L5: internal and external conflict

Question 1

identity =

Answer 1

Identity consists of a collection of
characteristics that have been assigned to
us by ‘the other’. Together, they form a
more-or-less coherent package of ideas
about where we come from and where
we’re going. At the same time, they also tell
us how to behave towards our bodies and
towards others.

Question 2

identification=

Answer 2

the process of:
➢ Attaching some symbol, image, word, gesture, etc. (“signifyer”)
➢ From our own body and/or from the external world
➢ To our identity (constructed ‘me’).
➢ This way something becomes ‘mine’.

The process of attaching some symbol, word, gesture from our own body and/or from the external world to our identity (constructed ‘me’). This way something becomes ‘mine’.

Question 3

hoe wordt identification ook wel genoemd

Answer 3

aliënation

Question 4

non-identification =

Answer 4

when you dont accept something within your identity

Question 5

2 vormen van separations

Answer 5

➢ Separation as rejection: saying ‘no’ to a message from the other.
➢ Separation as creation: creatively changing the meaning of the messages from the others

Question 6

wat is identity dan?

Answer 6

“Me” en “not me”

Question 7

the development of personality:

Answer 7

• inborn capacities give rise to personal development & individual differences
• the use of primary capactities within a nurturing context give rise to more complex capacities
• these phases are not fully lost (no stages)
• the particular way in which phases are managed in a social context influences eventual personality differences
• developments in each new phase of development are influenced by how previous phases developed
• anticipation: due to our agentic capacities and planning skills, the images and stories we have of the future also influence the present and our development
• this full development gives rise to individual differences

Question 8

dus 3 fasen van de ontwikkeling van een individu

Answer 8

1. a new organism in nature: embodied sense making, 7 basic emotional systems, forms of vitality, capacities for attachment/mentalization/natural pedagogy etc
2. a new person in culture: symbolic order, OCEAN, attachment, attunement, mentalization, epistemic trust, existential stance taking, identification, separation as rejection, separation as creation
3. a new subject of an individual life: identity, experiential, actor, agent, author, agency, communion

Question 9

some basic conflicts and tensions

Answer 9

• we vs them
• self-preservation vs preservation of the species
• bodily instincts/urges vs cultural norms
• capitalism vs natural conditions of human life

Question 10

psychoanalytic conflict model

Answer 10

• the self (or the mind) is divided in many conflicting parts
• experiencing conflict is painful
• hence we use defensive strategies against experiencing the conflict
• much of our conflictual natura remains or is made unconscious

Question 11

different types of conflicts=

Answer 11

• between different drives
• between pleasure and reality
• between love and hate for the same object
• between conscious goals and unconscious fantasies
• between different conflicting identifications
• between impulses of Es, defenses of Ego and uncompromising demands of the Superego
• between the role we enact and the body we feel

Question 12

ethical perspective of arjen

Answer 12

1. The way we appear to ourselves as individuals, as culture, as humanity is incomplete
2. We are not master in our own house (nor slave)
3. We discover this (post-hoc) in the experience of conflict.
4. Our tendency is to avoid conflict in order not to feel anxious.
5. Yet, we have to face and analyze conflicts.
6. This is no sacrifice to external authority but duty to ourselves.
7. It does not always make us happy, but otherwise we may lose love, desire and freedom.

Question 13

separation as rejection=

Answer 13

The process of aiming to detach from something, so that it becomes ‘not mine’. Importantly: we have to distinguish between aspects that never were mine (no identification) and aspects that were mine and were then rejected (identification -> separation). The traces of earlier identifications can remain (unconsciously) part of us after we attempted at separation.

Question 14

separation as creation =

Answer 14

The process of using the multiple, contrasting identifications that were given to us in order to creatively construct our identities and thereby our relations to ourselves and the world.

Question 15

ideology

Answer 15

Can be defined and used in many ways. In this course it refers broadly to “a collection of notions about human relationships and ways of regulating them”. Thus, different ideologies give us conflicting notions of morality

Question 16

ethics

Answer 16

In this course the term ethics is used to refer to reflection on morality and ideology. Given the conflicting ideologies around us, we have a problem in choosing one over the other. We can either assume our ethical position or try deny it.

Question 17

Selbstverschüldigte unmundigkeit

Answer 17

A Kantian term referring to a state in which we do not think for ourselves, but blindly rely on authority. The ‘sebstverschuldigt’ refers to the situation where this is NOT due to lack of cognitive skills, but rather to a lack of courage in thinking.

Question 18

internal conflict=

Answer 18

Refers to the fact that the psychological self is not a neat unity. Refers to the domain of ‘being at odds with ourselves’, the fact that we are not ‘out of one piece’. It also includes the psychoanalytic unconscious

Question 19

external conflict

Answer 19

Refers to the fact that the world and its ideologies are not a neat harmonious unity and not ‘out of one piece’. It includes the importance of a critique of ideologies.

Question 20

symptomatic compromises=

Answer 20

Refers to psychoanalytic theory: a symptomatic compromise is a temporary ‘partial solution of and defense against’ a particular constellation of opposing forces. The concept is used here for: (1) symptoms of internal conflict, (2) external conflict, and (3) the relation between internal and external conflict