scholarly journals Personal Ideals as Metaphors

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICK RIGGLE
Keyword(s):  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Philosophical Question ◽  
Personal Ideal ◽  
Personal Ideals ◽  
David Velleman ◽  
Literary Coherence

ABSTRACT:What is it to have and act on a personal ideal? Someone who aspires to be a philosopher might imaginatively think ‘I am a philosopher’ by way of motivating herself to think hard about a philosophical question. But doing so seems to require her to act on an inaccurate self-description, given that she is not yet what she regards herself as being. J. David Velleman develops the thought that action-by-ideal involves a kind of fictional self-conception. My aim is to expand our thinking about personal ideals by developing another way of understanding them. On this view action-by-ideal involves a kind of metaphorical self-conception. I investigate some salient differences between these views with the aim of understanding the different perspectives they take on the rationality of action-by-ideal. Where the fiction view runs into problems of literary coherence, the metaphor view exploits the richness of poetic invention. But action-by-ideal is a complex phenomenon about which there may be no tidy story to be told. This paper is an attempt to clarify and understand more of this messy terrain.

Liberal Neutrality

Dialogue ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 711-719
Author(s):  
Lawrence Haworth
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Moral Decision ◽  
Single Source ◽  
Moral Decision Making ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Liberal Neutrality ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
Moral Person ◽  
Personal Ideal

In Patterns of Moral Complexity, Charles Larmore describes three related ways in which moral and political theory are more complex than is often allowed. He objects to three parallel simplifications: that moral decision making largely consists in the application of rules to particular situations; that the ideals by which we are guided in our personal (private, social) lives should also do service as political ideals, a simplification which he calls “expressivism”; and that there is but a single source of moral value (that we must be either consequentialists, or deontologists, or endorse the “principle of partiality”). Against these simplifications he argues in a sort of Aristotelian way for (1) the centrality of judgment in moral reasoning; (2) for the liberal principle that the state should not strive to express our highest personal ideal; and (3) for the, I suppose eclectic, view that partiality, deontological reasons, and consequentialist reasons all have a place in moral reasoning and that therefore the moral person may well be caught in conflicts that present him or her with tragic choices. These are the three “patterns of moral complexity” that the title of the book refers to.

scholarly journals The Same Fertility Ideals as in the Country of Origin? A Study of the Personal Ideal Family Size among Immigrant Women in Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Mussino ◽  
Livia Elisa Ortensi
Keyword(s):  
Family Size ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Destination Country ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Ideal Family Size ◽  
Ideal Family ◽  
Personal Ideal ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Ideal

The role of the personal ideal family size for international migrants has rarely been studied in the current debate on fertility and migration in the European context. It is not known to which extent the reduction of fertility observed among immigrants who settle in a country where fertility is lower than in their country of origin is the result of a change in fertility norms among those immigrants. The study of migrants’ ideals family size has the potential to shed light on fertility norms without the interference of economic conditions and migration-related disruptive phenomena. Due to the complexity of its migration context, Italy is an interesting destination country for studying changes in migrants’ ideal family sizes. This paper uses data from the survey of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) on immigrant families conducted in 2011-12. We compare the personal ideal family size of women of reproductive age with the prevalent norm in their country of origin, applying a multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results show that the country of origin has an important role in the determination of immigrants’ ideal family sizes. Women from countries where large families are the ideal are more likely to show a lower personal ideal family size compared to their non-migrant co-nationals, while women from countries where two children are considered ideal mostly share the same norm. The occurrence of fertility preferences expressed in a non-numeric form (e.g. “Up to God”) changes between women with different countries of origin. This study confirms that conformity with the ideal of the country of origin is more likely among women who migrated as adults. At the same time, the number of years spent in the destination country is not significantly associated with a shift away from the norms prevalent in the country of origin. Finally, female empowerment and gender equity show their effects mainly on the reduction of non-numeric responses. *             This article belongs to a special issue on migrant fertility.

‘The Poor Man's Son’ and the Corruption of Our Moral Sentiments: Commerce, Virtue and Happiness in Adam Smith

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Hill
Keyword(s):  
Adam Smith ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Moral Character ◽  
Moral Sentiments ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Modern Capitalism ◽  
Personal Ideal ◽  
Commercial World ◽  
Theory Of Moral Sentiments

In order to operate effectively, modern capitalism depends on agents who evince a rather morally undemanding type of moral character; one that is acquisitive, pecuniary, recognition-seeking and merely prudent. Adam Smith is considered to have been the key legitimiser of this archetype.In this paper I respond to the view that Smith is actually sceptical about the value of material acquisition and explore whether he really believed that the pursuit of tranquillity and virtue—especially beneficence—offers a superior route to happiness than the commercial world of materialist acquisition. I approach these issues partly by considering the roles of beneficence and sympathy in Smith's system and partly by analysing the story of ‘The Poor Man's Son’ related in Book IV of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. As he narrates this story, Smith seems highly critical of the unrelenting drive for worldly success. But what is the real moral of the story? Should people contain their ambition for recognition and material success and pursue tranquillity and virtue instead?I suggest that Smith's discussion in and around the story of ‘The Poor Man's Son’ points to a significant tension between his personal ideal of happiness and his observations and recommendations as a social scientist.

Social Morality and Individual Ideal

Philosophy ◽  
1961 ◽  
Vol 36 (136) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. F. Strawson
Keyword(s):  
Physical State ◽  
Social Morality ◽  
Social Existence ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
The Core ◽  
Personal Ideal ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Ways Of Life

Men make for themselves pictures of ideal forms of life. Such pictures are various and may be in sharp opposition to each other; and one and the same individual may be captivated by different and sharply conflicting pictures at different times. At one time it may seem to him that he should live—even that a man should live —in such-and-such a way; at another that the only truly satisfactory form of life is something totally different, incompatible with the first. In this way, his outlook may vary radically, not only at different periods of his life, but from day to day, even from one hour to the next. It is a function of so many variables: age, experiences, present environment, current reading, current physical state are some of them. As for the ways of life that may thus present themselves at different times as each uniquely satisfactory, there can be no doubt about their variety and opposition. The ideas of self-obliterating devotion to duty or to the service of others; of personal honour and magnanimity; of asceticism, contemplation, retreat; of action, dominance and power; of the cultivation of “an exquisite sense of the luxurious”; of simple human solidarity and co-operative endeavour; of a refined complexity of social existence; of a constantly maintained and renewed affinity with natural things—any of these ideas, and a great many others too, may form the core and substance of a personal ideal.

scholarly journals Body image, visual working memory and visual mental imagery

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Darling ◽  
Clare Uytman ◽  
Richard J Allen ◽  
Jelena Havelka ◽  
David G Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Global Precedence ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Personal Ideal

Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a highly prevalent feature amongst females in society, with the majority of individuals regarding themselves to be overweight compared to their personal ideal, and very few self-describing as underweight. To date, explanations of this dramatic pattern have centred on extrinsic social and media factors, or intrinsic factors connected to individuals’ knowledge and belief structures regarding eating and body shape, with little research examining links between BD and basic cognitive mechanisms. This paper reports a correlational study in which visual and executive cognitive processes that could potentially impact on BD were assessed. Visual memory span and self-rated visual imagery were found to be predictive of BD, alongside a measure of inhibition derived from the Stroop task. In contrast, spatial memory and global precedence were not related to BD. Results are interpreted with reference to the influential multi-component model of working memory.

scholarly journals Body image, visual working memory and visual mental imagery

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Darling ◽  
Clare Uytman ◽  
Richard J Allen ◽  
Jelena Havelka ◽  
David G Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Global Precedence ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Personal Ideal

Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a highly prevalent feature amongst females in society, with the majority of individuals regarding themselves to be overweight compared to their personal ideal, and very few self-describing as underweight. To date, explanations of this dramatic pattern have centred on extrinsic social and media factors, or intrinsic factors connected to individuals’ knowledge and belief structures regarding eating and body shape, with little research examining links between BD and basic cognitive mechanisms. This paper reports a correlational study in which visual and executive cognitive processes that could potentially impact on BD were assessed. Visual memory span and self-rated visual imagery were found to be predictive of BD, alongside a measure of inhibition derived from the Stroop task. In contrast, spatial memory and global precedence were not related to BD. Results are interpreted with reference to the influential multi-component model of working memory.

The psychology of a personal ideal?Structural consistency

1967 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
S. J. Daniel Patrick Foley
Keyword(s):  
Personal Ideal ◽  
Structural Consistency

The psychology of a personal ideal

1964 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Patrick Foley
Keyword(s):  
Personal Ideal

A Baseline ABM of Party Competition

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Laver ◽  
Ernest Sergenti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Rules ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Baseline Model ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Personal Ideal ◽  
Ideal Policy ◽  
Party Policy Positions ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter specifies the “baseline” agent-based model of dynamic multiparty competition, which derives from an article published by (Laver 2005). This assumes that each voter has in mind some personal ideal “package” of policy positions and supports the political party that offers the policy package closest to this. The dynamic system at the heart of the model is as follows: voters support their “closest” party in this sense; party leaders adapt the policy packages they offer in light of the revealed pattern of voter support; voters reconsider which party they support in light of the revealed pattern of party policy packages; and this process continues forever. This recursive model describes policy-based party competition as a complex system, and the baseline model specifies three decision rules that party leaders may deploy when they choose party policy positions in such a setting. These rules are Sticker (always keep the same position), Aggregator (move policy to the centroid of the ideal policy positions of your current supporters), and Hunter (if your last policy move increased your support, make another move in the same direction; or else change heading and move in a different direction).

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