Spiaking Singlish: The politics of ludic English in Singapore

This article is a case study on how Singaporean intellectuals articulate resistant language ideologies by enregistering the local vernacular, Singlish. The case in point is Gwee Li Sui's 2018 companion Spiaking Singlish, lauded as the first book to be written in Singlish about Singlish. It is argued that in tactically leveraging Singlish in a folk-lexicographical project, Gwee takes the vernacular to the third indexical order; and in so doing, he performs a ludic and extreme form of Singlish through which an everyday tongue turns into a fetish object. Contextualising Gwee's polemics within his tension with the language establishment in Singapore, the article highlights the ethical dilemma implicit in the celebration of languages speaking to an egalitarian ethos, suggesting that in enunciating a vernacular on the order of reflexive performance, intellectuals may inadvertently fashion it into a more elitist language than that which is spoken on the streets. (Singlish, Singapore, enregisterment, performativity, indexicality)

On narcissist leadership and authenticity: Moving towards an ecological understanding of the self

Neoliberalism promotes the self as an enterprise. The entrepreneuring self originates from a western concept of autonomic individualism, which in its extreme form, gives rise to narcissist leadership in neoliberal times. Narcissist leaders are efficient in achieving neoliberal indicators and outcomes for personal gain. This leadership style is detrimental to the public good and democracy. Critiques of narcissist leadership could benefit from using an alternative ontological perspective: a Confucian notion of the self as an ecological being.

Colloquium 5 Anger and Our Humanity: Transhumanists Stoke the Flames of an Ancient Conflict

This paper presents Stoicism as, in broad historical terms, the point of origin in Western thought of an extreme form of rational essentialism that persists today in the debate over human bioenhancement. Advocates of “radical” enhancement (or transhumanists) would have us codify extreme rational essentialism through manipulation of genes and the brain to maximize rational ability and eliminate the capacity for emotions deemed unsalutary. They, like Stoics, see anger as especially dangerous. The ancient dispute between Stoics and Aristotle over the nature and permissibility of anger has contemporary analogues. I argue that, on the merits, this controversy should, finally, be put to rest in Aristotle’s favor. Beyond its philosophical assets, Aristotle’s perspective meshes well with “appraisal theory” of emotion in psychology and corresponding discoveries in neuroscience. What’s more, consideration of the ongoing struggle to achieve full racial equality in the United States supports the view that anger at this ongoing gap between λόγος and ἔργον is legitimate, and has a constructive role to play in furthering liberal democracy. As we are well positioned to retire the Stoics’ legacy regarding anger, all the more should we eschew transhumanists’ proposal to implement their position biologically, at which point debate over the nature and worth of anger would be permanently moot.

Male opportunistic mating increases with intensity of female sexual cannibalism in three web-building spiders

Sexual conflict is common in animals, and female sexual cannibalism represents an extreme form of sexual conflict. Males in many species have evolved a variety of strategies to circumvent or decrease the risk of female sexual cannibalism. Opportunistic mating, by which a male mates with a female when she is disturbed or when she is feeding or undertaking moulting, is one of such kinds of strategies, and widely occurs in many animals, especially in spiders. However, whether the occurrence of male opportunistic mating depends on the intensity of female sexual cannibalism remains largely unexplored. We predicted a positive correlation between them. In this study, we tested this prediction by performing a series of mating trials in the laboratory using three species of web-building spiders with different intensities of female sexual cannibalism: Nephila pilipes, Nephilengys malabarensis, and Parasteatoda tepidariorum. We found that the occurrence of male opportunistic mating was positively, though not statistically significantly, correlated with the intensity of female sexual cannibalism, thus supporting our hypothesis. All together, we provide evidence that male opportunistic mating may have evolved to respond to the selection pressure posed by female sexual cannibalism.

Instrumentalization as a Sin of Untruth

The reconstructions, analyses and discussions concerning various broadly understood instrumentalized objects available in the subject literature allow one to distinguish and identify at least two interrelated forms of instrumentalization – a weak and a strong form. The former consists of using a particular object for fulfilling an aim in its unspecific functions. Thus, it can be treated as opposite to the phenomenon of functional fixation. The essence of the latter is a change in the position of the instrumentalized object, both in the ontological and axiological order – one which is a degrading change. It is this form of instrumentalization which allows the possibility of its reinterpretation in the categories of a sin of untruth. Such reinterpretation makes use of the multitude of forms of truth and their interrelationships, as well as of the distinction between a “great and small truth.” Thus, the heuristic value of the rhetoric of sin used here enables one to emphasise some important factual aspects. Firstly, referring to many possible dimensions in which instrumentalization can be subjected to evaluation, sin will be treated here metaphorically (due to taking into account all dimensions together) and literally (in order to highlight in consequence its moral, conscious and intended character). Secondly, this rhetoric can reflect the complex structure of instrumentalization, expressed in the categories of a sin committed “in thought, word, deed and omission,” of a light or heavy nature, with violation carried out on the nature of the instrumentalized object as its extreme form. Thirdly, rhetoric allows one to understand the perpetrator of instrumentalization’s activation of disguising, justifying or even absolving his activities. Fourthly, this results in seeking out the psychological mechanism of “being led into temptation.” Its complex character can be clearly seen in many cases, especially in the case of political instrumentalization of religion, where, on the one hand, the profanation of religion takes place, while on the other, the legitimisation, ennoblement or even sacralisation of politics occurs.

Psychische Verletzungen durch organisationale Veränderungen – ein Gestalt-Coaching-Ansatz

ZusammenfassungKränkungserleben durch organisationale Veränderungen hat oft tiefe Auswirkungen auf das Selbstvertrauen. Eine mögliche Hypothese besteht darin, dass in Organisationen Entscheidungen für Individuen oft irrational und willkürlich erscheinen. Führungskräfte reagieren in dieser Situation oft mit Kontaktabbruch, was als extreme Form der Kontaktregulation angesehen werden kann. Coaching mit gekränkten und frustrierten Führungskräften stellt eine Herausforderung dar: Für den Klienten kann es ein sehr emotionaler und tiefgreifender und für den Coach ein anspruchsvoller und langwieriger Prozess werden, bis sich Erfolge einstellen. In diesem Artikel wird ein Gestalt-Ansatz für den Umgang mit gekränkten Klienten vorgeschlagen, der sich am Kontaktzyklus aus der Gestalttherapie orientiert.

Conscious and Unconscious Phantasy and the Phenomenology of Dreams

My goal is threefold. First, building on the basis of Husserl’s phenomenology of the imagination, I will argue that phantasy is a specific type of intentional experience, which intends its objects as neutralized presentifications (neutralisierte Vergegenwärtigungen). Second, I will turn to dreams and argue that non-lucid dreams are unconscious phantasies, which cannot be conceived in the above-mentioned way. This realization will bring us to the third task. When recognized as the most extreme form of unconscious phantasy, dreams compel us to raise anew the fundamental question: what is the nature of phantasy experience? According to the perspective I will here develop, phantasy is a specific field of experience that lies between two extremes: the fully translucent mode of the as if consciousness and the thoroughly opaque mode of absorption (Versunkenheit). Most of our phantasies, both conscious and unconscious, voluntary and involuntary, are lived somewhere between these two extremes.

“I STARTED THE DAY JUST CRYING FOR 2 HOURS STRAIGHT.” ECHO-LOCATING THE VULNERABLE SELF ON INSTAGRAM.

Building on previous online-ethnographic fieldwork on the #strokesurvivor-community on Instagram, this contribution dives deeper into practices of echo-locating (Markham 2020) the vulnerable self on Instagram. This paper aims to reconstruct practices of adapting to a new body, identity and self through communicating on Instagram from a symbolic-interactionist perspective. I build on Goffman’s concept of stigma, Charmaz’ studies on adapting to illness and impairment and use the lens of Markham’s (2020) concept of echo-locating the self through online connection, Based on close readings and interpretations of postings, including pictures, captions and comments, as well as interviews with active community members, two critical antipodes of sense- and self-making in the #strokesurvivor-community emerged: First, mourning the loss of the familiar body, self, and identity and related identity goals. Users seek permission to mourn and also validation for their grief through their postings and comments. Second, and probably oppositional, perseverance, or in its extreme form, toxic positivity - this concept refers to a (more or less forced) attitude of optimism while ignoring valid reasons to actually not be positive, a mindset that seems to be embedded in a “contemporary cult of happiness” (Wright 2014) and cruel optimism (Berlant 2010). In the #strokesurvivor-community, a positive mindset and belief in the possibility of regaining physical and mental functions is a recurring theme and strong imperative. The contribution focuses on the reconstruction of patterns and practices of mourning and perseverance and their relevance to the echo-location of the vulnerable self.

The Banishment of Death

Leibniz upholds immortalism in its extreme form. Nothing ever really dies, for animals (and not only their souls) are indestructible except by God’s power. Eighteenth-century philosophers described Leibniz’s doctrine as exilium mortis or “the banishment of death”, which most of them rejected as an implausible, ridiculous, or even scandalous notion. In order to understand this negative reaction, this chapter reconstructs the German debate among Leibniz’s contemporaries and immediate posterity on such issues as: Is the banishment of death a novelty or just an updated version of some traditional belief? How can the living body preserve its own identity through the dramatic transformations caused by death? On the other hand, the general hostility that surrounded the banishment-of-death doctrine suggests that the denial of natural mortality was actually perceived as a threat to Christian dogma – which challenges the naive assumption that immortalist claims are mere expression of a philosopher’s pious concerns.