Inventing the enemy

The following article elaborates on the need for the Other in order to delineate the self and one's identity, and the eternal psychological process of turning the Other into an enemy. A parallel process, which can be observed nowadays, leads to a disregard for the otherness of the Other that results in the blurring of identity and an internal loss of the differentiation of intrapsychic structures. Both psychological processes share a dehumanizing approach which leads to neurosis and alienation. In order to withstand these tendencies, a revision of analytical psychology's view of the psyche and of the practice of Jungian analysis is warranted: an alternative to the ‘Fear of the Feminine’ described by Erich Neumann in 1959. It is suggested that consciousness and unconsciousness intertwine but from a position of equality and reciprocity. Such an attitude does not inspire fear. Rather, it recognizes the need of one for the Other and the inevitability of this situation. Moreover, this need and interdependence on equal grounds nourish the wish to know the Other, to be aware of the differences, and yet, at the same time, to acknowledge how close the Other really is. Analytical psychological therapy based on this model stresses the power of the ego while also strengthening its capacity for introspection.     

Praxis and Structure: Conflicting Models in the Science of Man

In his Fifth Meditation, Husserl appears to confront the problem of solipsism. As a number of commentators have suggested, however, since it arises from within phenomenology itself and the existence of the other is never in doubt, it is not a solipsism in the traditional Cartesian sense. Alfred Schutz, however, appears to understand Husserl's inquiry in precisely these terms. As such, his critical discussions of the Fifth Meditation, as well as his subsequent rejection of transcendental philosophy, might not be well-founded. Yet in spite of this misconstrual, Schutz's criticisms do highlight the problematic relationship between subjectivity and intersubjectivity in Husserl's late phenomenology, and albeit misplaced, ironically, his rejection of the Fifth Meditation forms a coherent response to Husserl's call for a “science of the life-world.” Intersubjectivity, Schutz concludes, must be assumed as a basis for phenomenological investigation rather than derived as a result of philosophical inquiry. “Negatively,” this is clearly a departure from Husserl's project since Schutz inevitably negates the “radical” motif under which phenomenological inquiry ostensibly proceeds. “Positively,” however, the project to which this criticism leads—a “phenomenology of the natural attitude”—represents a legitimate direction for phenomenological study as well as a radical turn within the theory and practice of social science.     

The Myth of Man the Hunter, Man the Killer and the Evolution of Human Morality

Since the discovery of the first man-ape, many have assumed that the earliest humans were hunters and that this was associated with a "killer instinct." The myth of "man the hunter" was repeated in the 1960s in anthropology texts and popular literature. In the 1970s it was adopted by sociobiologists to explain human nature. "Man the hunter" is used to explain not only human biology but also human morality. The morals described, however, often reflect ancient beliefs and appear to be new ways of justifying old morality codes. The newest version of this myth is presented in a recent book, Demonic Males . I will discuss various accounts of this myth and the evidence used to justify them, and will specifically critique the arguments presented in Demonic Males .     

Population Thinking in Epistemic Evolution: Bridging Cultural Evolution and the Philosophy of Science

Researchers in cultural evolutionary theory (CET) have recently proposed the foundation of a new field of research in cultural evolution named ‘epistemic evolution’. Drawing on evolutionary epistemology’s early studies, this programme aims to study science as an evolutionary cultural process. The paper discusses the way CET’s study of science can contribute to the philosophical debate and, vice versa, how the philosophy of science can benefit from the adoption of a cultural evolutionary perspective. Here, I argue that CET’s main contribution to an evolutionary model of scientific growth comes from the application of ‘population thinking’ to science. Populationism offers a ‘variation based’ understanding of scientists’ epistemic and socio-epistemic criteria that is able to better accommodate the variegated preferences that intervene in scientific epistemic decisions. A discussion of the so called theory choice context is offered as an example of the way a populationist approach can shed new light on the operation of scientists’ epistemic choices.

     

Science and Kabbalah Evolution

This article describes how Science and Kabbalah complement each other and reveals modern ways of presenting the original concepts of the Kabbalah wisdom. This article also presents a scheme of personal growth through creation of freedom of choice, and provides a Kabbalist's road map. Kabbalah studies the evolution of the universe, our life purpose, and the ascension to higher planes of existence through knowledge attained and presented by great Kabbalists over centuries. Their presentation took different forms at different times. This article offers a scientific approach to the study of Kabbalah, to enhance our appreciation and understanding of this wisdom.     

The analyst's narrative function: Inventing a possibility

This article describes a psychic function common to analysts that was gradually revealed through clinical work with children. It is a psychic quality derived from function α, which involves analysts’ capacity for reverie – their narrative function. The author presents two clinical situations where this function developed in the analytic field in relation to patients’ difficulty in symbolizing. In the first case there was an early traumatic experience unavailable for representation. The analyst lent the patient her ability to represent and produced a narrative that made it possible to create a world of phantasies and transform nightmares into ‘dreamable’ dreams. In other words, she removed the quality of unbearable, irrepresentable reality that characterized those raw experiences encrypted in the psyche. In the second case the analyst's narrative function sought to connect with the isolation, the shell that housed a child suffering from an autistic disorder whose ability to represent had not been established. The analyst provided meaning for the patient's repetitive, stereotyped play, thus weaving the child's subjectivity and gradually introducing a notion of alterity. The author seeks to show how this function, in the thematic construction of the session, facilitated both the working‐through of a traumatic situation (with the ability to share representations) and the constitution of the psychic fabric.     

全球化背景下"科学人"的价值观

随着现代科学技术的快速发展 ,人类将进入全球化的时代。现代科技并非“科学人”纯粹“理性”自恋的产物 ,也并非是为了达到实用目的的工具 ,经验科学抹杀了人与非人事物的区别 ,现代科技导致了人性的客观化 ,出现现代社会中“科学技术与人性”的对立。因此 ,“科学人”应从“为科学而科学”、“为实力而科学”的价值观中走出来 ,确立“为人类而科学”的价值观     

Inventing Sex: The Short History of Sex Addiction

This article takes a critical look at the recent history of the concept of sex addiction, an archetypal modern sexual invention. Sex addiction began as a 1980s product of late twentieth-century cultural anxieties and has remained responsive to those tensions, including its most recent iteration, “hypersexual disorder.” Its success as a concept lay with its medicalization, both as a self-help movement in terms of self-diagnosis, and as a rapidly growing industry of therapists on hand to deal with the new disease. The media has always played a role in its history, first with TV, the tabloids, and the case histories of claimed celebrity victims all helping to popularize the concept, and then with the impact of the internet. Though it is essentially mythical, creating a problem that need not exist, sex addiction has to be taken seriously as a phenomenon. Rarely has a socio-psychological discourse taken such a hold on the public imagination—and proven an influential concept in academic circles too. We argue that this strange, short history of social opportunism, diagnostic amorphism, therapeutic self-interest, and popular cultural endorsement is marked by an essential social conservatism—sex addiction has become a convenient term to describe disapproved sex. Sex addiction is a label without explanatory force.