The Hegemony of Psychopathy

The Hegemony of Psychopathy PDF Author: Lajos Brons
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1947447165
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Any social and political arrangement depends on acceptance. If a substantial part of a people does not accept the authority of its rulers, then those can only remain in power by means of force, and even that use of force needs to be accepted to be effective. Gramsci called this acceptance of the socio-political status quo "hegemony." Every stable state relies primarily on hegemony as a source of control. Hegemony works through the dissemination of values and beliefs that create acceptance and that serve the interests of the state and/or the ruling elite (the "hegemones"). Hegemony is most efficient if it remains invisible. A key hegemonic belief is the idea that there is no alternative to the current socio-political status quo or that the way things are is "natural." The current hegemony - that is, the set of values and beliefs that bolster the current socio-political status quo - is a hegemony of psychopathy: it promotes "cultural psychopathy" and destroys empathy and compassion, thus threatening everything that makes us human. The hegemony of psychopathy is responsible for massive human suffering. It must be fought and replaced with a counter-hegemonic set of values and beliefs that promote compassion and care. Fighting hegemony requires fighting the "pillars" that support it. Most important among these are the mass media and culture industry, and mainstream economics. The former is responsible for a continuous stream of hegemonic propaganda; the latter - among others - for providing a pseudo-scientific justification for the false belief that there is no alternative. The Hegemony of Psychopathy concludes with some considerations on tactics and strategy in the struggle against the hegemony of psychopathy, but does not - and cannot - offer any concrete advice. The Hegemony of Psychopathy is a publication of Brainstorm Books, a collaboration between Punctum Books and the Literature & the Mind specialization at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The Hegemony of Psychopathy

The Hegemony of Psychopathy PDF Author: Lajos Brons
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1947447165
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book

Book Description
Any social and political arrangement depends on acceptance. If a substantial part of a people does not accept the authority of its rulers, then those can only remain in power by means of force, and even that use of force needs to be accepted to be effective. Gramsci called this acceptance of the socio-political status quo "hegemony." Every stable state relies primarily on hegemony as a source of control. Hegemony works through the dissemination of values and beliefs that create acceptance and that serve the interests of the state and/or the ruling elite (the "hegemones"). Hegemony is most efficient if it remains invisible. A key hegemonic belief is the idea that there is no alternative to the current socio-political status quo or that the way things are is "natural." The current hegemony - that is, the set of values and beliefs that bolster the current socio-political status quo - is a hegemony of psychopathy: it promotes "cultural psychopathy" and destroys empathy and compassion, thus threatening everything that makes us human. The hegemony of psychopathy is responsible for massive human suffering. It must be fought and replaced with a counter-hegemonic set of values and beliefs that promote compassion and care. Fighting hegemony requires fighting the "pillars" that support it. Most important among these are the mass media and culture industry, and mainstream economics. The former is responsible for a continuous stream of hegemonic propaganda; the latter - among others - for providing a pseudo-scientific justification for the false belief that there is no alternative. The Hegemony of Psychopathy concludes with some considerations on tactics and strategy in the struggle against the hegemony of psychopathy, but does not - and cannot - offer any concrete advice. The Hegemony of Psychopathy is a publication of Brainstorm Books, a collaboration between Punctum Books and the Literature & the Mind specialization at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

A Buddha Land in This World

A Buddha Land in This World PDF Author: Lajos Brons
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1685710344
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
In the early twentieth century, Uchiyama Gudō, Seno'o Girō, Lin Qiuwu, and others advocated a Buddhism that was radical in two respects. Firstly, they adopted a more or less naturalist stance with respect to Buddhist doctrine and related matters, rejecting karma or other supernatural beliefs. And secondly, they held political and economic views that were radically anti-hegemonic, anti-capitalist, and revolutionary. Taking the idea of such a "radical Buddhism" seriously, A Buddha Land in This World: Philosophy, Utopia, and Radical Buddhism asks whether it is possible to develop a philosophy that is simultaneously naturalist, anti-capitalist, Buddhist, and consistent. Rather than a study of radical Buddhism, then, this book is an attempt to radicalize it. The foundations of this "radicalized radical Buddhism" are provided by a realist interpretation of Yogācāra, elucidated and elaborated with some help from thinkers in the broader Tiantai/Tendai tradition and American philosophers Donald Davidson and W.V.O. Quine. A key implication of this foundation is that only this world and only this life are real, from which it follows that if Buddhism aims to alleviate suffering, it has to do so in this world and in this life. Twentieth-century radical Buddhists (as well as some engaged Buddhists) came to a similar conclusion, often expressed in their aim to realize "a Buddha land in this world." Building on this foundation, but also on Mahāyāna moral philosophy, this book argues for an ethics and social philosophy based on a definition of evil as that what is or should be expected to cause death or suffering. On that ground, capitalism should be rejected indeed, but utopianism must be treated with caution as well, which raises questions about what it means - from a radicalized radical Buddhist perspective - to aim for a Buddha land in this world. Lajos Brons is a Dutch philosopher and social scientist living in Japan. After receiving a PhD from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands for a dissertation on an aspect of the history and philosophy of the social sciences, he gradually moved further and further into philosophical territory. Currently, Lajos is teaching logic, ethics, and philosophy at a university in Tokyo. His research interests are divided over two broad areas in philosophy: one is in the overlap of (meta-)ethics and social/political philosophy; the other is in the intersection of philosophy of language, metaphysics, and epistemology. Research in the former focuses on the relations between death, suffering, and compassion. Research in the latter concerns the relations between language, thought, and reality, and is heavily influenced by the philosophies of Donald Davidson and W.V.O. Quine, and by Buddhist philosophy. More information about publications and research interests, as well as Lajos's blog can be found at www.lajosbrons.net

On Beheading

On Beheading PDF Author: Amalendu Misra
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030961435
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
​Beheading is not an uncommon undertaking. As a particularized physical violence, it has been practiced by all societies and civilizations at some point in their history. In fact, for millennia public beheadings around the world were routine. In contemporary international society some states and many non-state actors regularly engage in this undertaking. This begs the obvious question: why put a human being through this unimaginable cruelty? While the idea of execution by decapitation appears visceral and horrific, it has always been grounded in cultural, religious and political contexts. If contemporary history is any proof, the enterprise of beheading a fellow human being appears to be making a comeback in certain religious and political landscapes. A question of enormous intellectual importance, the phenomenon of beheading is understudied. There have been many explanations surrounding specific forms of beheading through the ages. However, no inclusive study has engaged with it in its entirety. Primarily a philosophical reflection, On Beheading is inter-disciplinary in nature; it freely cuts across various disciplines within the broad framework of the social sciences. It uses a vast array of empirical evidence from anthropology, literature, jurisprudence and religion to build a discourse and narrative that brings this subject under one intellectual umbrella.

The Psychopath Factory

The Psychopath Factory PDF Author: Tristam Adams
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
ISBN: 1910924415
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The Psychopath Factory: How Capitalism Organizes Empathy examines how the requirements, stimuli, affects and environments of work condition our empathy. In some cases, work calls for no empathy – characters who don’t blink or flinch in the face of danger nor crack under pressure. In other cases, capitalism requires empathy in spades –charming, friendly, sensitive and listening managers, customer service agents and careers. When workers are required to either ignore their empathy to-do a job, or dial it up to increase productivity, they are entering a psychopathic modality. The affective blitz of work, flickering screens, emotive content, vibrating alerts and sounding alarms erode our sensitivities whilst we are modulated with attention stimulants, social lubricants and so called anti-anxiety drugs. This is amidst a virulent and exacerbating climate of competition and frenzied quantification. Capitalism pressures us to feign empathy and leverage social relationships on one hand, whilst being cold and pragmatic on the other. We are passionate and enthusiastic whilst keeping a professional distance. Sympathy, care, compassion and altruism are important; The Psychopath Factory: How Capitalism Organizes Empathy argues that itis a mistake to presuppose that empathy can achieve these. Rather than being subject to the late capitalist organization of our empathy, psychopathy could be a means of escape.

Financialisation in the European Periphery

Financialisation in the European Periphery PDF Author: Ana Cordeiro Santos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429801416
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
In many European countries, the process of financialisation has been exacerbated by the project of closer EU integration and accelerated as a result of austerity policies introduced after the Euro crisis of 2010–2012. However, the impact has been felt differently in core and peripheral countries. This book examines the case of Portugal, and in particular the impact on its economy, work and social reproduction. The book examines the recent evolution of the Portuguese economy, of particular sectors and systems of social provision (including finance, housing and water), labour relations and income distribution. In doing so, it offers a comprehensive critical analysis of varied aspects of capital accumulation and social reproduction in the country, which are crucial to understand the effects of the official ‘bail-out’ of 2011 and associated austerity adjustment program. The book shows how these have increasingly relied on deteriorating pay and working conditions and households’ direct and indirect engagement with the global financial system in new domains of social reproduction. Through its exploration of the Portuguese case, the book presents a general theoretical and methodological framework for the analysis of financialisation processes in peripheral countries. This text is essential reading for students and scholars of political economy, development, geography, international relations and sociology with an interest in examining the uneven mechanisms and impacts of global finance.

The Affect Lab

The Affect Lab PDF Author: Grant Bollmer
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452969817
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Examines how our understanding of emotion is shaped by the devices we use to measure it Since the late nineteenth century, psychologists have used technological forms of media to measure and analyze emotion. In The Affect Lab, Grant Bollmer examines the use of measurement tools such as electrical shocks, photography, video, and the electroencephalograph to argue that research on emotions has confused the physiology of emotion with the tools that define its inscription. Bollmer shows that the psychological definitions of emotion have long been directly shaped by the physical qualities of the devices used in laboratory research. To investigate these devices, The Affect Lab examines four technologies related to the history of psychology in North America: spiritualist toys at Harvard University, serial photography in early American psychological laboratories, experiments on “psychopaths” performed with an instrument called an Offner Dynograph, and the development of the “electropsychometer,” or “E-Meter,” by Volney Mathison and L. Ron Hubbard. Challenging the large body of humanities research surrounding affect theory, The Affect Lab identifies an understudied problem in formulations of affect: how affect is a construction inseparable from the techniques and devices used to identify and measure it. Ultimately, Bollmer offers a new critique of affect and affect theory, demonstrating how deferrals to psychology and neuroscience in contemporary theory and philosophy neglect the material of experimental, scientific research. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.

Being Possible

Being Possible PDF Author: Stephen Dozeman
Publisher: Resource Publications (CA)
ISBN: 1725287919
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
In April 2019, Canadian psychologist Jordan B. Peterson sat down with Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek for a debate that would collect higher ticket prices than the local Toronto Maple Leafs game. The debate was considered by many to be something of a dud, with both figures largely appearing to talk past each other, but to ignore it would be a mistake. Instead, the fact that a major public event put the Communist vs. Capitalist question back into play speaks to larger cultural trends that are occurring; an old consensus seems to be bursting at the seams, and it's unclear if the center will hold or be moved. Taking on the existentialism of Martin Heidegger as their starting point, Stephen Dozeman argues that understanding this debate means starting with the individual subject, and understanding its increasingly confused and precarious place in a disenchanted world. Wandering in between philosophical theory, history, popular culture, and back to philosophy again, this book tries to explore why so many feel compelled to call ancient wisdom into question, and what it might mean to take responsibility for our lives.

Political Economy of the Firm

Political Economy of the Firm PDF Author: Helena Lopes
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003830447
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
An alternative theory of the firm is needed that helps better understand the nature and actual functioning of firms as well as the challenges raised by digital platform firms. In defining firms as economic collective ventures organised by political means, this book offers a “political economy” vision of firms. Specifically, the book provides an authority-based conception of the firm that supplies a theoretical grounding for democratic governance. It is argued that workers must be viewed as actors of the firm, not passive subjects of capital, given that authority is a non-coercive form of power. The book examines authority and subordination from the workers’ perspective and argues that when workers accept authority, it is because they see it as facilitating mutually beneficial cooperation between people with divergent interests. As managerial authority is based on its acceptance by workers, it calls for legitimacy. Neither ownership nor the function that authority performs makes it legitimate. The book shows that legitimacy entails the democratisation of corporate governance, within the framework of “pluralistic companies”, and thus joins the many voices that increasingly question shareholder primacy. The book will be of great interest to researchers and students in economics and law as well as labour professionals, employers, unions, policymakers and anybody interested in economic democracy.

Psychoanalysts, Psychologists and Psychiatrists Discuss Psychopathy and Human Evil

Psychoanalysts, Psychologists and Psychiatrists Discuss Psychopathy and Human Evil PDF Author: Sheldon Itzkowitz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429557493
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Evil - along with its incarnation in human form, the psychopath - remains underexamined in the psychological and psychoanalytic literature. Given current societal issues ranging from increasingly violent cultural divides to climate change, it is imperative that the topics of psychopathy and human evil be thoughtfully explored. The book brings together social scientists, psychologists, and psychoanalysts to discuss the psychology of psychopaths, and the personal, societal and cultural destruction they leave as their legacy. Chapters address such questions as: Who are psychopaths? How do they think and operate? What causes someone to commit psychopathic acts? And are psychopaths born or created? Psychopaths leave us shocked and bewildered by behavior that violates the notions of common human trust and bonding, but not all psychopaths commit crimes. Because of their unique proclivities to deceive, seduce, and dissemble, they can hide in plain sight; especially when intelligent and highly educated. This latter group comprise the "successful or corporate" psychopaths, frequently found in boardrooms of corporations and among leaders of national movements or heads of state. Addressing a wide range of topics including slavery, genocide, the Holocaust, the individual as psychopath, the mind of the terrorist, sexual abuse, the role of attachment and the neurobiology of psychopathy, this book will appeal to researchers of human evil and psychopathy from a range of different disciplines and represents essential reading for psychotherapists and clinical psychologists.

Comic Book Crime

Comic Book Crime PDF Author: Nickie D. Phillips
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814764525
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Superman, Batman, Daredevil, and Wonder Woman are iconic cultural figures that embody values of order, fairness, justice, and retribution. Comic Book Crime digs deep into these and other celebrated characters, providing a comprehensive understanding of crime and justice in contemporary American comic books. This is a world where justice is delivered, where heroes save ordinary citizens from certain doom, where evil is easily identified and thwarted by powers far greater than mere mortals could possess. Nickie Phillips and Staci Strobl explore these representations and show that comic books, as a historically important American cultural medium, participate in both reflecting and shaping an American ideological identity that is often focused on ideas of the apocalypse, utopia, retribution, and nationalism. Through an analysis of approximately 200 comic books sold from 2002 to 2010, as well as several years of immersion in comic book fan culture, Phillips and Strobl reveal the kinds of themes and plots popular comics feature in a post-9/11 context. They discuss heroes’ calculations of “deathworthiness,” or who should be killed in meting out justice, and how these judgments have as much to do with the hero’s character as they do with the actions of the villains. This fascinating volume also analyzes how class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation are used to construct difference for both the heroes and the villains in ways that are both conservative and progressive. Engaging, sharp, and insightful, Comic Book Crime is a fresh take on the very meaning of truth, justice, and the American way.