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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Culture interview Phenomenology

Soulful Interviews

What is a soulful interview? Why is it important? How does it impact research and recruitment? Every interview has the potential to be a singular event, yet most interviews gravitate toward patterns that are frequently repeated. The spectrum between complete uniqueness and total repetition represents the range in which most interviews take place. Interviews, whether for research or recruitment, can become mechanical procedures, overlooking the fact that they are human encounters that can be conducted…

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book review Education Phenomenology Philosophy

Re-Discovering the Richness of Everyday Life

Over the past two years, I have created a series of videos based on the book, Qualitative Inquiry in Everyday Life by Svend Brinkmann. I posted the final part a few days ago. In this post, I want to discuss the book’s importance and who can benefit from it. Why is this book important? First, it removes the boundary between “doing research” and living a human life. The book shows that so much of what…

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