Life in Solitary: Anthropological Assumptions as Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Claims about human nature are unavoidable in political theory. A theory about which social arrangements are best for human beings must make some claims about the nature of the human beings - how they behave, what they desire, etc. These anthropological assumptions provide the theoretical foundation for political theory and the building blocks of social models. One way of criticizing a sociopolitical theory is to target these assumptions and argue that it is premised upon a wrong or too simple view of human behavior. Simplified assumptions are often used in scientific models, as they can lead to hypotheses that can be tested empirically. The simplified assumptions can be justified if they lead to correct predictions. This is more complicated in social theory where the building blocks in the model are human beings because the models can affect the behavior of their subjects. This can happen in different ways: Directly, because humans are responsive to the way they are described - how we think of ourselves directly impacts how we behave - and indirectly, because the hypotheses of social models are often used as legitimation of policies and institutional designs that regulate human relations and behavior. The models about human nature thus become part of human nature. This leads to a second way of critiquing sociopolitical theories: Not by stating that they misrepresent a true human nature but that they describe humans as affected by such theories and by the social arrangements the theories are used to justify. I find this line of critique more fruitful as it does not rely on the claim that there exists a true human nature that is static and unaffected by social arrangements and beliefs. This dissertation examines how claims about human nature impact political and economic theories and how these theories impact human behavior and subjectivity. It focuses on individualistic theories premised upon a view of humans as solitary creatures whose preferences can be modeled as if they are independent of others. Such models lead to the theoretical primacy of conflict between independent subjects and the theoretical implausibility of cooperation and trust between them - thus, certain social and political arrangements are seen as necessary. This view exists in the political philosophy of Hobbes and Rawls, and in the social theory of Rational Choice which has been the foundation of neoclassical economics and neoliberal policies. The critical issue is not so much that it is a wrong view of human nature but rather that it affects human subjectivity and behavior - that there is a risk that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That could be the case if one form of social arrangement and ideology could ever be hegemonic, but in reality we occupy different social roles in different relations, leading to different forms of subjectivity and rationality that clash and interact in unpredictable ways.Staðhæfingar um mannlegt eðli eru óhjákvæmilegar í stjórnmálakenningum. Kenning um hvaða samfélagslega skipan sé best fyrir mannverur verður að innihalda einhverjar fullyrðingar um eðli manna - um hvernig þeir hegða sér, hvað þeir þrá og þar fram eftir götunum. Þessar mannfræðilegu ályktanir skapa fræðilegan grunn stjórnmálakenninga og eru uppistaðan í samfélagslegum líkönum. Ein leið til að gagnrýna samfélags-pólitíska kenningu er að veitast að þessum ályktunum og færa rök fyrir að þær séu byggðar á rangri eða einfaldaðri mynd af mannlegri hegðun. Vísindaleg líkön styðjast iðulega við einfaldaðar ályktanir vegna þess að þær geta leitt af sér tilgátur sem unnt er að sannprófa. Einfaldaðar ályktanir geta verið réttmætar ef þær hafa nákvæmt forspárgildi. Þetta er eilítið flóknara þegar samfélagskenningar eru annars vegar og uppistaða samfélagslíkansins eru mannverur vegna þess að líkönin geta haft áhrif á hegðun fólks. Það getur gerst með mismunandi hætti: með beinum hætti vegna þess að mannfólk er móttækilegt fyrir lýsingum á þeim - hvernig við hugsum um okkur hefur bein áhrif á hvernig við hegðum okkur - og óbeint vegna þess að tilgátur samfélagslíkana eru oft nýttar til að réttlæta stefnur og stofnanagerðir sem setja reglur um mannleg samskipti og hegðun. Líkön um manneðli verða þannig hluti af manneðlinu. Það getur af sér aðra leið til þess að gagnrýna samfélags-stjórnmálakenningar: ekki með því að fullyrða að þær gefi ranga mynd af hinu sanna manneðli heldur að þær lýsi hvernig menn mótist af slíkum kenningum og þeirri samfélagsskipan sem kenningarnar nýtast til að ljá lögmæti. Ég tel þessa síðari leið frjórri vegna þess að hún reiðir sig ekki á staðhæfingu um að til sé sönn mannleg náttúra sem sé kyrrstæð og ónæm gagnvart samfélagslegri skipan og viðhorfum. Þessi doktorsritgerð felst í rannsókn á því hvernig staðhæfingar um manneðli hafa áhrif á stórnmála- og hagfræðikenningar og hvernig þessar kenningar móta hegðun og sjálfsveru manna. Beint er sjónum að einstaklingsmiðuðum kenningum sem byggja á mynd af stakstæðum einstaklingum hverra langanir (e. preferences) eru látnar ráðast af því sem væru þeir hverjir óháðir öðrum. Í slíkum líkönum er tvennt sett fræðilega á oddinn, átök milli sjálfstæðra einstaklinga og ósennileiki samvinnu og trausts þeirra á milli - þar af leiðandi er viss samfélagsleg og pólitísk skipan talin vera alger nauðsyn. Þetta viðhorf má sjá í heimspeki Hobbes og Rawls og í samfélagskenningu um skynsamlegt val (Rational Choice Theory) sem hefur verið grunnur nýklassískrar hagfræði og nýfrjálshyggju-stefnu. Vandinn er ekki sá að þetta sé röng sýn á manneðlið heldur miklu frekar að hún hafi áhrif á sjálfsveru og hegðun fólks - að það er hætta á að hún verði að sjálfrætinni spá (e. self-fulfilling prophecy). Það gæti orðið tilfellið ef ein samfélagsskipan og samsvarandi hugmyndafræði yrðu allsráðandi, en veruleikinn er hins vegar sá að við gegnum ólíkum hlutverkum í mismunandi samböndum, sem geta af sér ólíkar gerðir sjálfsveru og skynsemi sem rekast á og verka hver á aðra með ófyrirsjáanlegum hætti.This dissertation was completed at the University of Iceland with partial funding from Rannsóknamiðstöð Íslands and the research projects Embodied Critical Thinking, The Reality of Money, and Feminist Philosophy Transforming Philosophy

A Comparative Study of the Assyrian and Guatemalan Genocides

This century has witnessed many genocides throughout the world by the hands of leaders and citizens alike. These unjustifiable acts have not failed to exist even today. Although a lot of research and scholarly work has been dedicated towards the study of genocide, there is no single reason as to why it occurs; rather there are many theories that indicate what leads to genocide. The question still remains why does genocide happen? This thesis will attempt to answer this question by analyzing various theoretical perspectives, as well as comparatively observing two case studies that have not been extensively discussed. In doing so, I hope to a) better understand the theoretical implications of genocide and how they explain what causes it; b) find warning signs within both cases; and c) understand both the internal and external factors that come into play during civil unres

Transcendent leader centered analysis: A reconstructive approach to social movement analysis

This essay proposed a framework for social movement analysis that extends postmodern deconstructive techniques to a form of reconstruction which transcends the exploration of how language can say many different things simultaneously. By assessing the rhetoric of a movement, the leaders\u27 view of conflict, pattern of expressing conflict, and the dynamic of identity in the escalation of conflict are revealed. James R. Andrews! (1980) method was utilized which concentrates on the leaders\u27 manipulation of language, the move of a movement, in determining a conflicts directionality. Case studies analyzed the movements which led to the 1980 Miami Riot and the 1992 Los Angeles Riot, and a recent movement which transpired in New York City surrounding the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Conclusions indicate that in the postmodern era a social movement leader\u27s utmost priority should not be to defeat the opposition\u27s arguments but to coordinate the management of meanings construed so that constructive ends may result

TIPS, Volume 22, No. 3, 4, 5 & 6, 2002/2003

• National Poverties & Famines • Personal Poverty & Attempted Remedies • The Gulf Between the Haves & Have-Nots • Transfer of Wealth • Homelessness • Crime • Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice News • Punishment • Imprisonment • Judicial Killing • Slavery • The Family • The Current State of the Family • Marriage: Finding a Mate • Marriage: Getting Ready for the Big Day • Marriage: Help is (or Claims to be) on Its Way When Your Marriage Starts to Founder • Marriage: Divorce & Re-re-re-re-re-marriage • Pregnancy & Child-Bearing: Resentment, Delay, & Even Hatred Thereof (Kinderfeindlichkeit) • The Effect on Children of New Ideas About Marriage, Family & Parenting • Attacks on the Family by the Media Specifically • Attacks on the Family From the UN • Attacks on the Family by/From Other Sectors • Efforts to Strengthen/Uphold Marriage • Miscellaneous Other Items on the Family • Children • Child Development News • Child Health & Survival • The Vanishing of Children • Children Not Getting Parental Presence, Time & Attention • Children Swimming in Corruptive Wealth • Farming Out the Care of Children • Foster & Adoptive Care • Child-Junking Via Sex Education & Maniage Preparation Programs • Teen Pregnancies • The Vanishing of Childhood: The Sexualization of Youth • Abuse of Children, in General • Abuse (a Lot of It Sexual) of Children by Families, Guardians & Sitters • Abuse (Mostly Sexual) of Children by Other Trusted Figures • Sexual Abuse of Children by Other Children • Media Influence on, & Messages to, Children • Children: Dangerousness of Schools • Children Killing Children • Other Child-Junking • Miscellaneous Other Items on Children • Religion in Society • Idolatrous Claims • The Incoherence of Contemporary People About Religion--as About so Many Other Things • What People Do Believe, More or Less • The Spiritual Hunger of Homo Religiosus • Contemporary Judaism • The Warfare About The Naked Public Square • Persecution of Religious Belief and Believers • The Sex Scandals Involving the Catholic Priesthood • Miscellaneous Religion News • Religion in Human Services • News of the Season • The Social Advocacies • The Need for Advocacy • Issues--Mostly Perversions-Associated With Self-Determination • Empowerment Issues • Issues--Mostly Perversions-Associated With Rights • Miscellaneous News About Social Advocacy • War & Its Toll • Further Coverage of the Role of Insane Political Correctness in the Genesis of, & Response to, Islamic Terrorism & Societal Breakdown • World War VI & Its Impact on the Economy • Facing Up to the Realities of a Recalcitrant But Rather Admirable Islam: Continuation • The Holy Land Situation & Its Links to the Clash of Civilizations • Miscellaneous Other Items on Political Correctness, Diversity, & Multiculturalism as it Relates to (Mostly Islamic) Terrorism • Sporadic But Belated Retreats From Political Correctness • The Inadequacies of Liberal Democracies in the Face of Non-Western Fanaticism • The Increasing Militarization of Society • Miscellaneoushttps://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/wolf_tips/1079/thumbnail.jp

Why compete? : a two-part philosophical and narrative rebuttal to competition

This dissertation presents two methods of critiquing the ideology of competition; one, philosophical; and the other, narrative. Using these different methods of presentation, the dissertation attempts to argue a compelling case for the notion that a society based on a cooperative ideology is an acceptable, livable, preferable, and attainable alternative to our society\u27s present state. In Part One, competition is examined from a philosophical perspective. The first five chapters of Part One focus on why the competitive ideology and the competitive society fail to live up to their benign reputation though completely fulfilling their negative aspects. These chapters discuss several competitivist arguments, including the view that competition is an evolutionary or innate psychological condition of humans, social Darwinism, the economics of competition, and the conception of competition as a mutual quest for excellence. Chapter 6 of the dissertation studies the conundrum of why many people, despite evidence to the contrary, continue to support the competitive ideology. Finally, in Chapter 7, I offer one possibility as to what can be done to change this situation by attempting to answer the following question: If philosophy, along with voluminous sociological and psychological studies, has not provided the necessary contingencies to help people convince themselves of the obvious weaknesses of the competitive ideology, what will? Chapter 7 argues that literature (and Utopian literature in particular) is an acceptable alternative for presenting sophisticated ideas and scholarship; it is a medium which appeals to a larger percentage of the population. For the entirety of Part Two, therefore, I offer a quasi-utopian novel which contextualizes arguments for cooperation and against competition in order to demonstrate the literary medium\u27s potential. Because of the scope of the novel, the arguments do not deal strictly with sports-related competition but with competition as it affects a greater number of social institutions, including and especially education. The author hopes that the narrative style of presentation will make more accessible to more people the cooperativist position, thus stimulating pro-social changes

Ongoing Themes in Psychology and Culture

Selected Papers from the Sixteenth International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2002, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. (c) 2004, International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychologyhttps://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/iaccp_proceedings/1007/thumbnail.jp

Heroes gone Psycho: interrogational torture in post-9/11 Television Fiction

277 p.This dissertation analyzes the recurrent presence of ¿torturer-heroes¿ in post-9/11 television series and tries to ascertain whether these shows serve the agenda of legitimizing the use of interrogational torture that was (and probably still is) used against terrorist suspects in the War on Terror. ¿Torturer-heroes¿ are heroes who engage in torture and remain heroic because their actions serve a greater good. They often operate under the narrative framework of the Ticking Time Bomb scenario: there is a bomb about to go off and the terrorist that can stop it does not cooperate. Under this sense of urgency, torture seems either excused or justified. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Ticking Time Bomb case was often invoked as an argument for the legitimization of torture in exceptional circumstances and to justify the abuses committed by the U.S. in the War on Terror. Therefore, this dissertation contrasts political, legal, philosophical and historical discourses on interrogational torture with their fictional representations, analyzing a corpus of fourteen television series, from 24 to Homeland, that feature at least one instance of interrogational torture carried out by the ¿good guys (and girls)¿ and trying to elucidate the extent to which they disseminate or contest contemporary power discourses

2019 GREAT Day Program

SUNY Geneseo’s Thirteenth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1013/thumbnail.jp

Corruption, Culture, Context & Killing: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Effects of Corruption upon Lethality and Feelings of Insecurity in Regions of Extreme Conflict

Like an elephant, while it may be difficult to describe, corruption is generally not difficult to recognize when observed (Tanzi, 1998, p. 564). Many countries have been, or are currently typified by both lethal conflict and massive corruption. Historically, post-conflict development programs have imposed policies of zero corruption, yet they routinely fail. Initial research into “corruption” also identified significant ambiguities and self-contradiction with the definition of corruption, itself. This study used an Existential Phenomenological methodology with 8 participants from Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan to: 1) redefine and model corruption within a global construct, 2) examine the current doctrine mandating zero tolerance for corruption, and 3) examine the potential for tolerating moderate levels of corruption in favor of reduced lethal violence. Corrupt behavior is alleged by this research to include financial as well as non-financial mechanisms, and is motivated by Human, Institutional and Cultural Factors of Corruption. This research robustly redefines corruption, and develops new theories/models to better explain corrupt behavior. These include the Corruption Hierarchy, the Corruption Pyramid and the Universal Corruption Model. The research was inconclusive with respect to the tolerance of corruption mitigating lethal conflict, but confirmed strong support for policies of zero tolerance. In redefining corruption, many political, social and cultural norms currently exhibited by nation states, including the United States, are corrupt if/when properly classified. I’m desperate about my country. You’ve got to be strong in my country. If you are weak, they will take you. (Jeremy from Iraq)