Culture General Update Philosophy Reading Group

Forthcoming Group Discussions: Deconstruction & Pragmatism

I have selected the next book for our Saturday reading group, which we will begin in January: Deconstruction & Pragmatism. I’ve chosen it for several reasons. This book is an excellent choice for both new and existing members. It’s an exciting next step following our recent discussions on Understanding Poststructuralism, and stands out for being brief, accessible, and engaging. The book is a collection of contributions from Simon Critchley, Jacques Derrida, Ernesto Laclau, Richard Rorty,…

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Philosophy Psychoanalysis

Alireza Taheri: Interviews & Lectures

Dr. Alireza Taheri is a psychotherapist and psychoanalytic theorist with a primary focus on Lacanian theory. Among his published work is the book Hegelian-Lacanian Variations on Late Modernity: Spectre of Madness published by Routledge (2020) and a chapter titled “On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives,” featured in the collected volume On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives (Routledge, 2018). At present, Dr. Taheri is editing a volume on post-Lacanian philosophy. What I enjoy about…

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General Psychology philosophical psychology Theoretical Psychology

Interview with Prof. Barbara Held

Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Prof. Barbara Held, a distinguished clinical and philosophical psychologist. Her lifelong emphasis on critical and clear thinking was profoundly palpable and personal. It showcased not only her academic rigor but also her deep personal commitment to truth. While I encourage you to listen to the interview yourself, here are some of the main topics we covered together: Beyond Postmodernism: Prof. Held challenges postmodernism in psychotherapy, emphasizing the…

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Culture Psychology in Everyday Life

The Desire for Unity of Character in Others

Only in the past few years have I started to accept that each person is a blend of many things, rather than being a consistent, unified whole. It took me a couple of decades, as a student of psychology and as a person living among other people, to grasp this basic fact about human beings and to let go of a naive expectation to see total uniformity in personalities. Now, I can appreciate the “good”…

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