Understanding the experience of discovering a kindred spirit connection: a phenomenological study

Preliminary existential-hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of data based on 24 protocols, and our own reflexive discussion, reveals how “kindred spirit connections” manifest in myriad elusive, evocative ways. These special connections are experienced variously from briefly felt moments of friendship to enduringly profound body-soul love connections. This paper explicates five intertwined dimensions: shared bonding; the mutual exchange and affirmation of fellowship; the destined meeting or relationship; immediate bodily-felt attraction; and the pervasive presence of love. A wide ranging literature around the theme of love is outlined and the concept of kindred spirit is briefly applied to the psychotherapy practice context

Friendship and romantic relationships during early and middle childhood

Ideas about romantic relationships have been studied in adolescents. This article extends this study to younger children. We asked two hundred seventy 5- to 11-year-olds to draw “two children who have a romance” and “two children who are friends,” and we subsequently interviewed each participant about the characters’ relationships. The drawings were coded with three scales of Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (PAIR), an instrument by Bombi, Pinto, and Cannoni. Interviews were categorized by the characters’ age and identity and by the distinguishing features of romance and friendship: location, intimacy, activity, personal characteristics, and emotions. Scale scores were compared with variance analyses, whereas the categories frequencies were submitted to chi-square. Results showed that all participants were able to distinguish the two relationships, even if the descriptions increased in detail with age. Girls provided more information than boys about romance, but were less inclined to talk about their own romantic experience

The Karamazov Murder Trial: Dostoevsky\u27s Rejoinder to Compassionate Acquittals

Gary Rosenshield has argued that the miscarriage of justice Dostoevsky depicts in the final book of The Brothers Karamazov, where an innocent man is wrongly convicted in a court of law for a crime he did not commit, may be read as the novelists attempt to dramatize in a work of fiction the strong misgivings about the legal reforms of 1864 that he had expressed in his Diary of a Writer during the mid-1870s. More specifically, Rosenshield argues that the Karamazov trial constitutes Dostoevsky’s novelistic reworking of his own journalistic commentary on two particular jury trials, those of Stanislav Kronenberg and Ekaterina Kornilova, both of which illustrated how Western law was, to Dostoevsky’s mind, standing in the way of Russian justice. My article extends this hypothesis by arguing that the Karamazov trial may also be read as a novelistic reworking of yet another legal case on which Dostoevsky had earlier provided journalistic commentary: the case of Nastasya Kairova, a jealous young actress who was acquitted of premeditated attempted murder in the violent stabbing attack upon her lover’s wife. At her trial, Kairova’s attorney claimed that the defendant was not morally responsible for her actions. He blamed the crime instead on her environment and on the fit of passion [аффект] she suffered at the time, which rendered her temporarily insane. My article argues that the guilty verdict in the Karamazov trial may be read as Dostoevsky’s attempt in a work of fiction to reverse the egregious miscarriage of justice that had been perpetrated in the Kairova case and to send a very different message to his contemporaries about crimes of passion, moral culpability, and compassionate acquittals

Those Who See and Those Who Are Seen: The Art of Drawing Characters in J. S. Le Fanu’s Novels

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej nauk

Another Sleeping Beauty - Narcissism In 'The House Of Mirth'

Englis

The Passions and Disinterest: From Kantian Free Play to Creative Determination by Power, via Schiller and Nietzsche

I argue that Nietzsche’s criticism of the Kantian theory of disinterested pleasure in beauty reflects his own commitment to claims that closely resemble certain Kantian aesthetic principles, specifically as reinterpreted by Schiller. I show that Schiller takes the experience of beauty to be disinterested both (1) insofar as it involves impassioned ‘play’ rather than desire-driven ‘work’, and (2) insofar as it involves rational-sensuous (‘aesthetic’) play rather than mere physical play. In figures like Nietzsche, Schiller’s generic notion of play—which is itself influenced by Kant’s claim that aesthetic pleasure is orthogonal to desire-satisfaction—becomes decoupled from his (further) Kantian view that aesthetic play essentially involves a harmony of sensuous receptivity and rational spontaneity. The result, I suggest, is a self-standing opposition between desires and passions. This motivates a recognizably Romantic vision of aesthetic disinterestedness, as freedom from desire realized in a state of creative determination by passion

Sex, dating, passionate friendships, and romance: intimate peer relations among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents

Book ChapterAlthough the raw number of adolescent romantic and sexual involvements is well documented, the actual experience and meaning of these relationships for adolescents receives little attention. As a result, these relationships are frequently classed together on the basis of surface similarities, despite important structural and functional differences. Attention to these differences, however, reveals how young men and women craft adaptive constellations of peer relationships to meet changing needs for intimacy and social support during the multiple transitions of adolescence. In this chapter we put forth a typology of intimate peer relationships based on the motives prompting adolescents to pursue them, their specific characteristics, and the functions they serve. We specify four varieties of adolescent relationships -- sexual relationships, dating relationships, passionate friendships, and romantic relationships -- representing prototypical combinations of some of the most salient motives, characteristics, and functions

The Stendhalian hero : psychological, historical, and moral

This paper will be an examination of two of Stendhal's novels, Le Rouge et le noir and La Chartreuse de Parme, upon consideration of Stendhal's personal life and philosophy. I have relied principally on primary sources in my examination. Much of my analysis is devoted to the study of the relationship between Stendhal and his heroes, for much of Stendhal's art is his technique of transferring his own self-analysis to a fictional projection of himself as the Stendhalian hero. It is my feeling that in developing this technique, Stendhal wishes to explore three main concepts of the personality of his hero: the psychological, the historical, and the moral. These three concepts were of great importance to Stendhal's own life; and as a novelist, he examines how they have crystallized in himself and in the society in which he lived

The rise and fall (and rise again) of vernacular happiness

This article delineates the vicissitudes of vernacular happiness in China across the crucial transitions of the early 20th century. Traditionally, vernacular happiness was symbolized by a triune of gods, fu-lu-shou, standing for progeny, wealth, and longevity. Happiness was thus a matter of good fortune, ardently prayed for rather than programmatically pursued. The ruling elite patronized this folk cult of happiness through a discourse of virtue and benevolence, but were themselves inclined to pursue more transcendent goals (Dao, de) and refined pleasures (lequ). To the May Fourth generation, the traditional social order was founded on grave injustices and the cult of happiness was predicated on the misery and sacrifice of women, youth, and the peasantry. Enlightenment, therefore, meant claiming the right to happiness for every individual, rejecting religious illusions, and taking control of one’s life beginning with the freedom to love and marry. However, the crises of sovereignty that beset the young nation soon rendered such individualist pursuit of happiness suspect and futile. The Chinese Communist Party held up the socialist nation as the repository of a noble, beatific happiness to which every Chinese must contribute by suppressing their personal desires and interests. In the post-Mao decades, vernacular happiness of the May Fourth vintage has made a triumphant comeback aided by the globalization of the American Dream and consumer capitalism, prompting the state to propose the China Dream as an antidote and hegemonic supersign. This long trajectory is illustrated by two autobiographical narratives separated by over a century: Shen Fu’s Six Chapters of a Floating Life (1809) and Su Qing’s Ten Years of Marriage (1943). Supplementing these two primary texts are a selection of fictional narratives from the Republican period. Intersecting the literary-intellectual history are theoretical excursions on the rise of the individual and affirmation of ordinary life in the European Enlightenment as well as the relationship between the centrality of emotion and liberal democracy

Relações amorosas, adolescência e HIV: O amor como elemento de vulnerabilidade

This study investigated the relation between love and different romantic relationships with variable vulnerability to HIV, such as sexual behavior and risk perception. Sternberg’s Triangular Love Scale and a structured questionnaire were used to ask 301 high school students about: romantic relationships, sexual behavior and risk perceptions. It was identified that the adolescents underestimate their own risk of contagion when they compare themselves with other individuals and also when they consider past and future possible HIV contagion. Love does not appear to be directly associated with the self-perception of risk, however, in conjunction with dating, it is a complicating factor for protected sex and was also related to the underestimation of risk of the partner. It was observed that stable relationships and love increase the students’ vulnerability to acquire HIV, because of the association of these with trust in the partner and the justification of risky practices, such as the non-use of condoms.Este estudio investigó la relación del amor y relaciones románticas con variables de la vulnerabilidad al VIH, tales como comportamiento sexual y percepción de riesgo. Se utilizó la Escala Triangular del Amor de Sternberg y un cuestionario estructurado en 301 estudiantes secundarios, con preguntas sobre relaciones románticas, comportamiento sexual y percepción de riesgo. Se encontró que los adolescentes subestiman su propio riesgo cuando se comparan con otros y cuando consideran la posibilidad de contagio pasado y futuro. El amor no aparece directamente vinculado a la auto-percepción de riesgo, pero, junto con noviazgo, se presenta como factor que complica relaciones sexuales protegidas y relacionado con la subestimación del riesgo de la pareja. Se observó que relaciones estables y amor son elementos que aumentan la vulnerabilidad al VIH, al tener relación con confianza en la pareja y justificar prácticas de riesgo, como no usar condones.Este estudo investigou a relação do amor e de diferentes relacionamentos amorosos com variáveis de vulnerabilidade ao HIV, como comportamento sexual e percepção de risco. Utilizou-se a Escala Triangular do Amor de Sternberg e um questionário estruturado para inquirir 301 estudantes de ensino médio sobre relações amorosas, comportamento sexual e percepção de risco frente ao HIV. Identificou-se que os adolescentes subestimam o próprio risco de contágio quando se comparam a outros indivíduos e quando consideram a possibilidade de contágio passado e futuro. O amor não apareceu diretamente associado à autopercepção de risco, porém, juntamente com o namoro, apresentou-se como complicador do sexo protegido e relacionado à subestimação do risco do parceiro. Observou-se que relacionamentos estáveis e o amor constituem elementos que aumentam a vulnerabilidade ao HIV, por terem relação com a confiança no parceiro e por justificarem práticas arriscadas, como o não uso do preservativo