Progressive Politics: Liberalism,Humanism, and Feminism in Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach

Abstract

A purely theoretical analysis of Martha Nussbaum’s basis of the capabilities approach in feminist (rather than more broadly liberal humanist) justice yields a philosophical project that may appear inconsistent, if not incoherent. However, I suggest in this paper that when the reader considers the project’s very concrete aims, there surfaces an intelligible reason for the apparent incongruities between her feminist and liberal commitments. Since even a capabilities approach rooted in feminist justice is itself radical and must win political support in order to be implemented, I suggest that Nussbaum’s basis of the approach in feminist justice can perhaps be understood as a canny attempt to win support for her project on politically popular grounds, using the rhetoric of sex and social justice that has already been embraced by current economic powers. Once arguments based on morally irrelevant differences between sexes are politically endorsed, it will perhaps be easier to argue for the directly parallel moral irrelevance of differences based on accident of birth into the underdeveloped world.     

Fame,Narcissism, and the Capacity for Intimacy: A Daughter’s Reflection

In a culture in which fame has come to be viewed as the pinnacle of human achievement, it is natural to assume that celebrity status must be deeply gratifying to the person who has achieved it—a source of exceptional and stable self-esteem. In this article, I draw on my experience of my father’s celebrity at the peak of his career as a source of insight into the reality of fame as a psychological phenomenon, highlighting the paradoxical relationship between the larger-than-life public image of the celebrity and the way in which that person actually experiences himself or herself and is experienced by intimate others. I suggest that the drive behind the achievement of fame is typically a feeling of deep personal inadequacy, and a desperate hope that public acclaim will ease this self-doubt. But, in truth, no amount of public admiration can promote genuine feelings of self-acceptance where early parental love has failed to do so. The article then explores why we humans, as a species, are deeply invested in the glorified images of our celebrities, ascribing them godlike qualities, and taking comfort in the illusion that they have achieved an enviable state of grace.     

Typification in Society and Social Science: The Continuing Relevance of Schutz’s Social Phenomenology

This paper examines Alfred Schutz’s insights on types and typification. Beginning with a brief overview of the history and meaning of typification in interpretive sociology, the paper further addresses both the ubiquity and the necessity of typification in social life and scientific method. Schutz’s contribution itself is lacking in empirical application and grounding, but examples are provided of ongoing empirical research which advances the understanding of types and typification. As is suggested by illustrations from scholarship in the social studies of social science, studies of social identity associated with membership categorization analysis, and constructionist social problems theory, typification can be found to be central to social research whether it is taken up as a largely unacknowledged resource or whether it is addressed by different names. The overview and illustrations suggest the continuing, widespread, and indeed foundational relevance of Schutz’s insights into types and typification.     

Development as Happiness: The Subjective Perception of Happiness and UNDP’s Analysis of Poverty, Wealth and Development

This paper examines to what extent the concept of happiness is complementary to the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) human development approach in the evaluation of poverty, wealth and development. The deconstruction of UNDP's discourse on and its measurement of these concepts show that its perspective is highly arbitrary. Poverty is exclusively defined as lack and state of ill-being, inferior to wealth regarded as a state of abundance and well-being. Development then becomes a teleological process trying to promote well-being through abundance. Yet, this external perspective of UNDP on well-being is questioned by the subjective perception of the individuals themselves. Happiness studies—which define happiness as the degree to which an individual judges the overall quality of his life-as-a-whole favorably—prove that higher levels of UNDP's development indicators are not necessarily better for subjective well-being. Despite methodological and conceptual problems, happiness studies discover that the individuals' perception of poverty, wealth and development can differ considerably from UNDP's perspective. Increased income, better objective health and higher levels of education do not automatically lead to greater happiness. Furthermore, additional dimensions essential for human happiness are detected by the research, yet not taken into account by UNDP. A country ranking comparison between the two approaches confirms the different visions of well-being. The integration of a happiness indicator in its analysis of poverty, wealth and development is thus indispensable for UNDP in order to correct its analytical and also practical approach to development.     

Women’s sex-toy parties: Technology, orgasm, and commodification

This article presents participant-observation research from five female-only sex-toy parties. We situate the sale of sex toys in the context of in-home marketing to women, the explosion of a sex industry, and the emergence of lifestyle and body politics. We explore the significance of sex toys for women as marketed in female-only contexts, paying particular attention to the similarities and differences with Tupperware’s marketing of plastic that promises happiness to women. We argue that sex-toy sales follow the exact patterns of Tupperware sales but, since the artifacts sold are for the bedroom rather than the kitchen, foster an even greater sense of intimacy between the women—which has both positve and negative consequences for thinking critically about the commodification of sexuality, bodies, and lifestyles in our capitalist culture. Vibrators and other sex toys constitute the technological route to a self-reflexive body project of female orgasm. We ask to what extent such a body project, achieved primarily through an individualistic, capitalistic consumption model, can offer a critique of normative discourses of heterosexual sex and identity. Is this new plastic purchased at parties liberatory or just another form of containment? In other words, how much Tupperware does a woman really need to buy, before she’s been bought?     

A Clinician’s Primer for Idiographic Research: Considerations and Recommendations

Theorists and clinicians have long noted the need for idiographic (i.e., individual-level) designs within clinical psychology. Results from idiographic work may provide a possible resolution of the therapist’s dilemma—the problem of treating an individual using information gathered via group-level research. Due to advances in data collection and time series methodology, there has been increasing interest in using idiographic designs to answer clinical questions. Although time series methods have been well-studied outside the field of clinical psychology, there is limited direction on how clinicians can use such models to inform their clinical practice. In this primer, we collate decades of published and word-of-mouth information on idiographic designs, measurement, and modeling. We aim to provide an initial guide on the theoretical and practical considerations that we urge interested clinicians to consider before conducting idiographic work of their own.     

Science, Ethics and War: A Pacifist’s Perspective

This article considers the ethical aspects of the question: should a scientist engage in war-related research, particularly use-inspired or applied research directed at the development of the means for the better waging of war? Because scientists are simultaneously professionals, citizens of a particular country, and human beings, they are subject to conflicting moral and practical demands. There are three major philosophical views concerning the morality of war that are relevant to this discussion: realism, just war theory and pacifism. In addition, the requirements of professional codes of ethics and common morality contribute to an ethical analysis of the involvement of scientists and engineers in war-related research and technology. Because modern total warfare, which is facilitated by the work of scientists and engineers, results in the inevitable killing of innocents, it follows that most, if not all, war-related research should be considered at least as morally suspect and probably as morally prohibited.     

‘Adequacy’ as a Goal in Social Research Practice: Classical Formulations and Contemporary Issues

Human Studies - This essay provides evidence to support a promising conceptual and potentially practical set of ideas at once both principled and effective found in the work of Max Weber and Alfred...     

Role as Norm,Role and Norm: Homer’s Hero,Hesiod’s Just City,and Plato’s Kallipolis

Role as Norm, Role and Norm: Homer’s Hero, Hesiod’s Just City, and Plato’s Kallipolis     

Colorado’s Fracking Debates: Citizen Science,Conflict and Collaboration

Technological advancements in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have spurred a controversial boom in oil and gas production. In Colorado, these debates take place directly in the suburban metro corridor, where local governments are turning to memorandums of understanding (MOU), negotiated directly with industry operators, to shape industry activity. We show that in Erie, the town that first pioneered this policy tool, these MOUs ostensibly welcome public participation in the planning and deliberation process but can unintentionally reinforce scientism-based governance. Citizen science challenged the local government’s deficit model of the public, but it also shored up scientific authority and triggered a government imaginary of anti-fracking activists as an unruly public. Residents countered this imaginary by electing officials committed to public engagement and transparency, which opened up debates to encompass quality of life issues that had been sidelined by the original focus on competing scientific evidence about pollution. While fracking-related citizen science does not appear to be directly responsible for the government turnover and its attendant shift in governance, we suggest it did enhance civic engagement related to general issues of fiscal responsibility, ethics and transparency that did play a role in the election.     

Perspective of Islamic Self: Rethinking Ibn al-Qayyim’s Three-Heart Model from the Scope of Dynamical Social Psychology

The present article proposes the perspective of Islamic self (PIS), which is guided by three core principles. First, the Islamic self is shaped by the God’s predicament: The life test. Second, the structure of the self and its spiritual virtues represent means to succeed the life test. Third, the complex dynamics of the self can be mathematically formalized into a parsimonious framework. Specifically, the PIS considers the self as a dynamical system characterized by the emergence of self-organized stable and unstable patterns taking the form of positive (“illuminating heart”) or negative (“darkened heart”) dynamics.     

God as Thou and Prayer as Dialogue: Martin Buber’s Tools for Reconciliation

??Prayer?? can be defined as ??the offering, in public worship or private devotion, of petition, confession, adoration, or thanksgiving to God; also the form of words in which such an offering is made?? (cf. Cohn-Sherbok 2010). In addition to this simple definition it could be said that there are different forms of prayer: some are vocal and articulate and others are only mental in nature; some prayers are communal and liturgical and other prayers are spontaneous or at least composed by the one saying the prayer (cf. Stump 1999). Accordingly, it is evident that there are manifold intricacies involved in any characterisation of ??prayer??. In this article my aims are twofold. First, I explore the implications of Martin Buber??s philosophy, particularly of his conception of God as Thou for our understanding of ??prayer??; second, I will argue that Buber??s understanding of ??prayer?? as dialogue serves as a way for the individual to seek reconciliation with itself, with others, and with God.     

Early Caregiver–Child Interaction and Children’s Development: Lessons from the St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Intervention Research Project

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - We review a series of interrelated studies on the development of children residing in institutions (i.e., orphanages) in the Russian Federation or...     

Children’s Influence on Their Parent’s Adult Development: Mothers’ and Fathers’ Receptivity to Children’s Requests for Change

This mixed-method study examined parents’ experiences of their children’s influence on parent’s continuing adult development. Mothers and fathers from 30 families were separately interviewed regarding two of their children who were between 8 and 14 years old. Parents reported on recent events when their younger and older child successfully requested that parents change their preferences, attitudes, and personal behaviors. Mothers reported more direct child influence than fathers, and both parents reported that they were more receptive to influence from their older children. Thematic analyses revealed that parents were generally comfortable with child influence and constructed their children as actors and agents. Parents attributed their receptivity to agentic qualities of children’s requests, goals for empowering children, and maintaining their mutual relationship. The findings provided insight into the transactional and relational nature of children’s influence and the direct and indirect impact of children on the adult development of parents.     

Parent’s Social Support for Children’s Outdoor Physical Activity: Do Weekdays and Weekends Matter?

In this study we examined the relationships among parental social supportive behaviors for children’s weekday and weekend outdoor physical activity (OPA). Thirty-nine girls and 29 boys 8 to 11 years wore pedometers for 7 days. Sixty-five mothers and 50 fathers responded to a social support questionnaire about OPA that was comprised of four dimensions: encouragement, playing with, use of activity as family recreation, and watch. After controlling for age and sport participation, regression analyses indicated that mothers’ use of activity as recreation was positively associated with girls’ weekday OPA. On the weekend, fathers’ play with son was positively related to OPA. The effectiveness of family-based activity interventions depends on when parents have opportunities to be present for their child’s activity and gender differences in the support provided.     

Sustainable Development as a Challenge for Undergraduate Students: The Module “Science Bears Responsibility” in the Leuphana Bachelor’s Programme

The Leuphana Semester at Leuphana University Lüneburg, together with the module “Science bears responsibility” demonstrate how innovative methods of teaching and learning can be combined with the topic of sustainable development and how new forms of university teaching can be introduced. With regard to module content, it has become apparent that, due to the complexity of the field of sustainability, a single discipline alone is unable to provide analyses and solutions. If teaching in higher education is to adequately deal with this complexity, then it is necessary to develop inter- and transdisciplinary approaches that go beyond a purely specialist orientation.     

Heinrich Hertz’s Neo-Kantian Philosophy of Science, and its Development by Harald Høffding

Summary  This article is an investigation of parallel themes in Heinrich Hertz’s philosophy science and Kant’s theory of schemata, symbols and regulative ideas. It is argued that Hertz’s “pictures” bears close similarities to Kantian “schemata”, that is, they are rules linking concepts to intuitions and provide them with their meaning. Kant’s distinction between symbols and schemata is discussed and related to Hertz’s three pictures of mechanics. It is argued that Hertz considered his own picture of mechanics (the “hidden mass” picture) as symbolic in a different way than the force and energy pictures. In the final part of the article it is described how Harald H?ffding soon after the publication of Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics developed a general theory of analogical reasoning, relying on the ideas of Hertz and Kant.     

Children’s Elementary School Social Experience and Executive Functions Development: Introduction to a Special Section

Children’s executive functions, encompassing inhibitory control, working memory and attention are vital for their self-regulation. With the transition to formal schooling, children need to learn to manage their emotions and behavior in a new and complex social environment that with age increases in the intensity of social interactions with peers and teachers. Stronger executive functions skills facilitate children’s social development. In addition, new experiences in the social environments of school also may influence executive function development. The focus of this special section is on this potential impact of elementary school social experiences with peers and teacher on the development of children’s executive functions. The collection of papers encompass various aspects of peer and teacher social environments, and cover broad as well as specific facets and measures of executive functions including neural responses. The collection of papers sample developmental periods that span preschool through mid-adolescence. In this introduction, we summarize and highlight the main findings of each of the papers, organized around social interactions with peers and interactions with teachers. We conclude our synopsis with implications for future research, and a specific focus on prevention and intervention.