The Suspended Aesthetic: Slavoj Žižek on Eastern European Film

Slavoj iek's writings on Krzysztof Kies´lowski and Andrej Tarkovskij represent direct challenges to the Central and Eastern European tradition of spiritual art and to dominant aesthetic concepts as such. He refuses to separate the solemn films of Kies´lowski and Tarkovskij from popular culture and stresses their import as ethical statements by their directors. Despite this ethical emphasis, iek makes an important contribution to philosophical aesthetics. He implicitly defines art as a suspension of reality which reveals time in its fragility and potentiality. Defining iek's aesthetics in terms of suspension helps to explain his partiality for Kies´lowski and Tarkovskij and bears comparison to the Russian tradition of philosophical aesthetics, in particular Aleksej Losev and Alexander Bakshy.     

Jung's view on myth and post-modern psychology

Post-modern psychology embodies two core themes, the social mind and the narrative self. Whereas the social-mind thesis seems diametrically opposed to Jung's position regarding human nature, the narrative-self thesis is associated with research and theorizing about personal myth and mythmaking in ways that could make contact with Jung's concerns. Jung's view is examined here with particular attention to McAdams' theory of narrative identity. It is suggested that the ostensible differences between Jung and post-modern psychology might reflect divergent interests, rather than necessarily irreconcilable worldviews.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Joshua I. Miller, Democratic Temperament: The Legacy of William James Ellen Kappy Suckiel, Heaven's Champion: William James's Philosophy of Religion Ruth Anna Putnam (ed), The Cambridge Companion to William James David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames, Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucious, and the Hope for Democracy in China Dale Jacquette, Wittgenstein's Thought in Transition Michael T. Chiselin, Metaphysics and the Origin of Species Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? Evert van der Zweerde, Soviet Historiography of Philosophy Rem B. Edwards (ed), Ethics of Psychiatry: Insanity, Rational Autonomy, and Mental Health Care Jennifer Radden, Divided Minds and Successive Selves: Ethical Issues in Disorders of Identity and Personality     

Extension of Luria's Psycholinguistic Studies in Poland

One of Luria's basic interests was the organization of human cognitive processes, and thinking in particular. He believed that language and thought are closely related, and hence the manner in which we speak reflects the way we think. To verify this assumption, he and his collaborators performed a number of interesting psycholinguistic experiments with subjects of various ages and cultural backgrounds. The tasks used made the evaluation of both receptive and expressive language possible. The Narrative Ability Test described here stems from Luria's observations to a considerable degree. The test was administered to preschool children (N = 106), schoolchildren (N = 143), adolescents (N = 89), adults (N = 126), and older persons (N = 175). Findings of the 20-year studies with normal and deviant populations indicate close relationships among thought, language, and self-control. It was found that difficulty in developing narratives corresponds with a disability to process complex information. Correlations between narrative skills and age, sex, and social background were also noted.     

Psychotherapy Process Measure Research and the Evaluation of Psychotherapy Orientation: A Narrative Analysis

This article discusses the need for a systematic method that enables researchers to evaluate integrative therapy approaches using a range of therapy process measures. The Narrative System Process Coding (NPCS; Angus, Hardtke, & Levitt, 1996) is proposed as such a method, and is applied with the Experiencing Scale (Klein, Mathieu, Gendlin, & Keisler, 1970) and the Levels of Client Perceptual Processing (LCPP; Toukmanian, 1986) to three brief good outcome integrative therapy modalities to illustrate this need. The study found higher Experiencing Scale scores to be most strongly related to an experiential approach to therapy and to the NPCS internal narrative processes. Higher LCPP scores were most strongly related to the NPCS reflexive narrative process and to a perceptual-processing approach. The discussion initiates a discourse on the importance of explicating process measures' origins when comparing different therapy approaches in order to allow for the meaningful consolidation of process research findings.     

Some Thoughts on the Integration of Narrative and Humanistic/Existential Approaches to Psychotherapy

Although humanistic and narrative approaches to psychotherapy make some different assumptions about the nature of the human condition and emphasize different aspects of human functioning in their therapeutic endeavors, I argue here that the underlying assumptions of these two approaches reflect a common view of humanness, thus making these two approaches candidates for attempts at integration. Four areas of commonality are discussed in detail: (a) life as a process of continual development, (b) the nature of experience and the process of meaning creation, (c) the nature of psychological dysfunction, and (d) the nature and importance of human relationships. The implications of these commonalities for the practice of therapy from an integrated perspective are explored in an extended case example.     

Proof-Theoretic Modal PA-Completeness III: The Syntactic Proof

This paper is the final part of the syntactic demonstration of the Arithmetical Completeness of the modal system G; in the preceding parts [9] and [10] the tools for the proof were defined, in particular the notion of syntactic countermodel. Our strategy is: PA-completeness of G as a search for interpretations which force the distance between G and a GL-LIN-theorem to zero. If the GL-LIN-theorem S is not a G-theorem, we construct a formula H expressing the non G-provability of S, so that ⊢_GL-LIN ∼ H and so that a canonical proof T of ∼ H in GL-LIN is a syntactic countermodel for S with respect to G, which has the height θ(T) equal to the distance d(S, G) of S from G. Then we define the interpretation ξ of S which represents the proof-tree T in PA. By induction on θ(T), we prove that ⊢_PA S^ξ and d(S, G) > 0 imply the inconsistency of PA. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Disrupted narrative and narrative symbol

In this article a specific type of narrative, which often appears in analytic sessions, is discussed. It is characterized by a seemingly ordinary, everyday topic and by a peculiar disruption of the narrative flow. The threefold structure of this type of narrative is described, along with its main characteristics. One element of this type of narrative is very similar to symbolic content or complex symbolic structures, e.g. dreams, the sort of material that can be used for the purpose of interpretation. The similarities as well as the differences are elaborated in the article. Thanks to the observed general structure and ‘symbolic’ nature of some parts of the narrative, it is easy to notice some of the unconscious elements, which are not familiar to the patient's ego, and to make an interpretation. Because these elements are close to the threshold of consciousness, the patient willingly accepts an interpretation based on them. This is especially true for patients whose dominant function is thinking. A temporary, working name for this type of narrative is proposed in the article: ‘disrupted narrative’ ? and for its disruptive part ‘narrative symbol’.     

Examining process constructs of narrative career counselling: an exploratory case study

The present article examines how the five process constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and agency are operationalised in a constructivist approach to career counselling, specifically a storytelling approach. This article reports on an exploratory case study of a Black South African female university student. The case study provides examples of how a career counsellor enacts these constructs and facilitates their development in a client, as well as examples of how they are evident in client dialogue and action. Insight into the process of a storytelling approach to narrative career counselling is demonstrated, from which tentative suggestions are made about how to facilitate the process constructs of reflection, connectedness, meaning making, learning and agency.     

Narrative vignettes and online enquiry in researching therapist accounts of practice with children in schools: An analysis of the methodology

Aims: This article reviews a research methodology that uses an Internet mediated qualitative, narrative approach to provide in‐depth analysis of vignettes. The research sought to investigate the ways in which dramatherapists, based in different countries, understood the nature of therapeutic change in their work with children. Method: The article describes a qualitative approach to the generation of data by a combination of therapist‐authored vignettes, live, synchronous Internet mediated communication (aMSN Messenger) and email. Participants kept a diary of their response to the research and the article draws on this data within its analysis of the methodology. Findings: Samples of the data are used to analyse how such innovative, online methodology can develop effective access and relationships with geographically dispersed participants and as an effective way of investigating therapist practitioners' understanding of their practice.