Philosophy

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Philosophy

19 Jul Improvisation and the Unknowable

Posted at 16:07h in Creativity, Events, Philosophy, Play, Psychology of Becoming, Speaking Engagements 2 Comments

It’s a delight when things you’re involved in converge and feed one another. I’ve been working on another chapter of The Overweight Brain and got momentarily stuck (like two days’ worth of stuck) in the middle of writing a section on “the unknown” and “the unknowable.” I’ve also been preparing for...

14 Jul Musings on Ways of Being Human (and Empathy)

Posted at 15:16h in Culture, Philosophy, Psychology of Becoming 5 Comments

It’s been awhile since I wrote a post. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say—far from it! I could have written about the wonderfully developmental-for-all June residency and graduation of the East Side Institute’s 13th International Class. Or what it was like to be a panelist at the New...

14 Jul Words to Ponder #27

Posted at 01:19h in Culture, Language, Philosophy, What's New, Wittgenstein, Words to Ponder 5 Comments

These days, we could all use a a little Wittgenstein. Like this gem. One is often bewitched by a word. For example, by the word "know." Ludwig Wittgenstein ...

17 Jun Talking Madness with Robert Whitaker

Posted at 17:29h in Critical psychiatry, DSM-5, Events, Human Development, Philosophy, Psychology of Becoming, Social Therapy, Speaking Engagements 0 Comments

On Friday evening, June 9 I had the privilege and pleasure of creating conversation with prize-winning journalist and prominent psychiatry critic Robert Whitaker. Our topic was “Mad in America: Drugs, Diagnosis and Development” (an event sponsored by the East Side Institute). Aided by invitingly probing questions from moderator Janet Wootten...

22 Apr Words to Ponder #25

Posted at 18:50h in Culture, Human Development, I Like This, Philosophy, What's New, Words to Ponder 5 Comments

Here's a provocative take on anger from Fred Newman (who often advises us to look in the mirror). Dialogue 52. Dealing with Anger as Activity (From Psychological Investigations: A Clinician's Guide to Social Therapy) Student 1: I understand that you believe that expressing anger is a choice. I know that if I...

26 Mar Words to Ponder #24

Posted at 23:15h in Creativity, I Like This, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Social Therapy, Words to Ponder 0 Comments

"Science, Spirituality and Social Therapy" is the theme of this quote from Fred Newman (from the book Psychological Investigations: A Clinician's Guide to Social Therapy, Edited by Lois Holzman & Rafael Mendez). I think there is a powerful and important connection between spirituality and human growth. For the bulk of this...

14 Feb Words to Ponder #22

Posted at 17:05h in Activity Theory, I Like This, Philosophy, Postmodern Marxism, Social Therapy, Words to Ponder 0 Comments

Groups. Individuals. Decisions. Descriptions. Science. Measurement. Therapy. Fred Newman brings them all together in "Undecidable Emotions (What is Social Therapy? And How is it Revolutionary?)". Here's an excerpt from the article published in 2003 in The Journal of Constructivist Psychology (Volume 16, pp. 215-232). You can read the article in...

09 Feb An Exploration of Psychology’s Glorification of the Individual

Posted at 22:59h in Critical psychiatry, Human Development, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Psychology of Becoming, Training/Classes 0 Comments

Hello to my blog followers and fans of The Overweight Brain. If you live in the NYC metro area I’d love for you to join me IN PERSON for a Revolutionary Conversation on psychology’s glorification of the individual—taking place the evenings of Monday March 1 and 8 at the East Side...

02 Feb Words to Ponder #21

Posted at 03:05h in Creativity, Human Development, I Like This, Philosophy, Psychotherapy, Social Therapy, Words to Ponder 3 Comments

For the next few months I’ll be using "Words to Ponder" to share some words of Fred Newman—the public philosopher, creator of social therapy, political activist, “architect” of a new progressivism, and my friend and intellectual partner for 35 years. I hope you are moved and/or provoked by them. The...

30 Jan Activist-Scholars: A Story within a Story

Posted at 01:53h in Activity Theory, Community Organizing, Culture, Education, Human Development, Language, Learning Environments, Outside of School, Philosophy, Play, Politics, Postmodern Marxism, Psychology, Publications, Social Therapeutics, Vygotsky, Youth Development 0 Comments

I want to introduce you to a unique activist-scholar community that played an especially important role in my development. It's the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (also known as LCHC or, simply, the Lab). Housed at the University of California San Diego since 1979, the Lab is a community of...