Existentialism as Biology
TL;DR: Existentialism is compatible with a broadly biological vision of who we are as discussed by the authors, which is grounded in an analysis of concrete or individual possibility, which differs from standard conception.
Abstract: Existentialism is compatible with a broadly biological vision of who we are. This thesis is grounded in an analysis of “concrete” or “individual” possibility, which differs from standard conception...
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07 Apr 2016TL;DR: In this article, a case study of a traditionalist group of Mennonites in the midwestern United States was used to examine the relationship between religion, community, guilt, anxiety, and the experience of natural disaster.
Abstract: Cultural psychology and experimental existential psychology are two of the fastest-growing movements in social psychology. In this book, Daniel Sullivan combines both perspectives to present a groundbreaking analysis of culture's role in shaping the psychology of threat experience. The first part of the book presents a new theoretical framework guided by three central principles: that humans are in a unique existential situation because we possess symbolic consciousness and culture; that culture provides psychological protection against threatening experiences, but also helps to create them; and that interdisciplinary methods are vital to understanding the link between culture and threat. In the second part of the book, Sullivan presents a novel program of research guided by these principles. Focusing on a case study of a traditionalist group of Mennonites in the midwestern United States, Sullivan examines the relationship between religion, community, guilt, anxiety, and the experience of natural disaster.
37 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors showed that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.
Abstract: In reworking a variety of biological concepts, Developmental Systems Theory (DST) has made frequent use of parity of reasoning. We have done this to show, for instance, that factors that have similar sorts of impact on a developing organism tend nevertheless to be invested with quite different causal importance. We have made similar arguments about evolutionary processes. Together, these analyses have allowed DST not only to cut through some age-old muddles about the nature of development, but also to effect a long-delayed reintegration of development into evolutionary theory. Our penchant for causal symmetry, however (or 'causal democracy', as it has recently been termed), has sometimes been misunderstood. This paper shows that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.
8 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this article, Nussbaum argued that emotions are functional, most of the time CATHERINE LUTZ from Unnatural Emotions ANTONIO DAMASIO from The Feeling of What Happens and WALTER B. CANNON from Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage.
Abstract: Preface I. THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ARISTOTLE From Rhetoric From On the Soul From Nicomachean Ethics THE STOICS From Early Stoics From Seneca, De Ira From Galen, On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato RENE DESCARTES From The Passions of the Soul BENEDICT SPINOZA From Ethics DAVID HUME From A Treatise of Human Nature II. THE MEETING OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOLOGY CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN From The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals WILLIAM JAMES From What Is an Emotion? WALTER B. CANNON From Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage JOHN DEWEY From The Theory of Emotion SIGMUND FREUD From The Unconscious Anxiety (From General Lectures on Psychoanalysis) STANLEY SCHACHTER AND JEROME E. SINGER From Cognitive, Social, and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State PAUL EKMAN From Biological and Cultural Contributions to Body and Facial Movement in the Expression of Emotions RICHARD LAZARUS Appraisal: The Minimal Cognitive Prerequisites of Emotion NICO FRIJDA Emotions are Functional, Most of the Time CATHERINE LUTZ From Unnatural Emotions ANTONIO DAMASIO From The Feeling of What Happens III. THE CONTINENTAL TRADITION FRANZ BRENTANO From On the Origin of Our Knowledge of Right and Wrong MAX SCHELER From Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values MARTIN HEIDEGGER Charles Guignon, Moods in Heidegger's Being and Time JEAN-PAUL SARTRE From The Emotions: A Sketch of a Theory IV. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND EMOTION GILBERT RYLE From The Concept of Mind ERROL BEDFORD From Emotions ANTHONY KENNY From Action, Emotion and Will ROBERT C. SOLOMON From Emotions and Choice CHESHIRE CALHOUN Cognitive Emotions? RONALD DE SOUSA From The Rationality of Emotion MICHAEL STOCKER The Irreducibility of Affectivity PATRICIA GREENSPAN Reasons to Feel Martha Nussbaum Emotions as Judgements of Value and Importance PAUL GRIFFITHS From What Emotions Really Are Bibliography
94 citations
01 Jan 2002
82 citations
"Existentialism as Biology" refers background in this paper
...Consider the provocative claims made by Doris (2002) on the basis of such evidence as Milgram’s obedience experiments or the “good Samaritan” experiment of Darley and Batson (1973)....
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TL;DR: This paper showed that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.
Abstract: In reworking a variety of biological concepts, Developmental Systems Theory (DST) has made frequent use of parity of reasoning. We have done this to show, for instance, that factors that have similar sorts of impact on a developing organism tend nevertheless to be invested with quite different causal importance. We have made similar arguments about evolutionary processes. Together, these analyses have allowed DST not only to cut through some age-old muddles about the nature of development, but also to effect a long-delayed reintegration of development into evolutionary theory. Our penchant for causal symmetry, however (or 'causal democracy', as it has recently been termed), has sometimes been misunderstood. This paper shows that causal symmetry is neither a platitude about multiple influences nor a denial of useful distinctions, but a powerful way of exposing hidden assumptions and opening up traditional formulations to fruitful change.
75 citations
Journal Article•
49 citations