Identity Theorists Research Articles

Autobiographical Memory and Moral Identity Development

Moral identity theory is one of the most popular theories of moral development. A central concept of moral identity theory is moral integration. Moral identity theorists refer to moral integration as the process by which moral values become central to a person's identity, thus developing one's moral identity. The problem is that there is still very little understanding of the psychological processes that constitute the process of moral integration. The aim of this paper is to offer an account of the role of autobiographical memory in moral identity development. Autobiographical memory refers to the ability to recollect events in one's past as part of one's personal history. I motivate the claim that the role of the development of autobiographical memory in moral integration should be conceived in relation to the emergence of psychological abilities that both develop and are exercised on a personal, conscious, and deliberative level.

Modality and Actuality: Lukács’s Criticism of Hegel in History and Class Consciousness

Abstract The present article tries to show the originality of Lukács’s theory of Actuality (Wirklichkeit) by comparing it with the same notion in Hegel’s Logic. It results that Lukács’s interpretation of Marxism and the Russian Revolution depends on a clear and independent theoretical position with regard to Hegel and his Idealistic theory of Modality. Particular importance is given to the new conception of the Dialectical interplay between the notions of Objective Possibility and Historical Necessity.

Racism, epistemic injustice, and ideology critique

Since its 2007 publication, Miranda Fricker’s Epistemic Injustice has sparked a vigorous conversation in analytic philosophy about how social power corrodes individual’s epistemic capacities and distorts collective meaning-making in unjust ways. Yet for all its normative insights into social silencing, I argue that Fricker’s theorization of epistemic dysfunction remains too individualized, cognitivist, and dematerialized to account for racialized imaginaries. Rather than view racisms as normal and normative in racist cultures, Fricker frames identity-driven prejudice as a troubling aberration from otherwise unblemished epistemic and moral norms. This leads her into adopting an overly voluntarist and idealist theory of social change that centres training better knowers rather than unmaking racialized worlds. Ultimately, I contend that we should return to a materialist theory of ideology, following the work of Stuart Hall. Doing so jettisons the narrow focus on individual epistemic failures and instead problematizes how certain social ideas consolidate and reproduce racial hierarchies.

Moral Identity, Moral Integration, and Autobiographical Narrative

AbstractMoral identity theorists argue that moral action is explained by the centrality of moral values to a person’s identity. Moral identity theorists refer to moral integration as both the process by which moral values become central to a person’s identity and the state an individual is in when a given moral value is central to their identity. While moral identity theorists appeal to autobiographical narratives to determine the state of moral integration in an individual, they have little to say about the role of autobiographical narratives in articulating the process of moral integration. The aim of this paper is to argue that appealing to autobiographical narratives supports the view that moral integration is a learning process the outcome of which is the acquisition of an understanding of moral concepts that is exercised in moral deliberation. Since moral identity theorists argue that moral integration is empirically correlated to a sustained commitment to moral action, the upshot of the argument of this paper is an account that elucidates the relationship between moral identity, moral action and moral deliberation.

Illusionist Theory of Consciousness as a Development of Identity Theory of the Mental and the Physical

A few years ago, an illusionist theory of consciousness appeared in the philosophy of consciousness. It makes an unexpected statement – there is actually no phenomenal consciousness, it is illusory. This illusion is created introspective distortion of physical processes in the brain, which seem to us to have special phenomenal properties. However, an equally strong form of physicalism in the philosophy of consciousness has already appeared more than fifty years ago – identity theory of the mental and physical. Moreover, the proponents of illusionism themselves admit their connection with the identity theorists. As a result, it is reasonable to ask whether illusionism is simply a modern adaptation of the identity theory, and not a new independent theory. This article is devoted to this issue. First, the author presents both theories, focusing on their key statements, arguments and advantages described by the followers of the respective approaches. Then the author makes a comparison, highlighting common places and differences for the approaches. Among the former, the following are noted: the physicalist spirit of both theories; their denial of the existence of a special mental properties metaphysically different from physical ones; argumentation in favor of the pragmatic attractiveness of a theory; defending their key theses as primarily hypotheses that may turn out to be true; a similar strategy for explaining the error, as a result of which we come to the conclusion about the existence of the mental. However, the author also points out a number of serious differences: different attitudes to the possibility of neutral notion for properties of experience; differences in the vision of the content of the mind-body problem; illusionist denial of the real referent of the language of phenomenality; the development of the concept of illusion, which entails a number of new solutions and problems; the epistemological significance of the main arguments of illusionism is more influential in comparison with identity theory. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that, despite the fact that a significant part of the content of the theories coincides, illusionism has a number of key differences. This testifies, on the one hand, to the skillful use of past achievements of the physicalist-oriented philosophy of consciousness, and, on the other, to the fundamental novelty and independence of illusionism.

Brandom on Hegel’s Objective Idealism

Brandom, in his recent Spirit of Trust, develops a novel reading of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit as a theory of objective idealism. In this paper, I aim to defend this interesting blend of concept realism and idealism against some potential objections by revising Brandom’s account of conceptuality based on Hegel’s logical concept of life as constitutive of objective determinations. In the first section, I briefly reconstruct the main tenets of Brandom’s objective idealism and recount its achievements. In the second section, I point out some major potential issues. First, Brandom’s commitment to a semantic holism in the context of scientific laws is likely to have reductionist or scientifically untenable implications. Second, Brandom seems to ignore Hegel’s own definition of objective idealism based on the concept of life – the culmination of his theory of conceptuality in his logic. I claim that Hegel not only has a strong emergentist commitment to the concept of life, but also argues that life is the ground of logical determinations. The last section suggests that a revision of Brandom’s framework based on a constitutive category of life can solve the problems outlined in section two.

Legal pluralism, ideology, and institutional change: the evolution of institutions for coastal resource governance in Ghana

Abstract Co-management regimes are institutional innovations that hold the promise of achieving sustainable common-pool resource governance. However, the transition to such institutional regimes in coastal resource systems has faced challenges in many countries. This article examines the processes and outcomes of such institutional changes in coastal fisheries in Ghana, where the transition to co-management was unsuccessful. Combining theoretical perspectives from legal pluralism in legal anthropology and ideational theories of institutional change within institutional economics, the paper uses process tracing to examine the role of ideology and historical institutional dynamics of the resource context in the institutionalization and failure of co-management arrangements for governing coastal fisheries. The study finds that ideological conflicts and historical legacies of legal pluralism hindered the practice and outcomes of coastal fisheries co-management in Ghana. The article argues for particular attention to the historical institutional dimensions and underlying worldviews of the resource context in institutional interventions for sustainability in coastal resource systems.

Being in Plato’s idea

Human beings own an intelligent and conscious existence. This distinguishes human beings from other creatures. Human beings are characterized by thinking and asking questions about existence in general, their own existence and the universe. No other creatures possess such an intelligence. We ask why am I here and what is the source and nature of my existence? How did this world come into existence? and many other questions, which have become a problem and occupied the human mind. Before and after the rise of philosophy, the question of existence has been an important issue and an essential problem of all time. Consequently, man has been searching for the truth and answers to his questions.
 Man's consciousness is imperfect, which has become the source of his desires for self-completion and perfection. This imperfection is an incentive for continuous efforts to comprehend the meaning of existence. Throughout the ages, philosophers have sought the nature of the question of existence according to the times in which they lived. The answers to this question have varied, each interpreting it in a different way. Plato interpreted the question of existence under the influence of a number of schools and philosophers. The absolute existence of the Elites became the basis of the idealistic theory of eternal change, in which Heraclitus' philosophy became an important characteristic of the perceived world and material appearances, and benefited from Pythagorean numeracy.
 Plato's theory of existence is similar to his theory of knowledge, in a way that rises from the senses to the mind, and divides existence into two parts on this basis: The presence of objects and the presence of consciousness. Plato presents his theory of the origin and creation of the universe, which can be called "Plato's geometric nuclear or mathematical theory" about the nature of existence and the distinction between apparent existence and exemplary existence. In Plato's view of absolute existence, the "idea" and the general existence is the existence from which all things in the world originate.

Hakikat Musik Sekular dan Musik Gereja: Kajian Ontologis dari Perspektif Teori Idealisme Plato

In essence, secular music is different from church music. Secular music is the music industry, which built on the basis of a capitalistic system. Secular music is created and performed for the glory and benefit of the composer or singer himself. That is the reason secular is called worldly music. Not so with church music. The subject, goal, and message of church music is the person of Jesus Christ himself, so this music is spiritual. Based on Plato’s theory of idealism (which s related to Plato’s theory of the soul), it can be said that secular music is in the area of ephitumia and thumos, while church music is in area of logostikon. Secular music leads to something that is not eternal while the church music is directed to eternal goals. The goal of church music is ultimately divine intellect; rational but faithful.

Nonviolent Counterterrorism Measures as a Panacea for Peace and Political Stability in the Niger Delta: An Analysis of Nigeria’s Amnesty Policy

The best approach to resolve major conflicts confronting states remains a source of debate amongst conflict scholars; hence, this paper examined nonviolent counterterrorism measures as a panacea for peace, political stability and development in the Niger Delta. The paper argues that the cost of resolving conflict through nonviolence greatly outweighs the cost of resolving, conflict via the use of force. Data for the study were drawn from secondary sources while the analysis was done qualitatively. In terms of theoretical framework, the paper relied on the idealist theory to guide the study. The paper posits that to address the problem of insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria, the Nigerian state and its leaders must invest more in the socio-economic development of its citizens through capacity building.

Является ли язык знаковой системой? (Ленин, Соссюр и теория иероглифов)

This paper strives to pursue two goals at the same time: – how can one get to know in depth the intellectual life of the Soviet Union in the 1930s–50s? – what can the virulent anti-Saussurean criticism in Russia at that time tell us about the specificity of the Marxist-Leninist theory of sign? We will propose here an apparently narrow angle of attack: the recurring theme of this criticism, namely that Saussure’s Cours presents a ”theory of hieroglyphics” (or symbols), therefore a type of bourgeois idealist theory that Lenin assailed in his 1909 book Materialism and Empiriocriticism about E. Mach, and which was upheld for a time by Plekhanov. But thinking about hieroglyphics is based on much older controversies, dating back to the 17th century about the deciphering of Egyptian writing. The issue which arises here is semiotic in nature: it is the scalar opposition between transparency and opacity of the sign that is at stake. Does the sign hide or reveal? The Soviet discourse on language and signs in the 1930s–50s seems entirely to be based on an interrogation of the sign/referent, language/thought, form/content relationship. A part of the history of semiotics can thus be discovered from the critique of the “hieroglyphic theory”, a little-known episode in a debate on the interpretation of Saussurism.

How Are Populist Attitudes Activated? Understanding Revolutionary Mobilization in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract Populist mobilization may take different forms. It can be either revolutionary, through social movements, or electoral, through political parties, but is often a mixture of both under the leadership of a populist persona. The October Revolution in Kyrgyzstan provides an opportunity to look beyond classical cases of populist mobilization in Europe and the Americas to uncover key factors that cause existing populist attitudes to become activated and mobilized. Political science literature points to the root causes of populist uprisings as coming from either the supply-side perspective, meaning populist rhetoric and institutional conditions that induce the appearance of populist parties, or the demand-side perspective, meaning individual attitudes that predict support for populists. These theories of populism may do well at explaining American or European varieties of populist mobilization, but they fail to capture Kyrgyzstan’s experience. Thus, drawing on ideational theory that emphasizes the interplay between populist attitudes, elite rhetoric, and contextual factors, this study employs World Values Survey (WVS) data from 2003, 2011, and 2020—three pivotal pre-revolutionary or post-revolutionary periods. This allows for the investigation of not only the changes in attitudes but also crucial contextual factors that determined the outcome of the October Revolution. The findings show that, on the demand-side, populist ideas have always been widespread, but required specific material conditions, including explosive corruption scandals and the COVID-19 crisis, and populist cues from the supply-side to become activated.

Drinker Identity Development: Shame, Pride, and a Thirst to Belong

Identity theorists assume that individuals intentionally construct and maintain a culturally valued sense of self. Although this logic makes sense for positive identities—doctor, parent, or scientist—it becomes questionable when applied to the construction of negative, or stigmatized, identities, such as that of a drinker. By interviewing 16 members of a metropolitan recovery community, I focus on how marginalized identities form seemingly absent of intention. In doing so, I show how stress and negative messaging from guardians, peers, and community members produce persistent painful emotions that restrict access to culturally valued identity pathways and steer individuals toward spaces of consumption. Through each lost socially valued role, the drinker identity becomes more salient, achieving more importance in daily life and becoming central to individuals’ lived experiences. That is, the drinker role becomes a primary source of positive affect and belongingness when these essential ingredients of social life are unobtainable elsewhere. More broadly, I challenge current theoretical assumptions that dominated intervention strategies and recovery policy for decades and offer considerations for policy and intervention programs.

Sacred Socialism

Sacred Socialism

Epistemologi Fatwa tentang Politik Uang di Indonesia

This study intends to identify the epistemology of the Fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council on the monasticism of money politic. Qualitative research in the form of literature studies uses a normative-philosophical approach. The primary data of this study is in the form of a document of the Ijtima' Ulama Decree of the Indonesian Fatwa Commission in 2018. Secondary data uses a variety of correlative scientific literature with a focus on discussion. The theory of idealism and the realism of Islamic law became the theory of analysis of this research. Data collection through documentation. Meanwhile, data analysis goes through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. This research shows the epistemological construction of the fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council on the political monastery of money not only based on the idealistic-normative-deductive epistemology of Islamic law, but also emphasizes the aspects of Islamic legal realism in the form of considerations about the effectiveness of the fatwa in the midst of community life. The theoretical implications of this study show that the provisions of Islamic law (fatwa) related to the prohibition of money politics require considerations of legal formulations that do not only refer to normative idealism of law, but also legal realism. The limitations of this study have not identified the method of interpretation of the Indonesian Ulema Council on various theological foundations of monasticism of money politics.

Pavel Novgorodtsev and the Concept of Legal Consciousness in Russian Philosophy of Law

This article explores the main contributions of Pavel Novgorodtsev (1866–1924) to Russian philosophy of law, focusing on his central idea that the rule of law depends on a neo-idealist conception of legal consciousness based on natural law and fundamentally on human dignity, or respect for the intrinsic and absolute worth of the human person. The article examines Novgorodtsev’s critique of the historical school of jurisprudence, which was the subject of his first book, as well as his understanding of natural law as a moral ideal, of personhood as the highest moral purpose of and justification for law, and of law as the basic condition of society and therefore of human perfectibility or progress. It shows that his concept of “individualism” had both a methodological meaning and a more broadly philosophical meaning coinciding with the meaning of personalism (the defense of the absolute worth of personhood). Novgorodtsev based his own personalist metaphysics on an idealist theory of human nature. He held that the “absolute ideal,” one of his main philosophical concepts, entailed the metaphysical reality of the Absolute. The second half of the article details the ways Novgorodtsev applied his theory of natural law and his conception of legal consciousness to the modern state, especially in his 1909 book, The Crisis of Modern Legal Consciousness, which presents a rich intellectual history of the concept of the Rechtstaat or правовое государство. The article concludes that Novgorodtsev’s neo-idealist conception of legal consciousness deeply shaped the thought of other philosophers associated with the Moscow school of Russian legal philosophy.

IDEALISME DAN REALISME DALAM PARADIGMA FATWA EKONOMI SYARIAH DI INDONESIA

This normative-philosophical research uses the theory of idealism and realism of Islamic law in identifying the epistemological features of the DSN-MUI paradigm. The results of the study show that the epistemological pattern of the paradigm of the formulation of the DSN-MUI integrates the idealism and realism of Islamic law. This integration can be seen from the four DSN-MUI paradigms. First, al-Taysîr al-Manhaji. This paradigm emphasizes the formulation of fatwas to use legal opinions that do not burden legal subjects, but still adhere to the correct methodology of Islamic law. Second, at-Tafriq baina al-Halal wal Haram. This paradigm emphasizes the separation of halal and haram issues, both in terms of capital, product development, and profit. This is because Islamic economic activities cannot be completely separated from the conventional economic system that has been running for a long time. Third, I'adah al-Nazhar. This paradigm emphasizes reviewing the opinions of classical Islamic law when it is seen that it is no longer a solution to the empirical problems of sharia economics in modern society. Fourth, Tahqiq al-Manath. This paradigm emphasizes the evaluation of legal causes (illat law) by considering the reality of the development of the economic system.

Is Reductive Materialism a Defensible Philosophy of Mind?

Over the past decades, reductive materialism has made a recipe for philosophy of mind to explore the subtle nature of the human mind. By and large, many identity theorists were likely to argue that mental states can be found in cognitive faculties of the brain so that the mind, if not most, associates with discoverable phenomena with no burden of proof. To put this bluntly, reductive materialism is typically defined by its very nature: all mental states are neurological states of the brain; ergo, it is implausible to make room for the substance dualism thereto. In response to this naturalist stance, aka reductive materialism, this article, thereby, contends that reductive materialism cannot be placed in a defensible position in philosophy of mind vis-à-vis the Kripkean modality; accordingly, this brief survey has identified several barnstorming findings in support of the thesis: the necessity and contingency, the core plank of possibility, rigid and non-rigid designators, and conceivability and possibility. In spite of its limitations, the study certainly adds to our understanding of the so-called reductive materialism in philosophy of mind. Nevertheless, a full discussion of naturalism lies beyond the scope of this study. Further work is, therefore, needed to fully digest the implications of reductive materialism and Kripke’s modal argument.

Agents of Grace

This article contributes to theorizations of ethical agency in the anthropology of Islam by turning to the medieval moral theologian Abū āmid al-Ghazālī (1058-1111). Building on Talal Asad’s engagement with Ghazālī, this article closely reads the latter’s writing on intentionality, which amply illuminates his theory of ethical agency. Ghazālī neither elaborates an idealist theory of ethical agency nor posits an ethical subject whose practices are “directed at making certain kinds of behaviors unconscious or nondeliberative” (Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 139). Rather, he articulates ethical agency as a site of contingency and ambivalence, as action involves not only knowledge, resolution/will, and bodily capacity but also divine grace. Grace, this article argues, is a cipher for the non-sovereignty of the ethical subject, since for Ghazālī agency is split between the subject’s discursive and material capacities (knowledge, resolution, and bodily strength) and a certain metamorphic spontaneity/enablement that is experienced as a gift of the Other (grace). By turning to Ghazālī, then, this article encourages serious engagement with the concept of grace for understanding ethical agency in the anthropology of Islam. “[The pious ancestors] knew that intention is not what a person pronounces with his tongue when he utters, ‘I intend.’ Rather, it is the springing forth in the heart of the flowing stream of openings from God, [a springing forth] that sometimes happens easily and sometimes with difficulty.” —Ḥujjat-ul-Islām Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī

Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among university students in South Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic: the application of interpersonal-psychological theory and early maladaptive schema.

BackgroundThis study examined the application of interpersonal-psychological theory and early maladaptive schema of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in South Korean university students.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, data from 367 university students were surveyed using the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, Early Maladaptive Schema, Suicide Ideation Scale, and the Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale. Data were collected between June 21 and July 21, 2021.ResultsUniversity students’ interpersonal needs and early maladaptive schema were significantly associated with suicidal ideation, and influencing suicide attempts. The acquired capability for suicide moderated the relationship between suicidal ideation and attempts.ConclusionsIn suicide prevention programs for university students, it is critical to consider their interpersonal needs and early maladaptive schema, and the acquired capability for suicide, to prevent suicidal ideation and attempts among them.