Human Cloning in Film: Horror,Ambivalence, Hope

Abstract

Fictional filmic representations of human cloning have shifted in relation to the 1997 announcement of the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, and since therapeutic human cloning became a scientific practice in the early twentieth century. The operation and detail of these shifts can be seen through an analysis of the films The Island and Aeon Flux . These films provide a site for the examination of how these changes in human cloning from fiction to practice, and from horror to hope, have been represented and imagined, and how these distinctions have operated visually in fiction, and in relation to genre.     

On the Complexity and Wholeness of Human Beings: Husserlian Perspectives

Abstract

At the beginning of Being and Time, Heidegger rejects Husserl’s classical phenomenology on three grounds: he claims that Husserlian phenomenology is impaired by indeterminate concepts, by naïve personalism, and by obscurities in its account of individuation. The paper studies the validity of this early critique by explicating Husserl’s discourse on human persons as bodily-spiritual beings and by clarifying his account of the principles by which such beings can be individuated. The paper offers three types of considerations. After a summary of Heidegger’s early critique of Husserl, the second section of the paper distinguishes between two dimensions of Husserl’s discourse on human persons. It argues that Husserl does not put forward one analysis of the being of humans, but explicates two different accounts and then studies critically their mutual relations of dependency: on the one hand, the naturalistic account of human beings as layered beings and on the other hand the personalistic account of human beings as peculiar kinds of unified wholes in which the mental and the bodily are inextricably intertwined. The third section of the paper clarifies Husserl’s theory of individuation and its consequences for our discourse on human persons. Finally, the fourth section explicates the conceptual means by which Husserl develops his account of human beings as persons. The paper ends in drawing some conclusions for contemporary philosophical anthropology.     

Discourse analysis: Rich pickings for counsellors and therapists

Aim: It is only relatively recently that discourse analysis has begun to rise to prominence in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy. This paper briefly explains ways of understanding discourse analysis, discussing what the approach can offer counselling research and practice. Approach: An initial categorisation of recent discourse analysis studies is offered, to demonstrate diverse ways in which this type of research can address issues relevant to counselling practice. The five categories proposed range from the examination of language use in therapy to analyses that focus on the social structures, meanings and power relations related to therapy. Implications: The paper demonstrates that through the critical analysis of counselling sessions, research interviews, written texts and other materials, discourse analysis can provide insight into ways in which counselling operates as a social practice, and so help counsellors to contextualise their work within broader social structures and processes.     

La photo-expression : un outil pour accompagner le patient en éducation thérapeutique et pour évaluer son évolution

IntroductionIn therapeutic patient education (TPE), photoexpression is often used by psychologists in order to work on patients’ perceptions and experiences, especially in group workshops.AimThe aim of this study was to explore diabetic patients’ discourse during two photoexpression group workshops at the beginning and the end of a TPE program.MethodSeventeen patients took part in this study. A lexicometric analysis was performed on their discourse during the two group workshops (Alceste® software).ResultsFor the first workshop, the analysis yielded two classes: the place of diabete in daily life as well as psychic and social functioning. For the second workshop, the analysis also yielded two classes: self-management and adjustement, as well as program experience and return back home.ConclusionThe results show an increase in adaptation skills and particularly in self-efficacy, motivation, positive emotions, perhaps illness acceptance. Photoexpression shows to be a very interesting tool in TPE to accompagny patients but also evaluate their discourse evolution during a TPE program.     

“My first choice is to work out at work; then i don't feel bad about my kids”: A discursive psychological analysis of motherhood and physical activity participation

ObjectivesThe determinants of physical activity participation for mothers of young children are only beginning to be understood. The aim with this study was to further this understanding by exploring motherhood as a socially and culturally constructed identity linked to physical activity participation.DesignDiscursive psychology was used to theorize mother identities as subject positions constructed within discourse(s), and explore the implications for one woman's physical activity participation, through an in-depth case study approach (see Yin, 2009).MethodA newly active 35 year old woman with two young children, husband and activity partner, were interviewed over 16 weeks. Critical discourse analysis (see Wetherell, 1998) of nine interviews was used to explore the constructive nature of language and the effects by identifying the discourses within which mother identities were constructed.ResultsTwo primary discourses were identified: a patriarchal discourse of the family and a liberal feminist discourse. Participants drew upon these discourses to position the woman's identity as a good mother and/or super mother. Based on the behavioural practices linked to discourses and the subject positions/identities (e.g., good mothers place children's needs over their own), a situation came into being which made physical activity participation difficult.ConclusionsThis study contributes towards understanding motherhood and physical activity participation by attending to social and cultural discourses. By constructing mother identities within a patriarchal discourse of the family and a liberal feminist discourse, physical activity barriers of time, fatigue and the family functioned in nuanced ways, and were not easily surmounted.     

Conceptually situating the harm of rape: an analysis of Objectification

Abstract

In this paper, I aim to show that part of the harm of male on female rape in patriarchal societies is explained by seeing rape as making good on the threat of sexual objectification. I argue that what takes place in an encounter of sexual objectification can be thought of as establishing an implicit threat which permeates the lived experience of being a woman under patriarchy because of the prevalence, meaning and place of sexual objectification in hegemonic patriarchal ideology. The act of rape makes good on this threat.     

Making snacking less sinful: (Counter-)moralising obesity in the public discourse differentially affects food choices of individuals with high and low perceived body mass

Objective: As public discourse surrounding obesity highlights the societal costs of obesity and individual’s own responsibility for their weight, being overweight is often framed as immoral. Such ‘moralizing’ messages about being overweight may be a psychological threat for those with high body mass. Attempting to counter-moralise the public discourse (i.e. actively arguing that there is nothing ‘immoral’ about being overweight) may relieve this threat, inducing people, especially those with higher (perceived) weight, to engage in healthier behaviours.

Method: Two experiments were performed among Dutch and US participants. (Counter-)moralisation was manipulated. Body mass and weight-related self-perceptions were measured. The dependent variable was healthy vs. unhealthy snack choice.

Results: (Counter-)moralisation and (perceived) overweight jointly predicted snack choice: counter-moralising messages induced healthy snacking, but only among those who regarded themselves to have a high body mass.

Conclusions: The effects of moralising vs. counter-moralising obesity depended on one’s (perceived) overweight. This suggests that, for people with relatively high weight, the current moralising public discourse on obesity works in counterproductive ways. Campaigns that ‘counter-moralize’ obesity (i.e. that refute moralising messages) are more productive, although they should be tailored to those who see themselves as being overweight.     

Psychiatry in the labyrinth: Deconstructing deviancy

Abstract

Deviancy is a key concept in psychiatry and other therapeutic disciplines, because it dramatizes the way in which they depend on the establishment of norms, in order to justify their theory and practice. The writings of Derrida as well as Goethe provide a different view: that “deviation” from a “norm” can be fundamentally important to the well‐being of the norm. Thus deviancy can be viewed not as something to be “corrected” but rather as a creative possibility to be encouraged and shaped in productive ways. As a case of “deviancy” we have selected the writings of John Perceval, whose Narrative provides a critique of the mental‐health establishment of his day, particularly the asylum, and offers an alternative to 19th‐century views of “lunacy.” We see his “schizophrenic” commentary on his “psychosis” and its treatment as analogous to the deconstructive, “schizophrenic” discourse of postmodernity which is similarly critical of the reigning, modernist psychiatric order.     

Beyond the Four Loves

Abstract

By looking at C.S. Lewis's book The Four Loves through the critical lens of the work of Julia Kristeva, this paper considers how love can be defined and delimited through language and discourse, and how such limitations may be broken down. It examines how Lewis constructs a framework around which various loves are valorized, and how this leads to sexuality and physicality being pushed to the margins—leaving the ‘higher’ loves, such as friendship, safe and manageable. Kristeva's work is used to highlight the way in which Lewis treats the physical and the sexual as ‘abject’, and to explore some of the broader implications that this has in respect of language, culture and gender. Her understanding of love, with its roots in the psychoanalytic tradition, challenges Lewis by insisting on the connection between love, language and the body—and therefore suggests ways in which discourses about love, such as those offered by Lewis, can be disrupted and challenged, enabling us to move beyond The Four Loves towards a multiplicity of loves.     

Nietzsche and the Empirical: through the eyes of the term ‘Empfindung’

Abstract

This paper examines Nietzsche’s attitude to the empirical by concentrating on his concept of Empfindung (sensation, perception, feeling). In Section 1, five distinctive features of his use of ‘Empfmdung’ are described in relation to the philosophical tradition and some of his sources in 19^th Century physiology. All five features, I argue, point to Nietzsche’s philosophical concern to stake out the limits of ‘Empfmdung’ as an aspect of human finitude. In Section 2, my attention turns from the term ‘Empfmdung’ to Nietzsche’s actual argumentation. The bewildering variety of perspectives and arguments concerning ‘Empfmdung’ in his writings are broken down into three basic types of argument or discourse with radically different, incompatible presuppositions: a critical, epistemological discourse serving anti-metaphysical ends; a quasi-scientific discourse serving critical-epistemological ends; and a quasi-ontological discourse of life that looks to explain the results of Nietzsche’s critical epistemology. The value of this ‘contradictory’ practice, I contend, is twofold: Nietzsche makes epistemology fruitful for the philosophical problem of life; at the same time he offers a performative critique of epistemology by the manner in which he exceeds it.     

Psychologisation and Critique in Modern‐day Western Culture

The paper reflects on the advancement of the psychologisation of Western society through the notion of «the therapeutic ethos» and discusses political and moral implications of its “triumph”. It is argued that the attempt to exorcise a “therapeutic Zeitgeist” showcases the problems of critique of contemporary culture. The Zeitgeist reveals itself as much in the tools of critique as the objective of critique. I therefore conclude that popular critical methods like discourse analysis have itself become a hegemonic discourse, which rarely equals its philosophical originator Michel Foucault's imaginative radical ambition.     

Normal/Deserving Citizens and the Transabled Other: A Sociological Analysis of Online Commenters Reactions to Transability

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the authors explore the ways that online commenters on the National Post’s website articulate their opinions, understandings, and feelings about a news story on the topic of transability. By conducting a content analysis of the online data, the authors examine how the commenters demonstrate that dominant forms of power, knowledge, and discourse permeate common-sense understandings of the healthy, normal citizen through their acting incredulous towards, pathologizing, shaming, and sometimes reacting violently towards transabled people.     

Toward a Needs-Based Conception of Intersubjectivity

Abstract

Lawrence Hamilton's The Political Philosophy of Needs is an attempt to suggest an alternative to the current tendency of political theorists towards discussing politics in an overly abstract and theoretical manner, as well as their propensity to introduce an idealised-consensual picture political discourse. As part of such a project, the book includes a critique of Habermas and, more directly, of Habermasian advocates of Discursive Ethics. In one of its more provocative moments, the book offers an analysis of the opaqueness of the category of 'Civil Society'. Its conclusion is that political theorists would be better off to abandon this category altogether. Hamilton, however, shares with Habermas and the proponents of Discursive Ethics a view of politics at the centre of which is an ‘intersubjective’ conception of human nature. On this matter, and contrary to the Habermasian schema, the book introduces what can be termed as a 'needs-based conception of intersubjectivity'. This article suggests a critical examination of this novel conception of intersubjectivity, along with its strengths and weakness. More concretely, the paper seeks to examine: a. the extent to which 'needs-based intersubjectivity' suggests a complete departure from an idealised-consensual picture of political discourse.

b. the relations between 'needs-based intersubjectivity' and political authority.

     

Witnessing stories: Definitional Ceremonies in Narrative Therapy with adults who stutter

BackgroundNarrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990) was developed as an approach to counselling, as a response to the power relations that influence people's lives. Its use with people who stutter has been documented. A basic tenet of narrative therapy is that the dominant problem-saturated narrative is challenged by externalizing the problem, in due course facilitating development of an alternative narrative. Within this process, the definitional ceremony involving outsider witnesses is a key procedure used to influence change.AimsThis paper describes definitional ceremonies, and their application within a narrative approach to therapy for stuttering. The analysis of a specific definitional ceremony is presented, leading to an exploration of identity as a public and social achievement.MethodsA definitional ceremony involving a woman who stutters and family members was recorded and analysed using two methods: interpretative phenomenological analysis and Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological analysis. Details of the clinical application of definitional ceremonies with this client are described.Results and conclusionsResults from both methods of analysis were found to be similar. Notable results include the fact that the stuttering per se was not presented as the problem; rather, the impact of stuttering, especially the experience of bullying, was a dominant theme. This paper shows how definitional ceremonies can open opportunities for clients to present themselves in a preferred way, forming the basis for a new story and revised identity. Emerging themes can be identified for reflection and discussion with the client for therapeutic benefit.Educational objectives: (1) to describe and explain to readers the process of narrative therapy, with special attention to the use of definitional ceremonies; (2) to provide detail regarding the clinical processes involved with a specific definitional ceremony with one client; (3) to have the reader appreciate the specific importance of involving outsider witnesses in the therapy process; (4) to discuss the outcomes of the use of this particular definitional ceremony.     

Touching the Taboo in Sacred Space: Reading Sherley Anne Williams's Dessa Rose as a ‘Catalyst for a Sexual Discourse of Resistance’ in the Black Church

Abstract

Sex-talk is often differentiated or eradicated from God-talk within the Black church in America; as a result, many pertinent issues like androcentrism, heterosexism, homophobia, and violence against women continue to flourish because of the lack of dialogue regarding sexuality. Because of this womanist theologians like Kelly Brown Douglas have convincingly argued that people of African descent must engage in a ‘sexual discourse of resistance’, particularly the Black church in America, if true wholeness is to be achieved. This paper will explore themes present with Sherley Anne Williams's novel, Dessa Rose, which may be useful as catalysts for such a discourse.     

C. I. Lewis,Kant, and the reflective method of philosophy

ABSTRACT

If it seems unquestionable that C. I. Lewis is a Kantian in important respects, it is more difficult to determine what, if anything, is original about his Kantianism. For it might be argued that Lewis’ Kantianism simply reflects an approach to the a priori which was very common in the first half of the twentieth century, namely, the effort to make the a priori relative. In this paper, I will argue that Lewis’ Kantianism does present original features. The latter can be detected by focusing on Lewis’ account of the method of philosophy in the first chapter of Mind and the World Order. In that context, Lewis argues that the method of philosophy should be reflective and critical. It will be my contention that this understanding of philosophy involves a therapeutic perspective, which bears important resemblances to Kant’s account of transcendental reflection in the Amphiboly of the Critique of Pure Reason. I will illustrate how this therapeutic application of reflection works in Lewis’ metaphysics. In this context, reflection can correct errors of reasoning that occur when we are operating within a particular conceptual scheme and use the criteria of reality that are appropriate in another.     

Mother runners in the blogosphere: A discursive psychological analysis of online recreational athlete identities

ObjectivesQualitative research on physically active mothers has shown that recreational sport may allow women to resist good mother ideals that often constrain exercise. The purpose of this study was to extend this understanding in a socio-cultural context by examining how recreational athlete mother identities were constructed within one form of new media - blogging.DesignA qualitative approach grounded in discursive psychology was used to theorize athlete mother identities as subject positions constructed within particular discourses circulated within a blog.MethodCritical discourse analysis of 30 stories and 177 reader comments from the North American online running community Another Mother Runner, was conducted. Visual data analysis of 102 images accompanying stories also contextualized the textual meanings of discourses and subject positions.ResultsTwo primary discourses were identified: discourse of transformation and empowerment and a discourse of disruption and resolution. Subject positions constructed within these two intersecting discourses were role mother/advocate and resilient mother runner.ConclusionsThis study extends discursive psychology literature in sport and exercise psychology as well as media work on athlete mother identities within sport psychology into the realm of the internet and identity construction.     

Ce que la crise sanitaire révèle du rapport à l’espace : le cas de la fermeture de la frontière franco-allemande en Alsace

IntroductionThe COVID-19 crisis of 2020 has led authorities to re-establish measures at the French-German border. The media refer to a “closure” of the border. This constitutes a rapid and brutal event in terms of the cross-border practices and mobility of local inhabitants.ObjectiveBy considering the closure period as a socio-spatial crisis, we question, first, the thematic structure of media discourse during the period of border closure, and second, the psychological continuity of the crisis discourse, by comparing it with pre-crisis interviews.MethodA thematic analysis of the discourse is done on a corpus of 407 local press articles, and on 12 semi-structured interviews with young, local inhabitants.ResultsThe analysis identified five themes which support the discursive media structure, and which organize and enable the debate. The international comparison and the use of historical and memorial content in the discourse enable actors to take a position on the border closure. The analysis of the links with the interviews shows that the relationship to the border during the crisis is structured on representational dimensions already present in the pre-crisis discourse of the inhabitants.ConclusionResults show a psychological continuity in pre- and post-crisis discourse: the media discourse reveals preexisting representations of the border, which act as generators of opinions on its closure. Additionally, we discuss the results by focusing on the place of identity-based feelings in the representational relationship to the border: this phenomenon is analysed here on a group and positional level.