Life Companion Research Articles

Letter about a Review

Letter about a Review

Enlightenment against Fundamentalism: The Example of Lessing

It was a double joy for me to be honored with the Lessing Prize by the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Honor and recognition previously had not been my companions in life, and it was precisely their absence which I took for an indication that the path I had decided to follow was more honorable than that of conformity, which I have avoided. Thus I have cultivated in my character an almost instinctive mistrust of all institutional honors, a mistrust bordering on arrogance. However, since, as the jury's decision states, politicially engaged philosophy is being honored with my award, a philosophy which also has political enlightenment as its goal, I am setting aside my arrogance quite willingly today and accept this prize with happy thanks. I am doubly glad that the prize carries the name of Lessing. I was three years old when my father first told me the parable of the three rings. Perhaps he had started out on the third level of the education of humankind. So it is no wonder that for several years the rapture of the Knight Templar was more appealing to me than the wisdom of Nathan. Even so, I believe that the subterranean influence of this story, which was told to me at such an early age, contributed to my liberation from a self-incurred immaturity. Since then my relationship to Lessing has always been an intimate one. The word intimacy is completely applicable here. The philosophical structures of Aristotle, Kant or Marx have influenced my thought profoundly. But I would not have been able to deal on a personal level with the people who created these structures: I never would have chosen them for my friends. Lessing, however, was and still is my friend. He extends his hand to us, he imparts no uneasiness in us with his greatness: he is on our level. In The Hamburg Dramaturgy Lessing writes the following about Socrates: Beautiful aphorisms and morals are precisely what we hear least from a philosopher such as Socrates; the way in which he leads his life is the only morality which he preaches. But knowing humanity and ourselves, to be attentive to our feelings; . . . to judge each thing according to its intention, this is what we -learn in association with

George Nicholas Papanicolaou (1883-1962)

G. N. Papanicolaou was born on May the 13, 1883 in the city of Kymi on the Greek island of Euboea. He received his MD degree from the University of Athens in 1904 and a PhD from the University of Munich in 1910. After service as a medical officer in the Balkan War of 1912-1913, he came to New York with Mary (for over 50 years Dr Pap's life companion). George's violin playing at restaurants and coffee-shops supplied them with a few extra cents. Papanicolaou was appointed assistant in the Pathology Laboratory at the New York Hospital. In 1928 he presented his work "New Cancer Diagnosis" to the third race betterment conference (Battle Creek, Michigan). But the work was met with scepticism. The now famous monograph "The Diagnostic Value of Vaginal Smears in Carcinoma of the Uterus" was published in 1941 in the Am J Obst Gyn. During this time, he developed his method of preservation of these cells by wet fixation and precise staining. Papanicolaou persisted with his ideas, and finally cytologic examination of the cervix was accepted. The power of Papanicolaou screening for uterine cancer was remarkable. The first National Cytology Congress, held in 1948, hailed this new diagnostic tool for carcinoma of the cervix as unique because it could detect cancer before it was visible. He described the importance of a distinct cellular pattern corresponding to cervical intraepithelial neoplastic lesions. The value of this pattern, expressing evolutionary steps in the development of cancer at individual cell levels, was not appreciated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Old People Talk about Death

This is a verbatim taping of a group psychotherapy session for eight elderly female residents aged 75 to 88 of a proprietary Nursing Home (Kingsbirdge Heights) in the Bronx, New York City. Death in this setting is a constant life companion. Depression related to the suppression of the feeling of anger and fear of death is a well-known phenomenon. The reader is allowed to interpret and develop his own ideas, as the paper is presented without comment on theory or technique.

What Can Be Done about Noise?

Do irritating noises interfere with your work or comfort? Noise and sound, which mean the same thing, are our inseparable companions in modern life. These distracting sounds that assail us where we live, work, study, or play, often produce fatigue and errors. At times people may have difficulty in appraising the effects of sound, although these effects are very real. Thus, the origin and affects of noise and auditory comfort are closely related to building construction and materials. The objective of sound control should be to create a sonic environ-

ORAIBI MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

The marriage ceremony of the Hopi Indians of Arizona is a complicated and protracted performance, and while the customs and ceremonies in the different Hopi pueblos are essentially the same, I will confine myself to those observed at Oraibi, the largest and most primitive of the villages of Tusayan. It is well known that among some civilized as well as among some half-civilized peoples, a consideration is given for the woman or girl to be wedded; and while in some cases this is done in such manner that it can hardly be said the woman is bought, in others it is equivalent to direct purchase. Among the Hopi Indians marriage by purchase does not exist. To be sure gifts are made to the bride and by the bride; but the former can in no wise be regarded as an exchange for the woman, hence in this respect the marriage customs of Oraibi differ materially from those of many other primitive peoples, including many of the American tribes. Furthermore, among the Hopi the choice of a life companion is left almost entirely to the couple contemplating marriage, coercion on the part of the parents or guardians being exercised only in rare instances. The condition of affairs in a Hopi village is such that young people have ample opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted. Nearly all the houses adjoin, and most of the streets are narrow. Families do not come and go as in a settlement of white people, and, above all, social intercourse is not influenced by language, occupation, social standing, or religious differences, as in most Caucasian communities. So the Hopi mingle with one another from early childhood; they grow together into manhood 238