Metaphysics as interpretation of conscious life: some remarks on D. Henrich’s and D. Kolak’s thinking

In this article, I discuss the manner in which Dieter Henrich’s theory of subjectivity has emerged from the fundamental questions of German Idealism, and in what manner and to what extent this theory effects a reinstatement of metaphysics. In so doing, I shall argue that Henrich’s position represents a viable refutation of the attempt of the physicalist explanation of the world to prove the concept of the subject to be superfluous. Henrich’s metaphysics of subjectivity is primarily focused on the ‘ultimate questions’ which also compose “the deep levels of our subjectivity” and concern the factors that should promote stability in our emotional, moral and intellectual life. I argue with Henrich that the indisputable facticity of our conscious life is worthy of our special consideration and interpretation, explanation and clarification, just as the deeper meaning (the individual and collective subconscious structure) hidden beneath the layers of apparent comprehensibility calls for urgent investigation. Such interpretation and elucidation of life’s meaning has a tripartite character: first, it consists of clarification of the totality of human experience together with the realities playing a part in it; second, it builds on the process by which the contents of experience are cognized, and the knowledge thereof which results; thirdly, it embraces the transcendental precondition enabling each and every one of us to consciously lead our lives—for life, in a human sense, does not merely happen to one. Henrich’s metaphysical foundation of subjectivity is compared with Kolak‘s position, according to which individual consciousness is not insular, but integrated into the totality of overall unity that some have called “the Universal Self”, “the Noumenal Self”.     

Synchrnoic consciousness from a neurological point of view: the philosophical foundations for neuroethics

Daniel Kolak’s theory of synchronic consciousness according to which the entire range of dissociative phenomena, from pathologies such as MPD and schizophrenia to normal dream states, are best explained in terms of consciousness becoming simultaneously identified as many selves, has revolutionary therapeutic implications for neurology and psychiatry. All these selves, according to Kolak—even the purely imaginary ones that exist as such only in our dreams—are not just conscious but also self-conscious, with beliefs, intentions, living lives informed by memories (confabulatory, in the case of the fictional ones) and personal histories. Kolak’s derivation of psychiatrically relevant aspects of his theory—a neurological rendition of a Kantian transcendental argument—can be given a straightforward neurological, and therefore open to scientific scrutiny, interpretation that would then more easily lend itself to the clinical setting in which these perplexing phenomena, along with their purveyors, must live and cope. This will be the main focus of this paper.     

The role of implicit motivation in hot and cold goal pursuit: Effects on goal progress, goal rumination, and emotional well-being

Two cross-sectional studies examined the role of implicit motivational needs in the association between personal goal pursuits and depressive symptoms and affect. Replicating and extending on findings reported by Brunstein et al. [Brunstein, J. C., Schultheiss, O. C., & Grässmann, R. (1998). Personal goals and emotional well-being: The moderating role of motive dispositions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(2), 494–508], both studies provided evidence that goal progress significantly accounted for variations in depressive symptoms and happiness only in individuals with high levels of implicit motivation, but not in individuals low in implicit motivation. Moreover, in the absence of a strong sense of goal commitment, high levels of implicit motivation were associated with high goal progress in both studies and low levels of goal rumination in Study 2. These findings are interpreted within a dual-systems framework of motivation that distinguishes an implicit, intuitive, and hedonically driven from an explicit, effortful-analytical, and non-hedonic mode of goal pursuit.     

Obligatory and optional personal life investments in old and very old age: Validation and functional relations

Personal life investment (PLI) measures motivational energy invested in central life domains. We distinguished between obligatory PLIs, that is, required investments, and optional PLIs, that is, investments that are possible but not necessary. Data from the Berlin Aging Study (N = 516; 70–103 years) were employed to investigate the validity of this distinction. We further explored how both PLI types relate to aging satisfaction and whether associations with validation variables and satisfaction differed depending on resource limitations (poor health). As expected based on conceptual affinities between the distinctions of obligatory-optional PLI and approach-avoidance tendencies, both PLI types showed positive relations with extraversion (a correlate of approach), but only obligatory PLI was positively related to neuroticism (a correlate of avoidance). Optional PLI (not obligatory PLI) was related to higher aging satisfaction, but only in fairly healthy people. This underscores differential functional relations of optional PLI depending on resource availability.

Positive gain spirals at work: From job resources to work engagement, personal initiative and work-unit innovativeness

The present cross-lagged panel study aimed to investigate the energizing power of job resources and related gain spirals. Drawing on Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources (COR) theory’s rarely tested assumptions of cumulative resource gains and gain spirals a reciprocal process was expected: (1) job resources lead to work engagement and work engagement leads to personal initiative (PI), which, in turn, has a positive impact on work-unit innovativeness, and (2) work-unit innovativeness leads to PI, which has a positive impact on work engagement, which finally predicts future job resources. The study was based on a two-wave 3-year panel design among 2555 Finnish dentists. Structural equation modeling was employed to study cross-lagged associations. The results mainly confirmed our hypotheses: positive and reciprocal cross-lagged associations were found between job resources and work engagement and between work engagement and PI. In addition, PI had a positive impact on work-unit innovativeness over time.     

Research Ethics in Japanese Higher Education: Faculty Attitudes and Cultural Mediation

Principles of research ethics, derived largely from Western philosophical thought, are spreading across the world of higher education. Since 2006 the Japanese Ministry of Education has required universities in Japan to establish codes of ethical conduct and ensure that procedures are in place to punish research misconduct. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 13 academics in a research-intensive university in Japan, this paper considers how research ethics is interpreted in relation to their own practice. Interviewees articulated a range of ethical issues connected with data gathering and interpretation, applying for and using research funds, relationships with peers and research subjects, and the dissemination of results. The paper also explores the effect of personal values and cultural norms on the Japanese interpretation of research ethics identifying the impact in terms of the treatment of graduate research students and decision-making processes.     

Evaluative Concerns and Personal Standards Perfectionism: Self-esteem as a Mediator and Moderator of Relations with Personal and Academic Needs and Estimated GPA

We examined the mediational role of self-esteem in the relation between evaluative concerns (EC) and personal standards (PS) perfectionism, and measures of personal concerns, academic concerns, and estimated grade point average (EGPA) in 386 university students. Self-esteem partially mediated the relation between EC perfectionism and students’ personal and academic concerns. EC perfectionism was a weak predictor of EGPA. PS perfectionism was not related to academic concerns. Although PS was associated with personal concerns both directly and indirectly through low levels of self-esteem in women only, these findings did not hold when controlling for EC perfectionism. PS perfectionism had a direct positive relation with EGPA. Neither PS nor EC perfectionism interacted with self-esteem to predict unique variance in personal or academic concerns or EGPA. The results are consistent with our view that a perfectionism dimension that is primarily maladaptive can be distinguished from a dimension that can be adaptive. The implications for research and treatment are considered.

Differentiating conscientious from indiscriminate responders in existing NEO-Five Factor Inventory-3 data

The mean Inter-Item Standard Deviation (M-ISD; i.e., the mean of several single-scale ISDs) is a post-hoc validity index that statistically differentiates conscientious responders (CRs) from indiscriminate responders (IRs) in psychological questionnaire data. We compared the M-ISD’s effectiveness against four other post-hoc indexes and an embeddable validity scale in three sets of NEO-Five-Factor Inventory-3 data. Results showed the M-ISD has superior classification ability over all other post-hoc indexes and even outperformed the embeddable validity scale. The average classification accuracy of the M-ISD and embeddable scale was 97% and 93%, respectively, whereas only one of the four remaining post-hoc indexes exceeded our classification accuracy criterion of 80%. These findings suggest researchers can use the M-ISD to differentiate valid from invalid data.     

High goal conflict and low goal meaning are associated with an increased likelihood of subsequent religious transformation in adolescents

Adolescence is one of the most common periods during which people report religious transformations (Regnerus & Uecker, 2006), but few studies have examined what variables might precipitate a transformation during this time. Based on early writings of James (1902) and Starbuck (1911), we tested the hypotheses that adolescents are more likely to experience a religious transformation when they have (a) lower global meaning, (b) lower goal meaning, and (c) higher goal conflict. Participants (N = 137) were adolescents living in Western Europe involved in a service trip with Young Life, an evangelical Christian organization. Participants with lower strivings meaning and higher strivings conflict before the trip were more likely to experience a religious transformation during the trip.     

Efficient spatio-temporal data mining with GenSpace graphs

We describe a method for spatio-temporal data mining based on GenSpace graphs. Using familiar calendar and geographical concepts, such as workdays, weeks, climatic regions, and countries, spatio-temporal data can be aggregated into summaries in many ways. We automatically search for a summary with a distribution that is anomalous, i.e., far from user expectations. We repeatedly ranking possible summaries according to current expectations, and then allow the user to adjust these expectations. We also choose a propagation path in the GenSpace subgraph that reduces the storage and time costs of the mining process.