Paper presented at The International Psychohistorical Association, New York, NY

Reilly, Joseph A.

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From: Reilly,Joseph <jar32@drexel.edu> 
To: <josephreilly@earthlink.net> 
Subject: FW: International Psychohistorical Association Presentation of June 7, 2001. 
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 11:59:16 -0500 
[ View as HTML ] 
This is my permanent record of the 2001 presentation to IPA. 
Joe Reilly, Ph. D. 
Coordinator of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences 
Goodwin College of Professional Studies 
(215)-895-0910. 
Original Message 
From: Reilly,Joseph 
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 11:59 AM 
To: Reilly,Joseph; 'josephreillypearthlink.net' 
Subject: International Psychohistorical Association Presentation of June 
7, 2001. 
This is the formatted version of my presentation which was organized in 
notecards. 
Empathy: A Psychohistorical Consideration 
International Psychohistorical Association 
New York City 
June 7, 2001. 
The Concept Of Empathy Among The Founding Fathers Of The Irish Republic. 
Empathy is a process where we feel others are The Same or Unlike Us 
which sets up categories of Inclusion or Exclusion. 
Empathy is a cognitive and emotional process where perceptions are the 
basis for emotional involvement or detachment. 
Kinship and Proximity are the original bases for empathy. 
Later developments of concepts of class, nationality, ethnicity, race, 
region, religion or sect influence empathy. 
Identification can be a restructuring to concerns due to information. 
Comedy and drama often encourage empathy by revealing new information 
about characters or their situations. 
Projection of unacceptable impulses to The Other sets a boundary of We 
Are Good and They Are Bad. 
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I-Identifications and We-Identifications set the boundary for 
I-Disidentifications and We-Disidentifications. 
Social and Mutual Identification for secondary group individuals we have 
not met but feel commonality occurs because of tribalism. 
Kilts, lapel buttons or other indicators of group status establish 
empathy. 
Nationhood and Nation-State Identifications set Inclusion/Exclusion. 
Clearly language and Literature are barriers to include and barricades 
to exclude. 
Group loyalties and historical loyalties have deep cultural, emotional 
nad cognitive ties. 
Religious, national and ethnic legends are taught to children and are 
very rich and very persuasive. 
Every mass movement provides commercial, emotional, political and 
celebrity status opportunities via wide contacts and a sense of common 
cause. 
Conradh na Gaeiige, The Gaelic League in Ireland and elsewhere, provided 
language instruction, threatre and literary groups for empathy. 
Shared expectations can cause Groupthink and Self-Righteousness. 
A historical enemy's threat or even group existence means Group Cohesion 
so education is a tool for group cohesion. 
Important points involving empathy are: 
1. The Secularization Of Society. 
2. The Viewpoint of Progress, Happiness, Self Realization and Self 
Fulfillment as reasonable expectations in modern life. 
3. Expectations of Family Life such as Educational Attainment. 
4. Privatization and Pluralization of Experience. 
Different cultures are accepted as different rather than right or wrong 
in modern cultural life. 
The important of education and career is now crucial in modern life. 
The media at hand informs and shapes viewpoint. 
Books, lectures, pamphlets and plays were the media of the Irish 
Renaissance in the 1890s to today. 
There were an increased number of influence and awareness as 
technological media develops. 
Today audio cassettes and video tape cassettes promote the Irish 
language. 
The Story of Connradh na Gaeiige. 
A 1970 series of Gaelic League articles outlilned the topic 
"Rebirth of a nation: the story of Conradh na Gaeiige." 
July 3 1 , 1893: first meeting of The Gaelic League was held. Patrick 
Pearse, founding President of the Irish Republic, said this meeting 
began the Irish Revolution and Irish language and literary movements. 
Douglas Hyde of County Sligo had delivered on November 25, 1892 a 
lecture entitled "The Necessity For De-Anglicizing Ireland." His 
viewpoint was seen as ridiculous by some establishment cultural and 
political figures. They greeted him and his ideas and ideals as anathema 
to their personal Anglophilia. 
Hyde's point of view was it was foolish to neglect Irish history and 
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culture. Dr. Hyde wanted no more hatred of and imitation of England 
which co-existed in many Irish people. He feared Erin would become a 
nation of wealth and factories yet lose its native culture. He feared 
materialism would steal idealism from the Irish. Dr. Hyde referred to 
Ireland's history as the center of classical learning as proof of Erin's 
cultural importance. He expected Home Rule would mean Irish would be 
taught in the Irish speaking districts of An Gaeltacht (the "home of the 
Gael") as a subject instead of being reviled as a backward language of 
peasants. This lecture was 
printed as a pamphlet which disseminated his concept. 
The language had been widespread in the years before The Great Famine of 
1845 - 1849. In the 1840s and earlier about half of the Irish people 
spoke Irish only or with fluency equal to English. The Famine reduced 
Ireland's population from 8 million to 4 million in four years. Learning 
and speaking English became a survival strategy. Learning English made 
the Irish able to emigrate to the United States, Canada, Australia, New 
Zealand, South Africa and England to find work. Fluency and daily use of 
Irish dropped to the level of 5 or 10% amongst the Irish in the 1890s. 
In the July 31, 1893 meeting the group resolved to have conversation, 
story-telling, poetry and songs after each meeting, members would 
socialize amongst and encourage use of the language and its literature 
and found local branches. Douglas Hyde said in 1891: "Speak English only 
when they don't understand you in Irish!" Patrick Pearse said some years 
later: "Don't praise Irish! Speak it!" 
The Gaelic League was established to be non-political. It remains 
non-political now. The League endorses candidates individually who 
support use and promotion of the Irish language. The League has been 
involved in public policy questions of establishing curricula at 
primary, secondary and higher education levels for Irish instruction. 
Their main adversaries have been West Britons. The West Briton sees Erin 
as only the western edge of England. They see the Irish language as 
backward, needless and they identified totally with Great Britain. 
1896 was the date of the first Oireachtas, ("Assembly"), an artistic 
public festival, which featured poetry, instrumental music, speeches and 
essay competitions on the topic of "The Influence Of Language On 
Nationality." The winning essay was read in Gaelic League croabhin 
(branches). The importance of novel expressions and viewpoint within 
every language was promoted in the Gaelic League by promoting Irish. 
Support was solicited in and outside of Erin in the USA, South Africa, 
England, the Argentine, and Wales, wherever Irish emigrants could be 
found. The viewpoint of the Irish is interesting here: emigrants are 
called "exiles" and the word for them is "deorai," a form of the verb 
"to shed a tear." The Irish langauge was championed in 1898 by at least 
one priest as being central to the Catholic religion as well as Irish 
nationality. In 1899 Dublin's DAILY EXPRESS newspaper defined the Gaelic 
League as "narrow nationalism." In 1899 Dr. Mahaffy, the Provost of 
Trinity College, said the Gaelic League and its members were either 
silly sentimentalists or Separatists and the Irish language was not 
useful educationally. 
Dr. Hyde promoted "non-political patriotism" which held and encouraged 
reverence for antiquity. In 1899 Dr. Hyde stated the Gaelic League was 
the only body in Erin to know that Erin had a history and a literature 
and wanted to present the rational continuation of this past. 
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In 1900 the League had 120 branches. Each branch taught history .and 
language and literature via classes and speeches. The Parnell Split of 
the 1890s due to Charles Stewart Parnell's scandalous personal life did 
not hinder League membership. The League published lists of candidates 
committed to bilingual street signs in 1900 but made no overall party 
endorsement. 
In 1901 the League promoted industry. I t required An tOireachtas winners 
to wear clothing manufactured in Erin. Supporting industry could reduce 
emigration which took 40,000 people out of Erin each year in the 1890s 
and 1900s. John Redmond and the establishment Irish Parliamentary Party 
passed resolutions to support langauge use but used English in meetings 
even in An Gaeltacht. In 1901 branches/craoibhin encouraged Irish being 
taught in schools, lectures on non-
political patriotism, nationality, and promotion of local manufacturing. 
"Language and thought are inseparably connected and assert such powerful 
influence on each other then it is impossible to represent the Irish 
mind in anything but the Irish language." Patrick Pearse, March 10, 
1903, page 7, Chapter 7, THE STORY OF CONRADH NA GAEILGE. 
In 1904 the Irish Unionist Alliance defined the League as "a political 
organization of an extreme anti-English type." The League was a 
volutnary popular movement with various factions and viewpoints. By 1913 
the League had its revolutionary Left and conservative Right wings. 
Younger members were Leftists such as Eamonn Ceannt. Some felt too many 
dances and popular lectures had killed off the essential linguistic 
mission of the League. 
In 1912 Unionists armed themselves to oppose the legal reform of Home 
Rule which would have given Ireland roughly the status of an American 
state to make domestic laws within the British Empire. In 1913 Eoin 
MacNeill, a founding member of the League, wrote an article praising 
this Irish assertiveness. Patrick Pearse, an important executive within 
the League and the headmaster of a Nationalist boys' school, was 
enthusiastic to being a Nationalist volunteer army to protect Home Rule. 
The Irish Volunteers were formed and later formed the bulk of the 
initial coaltion of Nationalist groups which became the Irish Republican 
Army in 1916. 
In 1923 Dr. Hyde stated that the League fathered the Nationalist 
political party Sinn Fein ("Ourselves Alone") which fathered Oglaigh na 
hEireann ("Soldiers of Ireland," the Irish Volunteers in their English 
language name) which fathered Dail Eireann 
("Assembly of Ireland," the Irish nation's Congress.) Michael Collins, 
the major military leader of the War of Independence, said that the 
League's founding was the most important single event in all of Irish 
history. 
"An Ghaeilge marbh-Eire balbh!" 
" I f you must ta l k - ta l k Ir ish!" 
Patrick Pearse/Padraic MacPiaris. 
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Sincerely, 
Joe Reilly. 
Joseph A. Reilly, Ph. D. 
Goodwin College of Professional Studies 
One Drexel Plaza 
3001 Market Street Suite 100 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 
(215)-895-0910 
jar32@drexel.edu 
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Empathy: a psychohistorical consideration

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Empathy: a psychohistorical consideration

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