Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life

Lear, Jonathan

doi:10.2307/j.ctv21hrgjd

Cited by 42 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…[Thus,] any purported field of possibilities is always a somewhat restricting fantasy of what is possible in human life. (Lear, 2000, p. 161)…”

Section: Becoming a Socially Situated Individualmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Jonathan Lear: A psychoanalytic ontology.

Riker¹,

Roberts²

2016

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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In our opinion Jonathan Lear is one of the most significant American thinkers in the first decades of the 21st Century. In his brilliant and seamless fusion of philosophy and psychoanalysis he has presented such a startlingly original concept of the human psyche and what is comprised in "a distinctively human life" that it constitutes a novel and compelling human ontology. We present this ontology by attempting to unify Jonathan Lear's ideas from his first great psychoanalytic work, Love and its Place in Nature, through his most recent work on irony and psychic integrity. We explicate Lear's brilliant reformulation of Freud's theory of development, his critique of the Western attempt to overly organize the psyche to defend against psychic and social disruption, and his postmodern advocacy of "living without a principle." We conclude by showing how developing the virtues of courage and hope with a disposition to irony are the keys to becoming a person who can integrate the disparate parts of the psyche, engage in meaningful self-inquiry, and live in a vibrant openness to new possibilities. In sum, we attempt to show through Lear's work that it is only by living with both a psychoanalytic knowledge of the depths of the psyche and ways to access this depth that one can realize the possibilities of one's humanity to the fullest degree.

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“…[Thus,] any purported field of possibilities is always a somewhat restricting fantasy of what is possible in human life. (Lear, 2000, p. 161)…”

Section: Becoming a Socially Situated Individualmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, for Lear, “the mind is to a significant extent an apparatus for diffusing or discharging energy” (Lear, 2000, p. 70). This is Freud’s quantitative factor of psychic life.…”

Section: What It Means To Be Mindedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jonathan Lear: A psychoanalytic ontology.

Riker¹,

Roberts²

2016

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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“…Rather, virtue is an almost necessary condition for happiness in the sense that it is virtually impossible to be happy without virtue, and vice practically guarantees misery in the sense that it is virtually impossible not to be miserable with vice, even though, as indicated, being virtuous is not, in the strict sense and without further ado, a sufficient condition for being happy. In no case is happiness merely an argumentative trope to use to exhort people to live virtuous lives (Lear, 2000). Therefore, there are several connections to sort out here.…”

Section: Mereologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The phenomenon happiness: Prolegomena to a phenomenological description.

Heffernan

2014

The Humanistic Psychologist

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This article argues that phenomenology should investigate the phenomenon human happiness because this distinctive style of philosophizing has the potential to make a special contribution to the determination of the highest human good. This distinctive contribution is a function of the phenomenological method, which generally involves the performance of the phenomenological epoché and the execution of the transcendental reduction with respect to the acts of consciousness and their correlatively constituted objects. By means of an axiological application of the phenomenological method specifically to this fundamental ethical and practical question, it becomes possible to distinguish in a rigorous manner between what people think or feel happiness is and what it genuinely is. For example, the phenomenological approach to happiness enables people to neutralize their natural attitude toward the perceived highest good, in which it is given naively and straightforwardly, and to adopt the transcendental attitude toward it, in which it is taken critically and reflectively. As a result, all other things being equal, an application of the phenomenological method to the phenomenon human happiness enhances the prospects for an achievement of the highest human good on the part of the human agents involved in its pursuit.

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“…Accepting the premise that the work of the analyst unfolds at the crossroad of a prevalent moral code brings to the fore the often denied or split-off coexistence of the silent values of psychoanalytic treatment, namely, the values of Good and Evil.Freud's work seems to elude references to philosophical arguments on ethics. The philosopher and psychoanalyst Jonathan Lear (2000) finds it "striking that Freud turned to ancient Greece for its myths, but not for its ethics or philosophy" (p. 6). The reason for turning to philosophy stands on the recognition that "the space of the psychoanalytical cure revolves around an ethical problem" (Szpilka, 2002(Szpilka, , p. 1032).Socrates's critique of the sophists-those that held opinions (doxa) rather than knowledge (episteme)-questioned the assertion that virtues are the product of character.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Freud's work seems to elude references to philosophical arguments on ethics. The philosopher and psychoanalyst Jonathan Lear (2000) finds it "striking that Freud turned to ancient Greece for its myths, but not for its ethics or philosophy" (p. 6). The reason for turning to philosophy stands on the recognition that "the space of the psychoanalytical cure revolves around an ethical problem" (Szpilka, 2002(Szpilka, , p. 1032).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ethical notes on disrupted frames and violated boundaries.

Tylim¹

2004

Psychoanalytic Psychology

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Despite the fact that the analyst's work unfolds at the crossroad of a prevalent moral code, psychoanalysis has neglected to address ethical or philosophical arguments. Such arguments have significant technical implications for the discipline in regard to "dos" and "don'ts." Different approaches to moral dilemmas are considered in relation to pertinent aspects of the psychoanalytic frame and the psychoanalytic process.The term ethics derives from the ancient term ethos, which means character. Before the birth of philosophical thought and reflection, the sophists believed that character or ethos was an individual's fate. Considering ethical principles as manifestations of fate implies the presence of an underlying determinism that curtails freedom, that is to say, the freedom to make choices and behave according to certain moral or ethical standards.Psychoanalysis, as all theoretical systems do, rests on an implicit rather than explicit moral code. Moral codes are embedded in society and culture at a given historical juncture. The "state of morals" prescribes acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Accepting the premise that the work of the analyst unfolds at the crossroad of a prevalent moral code brings to the fore the often denied or split-off coexistence of the silent values of psychoanalytic treatment, namely, the values of Good and Evil.Freud's work seems to elude references to philosophical arguments on ethics. The philosopher and psychoanalyst Jonathan Lear (2000) finds it "striking that Freud turned to ancient Greece for its myths, but not for its ethics or philosophy" (p. 6). The reason for turning to philosophy stands on the recognition that "the space of the psychoanalytical cure revolves around an ethical problem" (Szpilka, 2002(Szpilka, , p. 1032).Socrates's critique of the sophists-those that held opinions (doxa) rather than knowledge (episteme)-questioned the assertion that virtues are the product of character. Instead of viewing ethical principles as something that some have and others do not, the philosopher embraced knowledge as the source of ethical life. In other terms, Socrates was convinced that the ropes of an ethical life might be taught, and thus, ethical or virtuous

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Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

Jonathan Lear: A psychoanalytic ontology.

Jonathan Lear: A psychoanalytic ontology.

The phenomenon happiness: Prolegomena to a phenomenological description.

Ethical notes on disrupted frames and violated boundaries.

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