Matte Blanco's thought and epistemological pluralism in psychoanalysis

It can be seen that, although psychoanalytic pluralism is widespread, there is still a spirit of intolerance among the different theoretical schools. Matte Blanco's work allows us to think about these questions in a fresh way. Direct psychic experience, felt to be an indivisible whole, is characterized by the symmetrical mode (close to the unconscious) and projects itself in a multiple and decondensed manner on to the asymmetrical mode (consciousness, thought). Thus, psychical facts (for example, what the patient says and feels during the session) can be accounted for by multiple conscious representations which, however, are not mutually contradictory (e.g. in different theoretical approaches). Affective factors linked to the hope of reviving 'oceanic feelings' of fusion with a unified and unifying theory of the subject-analyst are also explored insofar as they lead to the tendency of analysts to exclude one another.     

Kierkegaard on authority and leadership: Political logic in religious thought

This paper examines a political theory implict in Kierkegaard's critique of the novel Two Ages. To achieve that aim, it views Kierkegaard as a political radical relative to modern liberalism and aristocratic conservatism of the 1840's in Denmark, by juxtaposing him to Locke. Basic to the theory is a notion of individuality which relies on three interlocking concepts: will, equality, and autonomy. That notion in turn supports ideas of authority and leadership that throw further light on Kierkegaard's understanding of the relation between religion and politics and suggests what is central to the political logic operative in the critique in his publication Literary Review.     

Androgeny, flexibility, and individualism

Questionnaire data from 195 college students were examined to clarify the relationships among masculinity, femininity, and androgyny and self-perceived flexibility and individualism. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hierarchical regression showed no evidence for unique positive "androgyny" effects, while higher masculinity was associated with flexibility and individualism, particularly among women. Contrary to expectations, "androgynous" men were more rigid and conforming, while the cross-typed were most flexible and independent.     

Innovation,illegitimacy, and individualism

Abstract

Simonton has reported an interesting set of findings concerning the relationship between creativity and what he terms social pathology. To speak of social or political pathology is to use a metaphor, the meaning of which would seem to be almost completely relative. For example, democracy is a pathological state for one who believes in the divine right of kings, but the latter belief seems delusional to one who holds democratic principles. Thus, creativity is related to certain social phenomena, but it is not clear if we should classify these phenomena as pathological. In my own research on British history, I have found that an egotistic and asocial emphasis in poetry consistently cooccurs with high rates of scientific and technological innovation, illegitimate births, and industrial productivity. In one way or another all of these phenomena have to do with individualism and independence or nonconformity. Whether such epochs of lessened social solidarity should be called pathological or healthy seems to be a matter of taste rather than fact. The gist of Simonton's explanations of how social factors influence the amount of creativity is reasonable, but some apparent flaws in the details of these explanations are pointed out in this commentary.     

Personal theories, intellectual ability, and epistemological beliefs: adult age differences in everyday reasoning biases

Age-related differences in everyday reasoning biases were explored. In each of 2 social domains, examination of theoretical beliefs and biases along 2 dimensions of scientific reasoning, involving the law of large numbers and the evaluation of experimental evidence, revealed that, across age groups, scientific reasoning was used to reject evidence that contradicted prior beliefs; relatively cursory reasoning was used to accept belief-consistent evidence. Biased reasoning was more common among middle-aged and older adults than among young adults. Dispositions to engage in analytic processing were negatively related to biases, but intellectual abilities and bias were not related. The findings support a 2-process view of adult cognitive development and suggest that the tendency to rely on heuristic information processing increases with age.     

Truth,fallibility, and justification: new studies in the norms of assertion

Synthese - This paper advances our understanding of the norms of assertion in two ways. First, I evaluate recent studies claiming to discredit an important earlier finding which supports the...     

Possession consciousness,religious individualism,and subjectivity in Brazilian Umbanda

This article explores perceived changes in patterns of consciousness in relation to possession phenomena among a sector of urban practitioners of the Brazilian religion of Umbanda, and argues that these perceptions have been accompanied by the emergence of a more individualist approach to religious selfhood which aims to lay claim to a particular vision of Umbanda. These Umbandists understand their spirit universe in ontologically plastic terms, relativizing spirit identities much like Umbanda’s founders. The increasing emphasis given to conscious forms of possession tallies with a relatively new attention to the self and its awareness of tradition, thought to be lacking in previous generations. This article also defends that we can produce an anthropological understanding of possession as having cosmogonic rather than just expressive effects.     

Supremacist thinking,epistemological despair,and Christian hope

This article looks at the connection between white supremacist cults and an epistemology of despair—a view that knowledge cannot be shared or communicated between diverse people. The theology of Augustine, the fourth century African bishop, undermines the power of this epistemology by inspiring hope in dialogue as an avenue towards ending white supremacist thinking.     

Truth,Meaning, and Circularity

It is often argued that the combination of deflationism about truth and the truth-conditional theory of meaning is impossible for reasons of circularity. I distinguish, and reject, two strains of circularity argument. Arguments of the first strain hold that the combination has a circular account of the order in which one comes to know the meaning of a sentence and comes to know its truth condition. I show that these arguments fail to identify any circularity. Arguments of the second strain hold that the combination has a circular explanation of the ideas or concepts of meaning and truth. I show that these arguments identify a genuine, but acceptable, circularity.