Gradually warming up to certain concepts in psychoanalysis

About two years ago, I was staunchly against the freud/jung mode of analyzing personality. It seemed too esoteric to me to say that the collective unconscious existed, and certain personality aspects (ego, id, superego) and archetypes (the hero, the old man, the seductress) existed. Even now, I wonder whether nominalism about these concepts is a better fit for these theories rather than them existing in a platonic realm. 

 However, the more I read about these concepts, the more I believe that they should be treated as universals. Take platonism about chairs, for example. The classical problem is how we can best define a chair. Is it a legged platform that one can sit on? No, because couches are chairs, and couches do not necessarily have legs. Is it simply a platform that one can sit on? No, because a ledge, like a cliffside, is not typically considered a chair. It is difficult to specify what constitutes the platonic form of a chair. But nonetheless, I think it exists: the platonic form of a chair has all the specifiers of a chair and does not have all the specifiers of non-chairs.  

Platonism about chairs is distinct from platonism about mathematical objects (like numbers or geometric shapes) in that the former are experienced and the latter are a priori. Is this coherent? I'm not quite sure, because it may be the case that all concepts are a priori abstractions.  But if platonic numbers exist, and platonic chairs exist, why not platonic personality traits? Or platonic unconsciousness? It seems perfectly plausible. 

Furthermore, it seems as if virtue ethics is closely intertwined with archetypes. What does it mean to be a good person? Taking the Confucius view of justified relations (rectification of names), he thinks that there are certain roles to be fulfilled. What makes a good son? It is one characterized by filial piety. What is the form of a hero? It is the ideal: courage, bravery, strength, and so on. It seems that this is perfectly plausible. 

The continuity of the heroic form across cultures seems to support this idea even more.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Way of Kings and Words of Radiance -- Short review

Finished Sanderson's TWoK and WoR recently. Some notes:  Pacing: Definitely had some slower parts (especially TWoK's first 2/3rds). WoR's duels were better than the end.  Characters: Shallan's character really grew on me. I didn't expect to like her as much as I did. Kaladin continues to be very tiring -- albeit he is growing slowly. Contrary to what other readers think, I don't think he is actually dealing with depression. I think he's just exhausted. I did enjoy his realization that Elhokar was to Dalinar what Tien was to Kaladin. The analogy's good, but I think it's a bit forced given the asymmetry between Elhokar's poor moral record and Tien's blamelessness.   Dalinar has taken a backseat. I think that he continues to be too trusting of others (particularly Aladar and Sadeas). He takes risks that he shouldn't take, and gets away with it. For example, he insists on putting his whole camp in a position that cannot escape the Parshendi. ...
Read more

The Resilience of a Man

 Okay, forgive me for being parasocial. I'm watching jasontheween's prom night stream and the vibes are absolutely off. Before, Jason and his date Sakura got matching nail designs -- with Sakura having a "J" drawn on her nails. But later on in the night, Sakura half jokingly tells him that the "J" isn't for him but for his cameraman Jawhn. Jason asks her to take it back. She doesn't. The vibes immediately fall off. The car ride back is awkward as hell. It's obvious Jason wants to say something and Sakura's talking just to talk.  When they get back, Jason's friends are all telling him to keep shooting his shot and don't take the joke too seriously. But Jason's never had something like this happen to him so publicly. Yea, he's been "lil bro'd" before, but not to the extent of being in such a cuck position. It's absolutely infuriating to be put in that position. His friends are correct to say that he should take...
Read more

Prohibitions against mind-altering drugs: Biblical and Kantian perspectives

I understand that the Bible does not necessarily provide a comprehensive moral theory. There are times when proper, methodical exegesis is necessary to derive certain flavors of Christian ethics. These, however, are inevitably influenced by non-Biblical sources. For example, much of virtue ethics is derived and appropriated from Aristotelian ethics.  I want to focus on verses speaking out against alcohol use in the Bible. There are many of them, and they seem to prohibit drunkenness rather than alcohol use at large. Ironically, Jesus's first miracle is turning water into wine. Let's take a look at scripture:  Ephesians 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. Proverbs 23:20-21 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. The moral ...
Read more