Friday, March 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Concerning the Physical Secret of the Philosopher's Stone
Even thus saith Hermes: Through long years I have not ceased to experiment, neither have I have spared any labour of mind And this science and art I have obtained by the sole inspiration of the living God, who judged fit to open them to me His servant, who has given to rational creatures the power of thinking and judging aright, forsaking none, or giving to any occasion to despair. For myself, I had never discovered this matter to anyone had it not been from fear of the day of judgment, and the perdition of my soul if I concealed it. It is a debt which I’m desirous to discharge to the Faithful as the Father of the Faithful did liberally bestow it upon me.Understand ye, then, Oh Sons of Wisdom, that the knowledge of the four elements. All the ancient philosophers were not corporally or imprudently sought after, which are through patience to be discovered, according to their causes and their occult operation.But, their operation is occult, since nothing is done except the matter be decompounded, and because it is not perfected unless the colours be thoroughly passed and accomplished. Know then, that the division that was made upon the water by the ancient philosophers separates it into four substances; one into two, and three into one; the third part of which is colour, as it were-a coagulated moisture; but the second and third waters are the Weights of the Wise.Know ye then, O Sons of Science, there are seven bodies, of which gold is the first, the most perfect, the king of them, and their head, which neither the earth can corrupt nor fire devastate, nor the water change, for its complexion is equalised, and its nature regulated with respect to heat, cold, and moisture; nor is there anything in it which is superfluous, therefore the philosophers do buoy up and magnify themselves init saying that this gold, in relation of other bodies. is, as the sun amongst the stars, more splendid in Light; and as, by the power of God, every vegetable and all the fruits of the earth are perfected, so gold by the same power sustains all.For as dough without a ferment cannot be fermented so when thou sublimest the body and purifiest it, separating the uncleanness from it, thou wilt then conjoin and mix them together, and put in the ferment confecting the earth and water. Then will the Ixir ferment even as dough doth ferment. Think of this, and see how the ferment in this case doth change the former natures to another thing. Observe, also, that there is no ferment otherwise than from the dough itself. Observe, moreover, that the ferment whitens the confection and hinders it from turning, and holds the tincture lest it should fly, and rejoice the bodies, and makes them intimately to join and to enter one into another, and this is the key of the philosophers and the end of their work: and by this science, bodies are meliorated, and the operation of them, God assisting, is consummate. But, through negligence and a false opinion of the matter, the operation may be perverted, as a mass of leaven growing corrupt, or milk turned with rennet for cheese, and musk among aromatics. The sure colour of the golden matter for the red, and the nature thereof, is not sweetness; therefore we make of them Sericum - ie Ixir; and of them we make the enamel of which we have already without and with the king's seal we have tinged the clay, and in that have set the colour of heaven, which augments the sight of them that see.The Stone, therefore is the most precious gold without spots, evenly tempered, which neither fire nor air, nor water, nor earth is able to corrupt for it is the Universal Ferment rectifying all things in a medium composition, whose complexion is yellow and a true citrine colour. The gold of the wise, boiled and well digested with a fiery water, makes Ixir; for the gold of the wise is more heavy than lead, which in a temperate composition is a ferment Ixir, and contrariwise, in our intemperate composition, is the confusion of the whole. For the work begins from the vegetable, next from the animal, as in a hen's egg, in which is the greatest help, and our earth is gold, of all which we make Sericum, which is the ferment Ixir.Adapted from "Aureus:" The Golden Tractate of Hermes Trismegistus
A "BENEVOLENT DICTATOR" Good for Kenya
I know that the mere mention of Dictator carries the overtones of Authoritarianism and despotism, if not autocracy and totalitarianism in the exercise of political power.
However, my reason for preferring this type of a leader is motivated by my understanding of the origins of the term itself and the function of the one who bore it. It originated as the title of a Magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency. At the same time, reading Plato’s Republic, we see concept of the Benevolent Dictator when he (Plato) talks of the ideal society. Dividing the populace into classes, he indicates that those in the governing class should be the Philosopher kings, who wield almost complete authority on the assumption that they are completely motivated by the best interests of the society. Though he spends much of the time talking of the ideal state, he also talks of the four bad forms of Government, one of them being democracy. (The others are timocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny/despotism – but I’ll not dwell on them here).
Looking at our Kenya today there would be no fear of contradiction stating that that it is a country that has experienced the cycle of all the types government mentioned in Plato’s Republic – and the unfortunate thing is that to date we’ve never seen anybody coming embodying the characteristics of a “Philosopher King”.
We have been living under the illusion of being a democratic state, but the consequences of it are so evident. Though democracy has always been touted to be “the rule of the people…”, the one clear thing that it has also created or creates is the socioeconomic divide between the social classes. As this divide grows, so do tensions between them. Eventually as the tensions grow, the poor overthrow (through vote) the rich in the hope of granting liberties and freedoms to citizens. What happens is that an apparently appealing demagogue is soon lifted up to protect the interests of the lower class. But does he?? Suffice it to say that before arriving at a democracy, the society will have already undergone the cycles of timocracy and oligarchy.
In the democracy, after a demagogue has been elevated (in the name of “free”elections) to exercise power in the name of the people. The excessive freedoms (fortunately or unfortunately) granted to the citizens in a democracy may ultimately lead to Tyranny, which is the furthest regressed type of government. These freedoms divide the people into three socioeconomic classes: the dominating class, the capitalists and the commoners. This in my opinion reflects the present Kenyan situation. Going further we notice that the tensions between the dominating class and the capitalists cause the commoners to seek out protection of their democratic liberties (look at the criminals killing and burning others in Kenya under the pretext of fighting for justice). They invest all their power in their democratic demagogue (our political/tribal leader) who in turn, becomes corrupted by the power and becomes a tyrant with a small entourage of his supporters for protection and absolute control of his people. How else do we explain the situation whereby some people will say for example: “No Raila, no Peace, no school”? Unfortunately he keeps quiet until too late, and on its part the Government takes too long to act. To me this is Tyranny in other words!!
And now I come to my concept of a benevolent dictator.
In my opinion, he should be somebody whose mandate is restricted to those of the ancient Romans, i.e. one who invested with sweeping authority over the citizens, but their term was usually limited to six months, or the duration of the crisis. I’d insist on time limit of two to three years after which he should be changed/deposed!
He should be seen as the final decision-maker, a person who, by virtue of personality and experience, is expected to use it wisely. He should be seen as a community-approved arbitrator or judge. (This is where my concept of Plato’s Philosopher King comes in). It is not that he should actually make all the decisions, or even most of the decisions because it is unlikely that one person could have enough expertise to do all that alone. Instead, they should let things work themselves out through discussion and experimentation whenever possible. Only when it is clear that no consensus can be reached soon and that most of the group wants someone to guide the decision, do they put their foot down and show the way things should be. (Kibaki seemed to have had this inclination but he seemed to have failed in “putting his feet down” when it mattered most).
Finally, just like the benevolent dictator just in line with a philosopher king should not be self-centred because this would be big-minus to what being benevolent ought to be.
It is unfortunate that the institutions of our liberal democracy have become badly corroded by endemic corruption and dishonesty, not only at the edges but in their very cores, and many Kenyans, especially among the middle class, have despaired that anyone within the current power structure, whether administration or opposition, can ever fix our almost broken down country.
And not to appear like someone who only sees doom and only darkness at the end of the tunnel, I also agree with you that nations, just like individuals, do possess an infinite capacity for change. We hope Kenya’s turn will come soon!
However, my reason for preferring this type of a leader is motivated by my understanding of the origins of the term itself and the function of the one who bore it. It originated as the title of a Magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency. At the same time, reading Plato’s Republic, we see concept of the Benevolent Dictator when he (Plato) talks of the ideal society. Dividing the populace into classes, he indicates that those in the governing class should be the Philosopher kings, who wield almost complete authority on the assumption that they are completely motivated by the best interests of the society. Though he spends much of the time talking of the ideal state, he also talks of the four bad forms of Government, one of them being democracy. (The others are timocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny/despotism – but I’ll not dwell on them here).
Looking at our Kenya today there would be no fear of contradiction stating that that it is a country that has experienced the cycle of all the types government mentioned in Plato’s Republic – and the unfortunate thing is that to date we’ve never seen anybody coming embodying the characteristics of a “Philosopher King”.
We have been living under the illusion of being a democratic state, but the consequences of it are so evident. Though democracy has always been touted to be “the rule of the people…”, the one clear thing that it has also created or creates is the socioeconomic divide between the social classes. As this divide grows, so do tensions between them. Eventually as the tensions grow, the poor overthrow (through vote) the rich in the hope of granting liberties and freedoms to citizens. What happens is that an apparently appealing demagogue is soon lifted up to protect the interests of the lower class. But does he?? Suffice it to say that before arriving at a democracy, the society will have already undergone the cycles of timocracy and oligarchy.
In the democracy, after a demagogue has been elevated (in the name of “free”elections) to exercise power in the name of the people. The excessive freedoms (fortunately or unfortunately) granted to the citizens in a democracy may ultimately lead to Tyranny, which is the furthest regressed type of government. These freedoms divide the people into three socioeconomic classes: the dominating class, the capitalists and the commoners. This in my opinion reflects the present Kenyan situation. Going further we notice that the tensions between the dominating class and the capitalists cause the commoners to seek out protection of their democratic liberties (look at the criminals killing and burning others in Kenya under the pretext of fighting for justice). They invest all their power in their democratic demagogue (our political/tribal leader) who in turn, becomes corrupted by the power and becomes a tyrant with a small entourage of his supporters for protection and absolute control of his people. How else do we explain the situation whereby some people will say for example: “No Raila, no Peace, no school”? Unfortunately he keeps quiet until too late, and on its part the Government takes too long to act. To me this is Tyranny in other words!!
And now I come to my concept of a benevolent dictator.
In my opinion, he should be somebody whose mandate is restricted to those of the ancient Romans, i.e. one who invested with sweeping authority over the citizens, but their term was usually limited to six months, or the duration of the crisis. I’d insist on time limit of two to three years after which he should be changed/deposed!
He should be seen as the final decision-maker, a person who, by virtue of personality and experience, is expected to use it wisely. He should be seen as a community-approved arbitrator or judge. (This is where my concept of Plato’s Philosopher King comes in). It is not that he should actually make all the decisions, or even most of the decisions because it is unlikely that one person could have enough expertise to do all that alone. Instead, they should let things work themselves out through discussion and experimentation whenever possible. Only when it is clear that no consensus can be reached soon and that most of the group wants someone to guide the decision, do they put their foot down and show the way things should be. (Kibaki seemed to have had this inclination but he seemed to have failed in “putting his feet down” when it mattered most).
Finally, just like the benevolent dictator just in line with a philosopher king should not be self-centred because this would be big-minus to what being benevolent ought to be.
It is unfortunate that the institutions of our liberal democracy have become badly corroded by endemic corruption and dishonesty, not only at the edges but in their very cores, and many Kenyans, especially among the middle class, have despaired that anyone within the current power structure, whether administration or opposition, can ever fix our almost broken down country.
And not to appear like someone who only sees doom and only darkness at the end of the tunnel, I also agree with you that nations, just like individuals, do possess an infinite capacity for change. We hope Kenya’s turn will come soon!
Analysing Karen Horney's Therapeutic process
In practically all her major works Horney describes in detail the behaviour and personality traits that develop in a neurosis. She explains how neurosis develops and why it is so destructive to the real self. Understanding of one's neurosis is a key development for anyone in the grips of a neurosis, but it is not a cure. She makes it clear, the cure is a process that has to be worked upon with real effort, but knowledge and understanding are the starting point (Horney 1950, 319).
Any knowledge of the neurotic trends and their implications gives a rough conception of what has to be worked through in analysis. It is also desirable, however, to know something about the sequence in which the work must be done. According to Horney (1942, 87), Freud had declared that a person will first present in the analysis the same front that he presents to the world in general, and that then his repressed strivings will gradually appear, in succession from the less repressed to the more repressed.
It may not matter how many divisions there are in an “ideal analysis”, but all in all there seems to be three steps within each division. They are: recognition of a neurotic trend; discovery of its causes, manifestations, and consequences; and discovery of its interrelations with other parts of the personality, especially with other neurotic trends. Working through these steps, making it possible to disentangle the many vicious circles, slowly makes the whole structure of the personality become more clear (Horney, l942, 88-89).With the above steps at the back of our minds, we are going to look at the therapeutic process as idealized in the theory of Horney. We shall talk about the goals of therapy; the relationship between the therapist and the client – to be included in that will also be the disposition expected in each of them.
Any knowledge of the neurotic trends and their implications gives a rough conception of what has to be worked through in analysis. It is also desirable, however, to know something about the sequence in which the work must be done. According to Horney (1942, 87), Freud had declared that a person will first present in the analysis the same front that he presents to the world in general, and that then his repressed strivings will gradually appear, in succession from the less repressed to the more repressed.
It may not matter how many divisions there are in an “ideal analysis”, but all in all there seems to be three steps within each division. They are: recognition of a neurotic trend; discovery of its causes, manifestations, and consequences; and discovery of its interrelations with other parts of the personality, especially with other neurotic trends. Working through these steps, making it possible to disentangle the many vicious circles, slowly makes the whole structure of the personality become more clear (Horney, l942, 88-89).With the above steps at the back of our minds, we are going to look at the therapeutic process as idealized in the theory of Horney. We shall talk about the goals of therapy; the relationship between the therapist and the client – to be included in that will also be the disposition expected in each of them.
1. Goals of Therapy
At the end of Our Inner Conflicts, Horney said that the goals of therapy are helping patients to assume responsibility for themselves and to achieve inner independence, spontaneity of feeling, and wholeheartedness. She cautioned, however, that neither the analyst nor the patient is likely wholly to attain these goals. If we are not clear about the meaning of ideals, we run the danger of replacing an old idealized image with a new one. We must be aware, too, that it does not lie within the power of the analyst to turn the patient into a flawless human being. He can only help him to become free to strive toward an approximation of these ideals (1945, 243).
We begin now with the object of therapy.
Psychoanalysis, as already discussed, has not only a clinical value as a therapy for neuroses but also a human value in its potentialities for helping people toward their best possible further development. According to Horney, Freud, from his earliest to his latest writings, was primarily interested in the removal of neurotic symptoms. Personality change was important only if it was a guarantee for a permanent cure of symptoms or in other words liberating a client from the symptoms (Horney l942, 21). Horney sees this as negative, because it is a gaining of “freedom from”, instead of gaining “freedom for”. The goal which she would suggest as positive would be “rendering a person free from inner bondages making him free for the development of his best potentialities”. She sees this shift in emphasis as sufficient to alter the matter of incentive entirely, in favour of the growth of the real self (ibid 21-22).
The goals or objectives can be pursued in other ways; peculiar to analysis is the attempt to reach these goals through human understanding, not only through sympathy, tolerance, and an intuitive grasp of interconnections, qualities that are indispensable in any kind of human understanding, but, more fundamentally, through an effort to obtain an accurate picture of the total personality. Horney (ibid) further says that this is undertaken by means of specific techniques for unearthing unconscious factors, for Freud has clearly shown that we cannot obtain such a picture without recognizing the role of unconscious forces which will see in one of the next sub-titles.
Horney (1939, 281), says that the objective in therapy is, after having recognized the neurotic trends, to discover in detail the functions they serve and the consequences they have on the patient’s personality and on his life. She would be interested in understanding what a particular trend accomplishes for the individual, and also what consequences the trend has on his character and life. This would be of key importance in helping the individual come to self-understanding.
She agrees with Freud that the tools with which the analyst operates during the psychotherapeutic procedure are free associations and interpretations, as a means of lifting unconscious processes into awareness; a detailed study of the relationships between patient and analyst, as a means of recognizing the nature of patient’s relationships to others (Horney 1939, 284).
The only differences she has with Freud regarding these aspects are two: the first one depends on the kind of interpretation given (i.e. to say that the character of interpretation given depends on the factors which one deems essential. The second one is that the factors which are less tangible and hence more difficult to formulate. They are implicit in the analyst’s way of handling the procedure: his activity or passivity, his attitude to the patient, his making or refraining from value judgements, the attitudes he encourages or discourages in the patient (ibid, 285).
For Horney, the principal object of therapy is to help patients relinquish their defenses, accept themselves as they are, and replace their search for glory with a striving for self-realization. Insight is useful in leading patients to see that their defenses are self-defeating and cannot possibly work, but they must experience as well as understand the destructiveness of their solutions if they are to have a strong enough motivation to change.
2. Therapist - Client Relationship
For Horney, the therapist is not to be a remote authority figure but a real person with strengths and weaknesses, just like the patient. In her lecture on The Analyst’s Personal Equation, she warned “the fear that neurotic remnants may be exposed will make some analysts unduly cautious, thereby depriving the patient of the opportunity to experience his analyst as a human being with both shortcomings and assets” (Horney 1999, 193).
Although she continued to employ her theoretical framework, she taught that intellectual insight is only one aspect of understanding, and not the most significant. Indeed, she feared that theory might obstruct an awareness of the patient’s individuality, “that a detached, purely intellectual attitude would lead not to understanding but to a mechanical classification of the patient’s personality according to our pre-existing ideas” (ibid, 199).
Horney rejected the then-prevailing authoritarian model of the therapist-patient relationship and proposed a democratic one instead. “Therapists do not occupy a morally or psychologically superior position and should be humble about their ability to understand the patient. It will help them to attain a democratic spirit if they remember that, however experienced they are, they are dealing with a particular patient and their knowledge of this patient is limited” (ibid, 208). “They should regard all interpretations as more or less tentative and should be truthful about the degree of certainty they feel” (ibid, 206). “Their truthfulness has two advantages: their groping will stimulate the patient to be active, to wonder, to search, and it will have more meaning for the patient when they feel confident” (ibid, 206–207).
This brings us to Horney’s model of the therapist-patient relationship, which she saw as mutual, cooperative, and democratic. Her model is not one in which therapists and patients analyse each other but rather one in which therapists continually analyse themselves while helping their patients toward self-understanding and growth. Their self-analysis benefits their patients as well as themselves, since it helps mitigate counter-transferential problems and deepens their emotional understanding.
3. Role and Characteristics of the Therapist
Theory should not be used to pigeonhole the patient, nor should the patient be used to confirm the preconceived ideas of the analyst. Horney taught that therapists should attend to the patient not only with reason and knowledge but also with intuition and emotion. “Understanding is a process of moving toward another person’s position while still maintaining our own, and therapists do this very largely through their emotions, which enable them to feel their way into the patient’s situation” (ibid, 199).
Horney characterized the therapeutic attitude as one of undivided or wholehearted attention in which therapists let all their faculties operate while nearly forgetting about themselves (ibid, 188). “They must not relinquish themselves, however, for if they lose their own stand altogether, they will not have understanding but blind surrender” (ibid, 199). “If they can lay themselves open without losing themselves, they can listen wholeheartedly while simultaneously becoming aware of their own reactions to the patient and his problems” (ibid, 201). Horney urged therapists not to overestimate their own mental health, but to have a proper humility. They should constantly analyse themselves, paying attention to their feelings and trying to determine how reliable they are as guides to understanding the patient.
Horney also frequently emphasized that analysis is a cooperative undertaking saying that therapists can help their patients formulate and clarify the data, but the patients must supply it by revealing themselves. Perhaps the most important ways in which they can do this is through free association and the sharing of their dreams—things on which Horney placed more emphasis in her lectures than she did in her books. Self-revelation is difficult and must be facilitated by the therapists’ having a genuine respect for their patients, a sincere desire for their well-being, and a wholehearted interest in everything they think and feel. This will create a sense of trust that will make it easier for patients to tell everything that comes to them without selecting (ibid, 202).
At the same time she said that supporting the patient during the disillusioning phase of therapy is very important. Her opinion was that patients need support in dealing with discouragement, anxiety, and the realization of painful truths about themselves. “The therapist assists them in overcoming fear or hopelessness, giving them a sense that their problems can be resolved. Patients will feel profoundly threatened when, bereft of glory, they realize they are not as saintly, as loving, as powerful, as independent as they had believed” (Horney, 1942, 145).
Still, when the therapy is going on, constant encouragement helps a lot because the patients need someone who does not lose faith in them, even though their own faith is gone. “In the course of analysis, patients must confront not only their loss of glory but also their unsavoury characteristics, which are the product of their neurosis. They tend to react with unconstructive self-hate, rather than with the self-acceptance that will enable them to grow. The analyst perceives that they are striving and struggling human beings and still likes and respects them as a result”. This encouragement counteracts patients’ self-hate and helps them to like and respect themselves (ibid, 145).
The art of the therapist consists also in helping to mobilize because as patients become less defensive in the course of therapy, their constructive forces grow stronger, and the central inner conflict emerges. The therapist work lies not only in helping patients to perceive, experience, and work through their neurotic solutions but also in helping them to mobilize their constructive forces and supporting them in their struggle to find and actualise their real selves (ibid, 146).
Therapists must be understanding people, knowing that there is a constant battle in patients between their desire to change and their fear of letting go of the strategies that have enabled them to survive in what they feel to be a dangerous, frustrating, unsympathetic world. They are motivated to change by both a desire to relieve their suffering and the constructive forces that are still alive within them, but they can relinquish their defenses only when they feel safe enough to do so (ibid, 149).
Horney continues further to say that another role of the therapist’s role is to assuage their (patient’s) anxiety, to reinforce their healthy drives, and to encourage them to continue in their struggle to change. “As the central inner conflict rages, patients will oscillate between health and neurosis, but therapists must not become bewildered by these swings. If they have a clear vision based on their own constructiveness and are unambiguous allies of the endangered self, they will be able to support their patients at this most trying time” (Horney 1999, 256).
Finally, according to Horney (1939, 285) Freud’s suggestion on how the analyst is to behave was that he (analyst) should play a comparatively passive role, saying that Freud’s advice is that the analyst should listen to the patient’s associations with “evenly hovering attention”, avoiding deliberate attentiveness to certain details and avoiding conscious exertion. Horney does not entirely agree with this but on the contrary, her view is that the analyst should deliberately conduct the analysis (ibid, 286), and should exercise a more deliberate influence not only on the direction of the patient’s associations but also on those psychic forces which may help him eventually overcome his neurosis (ibid, 287).
In my opinion, the above paragraph contains not only the role of the therapist towards the patient, but it shows the two differences between Freud and Horney regarding the how the tools may be used. The difference is that for Freud, the analyst should be not be seen to play any role at all, or appear to be suggestive in a way that may influence the associations that a patient makes. On the other hand Horney thinks that the analyst should be active, suggestive in a way to influence the client and may even prod the patient to give associations.
4. Role of the Client
Every analyst knows that an analysis proceeds more quickly and efficiently the more the patient co-operates (Horney 1999, 196). When speaking of co-operation Horney did not intend to mean the patient's polite and obliging acceptance of whatever the analyst suggests. Nor was she referring primarily to the patient's conscious willingness to give information about himself; most patients who go to analysis of their own accord sooner or later recognize and accept the necessity of expressing themselves with utmost sincerity (ibid). Horney was rather referring to a kind of self-expression which is as little as the patient's conscious command as it is at the composer's command to express his feelings in music. If factors within himself bar him from expression, the composer is flatly unable to work; in other words he is unproductive (ibid 197).
1.3. Techniques of a therapeutic process
Talking about the techniques of a therapeutic process, we may as well have to remember what Horney indicated as the goal of in psychoanalysis that is, to render a person free from inner bondage making him free for development, and possibly arrive at the real self (1942, 22).
In other words she was suggesting William James's concept of real self as distinguished from material and social self. This relates to what one really feels, wants, believes, and also decides. She refers to it as the most alive centre of psychic life. It is this psychic centre to which the appeal is made in analytical work (ibid, 290).
In neurosis the scope of the real self and aliveness are decreased. This is because the development of the self and its components, genuine self regard, native dignity, initiative, and the capacity to take responsibility for one’s life have been battered (ibid 291).
To reach this goal, she idealized a therapeutic process which we are going to see below. Though we are going to demonstrate it, it’s wise to take note of what Horney said: that no amount of description, regardless of how carefully it is presented, can convey fully an adequate impression of exactly what is involved in the process of reaching an understanding of oneself (ibid, 194). She however, wanted to demonstrate that something can be done using the techniques or tools mentioned below.
In a case published in one of her books (1942) we can see an excellent example of the use and the application of these tools by Horney.
We are going to use some excerpts of this case as an example of analysis which she refers to as self-analysis, a terminology which will be used for “analysis” in this part of this chapter for a reason to be indicated at the end of this sub-title.
The case deals with a woman's morbid dependency on a man, a problem which for many reasons Horney says is frequent in our civilization (ibid, 195). She adds that the situation described would be interesting enough if it were regarded merely as a common feminine problem, but its importance extends beyond the feminine sphere. An involuntary and in a deeper sense unwarranted dependency upon another person is a problem known to nearly everyone. She said that most of the people deal with one or another aspect of it at one or another period of our lives (ibid).
We have said that the term self-analysis will be hereby used to stand for analysis though the two give different connotations. In my opinion, I think Horney uses it (self-analysis) to also mean analysis because in both of them, and at least in as far as her book (1942) is concerned the therapist is involved whether in the case of analysis or self-analysis. In other words, self-analysis doesn’t exclude the therapist, but he is present and has a role to play – like trying to mobilize the patient to do some things such as free associations or even work with resistances. The slight difference we can see between analysis and self-analysis, is where the patient in self-analysis can take his or her own notes as will be seen in the next sub-title.
I hope this explanation will serve to clarify as well as to justify the use of the term “self-analysis” whereas for all practical purposes we should just use “analysis”.
5. Free Association and interpretation
One of the techniques in self-analysis is free association. Horney suggests that it differs from the method in analysis in that the patients take mental notes of their associations and they can then write them down. Writing down, or noting key words, means they can be gone over easily afterward and missed connections may be seen, or old connections may be seen in a different light at a later time. One may also realize little headway has been made when reviewing previous notes (Horney l942, l86-189).
The case of Clare's self-analysis in Horney’s book shows “resistance” to her associations and where she “transfers” it.
Horney says that Clare had a memory of a scene in a novel which came to her when she was thinking about her own anger with her boyfriend. Clare made a correct interpretation but not deep enough regarding the connection between her anger and the cause. Horney goes on to say that she had resistance to the import of her associations because she was not ready to understand. It took a whole night to penetrate her awareness, and even then, it first concealed its true meaning by transferring itself to the author. (ibid l95-l96)
Clare continues to have dreams and try to analyse them but Horney says she still doesn't go far enough. However, she seems to have been left with emotions which she could not intellectually analyse away. These lingered on and were instrumental in her pursuing the path of analysis she subsequently embarked upon (ibid, l98)
“Resistance” once again enters her analysis. Her boyfriend let her down by not turning up and in a memory Clare recalled an incident with her mother and a present her mother offered her but Clare turned it down even though she desperately wanted it using the excuse that her mother could not afford it. Clare felt relief at this connection, temporarily. Horney says the problem was not Clare's timidity in stating what she wanted but her need to hold on to the relationship to avoid becoming the object of even a vague resentment. Again it appears that in “transferring” her emotions to a pseudo solution Clare succeeded, temporarily, in circumventing the crucial problem. This problem was a pattern which meant she clung to difficult relationships by taking the blame when she was distressed and she avoided any bad feelings about herself (ibid, l99-20l).
Horney continues to talk about how Clare continued her analysis using memories, dreams, associations and note taking. She made connections and they would fade and come back and she made deeper connections (ibid, 220-228). Over and over she came close to the real answers and began to realize that resistance against facing her findings was the real stumbling block (ibid, 235-240). Some months later Clare returned to analysis with Horney and continued working on issues which Horney says she could have resolved on her own with time (ibid, 246).
Horney says repeatedly that the process of free association, of frank and unreserved self-expression, is the starting point and continuous basis of all analytic work (ibid, 247-248. It becomes more difficult and more important when working alone to express exactly what one is feeling, not what one thinks is supposed to feel. She refers to Freud, indirectly by saying, in psychological matters we cannot hang anybody whom we have not first caught we must first recognize the full intensity of our feelings before we can work on their origins (ibid, 250). The last thing she says regarding free association is that reason has no place in this process because it will hamper spontaneity. It comes later with conscious efforts to make sense of it all (ibid, 252).
Another technique of self analysis is the interpretation. This should be guided by the person's interest, what catches their attention. This will hopefully mean that intuitively something is chosen which falls in line with emotional chords and the possibility of understanding at that time (ibid 253-256). Interpretations need to remain on a tentative nature to allow exploration wherever the path may lead. It is also important not to let insights remain scattered but to look for the structure they reveal. How things influence each other is an important concept psychologically, as well as in all other areas of life (ibid, 258-262). It is the interest and incentive and the spirit with which self-analysis is undertaken, not the rules which are decisive (ibid 266).
6. Working with resistances
Transference in self-analysis is a way of dealing with “resistances”, as Karen Horney referred to it. Resistances are seen as forces opposing change, or liberation, and when the neurotic structure is challenged they block progress in any way possible. Horney says Freud used the term “resistances” to denote everything that hampered work from within. They are the sum of forces seeking to preserve the status quo and to improve the functioning of the neurosis. They maintain those aspects of the neurosis that have present subjective value (Horney l942, 268).
Horney does not say “transference”, but says there is resistance in all relationships. The same responses and feelings are produced by the analyst but since analysis is an explicit attack on the neurotic structure, the challenge it presents is greater. She says she does not agree with those who say that resistances cannot be tackled alone but need expert help. She also does not agree with Freud's view of the prominent role of a destructive instinct in human nature which leaves little space for constructive forces which might strive for growth. Her argument is that the outcome of any type of analysis depends on the strength of the resisting forces and the strength of the self to deal with them (ibid 268-269).
Recognizing resistances and defenses which work toward maintaining the status quo means some understanding of their sources and how they show themselves. It is the person's secret claims on life, their illusions about themselves which have subjective value and are safety zones which defy change (ibid, 271).
Horney says that in analysis the resistances arise usually as a result of something specific which has occurred in the analysis and defenses immediately come to the client's rescue. If touched upon, in any part of life, these repressed factors will produce the resistance and defenses which accompany it. In analysis the analyst may provoke resistance by interpretation or getting near a sensitive area. In self-analysis daily life may have greater power to produce blockage because the person's emotions are not concentrated, even temporarily, on the analyst (ibid 272-273). In other words it is to say that there are many distractions in an individual’s daily life such that to have a proper concentration which is not interrupted by anything is a bit difficult.
Horney says that in professional analysis resistances may be grouped under three main headings. The first type is an open fight with what is suggested or felt to be going on. The second type can be concentrated on the analyst and is seen as defensive emotional reactions. The third Horney refers to as defensive inhibitions or tactics of evasion (ibid 275).
In self-analysis resistance may be seen in several ways. One would be toward starting the analytical work itself and an inhibition continuing it, and evasion of issues in innumerable ways. The value of the free associations may be impaired, as well as blockage of any understanding of them. Resistance may invalidate the significance of the findings. There will be emotional reactions to material which comes up. Feelings of guilt or apprehension, or irritation at oneself will occur. These may also cause the person to minimize or avoid the problem for the time being (ibid, 276-279).
As we draw to the end of this point on resistances, we may need to say something on how they (resistances) are recognized and coped with. With persistence and time many will be seen and the emotions may then be able to be faced as well. Horney further says that noticing emotions, how the person is feeling will help them see something is wrong. Whenever a blockage is noticed she says that the person should drop other analytical pursuits and concentrate on the resistance because you can't get past it (ibid, 279-281).
She suggests free associating to the resistance, after looking back over recent notes to see if some issue has been touched upon which may have triggered the blockage to further understanding. These resistances are organic developments which developed as a result of threatening forces during a lifetime. They should be approached with respect, not with hostility. With this approach they may be understood, even in self-analysis. If they are stronger than one's constructive will, expert help may then be needed (ibid, 282-285).
In conclusion to this chapter, once again from reading her books, we might gain an impression of Horney as a therapist who relied heavily on rigorous analysis of her patients in terms of an elaborate taxonomy of defenses. A different picture emerges from the lectures (1987, 1999) she gave in her courses on analytic technique, which were published posthumously.
The conflict between healthy and neurotic forces may never be finally resolved, but there may be a decisive shift in the balance of power. Therapy can be terminated when the balance has shifted decisively to the side of the strivings for growth and patients are ready to deal with their problems themselves through continuing self-analysis (Horney 1939, 303-305).
Horney also believed in the inherent constructive forces, something that made her much more optimistic than Freud about the possibilities of psychotherapy. She thought that Freud did not have any clear vision of constructive forces in man and had to deny their authentic character (Horney 1950, 378). For Freud, creativity and love were sublimated forms of libidinal drives, and a striving for self-fulfilment could only be regarded as an expression of narcissistic libido (ibid).
Finally it's important to note that Horney continually stressed that self-awareness was part of becoming a better, stronger, richer human being. This is evident from practically all her books which seem to have a common running theme, namely the capacity of an individual to effect change in his or her life, which is to realize oneself.
At the end of Our Inner Conflicts, Horney said that the goals of therapy are helping patients to assume responsibility for themselves and to achieve inner independence, spontaneity of feeling, and wholeheartedness. She cautioned, however, that neither the analyst nor the patient is likely wholly to attain these goals. If we are not clear about the meaning of ideals, we run the danger of replacing an old idealized image with a new one. We must be aware, too, that it does not lie within the power of the analyst to turn the patient into a flawless human being. He can only help him to become free to strive toward an approximation of these ideals (1945, 243).
We begin now with the object of therapy.
Psychoanalysis, as already discussed, has not only a clinical value as a therapy for neuroses but also a human value in its potentialities for helping people toward their best possible further development. According to Horney, Freud, from his earliest to his latest writings, was primarily interested in the removal of neurotic symptoms. Personality change was important only if it was a guarantee for a permanent cure of symptoms or in other words liberating a client from the symptoms (Horney l942, 21). Horney sees this as negative, because it is a gaining of “freedom from”, instead of gaining “freedom for”. The goal which she would suggest as positive would be “rendering a person free from inner bondages making him free for the development of his best potentialities”. She sees this shift in emphasis as sufficient to alter the matter of incentive entirely, in favour of the growth of the real self (ibid 21-22).
The goals or objectives can be pursued in other ways; peculiar to analysis is the attempt to reach these goals through human understanding, not only through sympathy, tolerance, and an intuitive grasp of interconnections, qualities that are indispensable in any kind of human understanding, but, more fundamentally, through an effort to obtain an accurate picture of the total personality. Horney (ibid) further says that this is undertaken by means of specific techniques for unearthing unconscious factors, for Freud has clearly shown that we cannot obtain such a picture without recognizing the role of unconscious forces which will see in one of the next sub-titles.
Horney (1939, 281), says that the objective in therapy is, after having recognized the neurotic trends, to discover in detail the functions they serve and the consequences they have on the patient’s personality and on his life. She would be interested in understanding what a particular trend accomplishes for the individual, and also what consequences the trend has on his character and life. This would be of key importance in helping the individual come to self-understanding.
She agrees with Freud that the tools with which the analyst operates during the psychotherapeutic procedure are free associations and interpretations, as a means of lifting unconscious processes into awareness; a detailed study of the relationships between patient and analyst, as a means of recognizing the nature of patient’s relationships to others (Horney 1939, 284).
The only differences she has with Freud regarding these aspects are two: the first one depends on the kind of interpretation given (i.e. to say that the character of interpretation given depends on the factors which one deems essential. The second one is that the factors which are less tangible and hence more difficult to formulate. They are implicit in the analyst’s way of handling the procedure: his activity or passivity, his attitude to the patient, his making or refraining from value judgements, the attitudes he encourages or discourages in the patient (ibid, 285).
For Horney, the principal object of therapy is to help patients relinquish their defenses, accept themselves as they are, and replace their search for glory with a striving for self-realization. Insight is useful in leading patients to see that their defenses are self-defeating and cannot possibly work, but they must experience as well as understand the destructiveness of their solutions if they are to have a strong enough motivation to change.
2. Therapist - Client Relationship
For Horney, the therapist is not to be a remote authority figure but a real person with strengths and weaknesses, just like the patient. In her lecture on The Analyst’s Personal Equation, she warned “the fear that neurotic remnants may be exposed will make some analysts unduly cautious, thereby depriving the patient of the opportunity to experience his analyst as a human being with both shortcomings and assets” (Horney 1999, 193).
Although she continued to employ her theoretical framework, she taught that intellectual insight is only one aspect of understanding, and not the most significant. Indeed, she feared that theory might obstruct an awareness of the patient’s individuality, “that a detached, purely intellectual attitude would lead not to understanding but to a mechanical classification of the patient’s personality according to our pre-existing ideas” (ibid, 199).
Horney rejected the then-prevailing authoritarian model of the therapist-patient relationship and proposed a democratic one instead. “Therapists do not occupy a morally or psychologically superior position and should be humble about their ability to understand the patient. It will help them to attain a democratic spirit if they remember that, however experienced they are, they are dealing with a particular patient and their knowledge of this patient is limited” (ibid, 208). “They should regard all interpretations as more or less tentative and should be truthful about the degree of certainty they feel” (ibid, 206). “Their truthfulness has two advantages: their groping will stimulate the patient to be active, to wonder, to search, and it will have more meaning for the patient when they feel confident” (ibid, 206–207).
This brings us to Horney’s model of the therapist-patient relationship, which she saw as mutual, cooperative, and democratic. Her model is not one in which therapists and patients analyse each other but rather one in which therapists continually analyse themselves while helping their patients toward self-understanding and growth. Their self-analysis benefits their patients as well as themselves, since it helps mitigate counter-transferential problems and deepens their emotional understanding.
3. Role and Characteristics of the Therapist
Theory should not be used to pigeonhole the patient, nor should the patient be used to confirm the preconceived ideas of the analyst. Horney taught that therapists should attend to the patient not only with reason and knowledge but also with intuition and emotion. “Understanding is a process of moving toward another person’s position while still maintaining our own, and therapists do this very largely through their emotions, which enable them to feel their way into the patient’s situation” (ibid, 199).
Horney characterized the therapeutic attitude as one of undivided or wholehearted attention in which therapists let all their faculties operate while nearly forgetting about themselves (ibid, 188). “They must not relinquish themselves, however, for if they lose their own stand altogether, they will not have understanding but blind surrender” (ibid, 199). “If they can lay themselves open without losing themselves, they can listen wholeheartedly while simultaneously becoming aware of their own reactions to the patient and his problems” (ibid, 201). Horney urged therapists not to overestimate their own mental health, but to have a proper humility. They should constantly analyse themselves, paying attention to their feelings and trying to determine how reliable they are as guides to understanding the patient.
Horney also frequently emphasized that analysis is a cooperative undertaking saying that therapists can help their patients formulate and clarify the data, but the patients must supply it by revealing themselves. Perhaps the most important ways in which they can do this is through free association and the sharing of their dreams—things on which Horney placed more emphasis in her lectures than she did in her books. Self-revelation is difficult and must be facilitated by the therapists’ having a genuine respect for their patients, a sincere desire for their well-being, and a wholehearted interest in everything they think and feel. This will create a sense of trust that will make it easier for patients to tell everything that comes to them without selecting (ibid, 202).
At the same time she said that supporting the patient during the disillusioning phase of therapy is very important. Her opinion was that patients need support in dealing with discouragement, anxiety, and the realization of painful truths about themselves. “The therapist assists them in overcoming fear or hopelessness, giving them a sense that their problems can be resolved. Patients will feel profoundly threatened when, bereft of glory, they realize they are not as saintly, as loving, as powerful, as independent as they had believed” (Horney, 1942, 145).
Still, when the therapy is going on, constant encouragement helps a lot because the patients need someone who does not lose faith in them, even though their own faith is gone. “In the course of analysis, patients must confront not only their loss of glory but also their unsavoury characteristics, which are the product of their neurosis. They tend to react with unconstructive self-hate, rather than with the self-acceptance that will enable them to grow. The analyst perceives that they are striving and struggling human beings and still likes and respects them as a result”. This encouragement counteracts patients’ self-hate and helps them to like and respect themselves (ibid, 145).
The art of the therapist consists also in helping to mobilize because as patients become less defensive in the course of therapy, their constructive forces grow stronger, and the central inner conflict emerges. The therapist work lies not only in helping patients to perceive, experience, and work through their neurotic solutions but also in helping them to mobilize their constructive forces and supporting them in their struggle to find and actualise their real selves (ibid, 146).
Therapists must be understanding people, knowing that there is a constant battle in patients between their desire to change and their fear of letting go of the strategies that have enabled them to survive in what they feel to be a dangerous, frustrating, unsympathetic world. They are motivated to change by both a desire to relieve their suffering and the constructive forces that are still alive within them, but they can relinquish their defenses only when they feel safe enough to do so (ibid, 149).
Horney continues further to say that another role of the therapist’s role is to assuage their (patient’s) anxiety, to reinforce their healthy drives, and to encourage them to continue in their struggle to change. “As the central inner conflict rages, patients will oscillate between health and neurosis, but therapists must not become bewildered by these swings. If they have a clear vision based on their own constructiveness and are unambiguous allies of the endangered self, they will be able to support their patients at this most trying time” (Horney 1999, 256).
Finally, according to Horney (1939, 285) Freud’s suggestion on how the analyst is to behave was that he (analyst) should play a comparatively passive role, saying that Freud’s advice is that the analyst should listen to the patient’s associations with “evenly hovering attention”, avoiding deliberate attentiveness to certain details and avoiding conscious exertion. Horney does not entirely agree with this but on the contrary, her view is that the analyst should deliberately conduct the analysis (ibid, 286), and should exercise a more deliberate influence not only on the direction of the patient’s associations but also on those psychic forces which may help him eventually overcome his neurosis (ibid, 287).
In my opinion, the above paragraph contains not only the role of the therapist towards the patient, but it shows the two differences between Freud and Horney regarding the how the tools may be used. The difference is that for Freud, the analyst should be not be seen to play any role at all, or appear to be suggestive in a way that may influence the associations that a patient makes. On the other hand Horney thinks that the analyst should be active, suggestive in a way to influence the client and may even prod the patient to give associations.
4. Role of the Client
Every analyst knows that an analysis proceeds more quickly and efficiently the more the patient co-operates (Horney 1999, 196). When speaking of co-operation Horney did not intend to mean the patient's polite and obliging acceptance of whatever the analyst suggests. Nor was she referring primarily to the patient's conscious willingness to give information about himself; most patients who go to analysis of their own accord sooner or later recognize and accept the necessity of expressing themselves with utmost sincerity (ibid). Horney was rather referring to a kind of self-expression which is as little as the patient's conscious command as it is at the composer's command to express his feelings in music. If factors within himself bar him from expression, the composer is flatly unable to work; in other words he is unproductive (ibid 197).
1.3. Techniques of a therapeutic process
Talking about the techniques of a therapeutic process, we may as well have to remember what Horney indicated as the goal of in psychoanalysis that is, to render a person free from inner bondage making him free for development, and possibly arrive at the real self (1942, 22).
In other words she was suggesting William James's concept of real self as distinguished from material and social self. This relates to what one really feels, wants, believes, and also decides. She refers to it as the most alive centre of psychic life. It is this psychic centre to which the appeal is made in analytical work (ibid, 290).
In neurosis the scope of the real self and aliveness are decreased. This is because the development of the self and its components, genuine self regard, native dignity, initiative, and the capacity to take responsibility for one’s life have been battered (ibid 291).
To reach this goal, she idealized a therapeutic process which we are going to see below. Though we are going to demonstrate it, it’s wise to take note of what Horney said: that no amount of description, regardless of how carefully it is presented, can convey fully an adequate impression of exactly what is involved in the process of reaching an understanding of oneself (ibid, 194). She however, wanted to demonstrate that something can be done using the techniques or tools mentioned below.
In a case published in one of her books (1942) we can see an excellent example of the use and the application of these tools by Horney.
We are going to use some excerpts of this case as an example of analysis which she refers to as self-analysis, a terminology which will be used for “analysis” in this part of this chapter for a reason to be indicated at the end of this sub-title.
The case deals with a woman's morbid dependency on a man, a problem which for many reasons Horney says is frequent in our civilization (ibid, 195). She adds that the situation described would be interesting enough if it were regarded merely as a common feminine problem, but its importance extends beyond the feminine sphere. An involuntary and in a deeper sense unwarranted dependency upon another person is a problem known to nearly everyone. She said that most of the people deal with one or another aspect of it at one or another period of our lives (ibid).
We have said that the term self-analysis will be hereby used to stand for analysis though the two give different connotations. In my opinion, I think Horney uses it (self-analysis) to also mean analysis because in both of them, and at least in as far as her book (1942) is concerned the therapist is involved whether in the case of analysis or self-analysis. In other words, self-analysis doesn’t exclude the therapist, but he is present and has a role to play – like trying to mobilize the patient to do some things such as free associations or even work with resistances. The slight difference we can see between analysis and self-analysis, is where the patient in self-analysis can take his or her own notes as will be seen in the next sub-title.
I hope this explanation will serve to clarify as well as to justify the use of the term “self-analysis” whereas for all practical purposes we should just use “analysis”.
5. Free Association and interpretation
One of the techniques in self-analysis is free association. Horney suggests that it differs from the method in analysis in that the patients take mental notes of their associations and they can then write them down. Writing down, or noting key words, means they can be gone over easily afterward and missed connections may be seen, or old connections may be seen in a different light at a later time. One may also realize little headway has been made when reviewing previous notes (Horney l942, l86-189).
The case of Clare's self-analysis in Horney’s book shows “resistance” to her associations and where she “transfers” it.
Horney says that Clare had a memory of a scene in a novel which came to her when she was thinking about her own anger with her boyfriend. Clare made a correct interpretation but not deep enough regarding the connection between her anger and the cause. Horney goes on to say that she had resistance to the import of her associations because she was not ready to understand. It took a whole night to penetrate her awareness, and even then, it first concealed its true meaning by transferring itself to the author. (ibid l95-l96)
Clare continues to have dreams and try to analyse them but Horney says she still doesn't go far enough. However, she seems to have been left with emotions which she could not intellectually analyse away. These lingered on and were instrumental in her pursuing the path of analysis she subsequently embarked upon (ibid, l98)
“Resistance” once again enters her analysis. Her boyfriend let her down by not turning up and in a memory Clare recalled an incident with her mother and a present her mother offered her but Clare turned it down even though she desperately wanted it using the excuse that her mother could not afford it. Clare felt relief at this connection, temporarily. Horney says the problem was not Clare's timidity in stating what she wanted but her need to hold on to the relationship to avoid becoming the object of even a vague resentment. Again it appears that in “transferring” her emotions to a pseudo solution Clare succeeded, temporarily, in circumventing the crucial problem. This problem was a pattern which meant she clung to difficult relationships by taking the blame when she was distressed and she avoided any bad feelings about herself (ibid, l99-20l).
Horney continues to talk about how Clare continued her analysis using memories, dreams, associations and note taking. She made connections and they would fade and come back and she made deeper connections (ibid, 220-228). Over and over she came close to the real answers and began to realize that resistance against facing her findings was the real stumbling block (ibid, 235-240). Some months later Clare returned to analysis with Horney and continued working on issues which Horney says she could have resolved on her own with time (ibid, 246).
Horney says repeatedly that the process of free association, of frank and unreserved self-expression, is the starting point and continuous basis of all analytic work (ibid, 247-248. It becomes more difficult and more important when working alone to express exactly what one is feeling, not what one thinks is supposed to feel. She refers to Freud, indirectly by saying, in psychological matters we cannot hang anybody whom we have not first caught we must first recognize the full intensity of our feelings before we can work on their origins (ibid, 250). The last thing she says regarding free association is that reason has no place in this process because it will hamper spontaneity. It comes later with conscious efforts to make sense of it all (ibid, 252).
Another technique of self analysis is the interpretation. This should be guided by the person's interest, what catches their attention. This will hopefully mean that intuitively something is chosen which falls in line with emotional chords and the possibility of understanding at that time (ibid 253-256). Interpretations need to remain on a tentative nature to allow exploration wherever the path may lead. It is also important not to let insights remain scattered but to look for the structure they reveal. How things influence each other is an important concept psychologically, as well as in all other areas of life (ibid, 258-262). It is the interest and incentive and the spirit with which self-analysis is undertaken, not the rules which are decisive (ibid 266).
6. Working with resistances
Transference in self-analysis is a way of dealing with “resistances”, as Karen Horney referred to it. Resistances are seen as forces opposing change, or liberation, and when the neurotic structure is challenged they block progress in any way possible. Horney says Freud used the term “resistances” to denote everything that hampered work from within. They are the sum of forces seeking to preserve the status quo and to improve the functioning of the neurosis. They maintain those aspects of the neurosis that have present subjective value (Horney l942, 268).
Horney does not say “transference”, but says there is resistance in all relationships. The same responses and feelings are produced by the analyst but since analysis is an explicit attack on the neurotic structure, the challenge it presents is greater. She says she does not agree with those who say that resistances cannot be tackled alone but need expert help. She also does not agree with Freud's view of the prominent role of a destructive instinct in human nature which leaves little space for constructive forces which might strive for growth. Her argument is that the outcome of any type of analysis depends on the strength of the resisting forces and the strength of the self to deal with them (ibid 268-269).
Recognizing resistances and defenses which work toward maintaining the status quo means some understanding of their sources and how they show themselves. It is the person's secret claims on life, their illusions about themselves which have subjective value and are safety zones which defy change (ibid, 271).
Horney says that in analysis the resistances arise usually as a result of something specific which has occurred in the analysis and defenses immediately come to the client's rescue. If touched upon, in any part of life, these repressed factors will produce the resistance and defenses which accompany it. In analysis the analyst may provoke resistance by interpretation or getting near a sensitive area. In self-analysis daily life may have greater power to produce blockage because the person's emotions are not concentrated, even temporarily, on the analyst (ibid 272-273). In other words it is to say that there are many distractions in an individual’s daily life such that to have a proper concentration which is not interrupted by anything is a bit difficult.
Horney says that in professional analysis resistances may be grouped under three main headings. The first type is an open fight with what is suggested or felt to be going on. The second type can be concentrated on the analyst and is seen as defensive emotional reactions. The third Horney refers to as defensive inhibitions or tactics of evasion (ibid 275).
In self-analysis resistance may be seen in several ways. One would be toward starting the analytical work itself and an inhibition continuing it, and evasion of issues in innumerable ways. The value of the free associations may be impaired, as well as blockage of any understanding of them. Resistance may invalidate the significance of the findings. There will be emotional reactions to material which comes up. Feelings of guilt or apprehension, or irritation at oneself will occur. These may also cause the person to minimize or avoid the problem for the time being (ibid, 276-279).
As we draw to the end of this point on resistances, we may need to say something on how they (resistances) are recognized and coped with. With persistence and time many will be seen and the emotions may then be able to be faced as well. Horney further says that noticing emotions, how the person is feeling will help them see something is wrong. Whenever a blockage is noticed she says that the person should drop other analytical pursuits and concentrate on the resistance because you can't get past it (ibid, 279-281).
She suggests free associating to the resistance, after looking back over recent notes to see if some issue has been touched upon which may have triggered the blockage to further understanding. These resistances are organic developments which developed as a result of threatening forces during a lifetime. They should be approached with respect, not with hostility. With this approach they may be understood, even in self-analysis. If they are stronger than one's constructive will, expert help may then be needed (ibid, 282-285).
In conclusion to this chapter, once again from reading her books, we might gain an impression of Horney as a therapist who relied heavily on rigorous analysis of her patients in terms of an elaborate taxonomy of defenses. A different picture emerges from the lectures (1987, 1999) she gave in her courses on analytic technique, which were published posthumously.
The conflict between healthy and neurotic forces may never be finally resolved, but there may be a decisive shift in the balance of power. Therapy can be terminated when the balance has shifted decisively to the side of the strivings for growth and patients are ready to deal with their problems themselves through continuing self-analysis (Horney 1939, 303-305).
Horney also believed in the inherent constructive forces, something that made her much more optimistic than Freud about the possibilities of psychotherapy. She thought that Freud did not have any clear vision of constructive forces in man and had to deny their authentic character (Horney 1950, 378). For Freud, creativity and love were sublimated forms of libidinal drives, and a striving for self-fulfilment could only be regarded as an expression of narcissistic libido (ibid).
Finally it's important to note that Horney continually stressed that self-awareness was part of becoming a better, stronger, richer human being. This is evident from practically all her books which seem to have a common running theme, namely the capacity of an individual to effect change in his or her life, which is to realize oneself.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Karen Horney’s Theory of Neurosis in Brief
The present is just an attempt to give a brief overview of Karen Horney’s theory of Neurosis as a way to self realization. In fact her theory can be clearly seen to have evolved gradually as she continued writing her works. There are four distinct phases in the development of her thought: The first concerns her early essays on feminine psychology; the second is about her recognition that culture and disturbed human relationships are more important than biology as causes of neurotic development; the third is about her study of the interpersonal defenses and the intrapsychic defenses developed to cope with anxiety; and the fourth concerns the therapeutic work.
A keen reader of Horney's works will notice just how much they were in line with what meant when she talked of every man having the capacity as well as the desire to develop his potentials to become the best human person, and to realize all his potentials (Horney 1945, 19).
If for example we consider the fact that the above statement was made when she was already sixty years old, we can easily say that she knew what she meant. The same statement seems also to have been a descriptive summary of her whole life, that is struggling to fight the cultural biases of her time, as well as to go beyond where probably no other woman before had gone before her.
One thing we can easily note in reading her works is that, though they bear different titles and were even written in different times, they seem to have a common running theme which unites all of them. They all revolve around the theme of neurosis and its origins in interpersonal relationships (beginning from relationship with the parents, the family and the environment or culture). A comment to make here is that, just as much as neurosis seems to trace its origin from a failed interpersonal relationship, we can also note that the works of Horney seem to suggest that recovery process will have to include recourse to interpersonal relationships – this is especially when we consider the neurotic trends as coping strategies. This however, is not in any way intended to overlook the individual capacity to do it alone.
For that matter, I come now to one what impressed me more in all of Horney’s works. It is true to say that all of us suffer from ineffective beliefs that Horney calls neurotic trends. Almost alone in the psychiatric community she encourages the seeker of self truth that there is hope in doing it your self – this is more emphatic in Self - analysis. Her clear enumeration of the needs (though she also corrupted them to neurotic needs) that plague us and their consequences can assist one in first discovering the mind’s conditioned reactions and then gradually eliminating the ineffective trend.
If the reader can learn from reading, Horney’s books can guide the keen reader on the path to become the best person one desires and loves to be. In my own assessment of her books especially Self Analysis (1942), and while still not under-valuing the worth of the others, it (the book) is the starting point for that path. It is a book that can help a reader to recognize the neurotic trends that limit ones perception of reality and probably even of happiness. To discover the causes and interrelations within the personality the reader should proceed through her other books. This, her book (1942) as well as others seems to be a statement that life is the best therapist.
And for someone like a student of the Psychology, and with prospects for a future in the field of education or life in general, the theory of Horney and her life background as hereby presented though not exhaustively, remains an inspiration. The greatest lesson one can learn from here is that though we have the inherent capacity to do or reach where we desire, the help from others (especially therapists or counsellors) can be very helpful more-so when an individual’s emotional and psychological equilibrium is disturbed leading to a problem in adjusting to a given situation.
In the beginning, I was personally wondering why Horney’s ideas have not been taken by many researchers, or rather seem not to have stimulated much research, but now, after continuous and wide reading it has occurred to me much they are applicable to fields like social psychology, and even psychotherapy. It is a student’s challenge now to pick up from where Horney stopped and see what more can be added, or even see how useful it is in helping people in difficult situations.
A keen reader of Horney's works will notice just how much they were in line with what meant when she talked of every man having the capacity as well as the desire to develop his potentials to become the best human person, and to realize all his potentials (Horney 1945, 19).
If for example we consider the fact that the above statement was made when she was already sixty years old, we can easily say that she knew what she meant. The same statement seems also to have been a descriptive summary of her whole life, that is struggling to fight the cultural biases of her time, as well as to go beyond where probably no other woman before had gone before her.
One thing we can easily note in reading her works is that, though they bear different titles and were even written in different times, they seem to have a common running theme which unites all of them. They all revolve around the theme of neurosis and its origins in interpersonal relationships (beginning from relationship with the parents, the family and the environment or culture). A comment to make here is that, just as much as neurosis seems to trace its origin from a failed interpersonal relationship, we can also note that the works of Horney seem to suggest that recovery process will have to include recourse to interpersonal relationships – this is especially when we consider the neurotic trends as coping strategies. This however, is not in any way intended to overlook the individual capacity to do it alone.
For that matter, I come now to one what impressed me more in all of Horney’s works. It is true to say that all of us suffer from ineffective beliefs that Horney calls neurotic trends. Almost alone in the psychiatric community she encourages the seeker of self truth that there is hope in doing it your self – this is more emphatic in Self - analysis. Her clear enumeration of the needs (though she also corrupted them to neurotic needs) that plague us and their consequences can assist one in first discovering the mind’s conditioned reactions and then gradually eliminating the ineffective trend.
If the reader can learn from reading, Horney’s books can guide the keen reader on the path to become the best person one desires and loves to be. In my own assessment of her books especially Self Analysis (1942), and while still not under-valuing the worth of the others, it (the book) is the starting point for that path. It is a book that can help a reader to recognize the neurotic trends that limit ones perception of reality and probably even of happiness. To discover the causes and interrelations within the personality the reader should proceed through her other books. This, her book (1942) as well as others seems to be a statement that life is the best therapist.
And for someone like a student of the Psychology, and with prospects for a future in the field of education or life in general, the theory of Horney and her life background as hereby presented though not exhaustively, remains an inspiration. The greatest lesson one can learn from here is that though we have the inherent capacity to do or reach where we desire, the help from others (especially therapists or counsellors) can be very helpful more-so when an individual’s emotional and psychological equilibrium is disturbed leading to a problem in adjusting to a given situation.
In the beginning, I was personally wondering why Horney’s ideas have not been taken by many researchers, or rather seem not to have stimulated much research, but now, after continuous and wide reading it has occurred to me much they are applicable to fields like social psychology, and even psychotherapy. It is a student’s challenge now to pick up from where Horney stopped and see what more can be added, or even see how useful it is in helping people in difficult situations.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Summary of H.S. Becker's Thought in OUTSIDERS
Becker prima studente e poi sociologo di distacco nella famosa “scuola di Chicago” (nel campo applicativo). Becker è un rappresentante significativo della Sociologia americana, particolarmente sull’argomento di grande interesse della devianza, dell’interazionismo simbolico e della teoria dell’etichettamento. Il suo metodo di analisi mostra che non basta la tradizionale oggettività. Ma la partecipazione e l’empatia sono necessarie per penetrare nell’universo simbolico che si vuole descrivere.
I temi importanti dell’opera sono: la precisazione teorica della devianza; “l’iniziazione” alla devianza; la morale le norme (sua creazione e applicazione); interpretazione della teoria dell’etichettamento.
Quelli che, a me, interessano di più sono: la precisazione teorica di questa realtà complessa (definizione), le norma e le loro applicazioni, il ruolo degl’imprenditori morali, per arrivare ad una sintesi che ci aiuti, come educatori, a capire il perché, il come, a comprendere e provare di intervenire efficacemente alla complessità di tali problemi sociali.
1. Definizione di devianza:
Diversi gruppi giudicano cose diverse come devianti. Quindi, il primo problema è costruire una definizione della devianza. Questa è vista per alcuni, in senso statistico: come qualunque cosa troppo diversa dalla media. Per altri, come qualcosa essenzialmente patologica: medicina; altri ancora come la mancanza di obbedienza alle norme accettate dalla società.
La devianza è presa come una creazione della società. I gruppi sociali creano la devianza istituendo norme la cui infrazione costituisce la devianza stessa, attribuendo l’etichetta di outsiders (agli infrattori). E’ una conseguenza della reazione degli altri. Un atto sarà considerato deviante secondo la reazione degli altri. La questione è che la reazione degli altri deve essere vista come problematica. Che un atto sia considerato deviante, dipende anche, da due altri fattori: chi lo commette e chi si sente leso.
La devianza è fondamentalmente una etichetta sociale; non è una qualità che consiste nel comportamento stesso, ma nell’interazione tra la persona che commette un atto e coloro che reagiscono ad esso.
La devianza si considera frutto della soggettività e ambiguità delle norme, e queste norme sociali sono, in genere, create da specifici gruppi sociali. I comportamenti in società non sono uguali perché la società è eterogenea. Imporre le norme è una questione di potere economico e politico di certi gruppi ( uomini ricchi, adulti, nord…).
2. Le Norme e la loro Applicazione
Ci sono gruppi di persone che elaborano le norme alle quali gli outsiders non si conformano. E’ più comune che le norme vengano applicate soltanto quando qualcosa ne provoca l’applicazione. Per questo è necessario che qualcuno prenda l’iniziativa di fare il presunto colpevole, quando coloro che la desiderano portano pubblicamente l’infrazione all’attenzione degli altri ( l’interessi personali li stimolano a prendere l’iniziativa per l’applicazione).
Il processo di applicazione di una norma varia in relazione alla struttura sociale. Il problema dell’applicazione della norma diventa più complesso quando la situazione è costituita da alcuni gruppi in competizione perché gli interessi da soddisfare sono più numerosi. In queste circostanze, l’accesso ai canali di informazione diventa una variabile importante, e coloro i cui interessi richiedono che le norme non vengano infrante cercano di impedire la diffusione delle notizie sulle infrazioni. Infatti, può essere che il pubblico ministero non voglia applicare la norma per molte ragioni oppure interessi. Il potere dei diversi gruppi determina la applicazione oppure la non applicazione di una norma.
Le norme derivano dei valori, ma i valori non sono utili nell’orientare il comportamento in situazioni concrete. Le persone trasformano i valori in norme specifiche. Le norme dovrebbero essere precise ma la maggior parte delle norme non lo sono, perché i valori sono ambigui e generali. Inoltre, a meno che una situazione problematica non spinga qualcuno a farlo, le norme non verranno dedotte da valori. Ancora una volta, norme dedotte di un stesso valore potrebbero essere in conflitto. E’ visto che una norma può soddisfare un interesse e tuttavia essere in conflitto con altri interessi del gruppo che la crea, di solito si procede con cura alla sua elaborazione, in modo da assicurarsi soltanto gli effetti attesi e nessun altro.
Le norme possono essere informali o formali (legali – più precise). Ma la finalità e la piena realizzazione della norma è la sua applicazione in casi particolari a persone particolari.
Però, la norma può essere anche creata per servire l’interesse di qualcuno e può essere trovata una giustificazione in qualche valore generale… Dato che i valori generali costituiscono la base dalla quale vengono dedotte delle leggi specifiche, dobbiamo cercare la persona che opera affinché avvenga questo processo di deduzione. Dobbiamo cercare chi si occupa di vigilare che le norme siano applicate e rispettate, di colui che chiameremo “imprenditore di morale”, delle circostanze in cui appare, e del modo in cui applica il suo spirito imprenditoriale.
3. L’imprenditori Morali
Le norme sono il prodotto dell’iniziativa di qualcuno e possiamo considerare che si cimentano in tali imprese degli imprenditori morali. Due tipi: chi crea la legge e chi la fa applicare.
Il prototipo è il crociato morale delle riforme. Questo, spesso si considera più giusto e virtuoso degli altri. Si crede di avere una missione sacra. Interessati ad imporre agli altri la propria morale. Altri hanno un forte carattere umanitario e credono che sarà un bene per loro ciò che è giusto. Appartengono ai livelli superiori della struttura sociale. Si preoccupa più ai fini che ai mezzi. Anche si fa aiutare d’un esperto e lascia ad altri il compito di curarne l’applicazione.
Il destino delle crociate morali può trionfare e può fallire. Se trionfa suppone la creazione di una nuova legge, ma anche lascia il crociato senza missione. Quando questa preoccupazione ha diventato una occupazione e si ha prodotto una grande organizzazione è probabile che cerche una nuova causa. Le crociate senza successo possono scegliere tra due linee: da una parte, possono semplicemente rinunciare alla loro missione originale e concentrarsi sul mantener ciò che rimane dell’organizzazione che è stata costruita. Da altra parte, il movimento in fallimento può aderire rigidamente ad una missione sempre meno popolare, “moralizzatori in pensione”. Pochi crociati hanno successo, ma qualunque scoprono un gusto per le crociate e vanno alla ricerca di nuovi problemi da attaccare, altri lasciano perdere la loro missione e altri diventano loro stessi outsider per la sua eccentricità.
Con la nuova legge viene instaurato un nuovo insieme di agenzie e funzionari per l’applicazione. Con l’instaurazione di queste organizzazioni specifiche, la crociata si istituzionalizza.
Vediamo le motivazioni e gli interessi della polizia, gli incaricati a far osservare la legge. Gli agenti possono non essere interessati al momento de la legge in quanto tale, ma solo al fatto che l’esistenza della stessa gli fornisce un lavoro, una professione, una ragione di essere. Poiché chi fa applicare certe leggi trova in questa occupazione la sua ragione di vita, due interessi condizionano la sua attività: primo, deve giustificare l’esistenza della sua occupazione e, secondo, deve guadagnare il rispetto di quelli con cui ha che fare.
I rappresentanti della legge, poi, rispondono alla pressione della propria situazione di lavoro, applicano le leggi e creano gli outsiders in modo selettivo. I tutori dell’ordine possono avere dei problemi con chi crea le norme a causa della loro mancanza di fervore e del loro approccio abitudinario nell’affrontare il male. L’imprenditore morale, dietro la cui istanza fu istituita la norma, entra di nuovo in scena per dire che l’esito dell’ultima crociata non è stato soddisfacente, o che i miglioramenti precedentemente ottenuti sono stati compromessi e perduti.
4. Devianza e iniziativa: una sintesi:
In conclusione, la devianza, secondo Becker, è una trasgressione pubblicamente etichettata. E’ sempre il risultato dell’iniziativa di qualcuno. Prima che qualsiasi atto possa essere visto come deviante, e prima che qualsiasi categoria di persona possa essere etichettata e trattata come outsider per aver commesso un atto, qualcuno deve aver instaurato la norma che definisce questo atto come deviante. Le regole non nascono spontaneamente. Anche se un’attività può essere oggettivamente dannosa per il gruppo in cui avviene, il danno deve venire scoperto e messo in evidenza. Le persone devono essere indotte a pensare che sarebbe necessario fare qualcosa. Qualcuno può richiamare l’attenzione del pubblico su questi problemi, fornire la spinta necessaria per raggiungere l’obiettivo e, una volta svegliate queste energie, convogliarle nella direzione adatta perché venga creata una norma. In senso lato la devianza è il prodotto di un’iniziativa: senza questa iniziativa destinata a creare le norme, la devianza, che consiste nell’infrangerle, non potrebbe esistere.
La devianza è il prodotto di un’iniziativa anche in un senso più stretto e particolare. Una volta entrata in vigore, una norma deve essere applicata a delle persone particolari prima che l’astratta categoria degli outsiders creata dalla norma possa popolarsi. I trasgressori devono essere scoperti, identificati, arrestati e condannati. Naturalmente questa incombenza spetta ai professionisti del far rispettare le norme che, applicando leggi già esistenti, creano i devianti particolari che la società vede come outsiders. E’ interessante il fatto che la maggior parte della ricerca e della teorizzazione scientifica sulla devianza si occupi delle persone che infrangono le norme piuttosto che di quelle che le istituiscono e le fanno applicare. Se vogliamo raggiungere una totale comprensione del comportamento deviante, dobbiamo mettere sulla bilancia queste due possibili direzioni dell’indagine. Dobbiamo vedere la devianza, e gli outsiders che personificano questo concetto astratto, come una conseguenza di un processo di interazione tra persone: alcune, nel servizio dei propri interessi, elaborano e fanno applicare delle norme che colpiscono altre persone che, nel servizio dei propri interessi, hanno commesso degli atti etichettati come devianti.
Opinione personale
Si deve riconoscere la rilevanza e l’originalità dell’indagine svolta per Becker nello studio della Sociologia, e soprattutto nell’ambito della devianza. Si può considerare vero, che, in un modo generale, la società crea le condizioni fertili per la devianza, o sia l’etichettamento è una marca creata dalla società. Molte volte, un atteggiamento sbagliato ci tenta a vedere i devianti come colpevoli del proprio comportamento, quando la società è la vera responsabile e forse la colpevole…
Comunque non si devono dimenticare altri aspetti, non sociali che hanno un influsso rilevante nel comportamento delle persone nel confronto con la stessa società. Cosi non si deve dimenticare che ci sono proprio patologie comportamentali o anomalie congenite, che non dipendono dalla società, ma che portano anche alla devianza.
La devianza è una realtà talmente complessa che non si può definire o capire solo con una opinione o una prospettiva. C’è una rete di fattori, a volte difficili di spiegare, alla base di ogni comportamento deviante. E’ proprio L’interazionismo di cui anche Becker ha svolto tanti sforzi d’indagine.
I temi importanti dell’opera sono: la precisazione teorica della devianza; “l’iniziazione” alla devianza; la morale le norme (sua creazione e applicazione); interpretazione della teoria dell’etichettamento.
Quelli che, a me, interessano di più sono: la precisazione teorica di questa realtà complessa (definizione), le norma e le loro applicazioni, il ruolo degl’imprenditori morali, per arrivare ad una sintesi che ci aiuti, come educatori, a capire il perché, il come, a comprendere e provare di intervenire efficacemente alla complessità di tali problemi sociali.
1. Definizione di devianza:
Diversi gruppi giudicano cose diverse come devianti. Quindi, il primo problema è costruire una definizione della devianza. Questa è vista per alcuni, in senso statistico: come qualunque cosa troppo diversa dalla media. Per altri, come qualcosa essenzialmente patologica: medicina; altri ancora come la mancanza di obbedienza alle norme accettate dalla società.
La devianza è presa come una creazione della società. I gruppi sociali creano la devianza istituendo norme la cui infrazione costituisce la devianza stessa, attribuendo l’etichetta di outsiders (agli infrattori). E’ una conseguenza della reazione degli altri. Un atto sarà considerato deviante secondo la reazione degli altri. La questione è che la reazione degli altri deve essere vista come problematica. Che un atto sia considerato deviante, dipende anche, da due altri fattori: chi lo commette e chi si sente leso.
La devianza è fondamentalmente una etichetta sociale; non è una qualità che consiste nel comportamento stesso, ma nell’interazione tra la persona che commette un atto e coloro che reagiscono ad esso.
La devianza si considera frutto della soggettività e ambiguità delle norme, e queste norme sociali sono, in genere, create da specifici gruppi sociali. I comportamenti in società non sono uguali perché la società è eterogenea. Imporre le norme è una questione di potere economico e politico di certi gruppi ( uomini ricchi, adulti, nord…).
2. Le Norme e la loro Applicazione
Ci sono gruppi di persone che elaborano le norme alle quali gli outsiders non si conformano. E’ più comune che le norme vengano applicate soltanto quando qualcosa ne provoca l’applicazione. Per questo è necessario che qualcuno prenda l’iniziativa di fare il presunto colpevole, quando coloro che la desiderano portano pubblicamente l’infrazione all’attenzione degli altri ( l’interessi personali li stimolano a prendere l’iniziativa per l’applicazione).
Il processo di applicazione di una norma varia in relazione alla struttura sociale. Il problema dell’applicazione della norma diventa più complesso quando la situazione è costituita da alcuni gruppi in competizione perché gli interessi da soddisfare sono più numerosi. In queste circostanze, l’accesso ai canali di informazione diventa una variabile importante, e coloro i cui interessi richiedono che le norme non vengano infrante cercano di impedire la diffusione delle notizie sulle infrazioni. Infatti, può essere che il pubblico ministero non voglia applicare la norma per molte ragioni oppure interessi. Il potere dei diversi gruppi determina la applicazione oppure la non applicazione di una norma.
Le norme derivano dei valori, ma i valori non sono utili nell’orientare il comportamento in situazioni concrete. Le persone trasformano i valori in norme specifiche. Le norme dovrebbero essere precise ma la maggior parte delle norme non lo sono, perché i valori sono ambigui e generali. Inoltre, a meno che una situazione problematica non spinga qualcuno a farlo, le norme non verranno dedotte da valori. Ancora una volta, norme dedotte di un stesso valore potrebbero essere in conflitto. E’ visto che una norma può soddisfare un interesse e tuttavia essere in conflitto con altri interessi del gruppo che la crea, di solito si procede con cura alla sua elaborazione, in modo da assicurarsi soltanto gli effetti attesi e nessun altro.
Le norme possono essere informali o formali (legali – più precise). Ma la finalità e la piena realizzazione della norma è la sua applicazione in casi particolari a persone particolari.
Però, la norma può essere anche creata per servire l’interesse di qualcuno e può essere trovata una giustificazione in qualche valore generale… Dato che i valori generali costituiscono la base dalla quale vengono dedotte delle leggi specifiche, dobbiamo cercare la persona che opera affinché avvenga questo processo di deduzione. Dobbiamo cercare chi si occupa di vigilare che le norme siano applicate e rispettate, di colui che chiameremo “imprenditore di morale”, delle circostanze in cui appare, e del modo in cui applica il suo spirito imprenditoriale.
3. L’imprenditori Morali
Le norme sono il prodotto dell’iniziativa di qualcuno e possiamo considerare che si cimentano in tali imprese degli imprenditori morali. Due tipi: chi crea la legge e chi la fa applicare.
Il prototipo è il crociato morale delle riforme. Questo, spesso si considera più giusto e virtuoso degli altri. Si crede di avere una missione sacra. Interessati ad imporre agli altri la propria morale. Altri hanno un forte carattere umanitario e credono che sarà un bene per loro ciò che è giusto. Appartengono ai livelli superiori della struttura sociale. Si preoccupa più ai fini che ai mezzi. Anche si fa aiutare d’un esperto e lascia ad altri il compito di curarne l’applicazione.
Il destino delle crociate morali può trionfare e può fallire. Se trionfa suppone la creazione di una nuova legge, ma anche lascia il crociato senza missione. Quando questa preoccupazione ha diventato una occupazione e si ha prodotto una grande organizzazione è probabile che cerche una nuova causa. Le crociate senza successo possono scegliere tra due linee: da una parte, possono semplicemente rinunciare alla loro missione originale e concentrarsi sul mantener ciò che rimane dell’organizzazione che è stata costruita. Da altra parte, il movimento in fallimento può aderire rigidamente ad una missione sempre meno popolare, “moralizzatori in pensione”. Pochi crociati hanno successo, ma qualunque scoprono un gusto per le crociate e vanno alla ricerca di nuovi problemi da attaccare, altri lasciano perdere la loro missione e altri diventano loro stessi outsider per la sua eccentricità.
Con la nuova legge viene instaurato un nuovo insieme di agenzie e funzionari per l’applicazione. Con l’instaurazione di queste organizzazioni specifiche, la crociata si istituzionalizza.
Vediamo le motivazioni e gli interessi della polizia, gli incaricati a far osservare la legge. Gli agenti possono non essere interessati al momento de la legge in quanto tale, ma solo al fatto che l’esistenza della stessa gli fornisce un lavoro, una professione, una ragione di essere. Poiché chi fa applicare certe leggi trova in questa occupazione la sua ragione di vita, due interessi condizionano la sua attività: primo, deve giustificare l’esistenza della sua occupazione e, secondo, deve guadagnare il rispetto di quelli con cui ha che fare.
I rappresentanti della legge, poi, rispondono alla pressione della propria situazione di lavoro, applicano le leggi e creano gli outsiders in modo selettivo. I tutori dell’ordine possono avere dei problemi con chi crea le norme a causa della loro mancanza di fervore e del loro approccio abitudinario nell’affrontare il male. L’imprenditore morale, dietro la cui istanza fu istituita la norma, entra di nuovo in scena per dire che l’esito dell’ultima crociata non è stato soddisfacente, o che i miglioramenti precedentemente ottenuti sono stati compromessi e perduti.
4. Devianza e iniziativa: una sintesi:
In conclusione, la devianza, secondo Becker, è una trasgressione pubblicamente etichettata. E’ sempre il risultato dell’iniziativa di qualcuno. Prima che qualsiasi atto possa essere visto come deviante, e prima che qualsiasi categoria di persona possa essere etichettata e trattata come outsider per aver commesso un atto, qualcuno deve aver instaurato la norma che definisce questo atto come deviante. Le regole non nascono spontaneamente. Anche se un’attività può essere oggettivamente dannosa per il gruppo in cui avviene, il danno deve venire scoperto e messo in evidenza. Le persone devono essere indotte a pensare che sarebbe necessario fare qualcosa. Qualcuno può richiamare l’attenzione del pubblico su questi problemi, fornire la spinta necessaria per raggiungere l’obiettivo e, una volta svegliate queste energie, convogliarle nella direzione adatta perché venga creata una norma. In senso lato la devianza è il prodotto di un’iniziativa: senza questa iniziativa destinata a creare le norme, la devianza, che consiste nell’infrangerle, non potrebbe esistere.
La devianza è il prodotto di un’iniziativa anche in un senso più stretto e particolare. Una volta entrata in vigore, una norma deve essere applicata a delle persone particolari prima che l’astratta categoria degli outsiders creata dalla norma possa popolarsi. I trasgressori devono essere scoperti, identificati, arrestati e condannati. Naturalmente questa incombenza spetta ai professionisti del far rispettare le norme che, applicando leggi già esistenti, creano i devianti particolari che la società vede come outsiders. E’ interessante il fatto che la maggior parte della ricerca e della teorizzazione scientifica sulla devianza si occupi delle persone che infrangono le norme piuttosto che di quelle che le istituiscono e le fanno applicare. Se vogliamo raggiungere una totale comprensione del comportamento deviante, dobbiamo mettere sulla bilancia queste due possibili direzioni dell’indagine. Dobbiamo vedere la devianza, e gli outsiders che personificano questo concetto astratto, come una conseguenza di un processo di interazione tra persone: alcune, nel servizio dei propri interessi, elaborano e fanno applicare delle norme che colpiscono altre persone che, nel servizio dei propri interessi, hanno commesso degli atti etichettati come devianti.
Opinione personale
Si deve riconoscere la rilevanza e l’originalità dell’indagine svolta per Becker nello studio della Sociologia, e soprattutto nell’ambito della devianza. Si può considerare vero, che, in un modo generale, la società crea le condizioni fertili per la devianza, o sia l’etichettamento è una marca creata dalla società. Molte volte, un atteggiamento sbagliato ci tenta a vedere i devianti come colpevoli del proprio comportamento, quando la società è la vera responsabile e forse la colpevole…
Comunque non si devono dimenticare altri aspetti, non sociali che hanno un influsso rilevante nel comportamento delle persone nel confronto con la stessa società. Cosi non si deve dimenticare che ci sono proprio patologie comportamentali o anomalie congenite, che non dipendono dalla società, ma che portano anche alla devianza.
La devianza è una realtà talmente complessa che non si può definire o capire solo con una opinione o una prospettiva. C’è una rete di fattori, a volte difficili di spiegare, alla base di ogni comportamento deviante. E’ proprio L’interazionismo di cui anche Becker ha svolto tanti sforzi d’indagine.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Educazione al Bivio
Jacques Maritain.
Nato in Parigi 1882 da famiglia Protestante.
Ha studiato al Soborn durante il periodo del Positivismo, Materialismo e Socialismo. Nel 1906 si è converta al Cattolicesimo seguendo poi il pensiero di San. Thomas Aquino.
Nel 1912 ha insegnato all’istituto Cattolico di Parigi.
Nel 1940 è andato negli Stati Uniti dove ha insegnato diverse Università. Ha Scritto molti libri trattando numerosi argomenti. In questo lavoro, presenterò un sommario del suo pensiero sull’educazione basata sul libro, Education at The Crossroads, Educazione al Bivio.
Introduzione
Cui si trova l’interesse pedagogico di Jacques Maritain.
Questo è un frutto di conferenze che ha fatto nell’università di Yale negli Stati Uniti nell’anno 1943.
All’inizio ha voluto di intitolarlo l’educazione dell’uomo perché secondo lui niente è più importante per ciascuno di noi e niente è più difficile che divenire uomo. Per questo, il compito principale dell’educazione è di formare uomo, o di guidare lo sviluppo dinamico attraverso il quale l’uomo forma se stesso ad essere uomo.
Secondo Maritain L’educazione è:
-Un processo per mezzo del quale uomo è formato e condotto verso la sua perfezione.
-L'opera di formazione che gli adulti intraprendono nei confronti della gioventù.
-Il compito specifico delle scuole e delle università.
Invece secondo lui l’educazione moderna è parziale perché ha smarrito il senso dell’integralità della persona umana. Questa educazione ha errori e Maritain elenca sette. Dopo di questo si tratta anche la sua visione dell’educazione poi la conclusione di questo sommario. Quello che m’interessa e parlerò di più sono gli errori dell’educazione.
Gli Errori Dell’Educazione
1. Misconoscimento dei fini
-Educazione è un’arte particolarmente difficile. Ogni arte è un’azione dinamica verso un oggetto da realizzare che è lo scopo dell’arte stessa.
-Non c’e arte senza finalità. Il primo errore consiste nel dimenticare i fini da raggiungere ai metodi dell’educazione. La ricerca dei mezzi bisogna considerarli come strumento del fine dell’educazione.
2. False idee riguardo al fine
Se il fine dell’educazione consiste nell’aiutare il bambino verso la perfezione umana, è obbligata a rispondere alla domanda- che cosa e l’uomo?
Il concetto dell’uomo può essere considerato come; scientifico, filosofico-religioso. L’idea puramente scientifica dell’uomo tende soltanto ad unire insieme dati misurabili e osservabili. Il concetto filosofico – religioso dell’uomo è un concetto ontologico.
Non è esternamente verificabile nell’esperienza dei sensi, ma possiede criteri e prove che gli sono propri e legate sui caratteri essenziali ad intrinseci e sulla densità intelligibile. Questi costituiscono il concetto riguarda la natura o l’essenza.
Filosofico: perché questo concetto riguarda la natura o l’essenza dell’uomo.
Religioso: per la causa dello stato essenziale della natura in rapporto a Dio e a causa dei doni speciali, delle prove e della vocazione implicata da questo stato.
-Il concetto scientifico: invece esclude il problema se l’uomo è spirito o materia, se è libero o soggetto al determinismo.
-Concetto filosofico-religioso: Considera l’uomo com’essere spirituale e persona caratterizzata dalla volontà, dalla conoscenza e dall’amore.
3. Il Pragmatismo
La vita è azione. L’azione e la prassi tendono ad uno scopo, ad un fine senza il quale esse perde la loro direzione.
Il Pragmatismo concepisce l’attività intelletuale dell’uomo come suscita dai bisogni pratici e finalizzati all’azione.
Pragmatismo pone l’educazione al bivio tra una formazione esclusivamente pragmatica e sociale dell’uomo ed un umanesimo integrale (dimensione terrena e sopranaturale dell’essere umano).
4. Il Sociologismo
L’essenza dell’educazione prima di tutto consiste nel fare un uomo e per questo preparare un cittadino.
L’idea principale qui è che l’essere umano è condizionato dalla vita sociale. Questo suppone anche che il condizionamento sociale è la suprema regola e l’unico modello dell’educazione. L’educazione per la persona e la comunità non è vano e superficiale, ma implica e richiede l’educazione per la persona.
5. Intellettualismo
Ci sono due forme principali:
-Supremi vertici di perfezioni promossi dall’educazione con la pura abilità dialettica o retorica.
-Quello che abbandona valori universali e insiste sulle funzioni pratiche e operative dell’intelligenza.
L’importanza assegnata alla vita intellettuale (non come un esercizio dell’intelligenza in tutta la sua ampiezza per la conquista della verità ma come conoscenza piu limitata e specizializzata).
Questa è fatale per l’organizzazione politica specialmente democratica che richiede dall’uomo idee generali e non una conoscenza specializzata in una disciplina.
La democrazia richiede un’educazione liberale oppure generale. Il culto della specializzazione disumaniza la vita dell’uomo.
6. Volontarismo
Due forme principali sono:
-In reazione contro la prima di una tendenza volontarista sorta fin dal tempo di Schopenhauer ha contribuito a fare dell’intelligenza una schiava della volontà e fare l’appello alla virtù delle forze irrazionali.
-Educazione tecnica specializzata all’accesso: conosciuto come educazione della volontà, educazione del sentimento, formazione del carattere.
Nel campo pedagogico, volontarismo è quello di richiamare l’attenzione sull’importanza delle funzioni volontarie, sul primato della moralità, virtù e generosità nella formazione dell’uomo.
La nuova tendenza e la formazione di doti utili alla vita sociale qual è stata accompagnata dal problema di formare non solo intelligenza ma anche le virtù della volontà e del carattere.
*I rischio è che la volontà e doti di carattere possono essere utilizzate per il male come per il bene, per distruggere la liberta e totalitarismo.
7. Ogni cosa può essere appresa mediante insegnamento
Troviamo alcuni paradossi dell’educazione.
-Il sistema pedagogico in rapporto alla formazione della volontà e la dignità dell’intelletto consiste la preparazione completa dell’educazione dell’uomo.
Ci sono corsi di filosofia, ma non corsi di saggezza, l’amore e l’intuizione non è materia d’istruzione scientifica e d’insegnamento.
Un altro paradosso dell’educazione riguarda le istituzioni educative (family, school, church) e l’ambito extra-educativo. La sfera estra-eductiva anche esercita sull’uomo un’azione più importante della stessa educazione. Comunque la scuola non deve essere considerata inutile.
L’errore è per credere che tutto può essere insegnato perché questa crea un paradosso che, la cosa più importante nell’educazione non è compito dell’educazione e ancora meno dell’insegnamento.
Le Norme Fondamentali dell’educazione
-Prima regola: consiste nell’incoraggiare e favorire quelle fondamentali disposizioni che permettono all’agente principale (il bambino) di svilupparsi nella vita dello spirito.
-Secondo regola: Consiste nel centrale l’attenzione sull’intima profondità della personalità e del suo cosciente spirituale dinamismo (interiorizzazione dell’influenza educativa).
-Terza regola: tutto il lavoro dell’educazione e dell’insegnamento deve tendere ad unificare non a disperdere. Deve sempre sforzarsi per assicurare e nutrire l’interna unità dell’uomo; unità spirituale e saggezza.
Qui si ricorda la regola di San Tomaso d’Aquino: Non di lasciare mai dietro una sola difficoltà insoluta.
-Quartro regola: Conoscenza ed Esercizio (mental training).
Il dinamismo dell’educazione:
In ciascuno esiste solo il principio vitale e attivo della conoscenza. Questo principio vitale interno è ciò che l’educatore deve rispettare al di sopra ogni altra cosa. La sua arte consiste nell’imitare le vie che la natura intellettuale segna nelle sue operazioni.
La ricerca di nuovi metodi è una nuova ispirazione, (è chiamata scuola progressiva dovrebbe essere valutata e incoraggiata).
L’educazione liberale
L’educazione generale è realizzabile nelle istituzioni che precedono l’università nella quale la scelta implica specializzazione.
Prima di questo l’attività del gioco deve essere integrata e superata dallo studio che riguarda l’attività intellettuale nelle varie forme; esempio: Sapere letterario, artistico, storia e scienza. Tutti devono svolgere quest’attività prima della specializzazione.
L’educazione liberale e il nuovo umanesimo
L’educazione integrale assumerà un’importanza fondamentale per l’uomo di domani. Ci sono le relazioni vitali dell’uomo con la società; non solo con l’ambiente sociale, ma anche con il lavoro comune ed il bene comune.
Il problema consiste nel sostituire l’individualismo (dell’età borghese) con una civiltà personalistica e comunitaria fondata sugli umani diritti, che soddisfano le aspirazioni e bisogni sociali dell’uomo.
L’educazione liberale e l’educazione di domani, dovrà porre fine alla scissione tra lavoro (utile) e il fiorire di vita spirituale e di gioia disinteressata dalla conoscenza e dalla bellezza. Questa e il carattere democratico dell’educazione di domani.
* L’educazione di domani deve prevedere l’uomo comune, l’uomo dell’umanità comune, dei mezzi richiesti per il suo perfezionamento personale, nei confronti del suo lavoro, anche in rapporto alle sue attività sociali e politiche nella comunità civile e alle attività delle sue ore di libertà.
Conclusione
Si può definire l’uomo come un animale dotato di ragione la cui suprema dignità consiste nell’intelletto, lui è un individuo libero in personale relazione con Dio, la cui suprema giustizia è di obbedire volontariamente alla legge di Dio. Anche sé è una creatura peccatrice e ferita ma è chiamata alla vita divina e alla libertà della grazia.
Lo scopo dell’educazione è di guidare l’uomo nello sviluppo dinamico durante il quale egli forma se stesso come una persona. L’uomo è fatto per sviluppare le capacità umane in tutte le loro possibilità. Le principali aspirazioni della persona sono orientate alla libertà.
La finalità dell’educazione consiste nello scopo di guidare l’uomo nello sviluppo dinamico durante il quale egli si forma la stessa persona umana.
L’aspetto unitario dell’educazione è di mettere il fanciullo in grado di esercitare più tardi un mestiere e di guardanarsi la vita. Mezzo per ottenere questo risultato pratico e di sviluppare le capacità umane nella loro vastità.
Questa si può dire che una visione o struttura interna e l’organizzazione degli studi destinati a rendere più sensibili i principi dinamici dell’educazione come l’attività naturale della mente del fanciullo e l’arte della ministeriale del maestro.
La visione dell’uomo e dell’educazione secondo Maritain non è diverso dalla visione cristiana dell’uomo. Questa è un grande contribuito al campo dell’educazione.
Nato in Parigi 1882 da famiglia Protestante.
Ha studiato al Soborn durante il periodo del Positivismo, Materialismo e Socialismo. Nel 1906 si è converta al Cattolicesimo seguendo poi il pensiero di San. Thomas Aquino.
Nel 1912 ha insegnato all’istituto Cattolico di Parigi.
Nel 1940 è andato negli Stati Uniti dove ha insegnato diverse Università. Ha Scritto molti libri trattando numerosi argomenti. In questo lavoro, presenterò un sommario del suo pensiero sull’educazione basata sul libro, Education at The Crossroads, Educazione al Bivio.
Introduzione
Cui si trova l’interesse pedagogico di Jacques Maritain.
Questo è un frutto di conferenze che ha fatto nell’università di Yale negli Stati Uniti nell’anno 1943.
All’inizio ha voluto di intitolarlo l’educazione dell’uomo perché secondo lui niente è più importante per ciascuno di noi e niente è più difficile che divenire uomo. Per questo, il compito principale dell’educazione è di formare uomo, o di guidare lo sviluppo dinamico attraverso il quale l’uomo forma se stesso ad essere uomo.
Secondo Maritain L’educazione è:
-Un processo per mezzo del quale uomo è formato e condotto verso la sua perfezione.
-L'opera di formazione che gli adulti intraprendono nei confronti della gioventù.
-Il compito specifico delle scuole e delle università.
Invece secondo lui l’educazione moderna è parziale perché ha smarrito il senso dell’integralità della persona umana. Questa educazione ha errori e Maritain elenca sette. Dopo di questo si tratta anche la sua visione dell’educazione poi la conclusione di questo sommario. Quello che m’interessa e parlerò di più sono gli errori dell’educazione.
Gli Errori Dell’Educazione
1. Misconoscimento dei fini
-Educazione è un’arte particolarmente difficile. Ogni arte è un’azione dinamica verso un oggetto da realizzare che è lo scopo dell’arte stessa.
-Non c’e arte senza finalità. Il primo errore consiste nel dimenticare i fini da raggiungere ai metodi dell’educazione. La ricerca dei mezzi bisogna considerarli come strumento del fine dell’educazione.
2. False idee riguardo al fine
Se il fine dell’educazione consiste nell’aiutare il bambino verso la perfezione umana, è obbligata a rispondere alla domanda- che cosa e l’uomo?
Il concetto dell’uomo può essere considerato come; scientifico, filosofico-religioso. L’idea puramente scientifica dell’uomo tende soltanto ad unire insieme dati misurabili e osservabili. Il concetto filosofico – religioso dell’uomo è un concetto ontologico.
Non è esternamente verificabile nell’esperienza dei sensi, ma possiede criteri e prove che gli sono propri e legate sui caratteri essenziali ad intrinseci e sulla densità intelligibile. Questi costituiscono il concetto riguarda la natura o l’essenza.
Filosofico: perché questo concetto riguarda la natura o l’essenza dell’uomo.
Religioso: per la causa dello stato essenziale della natura in rapporto a Dio e a causa dei doni speciali, delle prove e della vocazione implicata da questo stato.
-Il concetto scientifico: invece esclude il problema se l’uomo è spirito o materia, se è libero o soggetto al determinismo.
-Concetto filosofico-religioso: Considera l’uomo com’essere spirituale e persona caratterizzata dalla volontà, dalla conoscenza e dall’amore.
3. Il Pragmatismo
La vita è azione. L’azione e la prassi tendono ad uno scopo, ad un fine senza il quale esse perde la loro direzione.
Il Pragmatismo concepisce l’attività intelletuale dell’uomo come suscita dai bisogni pratici e finalizzati all’azione.
Pragmatismo pone l’educazione al bivio tra una formazione esclusivamente pragmatica e sociale dell’uomo ed un umanesimo integrale (dimensione terrena e sopranaturale dell’essere umano).
4. Il Sociologismo
L’essenza dell’educazione prima di tutto consiste nel fare un uomo e per questo preparare un cittadino.
L’idea principale qui è che l’essere umano è condizionato dalla vita sociale. Questo suppone anche che il condizionamento sociale è la suprema regola e l’unico modello dell’educazione. L’educazione per la persona e la comunità non è vano e superficiale, ma implica e richiede l’educazione per la persona.
5. Intellettualismo
Ci sono due forme principali:
-Supremi vertici di perfezioni promossi dall’educazione con la pura abilità dialettica o retorica.
-Quello che abbandona valori universali e insiste sulle funzioni pratiche e operative dell’intelligenza.
L’importanza assegnata alla vita intellettuale (non come un esercizio dell’intelligenza in tutta la sua ampiezza per la conquista della verità ma come conoscenza piu limitata e specizializzata).
Questa è fatale per l’organizzazione politica specialmente democratica che richiede dall’uomo idee generali e non una conoscenza specializzata in una disciplina.
La democrazia richiede un’educazione liberale oppure generale. Il culto della specializzazione disumaniza la vita dell’uomo.
6. Volontarismo
Due forme principali sono:
-In reazione contro la prima di una tendenza volontarista sorta fin dal tempo di Schopenhauer ha contribuito a fare dell’intelligenza una schiava della volontà e fare l’appello alla virtù delle forze irrazionali.
-Educazione tecnica specializzata all’accesso: conosciuto come educazione della volontà, educazione del sentimento, formazione del carattere.
Nel campo pedagogico, volontarismo è quello di richiamare l’attenzione sull’importanza delle funzioni volontarie, sul primato della moralità, virtù e generosità nella formazione dell’uomo.
La nuova tendenza e la formazione di doti utili alla vita sociale qual è stata accompagnata dal problema di formare non solo intelligenza ma anche le virtù della volontà e del carattere.
*I rischio è che la volontà e doti di carattere possono essere utilizzate per il male come per il bene, per distruggere la liberta e totalitarismo.
7. Ogni cosa può essere appresa mediante insegnamento
Troviamo alcuni paradossi dell’educazione.
-Il sistema pedagogico in rapporto alla formazione della volontà e la dignità dell’intelletto consiste la preparazione completa dell’educazione dell’uomo.
Ci sono corsi di filosofia, ma non corsi di saggezza, l’amore e l’intuizione non è materia d’istruzione scientifica e d’insegnamento.
Un altro paradosso dell’educazione riguarda le istituzioni educative (family, school, church) e l’ambito extra-educativo. La sfera estra-eductiva anche esercita sull’uomo un’azione più importante della stessa educazione. Comunque la scuola non deve essere considerata inutile.
L’errore è per credere che tutto può essere insegnato perché questa crea un paradosso che, la cosa più importante nell’educazione non è compito dell’educazione e ancora meno dell’insegnamento.
Le Norme Fondamentali dell’educazione
-Prima regola: consiste nell’incoraggiare e favorire quelle fondamentali disposizioni che permettono all’agente principale (il bambino) di svilupparsi nella vita dello spirito.
-Secondo regola: Consiste nel centrale l’attenzione sull’intima profondità della personalità e del suo cosciente spirituale dinamismo (interiorizzazione dell’influenza educativa).
-Terza regola: tutto il lavoro dell’educazione e dell’insegnamento deve tendere ad unificare non a disperdere. Deve sempre sforzarsi per assicurare e nutrire l’interna unità dell’uomo; unità spirituale e saggezza.
Qui si ricorda la regola di San Tomaso d’Aquino: Non di lasciare mai dietro una sola difficoltà insoluta.
-Quartro regola: Conoscenza ed Esercizio (mental training).
Il dinamismo dell’educazione:
In ciascuno esiste solo il principio vitale e attivo della conoscenza. Questo principio vitale interno è ciò che l’educatore deve rispettare al di sopra ogni altra cosa. La sua arte consiste nell’imitare le vie che la natura intellettuale segna nelle sue operazioni.
La ricerca di nuovi metodi è una nuova ispirazione, (è chiamata scuola progressiva dovrebbe essere valutata e incoraggiata).
L’educazione liberale
L’educazione generale è realizzabile nelle istituzioni che precedono l’università nella quale la scelta implica specializzazione.
Prima di questo l’attività del gioco deve essere integrata e superata dallo studio che riguarda l’attività intellettuale nelle varie forme; esempio: Sapere letterario, artistico, storia e scienza. Tutti devono svolgere quest’attività prima della specializzazione.
L’educazione liberale e il nuovo umanesimo
L’educazione integrale assumerà un’importanza fondamentale per l’uomo di domani. Ci sono le relazioni vitali dell’uomo con la società; non solo con l’ambiente sociale, ma anche con il lavoro comune ed il bene comune.
Il problema consiste nel sostituire l’individualismo (dell’età borghese) con una civiltà personalistica e comunitaria fondata sugli umani diritti, che soddisfano le aspirazioni e bisogni sociali dell’uomo.
L’educazione liberale e l’educazione di domani, dovrà porre fine alla scissione tra lavoro (utile) e il fiorire di vita spirituale e di gioia disinteressata dalla conoscenza e dalla bellezza. Questa e il carattere democratico dell’educazione di domani.
* L’educazione di domani deve prevedere l’uomo comune, l’uomo dell’umanità comune, dei mezzi richiesti per il suo perfezionamento personale, nei confronti del suo lavoro, anche in rapporto alle sue attività sociali e politiche nella comunità civile e alle attività delle sue ore di libertà.
Conclusione
Si può definire l’uomo come un animale dotato di ragione la cui suprema dignità consiste nell’intelletto, lui è un individuo libero in personale relazione con Dio, la cui suprema giustizia è di obbedire volontariamente alla legge di Dio. Anche sé è una creatura peccatrice e ferita ma è chiamata alla vita divina e alla libertà della grazia.
Lo scopo dell’educazione è di guidare l’uomo nello sviluppo dinamico durante il quale egli forma se stesso come una persona. L’uomo è fatto per sviluppare le capacità umane in tutte le loro possibilità. Le principali aspirazioni della persona sono orientate alla libertà.
La finalità dell’educazione consiste nello scopo di guidare l’uomo nello sviluppo dinamico durante il quale egli si forma la stessa persona umana.
L’aspetto unitario dell’educazione è di mettere il fanciullo in grado di esercitare più tardi un mestiere e di guardanarsi la vita. Mezzo per ottenere questo risultato pratico e di sviluppare le capacità umane nella loro vastità.
Questa si può dire che una visione o struttura interna e l’organizzazione degli studi destinati a rendere più sensibili i principi dinamici dell’educazione come l’attività naturale della mente del fanciullo e l’arte della ministeriale del maestro.
La visione dell’uomo e dell’educazione secondo Maritain non è diverso dalla visione cristiana dell’uomo. Questa è un grande contribuito al campo dell’educazione.
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