of psychology agree that the self is constituted by its relations. However, there is much less consensus on how decisive these relations are. Therefore, the question of intersubjectivity has become the question of how we perceive human beings: as biological or social entities. Psy-sciences have never had one coherent and consensual paradigm, although nowadays the natural scientific standards are the most prevailing in the field, which prioritizes biological explanations over socio-cultural aspects. The study attempts to connect the phenomenological approach to intersubjectivity to the psychological approach to embodiment. For this, first, it elaborates on an essential problem of psy-sciences, transmitted by classical philosophy, namely the mind-body dualism, which implicitly establishes the current paradigm. Then, it aims to describe how the phenomenological approach, especially the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, could dissolve the classical dualism through the assumption of the body-mind-world unity. Merleau-Ponty was one of those thinkers of the 20th century who laid down the foundations of the scientific paradigm of embodiment. Afterward, I illustrate the phenomenological concept above through Ben Rumble’s psychological approach, which applies the embodiment paradigm for the therapeutic process as a professional. The final part of the study attempts to establish a relation between the psychological attitude based on embodiment and the psychoanalytic theory of Sándor Ferenczi, the Hungarian psychoanalyst. Keywords: embodiment, intersubjectivity, psychoteraphy, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, critical psychology, Sándor Ferenczi "

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (05) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Robert A. Moylan, LCPC

With Emotional Core Therapy, we have a behavioral psychology approach that is scientifically proven to be the most effective spiritual and psychological approach available worldwide at treating relationship stress. Spiritual beliefs and prayer can offer hope to those suffering stressful events. This research article will demonstrate how the eight step Emotional Core Therapy flowchart can be utilized to allow spiritual beings access to their spiritual selves in a time of need. By allowing access to hope and prayer, patients can access some of the valuable resources available for recovery. Stress can be debilitating at times. Stressful events such as job loss and divorce can sometimes cause major discomfort on the body. The Holmes and Rahe Scale identifies the leading cause of stress for human beings. This scale is attached below and allows one to rate the various stress in one’s life. Since each person experiences bodily stress differently, this site can only offer a rough guideline of the adverse effect of accumulative stress on the mind and body.


Author(s):  
Emanuele Castrucci

The human mind has phased out its traditional anchorage in a natural biological basis (the «reasons of the body» which even Spinoza’s Ethics could count on) – an anchorage that had determined, for at least two millennia, historically familiar forms of culture and civilisation. Increasingly emphasising its intellectual disembodiment, it has come to the point of establishing in a completely artificial way the normative conditions of social behaviour and the very ontological collocation of human beings in general. If in the past ‘God’ was the name that mythopoietic activity had assigned to the world’s overall moral order, which was reflected onto human behaviour, now the progressive freeing of the mind – by way of the intellectualisation of life and technology – from the natural normativity which was previously its basic material reference opens up unforeseen vistas of power. Freedom of the intellect demands (or so one believes) the full artificiality of the normative human order in the form of an artificial logos, and precisely qua artificial, omnipotent. The technological icon of logos (which postmodern dispersion undermines only superficially) definitively unseats the traditional normative, sovereign ‘God’ of human history as he has been known till now. Our West has been irreversibly marked by this process, whose results are as devastating as they are inevitable. The decline predicted a century ago by old Spengler is here served on a platter....


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 132-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. I. Kriman

The article discusses the modern philosophical concepts of transhumanism and posthumanism. The central issue of these concepts is “What is the posthuman?” The 21st century is marked by a contradictory understanding of the role and status of the human. On the one hand, there comes the realization of human hegemony over the whole world around: in the 20th century mankind not only began to conquer outer space, invented nuclear weapons, made many amazing discoveries but also shifted its attention to itself or rather to the modification of itself. Transhumanist projects aim to strengthen human influence by transforming human beings into other, more powerful and viable forms of being. Such projects continues the project of human “deification.” On the other hand, acknowledging the onset of the new geological epoch of the Anthropocene, there comes the rejection of classical interpretations of the human. The categories of historicity, sociality and subjectivity are no longer so anthropocentric. In the opinion of the posthumanists, the project of the Vitruvian man has proven to be untenable in the present-day environment and is increasingly criticized. The reflection on the phenomenon of the human and his future refers to the concepts that explore not only human but also non-human. Very often we can find a synonymous understanding of transhumanism and posthumanism. Although these movements work with the same modern constructs and concepts but interpret them in a fundamentally different way. The discourse of transhumanism refers to the Cartesian opposition of the body and the mind. Despite the sacralization of technology and the desire to purify the posthuman from such seemingly permanent attributes of the living as aging and death, transhumanism in many ways continues the ideas of the Enlightenment. For posthumanists, the subject is nomadic and a kind of assembly of human, animal, digital, chimerical. Thus, in posthumanism the main maxim of humanism about the human as the highest value is rejected – the human ceases to be “the measure of all things.”


Author(s):  
Jonatan Tobío Fernández

En la Grecia y Roma clásicas, en donde cimientan los fundamentos estructurales de nuestra actual civilización, van a otorgar la más alta consideración al ser humano dedicado al desarrollo del intelecto, con un otium encaminado al cultivo de la mente y dedicado a una ocupación relacionada con algún ámbito del saber que requiera el uso del conocimiento y el dominio de una lex artis —no obstante, adquiere también relevancia el cultivo del cuerpo, pero, por lo general, en aras de una correcta instrucción militar, al objeto de prestar servicio, si fuere necesario, en defensa de la comunidad o sociedad—. La Roma clásica, que absorbe el pensamiento de los filósofos griegos —sobre todo, el arte de la retórica y la elocuencia—, a semejanza de la propia Grecia, distinguirá aquellos trabajos manuales, dependientes y serviles, que Cicerón califica como viles, en los que para su realización, por regla general, se imprime esfuerzo físico y para los que, en algunos casos, se requiere el dominio de un arte, pero que, en otros, ni tan siquiera se precisa el conocimiento previo de técnica alguna —o, de necesitarse, se trataría de un mínimo modus operandi—, de aquellas otras actividades en las que, para su fiel desempeño, es imprescindible poseer rigurosos conocimientos teóricos y prácticos, por lo que traen consigo una considerable carga intelectual, así como, en su ejecución, se caracterizan por su autonomía, lo que implica alto grado de libertad e independencia. Estas notas, que han perdurado a lo largo de la historia, en la actualidad continúan funcionando como elementos que, al valorarse en su conjunto, distinguen a las denominadas en la actualidad profesiones liberales del resto de profesiones, oficios u ocupaciones.In classical Greece and Rome, where the foundations of our present civilization were laid, they regarded most highly human beings dedicated to developing their intellect, with an otium intended for the cultivation of the mind and dedicated to an occupation associated with a field of knowledge that requires the use of expertise and the mastery of a lex artis —although the cultivation of the body also acquires importance for the purpose of correct military instruction to serve in defense of the community or society if needed—. Classical Rome, which absorbed Greek philosophy —especially the rhetorical art of eloquence—, like Greece itself, made a distinction between manual, dependent and servile labor, which Cicero considered base, which require physical force as a general rule and which in some cases also require the mastery of an art, but in other do not even demand prior knowledge of a technique —and if they do it would be merely a modus operandi—, and other activities where it is indispensable for their correct practice to possess rigorous theoretical and practical knowledge. The latter entaila considerable intellectual onus, and their practice is characterized by autonomy, which implies a high degree of freedom and independence. These features, which have continued throughout history, currently continue to function as elements which, if taken as a group, set apart in the present day the liberal professions from the rest of professions, trades or occupations.


1991 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Madell

The central fact about the problem of personal identity is that it is a problem posed by an apparent dichotomy: the dichotomy between the objective, third-person viewpoint on the one hand and the subjective perspective provided by the first-person viewpoint on the other. Everyone understands that the mind/body problem is precisely the problem of what to do about another apparent dichotomy, the duality comprising states of consciousness on the one hand and physical states of the body on the other. By contrast, contemporary discussions of the problem of personal identity generally display little or no recognition of the divide which to my mind is at the heart of the problem. As a consequence, there has been a relentlessly third-personal approach to the issue, and the consequent proposal of solutions which stand no chance at all of working. I think the idea that the problem is to be clarified by an appeal to the idea of a human being is the latest manifestation of this mistaken approach. I am thinking in particular of the claim that what ought to govern our thinking on this issue is the fact that human beings constitute a natural kind, and that standard members of this kind can be said to have some sort of essence. Related to this is the idea that ‘person’, while not itself a natural kind term, is not a notion which can be framed in entire independence of this natural kind.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhanya S. ◽  
Ramesh N V ◽  
Abhayakumar Mishra

Abstract Ayurveda (the science of life) is one of the branches of Vedas. It is regarded as upaveda of Atharva Veda. It is a steam of knowledge coming down from generation to generation since eternity parallel to Vedic literature which is why its emergence has been said to be from the creator (Brahman) himself prior to the creation. It is taken as eternal because nobody knows when it was not there. In Ayurveda, food is considered to affect the mind as well as the body. By understanding how to prepare foods best suited to our minds and bodies, we can utilize nutrition as a source of healing. Food is the most essential to sustain a good life and the same food if consumed inappropriately becomes the root cause of many diseases. So, proper knowledge about food and its importance should be known by all human beings to have better benefits from it.


2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. E2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Romero-Vargas ◽  
José Luis Ruiz-Sandoval ◽  
Arturo Sotomayor-González ◽  
Rogelio Revuelta-Gutiérrez ◽  
Miguel Angel Celis-López ◽  
...  

Induced deformation of the cranial vault is one form of permanent alteration of the body that has been performed by human beings from the beginning of history as a way of differentiating from others. These procedures have been observed in different cultures, but were particularly widespread in Mesoamerica. The authors examined and reviewed the historical and anthropological literature of intentional deformation practices in Mayan culture. The Mayans performed different types of cranial deformations and used different techniques and instruments to deform children's heads. The most remarkable morphological alteration is seen in the flattening of the frontal bone. Some archeological investigations link deformation types with specific periods. This article provides a glance at the cultural environment of the Mayans and demonstrates the heterogeneity of this interesting cultural phenomenon, which has changed over time.


Author(s):  
Giuseppe Mininni ◽  
Amelia Manuti

AbstractThis paper integrates contributions coming from psychology with a phenomenological and semiotic perspective and focuses on the relationship of reciprocal constitution between “Subject” and “Object.” This relationship is evoked through radically different concepts such as the notions of “experience,” “consciousness” and “embodiment,” focusing attention on “discourse” as a macro-procedure generating the mutual link between Subject and Object. Therefore, the relationship between subject and object is identifiable through the text, namely “diatext.” It will be further argued that human beings act as “diatexters” of their existence in the world. Accordingly, psycho-discursive practices have the performative power to constitute both objects and subjects because they offer a creative solution by interlacing the “Body-Mind-Problem” to the “Mind-Culture-Problem.” In detail, the discursive resource granted by metaphors may be recognized as a modelling matrix embodying thought, as the interweaving of conceptual fields and as reasoning processes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
María Teresa González Mínguez

According to Cartesian principles, in the seventeenth century the body was thought to be subordinated to the mind. Later in the eighteenth-century male authors of medical treatises supported the idea that the interaction of body and mind produced passion and could dangerously turn into mental breakdown. In all her novels Jane Austen showed an enormous interest in all matters concerning medical treatment. In Sense and Sensibility(1811), Austen emphasized illness and suffering by mixing physical health and mental disease with moral and philosophical doctrines. My contention in this article is that moralists, philosophers and thinkers such as Dr Johnson, William Blake, William Godwin, and Adam Smith collaborated with Austen to shape the idea that sensibility was no disease and sense no virtue; instead they propose that human beings, especially women, can obtain individual and collective profit and promote changes not only in the past but also in the present if they regulate their reason and feeling with a practical mindset. Key words: physical health, mental breakdown, medicine, moral thoughts, regulation of feelings.      


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