Universal Grammar as a Theory of Notation

What is common to all languages is notation, so Universal Grammar can be understood as a system of notational types. Given that infants acquire language, it can be assumed to arise from some a priori mental structure. Viewing language as having the two layers of calculus and protocol, we can set aside the communicative habits of speakers. Accordingly, an analysis of notation results in the three types of Identifier, Modifier and Connective. Modifiers are further interpreted as Quantifiers and Qualifiers. The resulting four notational types constitute the categories of Universal Grammar. Its ontology is argued to consist in the underlying cognitive schema of Essence, Quantity, Quality and Relation. The four categories of Universal Grammar are structured as polysemous fields and are each constituted as a radial network centred on some root concept which, however, need not be lexicalized. The branches spread out along troponymic vectors and together map out all possible lexemes. The notational typology of Universal Grammar is applied in a linguistic analysis of the ‘parts of speech’ using the English language. The analysis constitutes a ‘proof of concept’ in (1) showing how the schema of Universal Grammar is capable of classifying the so-called ‘parts of speech’, (2) presenting a coherent analysis of the verb, and (3) showing how the underlying cognitive schema allows for a sub-classification of the auxiliaries.     

Kabbalah: A Developmental Psychological Model

Kabbalah long has been appreciated for its mystical aspects. What has been less valued are its psychological implications. Almost alone in its formulation of a Jewish theology, Kabbalah has concerned itself with an exploration of the human Self. The Kabbalists claimed that their teachings could provide people with the power to overcome their earthly fears and desires and to summon the inner strength with which to free their souls from those alien forces inherited from nature. The Kabbalistic reality model would supply them with the power to transcend the pull of their earthly natures. In this paper, I explain the Kabbalistic teachings of the Four Worlds, the Five Souls and the Sefirot, and through the use of an original Meta Model Diagram and its Universal Themes I explore the psychological implications of Kabbalah.     

Relational and Substantival Ontologies, and the Nature and the Role of Primitives in Ontological Theories

Several metaphysical debates have typically been modeled as oppositions between a relationist approach and a substantivalist approach. Such debates include the Bundle Theory and the Substratum Theory about ordinary material objects, the Bundle (Humean) Theory and the Substance (Cartesian) Theory of the Self, and Relationism and Substantivalism about time. In all three debates, the substantivalist side typically insists that in order to provide a good treatment of the subject-matter of the theory (time, Self, material objects), it is necessary to postulate the existence of a certain kind of substance, while the other side, the relationist one, characteristically feels that this is an unnecessary expense and that one can get the job done in an ontologically cheaper way just with inter-related properties or events. In this paper I shall defend the view that there is much less of a disagreement between relational ontologies and substantival ontologies than it is usually thought. I believe that, when carefully examined, the two sides of the debate are not that different from each other, in all three cases of pairs of views mentioned above. As we will see, both the relational side and the substantival side work in the same way, suffer from and answer the same objections, and are structurally extremely similar. It will be an important question—one that I shall discuss in detail, and that is indeed the main point of interest for me in this paper—whether this means that the two sides of the debate are somehow ‘equivalent’ or not, and what ‘equivalent’ could mean.     

Folk psychology’ is not folk psychology

This paper disputes the claim that our understanding of others is enabled by a commonsense or ‘folk’ psychology, whose ‘core’ involves the attribution of intentional states in order to predict and explain behaviour. I argue that interpersonal understanding is seldom, if ever, a matter of two people assigning intentional states to each other but emerges out of a context of interaction between them. Self and other form a coupled system rather than two wholly separate entities equipped with an internalised capacity to assign mental states to the other. This applies even in those instances where one might seem to adopt a ‘detached’ perspective towards others. Thus ‘folk psychology’, as commonly construed, is not folk psychology.     

Augustine’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Confessions</Emphasis>: Self-reproach and the Melancholy Self

This article, companion to my article, “Augustine’s Confessions: The Story of a Divided Self and the Process of Its Unification” (Capps, 2007), focuses on psychoanalytic studies of Augustine’s Confessions, giving particular attention to his tendency to engage in self-reproach. The psychodynamic meanings of such self-reproach are explored, and the proposal is made that his Confessions reveal both narcissistic personality trends (in which shame plays a major role) and a melancholy self (in which the mother-son relationship is central).     

The Biological Function Paradigm Applied to the Immunological Self-Non-Self Discrimination: Critique of Tauber's Phenomenological Analysis

Biological self reference idioms in brain-centered or nervous-system-centered self determination of the consious Self reveal an interesting contrast with biological self-determination by immunological self/non-self discrimination. This contrast is both biological and epistemological. In contrast to the consciousness conscious of itself, the immunological self-determination imposes a protective mechanism against self-recognition (Coutinho et al. 1984), which adds to a largely unconscious achievement of the biological Self (Popper 1977; Medawar 1959). The latter viewpoint is in contrast with the immunological Self-determination as an essentially cognitive process as expressed in the analysis of Tauber (1994). Comparison of the immune system in vertebrates and invertebrates, according to new biological insights, has contributed to a better understanding of the relative role of innate (or inherited) immunity versus immunity acquired during each individual life. Also in this respect, immunological self-achievement shows both a striking analogy and a fundamental discrepancy with the activity of the nervous system. The analysis of immunological Self/non-self discrimination versus brain-centered self-determination adds to the understanding of the function paradigm in biological self-reference idioms, especially when regarding the importance of the connectivity notion in both systems. Adopting functional explanatory schemes for understanding immunological self-non-self discrimination, as well as for the understanding of functional mapping of the brain at (conscious) activity (Friston et al. 1993; Frith et al. 1995), forwards the notion of effective/functional connectivity. Network connectivity not only is a primary question in solving the dimensionality question for immunological ‘idiotypic networks’ (Jerne 1974a, b; 1984), it may also have an important value in describing phase transitions in the development of both immune and nervous systems. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Original mind and cosmic consciousness in the co-creative process

This article will investigate the issue of accessing benxin 本心 (original mind), subsequent operation from Self and, in that process, union with the “greater universe” or benti 本体 (original substance)—a state expressed in the West as “cosmic consciousness.” It is proposed that this allows one to participate as a partner in the creative process of one’s own life and the surrounding world. The equally important question of how to gain contact with original mind will also be addressed, as well as the consequences of doing so with regard to the human condition. The concept of original thought is introduced, being important here as it is held to be that thought which is generated in the pure condition of original mind, devoid of influence from finite physical existence.     

Rights: Foundations, Contents, Hierarchy

It would seem that we in the West are suffering from an increasing glut of rights. To the sixty-odd human rights that the Universal Declaration and its Covenants have long given us, must now be added the particular rights claims of an increasing number of ‘oppressed’ minorities, claims to compensation rights for just about every conceivable harm done and claims to ever more trivial things. This tendency is harmful insofar as it trivialises rights and devalues the coverage of rights. Human rights are fundamental and ought to be protected from these tendencies. Using an analysis of the foundations of human rights, and their function in maintaining autonomy in particular, this article analyses the content of rights – what must be fulfilled in order for a right to be protected – as a means of demonstrating the possibility of reducing the volume of rights without reducing rights coverage and of creating a defensible hierarchy.     

Language Acquisition is Language Change

According to the theory of Universal Grammar, the primary linguistic data guides children through an innately specified space of hypotheses. On this view, similarities between child-English and adult-German are as unsurprising as similarities between cousins who have never met. By contrast, experience-based approaches to language acquisition contend that child language matches the input, with nonadult forms being simply less articulated versions of the forms produced by adults. This paper reports several studies that provide support for the theory of Universal grammar, and resist explanation on experience-based accounts. Two studies investigate English-speaking children’s productions, and a third examines the interpretation of sentences by Japanese speaking children. When considered against the input children are exposed to, the findings of these and other studies are consistent with the continuity hypothesis, which supposes that child language can differ from the language spoken by adults only in ways that adult languages can differ from each other.     

Alzheimer’s disease and impairment of the Self

Impairment of the Self has been described in frontal–temporal dementia but little research has been carried out in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore changes in the self in patients with AD.

Method

Forty-seven patients with mild to moderate AD were examined using a semi-structured scale designed to assess the self-concept along three dimensions, namely, the Material Self, the Social Self and the Spiritual Self.

Results

The majority of patients (43 out of 47) presented impairment of at least one dimension of the Self. When only one dimension was affected, it was always the Social Self. The severity of impairment of the Self was correlated to the impairment of the semantic autobiographical memory and apathy.

Conclusion

The Self is impaired in AD and the Social Self dimension appears to be more vulnerable in AD than other dimensions.     

Promoting Self‐Esteem in Adolescents: The Influence of Wellness Factors

To assess the extent to which holistic wellness factors are predictive of self‐esteem, the authors administered the Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventories, School Form (Coopersmith, 2002), and the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (Myers & Sweeney, 2005a) to 225 adolescents ages 15 to 17 years. Wellness factors (Coping Self, Social Self, and Creative Self) explained a significant portion of the variance in components of self‐esteem (General Self‐Esteem, Home‐Parents Self‐Esteem, and School‐Academic Self‐Esteem). Implications for counselors and for further research are considered.     

Scientific analysis of Buddhism and a comparative study of Buddhism and science

As Buddhism spread into China, the Mahayana (Dacheng) and Hinayana (Xiaocheng) schools, as well as the kong 空 (empty) or you 有 (being) schools, each developed separately, with all sorts of competing theories emerging. While Chinese Buddhism saw a revival in modern times, Western science also gained ground all over the country, and many scholars, technologists and monks sought to interpret the meaning of kong according the achievements and method of the natural sciences. They used science to interpret the content and methods of Buddhist teachings, ontology, and outlook on life. Of the scholars who did so, Wang Jitong (王季同) and You Zhibiao (尢智表) are the most excellent. __________ Translated from Pumen Xuebao 普门学报 (Universal Gate) Vol. 27, 2005 (5) by Kong Xiangzhen, Ma Tianxiang, and Andrew Herron     

Designing Rites to Re-enchant Secularized Society: New Varieties of Spiritualized Therapy in Contemporary Sweden

Detraditionalization in late modernity in Western society has affected the domains of both traditional religion and clinical psychotherapy. Sweden, which is said to be one of the most secularized societies in the world, instead, has allowed the public domain to be colonized by new, spiritualized practices. Sold as therapy, the services of new spiritual leaders offer anti-stress techniques to prevent burnout, or leaders are trained to develop their leadership in coaching activities. New varieties of spiritualized therapy are rapidly increasing in contemporary Sweden, typical of which is to have added healing rhetoric to their agenda, such as “find your inner self” or “develop your inner potential.” Four common denominators seem to guide these practices: self-appointed leaders, individual-centered rites, realization of one’s Self, and intense emotions. We might also add a fifth aspect: profit. Rites have become a commodity and are sold as liberating practices for burnt-out souls or for people in pursuit of self-realization.     

The role of self‐image as a predictor of psychotherapy outcome

The present study examined the relationship between self‐image and outcome in psychotherapy. Patients (n = 170) received treatment‐as‐usual at a university clinic, and met diagnostic criteria for mostly anxiety and depression related disorders. Self‐image was measured with the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB‐I) introject pre and post‐treatment. Using multiple regression analyses, higher levels of Self‐ignore and Self‐blame pre‐treatment predicted a poorer treatment outcome in terms of symptoms (SCL‐90‐R) and interpersonal problems (IIP‐64), respectively. Increase in Self‐love and decrease in Self‐blame (pre to post) predicted reduced symptoms at post‐treatment, whereas decrease in Self‐attack and Self‐control, as well as increase in Self‐affirm, predicted reduced interpersonal problems. The results suggest that self‐image improvement may be important in order to achieve a good outcome in psychotherapy.     

Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS): The Development and Validation of a New Individual Difference Measure

Research on affect regulation has blossomed in recent years. However, the lack of validated scales assessing individual differences in the use of strategies to achieve alternative types of affect regulation, e.g., the regulation of others’ affect and the worsening of affect, has hampered research on these important processes. This paper presents the development and validation of a brief new measure of individual differences in the use of strategies to regulate one’s own and other people’s feelings: the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self (EROS) scale. Two distinct samples (N = 551 and N = 227) confirmed a four-factor structure: intrinsic affect-improving, intrinsic affect-worsening, extrinsic affect-improving and extrinsic affect-worsening. In line with predictions, these factors were associated with existing measures of affect regulation, personality and affect. Both intrinsic factors were positively associated with emotional exhaustion, while all factors except extrinsic affect-improving were positively associated with health-related impairments. Convergence between self- and other-reported scores on the extrinsic factors in a third sample (N = 50 dyads) demonstrated further evidence of validity.     

Emotional Triggers and Psychopathology Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Urban Children with Elevated Aggressive-Disruptive Behavior

8.6% suicidal ideation (SI) was found among 349 urban 6–9 year olds in the top tercile of aggressive-disruptive behavior. SI was associated with more self-reported depression, ODD, conduct problems, and ADHD symptoms (ES 0.70–0.97) and 3.5–5 times more clinically significant symptoms. Parents rated more symptoms in older children associated with SI compared to parents of similar age children without SI, including greater somatic and behavior problems in 8–9 year olds with SI. Parent ratings did not differentiate SI and non-SI in 6–7 year olds. SI frequently co-occurred with thoughts about death. Children described anger, dysphoria and interpersonal conflict as motivators/triggers for SI and worries about safety/health as motivator/triggers for thoughts about death, suggesting that problems managing emotionally challenging situations are a specific factor in initiating SI. Universal and indicated interventions for children to strengthen emotional self-regulation and behavioral control are recommended to complement the current emphasis on suicide prevention among adolescents.     

Examining Youth Anxiety Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation in the Context of the Tripartite Model of Emotion

This study sought to clarify the relation of anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation in children and adolescents by examining these variables in the context of depression and negative affect. As outlined in the tripartite model of anxiety and depression, negative affectivity is common to both emotional constructs; therefore negative affectivity may best explain the relation of each to suicidal ideation. Self report measures of generalized anxiety, depression, negative affectivity, and suicidal ideation were assessed in a primarily externalizing sample of children ages 7–18. Results suggested that the relation between anxiety and suicidal ideation was best accounted for by depression, not negative affectivity. Results also suggested that negative affectivity was associated with suicidal ideation but did not account for the relations among anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Further, depression, negative affect, and anxiety all significantly contributed to the prediction of suicidal ideation scores (r ²  = .307, p < .01).     

The Universal Declaration’s Problematic Rights Justification

Abstract

In this paper I aim to critically analyse the underlying moral justification of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. The aim of the critique is to highlight some of the problematic areas that underpin the Declaration’s rights and in doing so to point to ways that one can begin to rectify the problems with them and the Universal Declaration itself. The paper aims to critically examine the moral justification for the Universal Declaration’s rights, which is found in the works of Thomas Berry and his commentators who use the notion of ‘subjectivity’ to justify the existence of such rights. The paper critically examines such a notion and argues that it is not strong enough to do the work required of it, and that it is too problematic to serve as a justification for the Universal Declaration’s rights, as the ethical framework it provides is too cryptic and indeterminate, and does not provide us with an adequate action- and law-guiding framework upon which to establish the Universal Declaration and its rights.     

Joel Osteen as Cultural Selfobject: Meeting the Needs of the Group Self and Its Individual Members in and from the Largest Church in America

This paper examines the appeal and success of Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America: Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Our guiding theory comes from Heinz Kohut’s Self psychology, especially as elaborated in his interviews with Charles Strozier. We also draw on the work of Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, who, using Kohut, argues that the guru in the Indian context functions as a cultural selfobject, and we argue that Osteen functions in an analogous way in the American context—that is, as a cultural selfobject. Specifically, we argue that Osteen’s appeal and success is due to what Kohut refers to as idealizing transferences and mirroring transferences, as well as Osteen’s ability to provide a “calming structure” and a sense of “continuity,” as Kohut uses these terms, for members of the Lakewood community. To demonstrate this thesis, we analyze a recent sermon by Osteen, a chapter in one of his bestselling books, and the airplane incident that involved Victoria Osteen in December 2005. We contextualize our analysis by discussing relevant sociological and demographic data pertaining to Lakewood Church, and we conclude by making the point that cultures can become disillusioned with their own cultural selfobjects and, whatever the fate of Joel Osteen and company, our culture will nevertheless continue to produce new cultural selfobjects.     

Psychometric Properties of the O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales

Wolfe and Naimark (Using rational-emotive therapy effectively. Plenum, New York, 265–301, 1991) claim that women, through sex-role stereotyping, may develop sex-role beliefs that are not helpful. However, there is a dearth of research in this area with one of the major problems being the lack of an instrument to measure such sex-role beliefs. To date the Bem Sex Role Inventory has been the main instrument used to measure gender schema. As it has been criticised extensively, a new instrument to measure gender schema was proposed. The O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales was therefore developed within a rational-emotive behaviour therapy framework, reflecting the belief processes of demandingness, awfulising, low frustration tolerance and negative self rating. Following the development of the scale, questionnaires were sent to 2,562 women working at a large, multi-site, teaching hospital. Data from the 974 respondents resulted in the development of five subscales of the O’Kelly Women’s Belief Scales: General Traditional Beliefs, Demands, Awfulising, Low Frustration Tolerance and Negative Self Rating. Each of these subscales loaded on one factor and had high internal consistency. The scales were shown to have test–retest reliability and concurrent, divergent and construct validity.