Individual Self Research Articles

Apologetics of Culture as an Apologetics of War: the Case of Werner Sombart

W. Sombart’s attitude to the First World War is characterized in the literature as extremely nationalistic. It made a radical revolution in his perception of the processes in world civilization. He saw in a new light the main conflict of the era — the conflict of national worldviews, and with it the purpose and meaning of the world historical mission of the German people. The war is a phenomenon that has a stressful impact on its participants, transforms feelings and mindsets, ordering the supreme authority of blood, soil, roots, and intellectuals are extremely sensitive to such orders. However, nationalism, even in minimal doses introduced into speech and writing, takes the spoken words and texts beyond the limits of scholarship, turning them into propaganda statements. So the 1915 book "Traders and Heroes. Reflections of a Patriot" belongs to the propaganda genre, which is an apology for the war. In it, the most famous economist and sociologist of his time justifies the war on the part of Germany by the fact that the development of economy, culture, communication, caused and promoted by market capitalism, turns into consequences that destroy the very foundations of human existence. Mainly — the growth of selfish individualism, the desire for comfort and the fullest possible realization of everyday needs and pleasures. According to the author, the war of German "heroes" against the "traders" personified by the British will turn the human race to recognize the paramount importance of high ideals of spiritual culture. This a priori introduced initial distinction is clarified by a set of dichotomous oppositions: "us — them", "high — low", "sacred — profane", "good — evil", "general — individual". Talking from a radically nationalist perspective turns the apologetics of culture into the apologetics of war. As a result, war is one of those rather rare events that are mythologized and mystified in the most radical way. In W. Sombart’s descriptions, the undeniable, as he is convinced, spiritual significance of war obscures and marginalizes the pain, suffering, loss and destruction that accompany it.

Negative comments and social media: How cognitive biases relate to body image concerns

Body image concern (BIC) is a prevalent issue thought to be exacerbated by social media. In addition to sociocultural factors, cognitive biases may also contribute to BIC. We explore whether cognitive biases in memory for body image-related words, presented in a mock social-media context, are associated with BIC in young adult women. A sample of 150 university students was presented with a series of body image-related comments aimed at either themselves, a close friend, or a celebrity in a recognisable social media context. Afterwards, a surprise memory task was completed that assessed the participant’s memory for body image-related words (item memory), their insight (metamemory), and to whom a specific word was directed (source memory). Self-referential biases were identified for both item memory and source memory. Individuals with greater BIC displayed a greater self-referential bias for correctly and incorrectly sourcing negative words to themselves compared with both friend and celebrity. A greater self-referential effect in metacognitive sensitivity was also associated with higher BIC. We provide novel evidence for a cognitive bias in sourcing negative body image-related information to the self in individuals with higher BIC. The results should inform cognitive remediation programmes aimed at treating individuals with body and eating-related disorders.

Post-gay identities: narrative analysis of homomasculinity among gay and queer men in Aotearoa New Zealand

ABSTRACT The development of queer theory in gender studies has provided multiple possibilities to investigate different aspects of gender construction and performance among people who identify as different from the dominant heterosexual norm. This narrative inquiry examines the identities of gay and queer men in Aotearoa New Zealand, as narrated in semi-structured interviews, with most of them recorded via virtual interactions during the COVID-19 lockdown in March-April of 2020. Narrative analysis of the participants’ stories focuses on how gay and queer individuals navigate their lives as non-normative men who are Othered by traditional, hegemonic and hierarchical masculinity. This research explores how these narratives of post-gay identities contest and move beyond heteronormativity, striving for a liberated presentation of individual self where sexuality is no longer a defining characteristic but one of many on a spectrum.

Dynamics and risk sharing in groups of selfish individuals

Understanding why animals organize in collective states is a central question of current research in, e.g., biology, physics, and psychology. More than 50 years ago, W.D. Hamilton postulated that the formation of animal herds may simply result from the individual‘s selfish motivation to minimize their predation risk. The latter is quantified by the domain of danger (DOD) which is given by the Voronoi area around each individual. In fact, simulations show that individuals aiming to reduce their DODs form compact groups similar to what is observed in many living systems. However, despite the apparent simplicity of this problem, it is not clear what motional strategy is required to find an optimal solution. Here, we use the framework of Multi Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) which gives the unbiased and optimal strategy of individuals to solve the selfish herd problem. We demonstrate that the motivation of individuals to reduce their predation risk naturally leads to pronounced collective behaviors including the formation of cohesive swirls. We reveal a previously unexplored rather complex intra-group motion which eventually leads to a evenly shared predation risk amongst selfish individuals.

Gardening for wildlife: A mixed‐methods exploration of the factors underlying engagement in wildlife‐friendly gardening

Abstract Private domestic gardens have immense potential to contribute to urban biodiversity conservation. However, they are divided into small private plots and managed individually by garden owners. Therefore, engagement in wildlife‐friendly gardening (WFG), which entails alternative management and design choices, relies on the individual willingness of each garden owner. Using an online survey and qualitative walking interviews with garden owners, our study explores individual internal and external factors underlying engagement in WFG. We interpret and reflect on our findings in the context of gardening as a relational practice between people and nature. Our findings suggest that motivations for gardening play a central role in how internal and external factors promote or impede WFG. For example, motivations towards organic gardening and learning from nature promote WFG, whereas personal and family care and well‐being motivations seem to impede it. The perceived and actual garden area, as well as self‐reported insufficient knowledge and social norms, covary the most with engagement in WFG. Engagement in WFG relates to people's relationships with nature, as embodied in social norms of community acceptance and cohesion, and care and respect for nature and others. Future research into pro‐environmental behaviours in gardens should adopt more relational approaches that go beyond the individual self and take better account of feedback between individual actions and social relations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Self-observational life in eighteenth-century Germany

ABSTRACT In recent decades historians of science have argued that observation became something of a way of life in the early modern period. This article expands this analysis by shifting focus from observational practices within natural and experimental philosophy to a number of discourses and practices of self-examination and self-observation in eighteenth-century Germany. While the initial aim of these was therapeutic rather than scientific, therapeutic connotations were partly replaced by epistemic virtues and techniques adopted from natural and experimental philosophy toward the end of the century. The article further argues that the subordination of self-observation to scientific modes of procedure reflected the increasingly radical interest in human subjectivity and, by extension, the emergence of a modern civic and individual self.

Mental time travel for self and others in individuals with a high level of schizotypy.

Mental time travel (MTT) is the ability to project oneself to the past or future through mental simulation. Moreover, MTT can involve self-related or other-related information. This study aimed to compare MTT in individuals with high levels of schizotypy and that in their counterparts with low levels of schizotypy. Participants with high (n=37) and low (n=37) levels of schizotypy completed an MTT task with four conditions [2 (Condition: self vs. other) × 2 (Time orientation: past vs. future)]. They were required to recall past events that had happened to themselves or to a non-intimate person, and to imagine possible future events that might happen to themselves or to a non-intimate person, related to cue words. Outcome measures included specificity, vividness, sense of experience, emotional valence, emotional intensity, proportion of first-person visual perspective in events, and difficulty in event generation. A 2 (Group: high vs. low levels of schizotypy) × 2 (Condition) × 2 (Time orientation) mixed analysis of variance was conducted on each index. Results showed that self-related MTT was more specific than other-related MTT inlow levels of schizotypy participants but not in high levels of schizotypy participants. Participants with a high levelof schizotypy reported fewer specific events, and reported events with lower vividness and positive emotion than did those with a low levelof schizotypy. Self-related MTT showed higher levels of phenomenological characteristics than did other-related MTT. In conclusion, individuals with a high level of schizotypy have altered MTT, and cannot benefit from the self-advantage effect on the specificity of MTT.

ИНТЕРВЬЮ С ДЖАГАДГУРУ РАМАНУДЖАЧАРЬЕЙ СВАМИ ВИШВЕПРАПАННАЧАРЬЕЙ (13 АВГУСТА 2021 Г. В ХРАМЕ СУГРИВ-КИЛА, АЙОДХЬЯ)

Jagadguru Ramanujacharya Swami Vishveprapannacharya is the Head of Sugriv Quila, one of Sri Ramanujacharya’s main Mathas in Ayodhya. He belongs to the lineage of a renowned philosopher Vedanta Deshika and follows Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, Qualified Nonduality which substantially differs from Advaita Vedanta popularized in the West. According to the former teaching both individual self and material world are real and eternal being manifestations of Brahman identified as Vishnu. His title Jagadguru points out at his acceptance by all followers of his lineage as the supreme authority in philosophical and practical questions. Vishveprapannacharya is a disciple of Jagadguru Ramanujacharya Swami Purushottamacharya and spiritual grandson of a well known yogi Devraha Baba.

Testimonial Imperative, Collective Autobiography, and Individual Stories of #MeToo on Twitter

Abstract: This essay looks closely at testimonials posted to Twitter as part of the viral #MeToo movement in October 2017. It examines a testimonial imperative at work in the movement, a driving need and a feeling of responsibility for survivors to come forward and join others who are speaking to share, to bear witness, and to listen to each other. The #MeToo movement has been described as a collective autobiography, but what we also see when we read #MeToo testimonial tweets is that many survivors posted, replied, and quote-tweeted in ways that highlight their individual experiences and their individual selves. By reading closely a number of tweets, this essay unearths important themes, strategies, and forged connections that emerged within this online autobiographical movement.

Nonviolence as a Critique of Individualism in Butler and Gandhi

In this article, I put Judith Butler’s thought of nonviolence in dialogue with that of M. K. Gandhi to show how, for both thinkers, a defense of nonviolence must be grounded in interdependency and equality, which consequently entails a displacement of the individual self and its interests as the focus of ethics. Although Butler’s and Gandhi’s accounts of nonviolence differ in some important respects, both base their defense of nonviolence on a recognition of interdependency in opposition to Western individualism. This critique of individualism as an adequate ethical framework leads each author to question the concept of self-defense and to reject the preservation of individual life as the goal of ethical and political action.

Health Seeking Behaviour among Tribal Population of Shekharakund Colony, Wayanad, Kerala

Introduction: Health is the major pathway to human development. The individual self, various diseases, and theavailability and accessibility of health services all have an impact on how people seek health care.Objectives: The present study is aimed to assess the health seeking behaviours in the tribes of Paniya andKattunayakan in Shekharakund colony, Wayanad.Methods: Data to know the health seeking behaviour was collected using predesigned and pretested questionnairein the native language. Questions were asked about adequate health check-ups in nearby health centres, utilisationof health benefits from nearby PHCs, detection of pregnancy, antenatal check-ups, mode of delivery, immunizationof infants and prevalence of communicable and non-communicable disease (DM/HT) in the selected population,maternal and infant death in the community, knowledge about the antivenom for the snake envonemation, beliefin black magic in causation and treatment of disease.Results: Majority of the study population above 35yrs of age, did not seek health care benefits. 99% of the tribalpopulation found it difficult to take leave from work, 92% complained about long waiting time, 48 % were notsatisfied with the treatment, 95% of respondents said due to unavailability of doctors during the time they visited,98% agreed the distance of health centre was long for them to visit every time. 52.9% of tribal population preferredallopathic treatment over traditional healers. Only 29.4% of the population were aware of snake anti-venom.Conclusions: When treatment is sought, traditional medicines and healers play an important role in maintaininghealth and well-being among the ethnic groups. Traditional medicines and healers were preferred for treatment ofboth ‘simple and complicated diseases’ because of easy accessibility. They are aware of the superiority of modernhealth services but are hesitant to employ them due to the potential time loss.

The Illusion of the Individual Self: A Convergence of Philosophy, Neuroscience, and Cosmology

The Illusion of the Individual Self: A Convergence of Philosophy, Neuroscience, and Cosmology

Jazzing: New York City's Unseen Scene

Jazzing: New York City's Unseen Scene

Planet earth calling: unveiling the brain's response to awe and driving eco-friendly consumption.

Eco-friendly consumption is important for solving climate crisis and moving humanity toward a better future. However, few consumers are willing to pay premiums for eco-friendly products. We investigated the psychological and neural factors that can increase eco-friendly consumption. We propose an experience of awe, in which the individual self is temporarily attenuated as the importance of beings other than oneself increases. Behavioral (Study 1) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI; Study 2) experiments were conducted to explore the awe mechanisms through which climate crisis messages lead to eco-friendly consumption. In Study 1, we found participants felt awe when exposed to climate crisis messages, and their choice of eco-friendly consumption increased. In Study 2, we found that when individuals were exposed to messages depicting the climate crisis (as opposed to a control stimulus), their brains exhibited a lower level of activation in the self-awareness processing and a higher level of activation in external attention processing areas. These results suggest that the awe experience plays an important role in promoting eco-friendly consumption. Marketing must evolve from satisfying basic individual needs to a high level for the well-being of humanity, the planet, and the biosphere. This study sheds light on our understanding of human perceptions of the climate crisis and suggests an effective communication strategy to increase individuals' eco-friendly actions.

Diversifying Universalism: Neohumanism, Internationalism, and Interculturalism in Education

Neohumanism is a philosophy propounded by Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar which recognizes that humanity needs a new narrative that can provide the inspiration, direction, and tools with which to transform individual selves and collective futures. While acknowledging the vital role that Humanism has played in the historical march towards greater freedom, justice, peace, knowledge, and the utopian vision of a united humanity, Neohumanism challenges the limitations of Humanism, entangled as it is with the host of power/over tactics that characterize modernity. “Diversifying Universalism” explores Neohumanism and Neohumanist education alongside two dominant and contemporary paradigms of a global educational approach aimed at realizing the high ideals of a world united, internationalism and interculturalism, assessing their compatibilities and contrasts, examining their strengths and weaknesses, and suggesting ways in which the integration of certain principles and practices might result in a synthesis that is more comprehensive and effective than any of them alone.

Naipaul’s Divided Self in An Area of Darkness

This paper seeks to analyze V.S. Naipaul’s futile attempt of seeking his lost identity in particular reference to his travelogue An Area of Darkness. This study shows how he fails in grabbing the self identity as an Indian and how he diverts himself from his quest when he has time and again suffered by the memory of past. The study adopts qualitative methodology and takes memory studies as a theoretical tool to interpret and analyze the primary text. Moreover, the study focuses on analysis of the text in concern with seeking the fundamental identity that once was lost being a migrant to a distance land. The writer falls in the prey of his own memory time and again and finds himself distorted and distanced from his identity as he is seeking his Indianness there. The study argues that Naipaul remains neither Indian nor Trinidanian due to his own divided cultural and individual self that he possesses in his undying memory.

Online identities in and around organizations: A critical exploration and way forward

The construction, performance, and regulation of identities in the online world have deep implications for individuals, organizations, and society, particularly as digital technologies become increasingly omnipresent in our daily lives. In the last decades, analyses of online identities’ processes have moved from the exploration of identity play, through identity performance, toward a growing identity regulation through algorithmic management and the monetization of personal data. Despite a significant tradition of critical management and organization studies literature on identity, online identities have to date received only scant attention. This Special Issue explores what critical management and organization studies can contribute to research on online identities. Drawing on empirical analysis of virtual forums, social media, and platforms, the six papers included here highlight the struggles that accompany identity processes in the online environment and their implications for workers, activists, and other organized selves. In this introduction, we contextualize these contributions with reference to online identities studies and metaphors of the internet as a place, a tool, and a way of being. We comment on the contributions they make relating to the role of the body, and individual and collective dynamics in online identities processes. Following this, we propose critical ways forward concerning new forms of digital work, multiphrenic context collapse, and online references and sources of identity. We invite researchers to not only critically explore but also to engage with this brave new world that increasingly shapes our individual and collective selves.

The House Divided Against Itself: Youth and Electoral Violence in Nigeria

The assumption that youths are veritable tools in engineering electoral violence has long been established in Nigeria politics. Many of the elections held in the country at federal, state and local levels where violence had erupted, had behind the scenes youths as perpetrators. While some keep making themselves available to selfish individuals and organisations who empowers them to make elections tensed, hindering citizens, especially young ones from freely exercising their civic responsibilities, this is only a fraction of the Nigerian youth population and not the whole. There are more youths who are willing to join the electoral exercise but have become apolitical partly because of threats to their lives and properties if they participated in the electoral process. There have been cases were serving youth corps members, officiating during elections have been attacked and killed by fellow youth, likewise youth who have gone out to vote. Interestingly, Nigeria has a burgeoning young population with more than 70 percent under the age of 40. For peaceful elections and for representative democracy, the youth have a pivotal part to play. Hence, they are both the cause for and the cure against electoral violence in Nigeria. This paper, using desk research, seeks to go beyond the narrative of youth being used as tools to cause violence during elections to argue that the effects of their actions hamper in no small measure the impact their population is able to make in terms of national development and representative democracy.

Does Identity Fusion Moderate the Motivational Primacy of the Individual Self?

Research indicates that the individual self lies closer to the motivational core of the self-concept than does the collective self. Four studies tested whether identity fusion alters the motivational primacy of the individual self. Three studies replicated primacy-paradigms and all manipulated whether the collective self was derived from an ingroup to which the participant felt more versus less fused. Despite the successful manipulation, the individual self remained primary: Even when the collective self was based on a fused ingroup, participants reacted more strongly to the imagined loss of their individual self, assigned greater subjective value to their individual self, attributed more of who they are to their individual self, and evidenced greater personal than collective self-focus. We discuss individual-self primacy in regard to Identity Fusion Theory’s agentic-personal self principle.

The Happiness that Qualifies Nonduality: Jñāna, Bhakti, and Sukha in Rāmānuja’s Vedārthasaṃgraha

The great eleventh-century figure, Rāmānuja, belonged to the Śrīvaiṣṇava community that worshiped the divine as Viṣṇu-with-Śrī, the Lord-and-Consort. But he also embarked on a project to develop an interpretation of the first-century Vedāntasūtra, which presented the supposedly core teachings of the major Upaniṣads, traditionally the last segment of the sacred corpus of the Vedas. Rāmānuja sought to reconcile the devotional commitments of Śrīvaiṣṇavism—which was built on the human yearning for the divine that was incomprehensibly Other while graciously accessible—with the conceptual demands of the Vedānta in which a profound identity between the individual self (ātman) and the impersonal, ultimate explanatory principle (brahman) was taught. This reconciliation of difference and identity came to be called “Qualified Nondualism.” In his earliest work, the Vedārthasaṃgraha, one of the ways Rāmānuja points to reconciliation is through identifying a single state of consciousness as both cognition of nonduality (the Vedāntic project) and the emotionally valent experience of happiness (the supreme expression of the human encounter with the divine). It does not seem that he systematically pursues this conception of how a state can be both cognitive and affective, and such an analysis will require independent philosophical analysis. Thus, this article argues that if a state of consciousness were indeed both cognitive and affective in this way, we would have a full explanation for how the devotional approach of a human being to Viṣṇu-with-Śrī can also be the self’s realization of identity with brahman.