Lecture 5: 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, word, gesture from our own body and/or from the external world to our identity (constructed ‘me’). This way something becomes ‘mine’.

Question 3

Seperation as rejection

Answer 3

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 4

Seperation as creation

Answer 4

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 5

Ideology

Answer 5

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 6

Ethics

Answer 6

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 7

Selbstverschuldigte unmundigkeit

Answer 7

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 8

Internal conflict

Answer 8

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 in this lecture.

Question 9

External conflict

Answer 9

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 10

Symptomatic compromises

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

non-identification

Answer 11

= this is something that is not “me”, you don’t see this as part of your identity at all, you don’t identify with it

Question 12

anticipation

Answer 12

= due to our agent capacities and planning skills, the images and stories we have of the future also influence the present and our development

Question 13

what are 3 topics that conflicts are usually centered around

Answer 13

• cultures
• ideologies
• grand narratives

Question 14

what are some basic conflicts and tensions (4)

Answer 14

• we vs them
• self-preservation vs preservation of the species
• bodily instincts and urges vs cultural norms
• capitalims vs natural conditions of (human) life

Question 15

explain the psychoanalytic conflict model

Answer 15

• 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 nature remains or is made unconscious

Question 16

what are 2 processes that are at work that shape our identity

Answer 16

1. identification/mirroring = assimilate neg/pos messages from others so that they become part of our identity
2. striving for autonomy = desire to be seperate/distant from the other and reject those messages; feeling like others are getting too close

Question 17

identity research

Answer 17

= interest in stories of family members

Question 18

value judgements

Answer 18

= identity stems from ideology and the way we interpret what is ‘normal’ or ‘right’

Question 19

what two things can go wrong in identity forming and what does it lead to

Answer 19

1. if identification (sameness) is taken too far so that a uniform group arises, headed by an authority figure who makes sure aggression targets another group
2. if focus is entirely on separation and individualism, group forming suffers which leads to isolation, competition and loneliness

Question 20

explain in what 3 ways of typifying individuals according to their identity relations can be used as a tool to understand societies (in polarised terms)

Answer 20

1. full = ample cultural resources for answering existential questions; vs empty = impoverished and scanty supply –> societies that censor cultural expression and presents only standard narratives produces stereotypical individuals; when both are taken to the extreme they can induce identity disorders
2. open = different narratives are allowed to coexist, giving people more options to choose from and resulting in a more open mind; vs. closed = people must do with a closed narrative, in which everything that is different is shunned as bad/threatening –> when taken to extremes, open societies produce histerical personalities that constantly has to adapt to the latest hype, close societies produce obsessional neurosis
3. stable vs. unstable = depends on the power of the dominant narrative; the more robust it is, the more stable exchanges and this identity forming will be –> too much stability can lapse into authoritarian rigidity; in the absence of a clear narrative (what’s happening these days), a kind of ‘liquid identity’ comes into being can result in borderline PD when unstable identity causes a constant seesaw of emotions