scholarly journals Critical Realism: The Epistemic Position of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-27
Author(s):  
Katharina Sternek
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Relationship ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Epistemic Position ◽  
Therapeutic Attitude ◽  
Epistemological Position

Summary In this contribution, I discuss the relevance of epistemological models for psychotherapy. Despite its importance epistemology is seldom explicitly dealt with in the psychotherapeutic landscape. Based on the presentation of “Critical Realism (CR),” the epistemological position of Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy (GTP), I intend to show to which extent this explanatory model supports a differentiated understanding of problems between human beings, arising from the differences in experiencing “reality.” The presentation deals explicitly with some conclusions that can be drawn from the CR model for practical psychotherapeutic work. In particular, the aspects of basic therapeutic attitude, therapeutic relationship, and praxeology are highlighted.

Critical Realism as an Underlying Philosophy for IS Research

2005 ◽  
pp. 606-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Classical Realism ◽  
Causal Laws ◽  
Realist Perspective ◽  
Stable Structures ◽  
Formal Constraints

Many recent articles from within the information systems (IS) arena present an old-fashioned view of realism. For example, Iivari, Hirschheim, and Klein (1998) saw classical realism as seeing “data as describing objective facts, information systems as consisting of technological structures (‘hardware’), human beings as subject to causal laws (determinism), and organizations as relatively stable structures” (p. 172). Wilson (1999) saw the realist perspective as relying on “the availability of a set of formal constraints which have the characteristics of abstractness, generality, invariance across contexts.”

scholarly journals Some Social Attitudes to Personality with Implications for Psychotherapy

1966 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 492-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Relationship ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Interpersonal Problems ◽  
Social Attitudes ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Will Power ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

The patient and the psychiatrist often have different belief systems about personality and its functions. The one held by the patient is derived at least in part, from the values and attitudes toward people of a business-dominated society. Examples of several attitudes are discussed. First, that everyone should be able to solve his own personal and interpersonal problems without assistance. This exaggerated and narrow individualism leads to increasing alienation, reluctance to enter therapy and difficulty in the establishment of a therapeutic relationship. Second, the notion that will power is an entity which can influence and control thoughts, feelings and behaviour leads to much useless effort on the part of the patient. Third, emotions are considered inferior to reason and are distrusted, making the psychiatrist's work of helping patients to recognize and accept their feelings much more difficult. Many self-attitudes are derived from commercial values and the view of human beings as commodities. The belief system derived from business is materialistic, mechanical, limiting and anti-humanistic. The belief system held by the psychiatrist is humanistic and oriented toward a full-valued, integrated individual. These opposing systems may interfere with communication and hence with therapy. The psychiatrist is not always free from the harmful assumptions held by the patient.

Imago dei as Foundational to Psychotherapy: Integration versus Segregation

1981 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney D. Vanderploeg
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Therapeutic Relationship ◽  
Psychotherapy Integration ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
The Core ◽  
Relational Aspect

In the last issue (Vanderploeg, 1981), the concept of the Imago Dei was shown to be central to being human and as establishing human beings as essentially relational, called to relationship with God and with each other. God's election was seen as at the core of the Imago Dei and hence as a universal phenomenon. In the present article, the intrapsychic aspect of personality is also discussed as a third important relational aspect of the Imago Dei. The Imago Dei is seen as foundational to psychotherapy, providing both a ground for therapy and a mandate. The therapeutic relationship is understood as covenantal and as an affirmation of God's election, as it is a relationship in which clients are universally supported in enhancing their relationships, that is, the Imago Dei. The transpersonal, God-person relationship is also discussed, both as to how it manifests itself in therapy and how it can be dealt with therapeutically. Throughout, the focus is on questions which help therapists intergrate their faith with their vocation rather than segregating the two by imposing one on the other.

scholarly journals Basic Principles for Therapeutic Relationship and Practice in Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Böhm
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Relationship ◽  
Therapeutic Process ◽  
Gestalt Theory ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Therapeutic Practice ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Approach ◽  
Practical Design ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Therapeutic Attitude ◽  
Basic Concepts

Summary Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, in the broader sense of the term, has developed in various forms on both sides of the Atlantic since the 1920s. Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, in the narrower sense of the term, came into being in the second half of the 1970s in German-speaking countries. In Austria, it is a state-approved, independent scientific psychotherapy method since 1995, and an integrative psychotherapeutic approach based on the Gestalt theory of the Berlin School. With reference to this comprehensive, consistent, scientific theory, this article presents the basic concepts of therapeutic practice in the field of Gestalt psychotherapy. Starting from the overarching whole to the parts, the paper first examines the concept of therapeutic relationship and therapeutic attitude, and then describes the basic principles of the practical design of the therapeutic process.

Integral Engagement: Christian Constructivism and the Social Sciences

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-457
Author(s):  
Donald Guthrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Human Condition

This article explores how Christian constructivism can guide educators who are Christians toward an integral engagement with the social sciences that is both critically reflective and humbly teachable. Such an engagement requires a recognition that all image-bearing human beings may contribute insights about the human condition, responsible stewardship of knowledge with the mind of Christ, and approaching the social sciences with gospel-directed critical realism that is neither fearful nor uncritically accepting of social science perspectives.

Metaphor, Embodied Realism, and Sacramental Truth

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-57
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Shaver
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Prototype Theory ◽  
Conceptual Blending ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Material World ◽  
Embodied Realism ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Objective Observer ◽  
Independent Reality

This chapter and the next provide an introduction to the field of cognitive linguistics. This chapter focuses on core concepts including conceptual metaphor, metonymy, polysemy, and prototype theory (conceptual blending is explored in Chapter 3). Based on this overview, the author argues that language “means” not through referential correspondence to objective, observer-independent reality but by prompting for embodied simulation on the part of hearers and readers. Language, then, is true insofar as these simulations are apt to reality as experienced by embodied human beings. The chapter proposes that this epistemological perspective of “embodied realism” is congruent with the critical realism endorsed by many recent theologians and with a sacramental worldview in which the material world can be the arena for God’s self-communication.

scholarly journals “NEXT TO GENIOUS”: G. FLAUBERT IN M.M. BAKHTIN’S THINKING

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Vitaliy Makhlin
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
World View ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Artistic Vision ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Methodological Difficulties

The article analyzes Bakhtin’s 1944 notes on Flaubert. Under discussion is, first, some general background of Bakhtin’s philosophical and scientific methodology as expressed in the notes, secondly, the notes themselves. Bakhtin’s views on Flaubert and the novel of the 19th century are re-presented in connection with the Russian thinker’s theories of the “grotesque realism” and “novelization”as opposed to the “ideological culture of the new times”. The article discusses some principal methodological difficulties of Bakhtinian approach to literary texts as expressed in his notes on Flaubert. In contrast to most philosophical approaches to literature, Bakhtin always treats any text, in his own expression, “in the liminal spheres” of different disciplines, that is, as both a philosopher and literary critic, a theorist and a historian of literature and culture. In these notes this specificity of the Bakhtinian methodology is expressed drastically, but in principal it is quite typical to his thinking “on the borders”. In the subsequent parts of the article Bakhtin’s approach to Flaubert’s “realism” is commented on, from the point of view of those elements of his artistic vision and his world view, which, according to Bakhtin, are not congruous with the concept of the so-called “critical realism”. These elements, Bakhtin implies, belong not so much to the classical novel of the 19th century, but, rather, to what he calls “grotesque realism” before the new times and in the 20th century. These elements are: mutual reversal of “short” and “long” (or “great” time in the images of the day, Flaubert’s artistic opposition to the “straightforwardness” of the idea of “progress” typical for the European Enlightenment and the modernity at large., the artist’s interest in the “elemental life” of human beings and animals. These and some other elements characteristic of Flaubert’s art and ideology, Bakhtin treats as if from within “creative consciousness” of the author.

scholarly journals Η θεραπευτική σχέση στην υπαρξιακή-ανθρωπιστική προσέγγιση

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Evgenia T. Georganda
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Relationship ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Humanistic Approach ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Relationship ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

This article intends to highlight the importance of the psychotherapeutic relationship and the way with which it is viewed by the Existential-Humanistic approach to psychotherapy and counseling. The introduction includes a brief overview of the various existential approaches and the common way with which they all view therapy. The article continues by relating the basic premises of the Existential-Humanistic approach as well as its understanding of human beings and of the process of psychotherapy. Furthermore, the factors that contribute to the establishment of the psychotherapeutic relationship are being analyzed. The Existential-Humanistic approach to psychotherapy gives emphasis to the value of a true dialogue between two human beings who are there serving the interests of the one. In order for the therapeutic relationship to be effective there needs to be a clear framework that helps the members feel safe. In this “sanctuary” the two individuals have an “I-Thou” encounter. The “presence” of both parties serves as the catalyst for change through this mutual and honest way of relating.

The Sociology of the Future and the Future of Sociology

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendell Bell
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Policy Science ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Self ◽  
Theory Of Knowledge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Consequences

Drawing on futures studies for possible future directions of Sociology, I make eight proposals designed to enhance Sociology as an action and policy science: (1) Replace postmodern beliefs with critical realism as a theory of knowledge, thereby avoiding the self-defeating consequences of extreme subjectivism and relativism. (2) Since sound decision making invites knowing the probable future consequences of contemplated actions, give more attention to prediction and the study of self-altering prophecies. (3) Bring moral discourse back into Sociology— explicitly, rigorously, critically, and objectively—focusing on achieving freedom and well-being for human beings. Think (4) globally and (5) holistically, even when working locally. (6) Take the meaning of time seriously and explore the real, though sometimes hidden, alternative present possibilities for the not-yet-evidential future. (7) View people as active agents who strive to create the futures that they want. And (8) in defining society, emphasize expectation, choice, and decision as people, through historical actions, construct society by attempting to transform their images of desirable futures into social realities.

Re-imagining Embodiment: Prostheses, Supplements and Boundaries

Somatechnics ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margrit Shildrick
Keyword(s):  
Organ Transplantation ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
The Body ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
Material Base ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Embodied Self

The question of what is at stake in the notion of the corporeal integrity of human beings is one that contemporary somatechnics must increasingly face. The reassuring image of the Cartesian body as the unified, unchanging material base of continuing existence has been radically contested not simply by postconventional modes of theoretical enquiry, but more pragmatically and disturbingly by contemporary bioscientific developments. In one influential response, the explanatory model offered by phenomenology has begun to engage with the affective significance of prostheses, whether conventionally external as with ‘replacements’ for missing limbs, or internal as with donated organs. In uncovering the inherent plasticity of the body and its multiple possibilities of intercorporeality, in incorporating both organic and inorganic non-self matter, such modes of corporeal transformation can comprehensively undo the conventional limits of the embodied self. Calling on my own substantive research into the use of prostheses in the arena of physical disabilities and more specifically in organ transplantation, I offer a rethinking of the problematic through a reading of both Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze. In their respective work, the infinitely deferred possibility, and the dis-organisation, of bodily integrity suggest a celebratory re-imaging of the multiple possibilities of corporeal extensiveness.

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