PRELUDE TO
AN INTEGRAL BIBLIOGRAPHY FIRST QUADRANT
FIRST QUADRANT: THE EVOLUTION OF THE SELF
(the evolution of the subject as an individual
and his 'inner' life)
1.1 Introduction: the self / the individual
- THE SELF AND ITS GENESIS - THE SELF TODAY
extra: THE POSTMODERN CHALLENGE TO THE SELF
- THE SELF TOMORROW
- THE SELF IN ITS DEVELOPMENT/EVOLUTION (STAGE THEORIES)
extra: MORAL DEVELOPMENT
extra: OTHER 'INTEGRATIVE' APPROACHES
- INDIVIDUALISM AND ITS EVOLUTION
extra: FICTION ON INDIVIDUALISM
1.2 aspects of the self
- THE SELF AND ITS AESTHETIC JUDGMENT (ART, TASTE) - THE SELF AND THE BODY
-THE SELF AND ITS EMOTIONS
- THE SELF AND ITS RATIONALITY
-- subtopic: REASON AND THE IMAGINARY/IRRATIONAL
IMAGINATION /SYMBOLISM
1.3 organisation by mode of consciousness / historical epoch
- CONSCIOUSNESS (GENERALITIES) subtopic: THE UNCONSCIOUS
- THE ARCHAIC MODE
- THE MAGICAL MODE
extra: POSTMAGICAL REVIVALS
- THE MYTHOLOGICAL MODE
GREECE / INDE
- MENTAL/RATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
- INTEGRAL CONSCIOUSNESS
- POSTRATIONAL/SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS
1.4 organisation by topic
- CHILDHOOD - DEATH AND DYING
- EVIL
- LANGUAGE
- MEMORY
- NARCISISM
- NATURE (relationship with)
- PSYCHEDELICS
- TIME
..subtopic: speed
- VIOLENCE
- 1.1 Introduction: the self / the individual
- THE SELF AND ITS GENESIS
- Gilbert Simondon. l'Individu et sa genese physico-biologique. Paris: PUF, 1964.`
(recommended Negri)
- Sources of the Self. By Charles Taylor (Harvard Univ. Press, 1989)**
( - "one of the most complete analyses of self-conception throughout history; /// French: Les sources du moi : la formation de l'identité moderne. Boréal, 1998 ///The Charles Taylor bio, i.e.Charles Taylor et l'interprétation de l'identité moderne. Guy Laforest et Philippe de Lara. Presses de l'Université Laval, 1998 is considered to be: un Livre magnifique sur une époque charnière de l'histoire de l'Occident ///Other books: La Liberte des modernes, 1997; Multiculturalisme: difference et democratie, 1994; Le Malaise de la Modernite, 1994; Rapprocher les solitudes, 1992 )
- The Invention of Self. By John. O. Lyons (Southern Ill. Univ. Press, 1978)
- Journeys to Selfhood: Hegel and Kierkegaard. By Mark Taylor (Univ. of Calif. Pr, 1980).
(Traces roots of self in Christian mythology.)
- Coming to our senses: body and spirit in the hidden history of the West. Morris Berman.
(a history of self-conceptions and how strong periods of self-awareness are expressed by an important role of mirrors, and how the mediaval disintegration can be seen in the disappearance of mirrors; compares the idealised self of the Greeks, as expressed in the bust sculptures, with the individualised sculptures of the Roman period. Recommended by Alan Combs.)
- Norbert Elias. 1) La Societe de Cour. Calmann-Levy, 1974 ; 2) La societe des invididu, Fayard, 1991
(the genesis of the individualist self, recommended Etatsgeneraux.org)
- Technologies of the Self: A Seminar With Michel Foucault Luther H. Martin (Editor),
("contains essays by Foucault-scholars and Foucault himself. It concentrates on Foucault's later works, where there is a shift of focus from the power/knowledge axis to the axis of ethics. This collection of should be of interest to anyone who are interested in Foucault's work on ethics and subjectivity" - rec Michael Purdy, Gebser list)
- THE SELF TODAY
- Herbert Marcuse. One-Dimensional Man.
- The Culture of Narcissism. By Christopher Lasch (Norton, 1979)
(on the narcissic self of the post-sixties generation)
- Nathan Schwartz-Salant in <Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Character Transformation>.
("The most advanced psychological [Jungian] study", Gebser list)
- The New Polytheism. By David Miller (Harper & Row, 1974)
(`on the fractured self)
- Beyond Individualism. Reconstituting the Liberal Self. JACK CRITTENDEN, Arizona State University
("In the examination of the conception of human nature, a duality is commonly perceived--the liberal self as atomistic, self-contained, even selfish; and the communitarian self as socially situated and defined through its environment. Crittenden argues that neither view is acceptable, drawing on recent psychological research to expound on a theory of "compound individuality." This work includes a discussion of the compound individual as the self of liberalism, as well as a discussion of the sort of political organization that can generate personal identity constituted by liberal autonomy and communitarian sociality.")
- Alain Ehrenberg, La Fatigue d'etre soi. Odile Jacob, 1998.
(La question de l'autonomie. Précarité et souffrance de l'individu autonome dépourvu d'un soutien institutionnel. recommended Etatsgeneraux.org)
- The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Everyday Life. By Kenneth Gergen. Basic Books, 1992
(excellent overview of the postmodern self)
- Hannah Arendt, La condition de l'homme moderne
(Domaine public (action) et domaine privé (propriété). La politique libére, la richesse asservit. Hannah Arendt plaide pour qu'on ne rabaisse pas l'homo sapiens à l'homo faber, au travailleur. L'homme n'est pas ce qu'il fait mais ce qu'il est (dit et pense). Elle recoupe beaucoup de thèmes écologistes dans son souci de la durabilité, sa défense de la pluralité, la mise en garde contre le dépassement des limites (hubris), l'unilatéralité, l'instrumentalisation de la nature et des hommes, le productivisme destructeur. - etatsgeneraux.org)
- Michel Foucault, La production de soi. Compte-rendu du tome IV des Dits et écrits, 1980-1988, nrf, Gallimard
(Pouvoir et subjectivité. Le pouvoir comme production, l'écologie de la police, le gouvernement de soi. Le sujet n'est pas donné mais doit être produit. Le malentendu est tel sur Michel Foucault (c'est celui d'une époque), qu'il faut absolument lire ces dernières interventions où la critique des thèses qu'on lui prête est précise et répétée. - rec etatsgeneraux.org)
Subtopic: THE POSTMODERN CHALLENGE TO THE SELF
- Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks. New York, Grove Press, 1967.
("A landmark book that shows how the self is constructed by the Other. Shows why futures from non-whites must first deal with the problem of the West. Passionately written." - Sohail Inatullah)
- Kathy Ferguson, The Man Question: Visions of Subjectivity. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993.
("Using genealogy and interpretation, examines praxis, cosmic, and linguistic feminism. Excellent introduction to poststructural textual strategies." - Sohail Inatullah)
- THE SELF TOMORROW
- The Future of Immortality. By Robert J. Lifton. (Basic Books, 1987)
(on the concept of the 'protean self')
- The Evolving Self: a psychology for the third millenium. By Myhaly Csikzentmihalyi. HarperPerennial Library, 1994. (sd lib)
- THE SELF IN ITS DEVELOPMENT/EVOLUTION (STAGE THEORIES)
- Paradigms of Personality by Jane Loevinger, (1987), Freeman and Company New York
( is a very compact and readable survey across the field ranging from Psycholanalysis to Cognitive Developmentalism. postconpol)
- Ego Development by Jane Loevinger, (1976), Jossey-Blass San Francisco
(is 500 page opus which ranges across theories, theoriticians, and methodologies. Not for the faint hearted. postconpol)
- Measuring Ego Development Parts 1 & 2 by Loevinger and others (1970), Jossey-Blass San Fransciso
(is the one which explains her theory and the stages in extreme detail. Vol 1 is the theory part and vol 2 is the scoring methodology. If you want to know what she found and why she interpreted then vol 1 is a must read. postconpol)
- Robert Kegan The Evolving Self (1982) Harvard University Press
(covers cognitive developmentalism in very extensive detail in the first few chapters. he mainly covers Piaget & Kohlberg before he goes onto to discuss his own theory. postconpol)
- Susan Cook-Greuter
subtopic: MORAL DEVELOPMENT
- Lawrence Kohlberg. The Meaning and Measurement of Moral Development. Clark University Press, 1980.
- Lawrence Kohlberg et al. Moral Stages: a current formulation and response to critics. Basel: Karger, 1983.
- Sohan Modgil & Celia Modgil. Lawrence Kohlberg: Consensus and Controversy (1985) Falmer Press Philadelphia.
(the best book I have found by far. It is a series of essays from psychologists where those with dissenting views are paired off to discuss their view of how Kohlberg got it right/wrong and then they respond to what they each said. While it lacks the essential synthesis that would take it to an Integral stage I still think it's a terrific read: postconpol)
- Hekman, Susan. Moral Voices, Moral Selves: Carol Gilligan and feminist moral theory. Cambridge: Polity; University Park: Penn State Press, 1995.
( Gilligan pioneered the view of a separate developmental logic for women. "Over the last two decades, Gilligan's work has provided the legitimating theory for a large and popular school of thought that took the sloppy romantic arguments about gender difference and the imperilment of girlish psyches even further than Gilligan had taken them. In Women's Ways of Knowing (1986), for instance, Mary Belenky, Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger, and Jill Tarule contended that women not only reasoned through moral dilemmas differently--they reasoned differently, period. Women, unlike men, distrusted debate because it "threatened the dissolution of relationships"; and they seemed to take "naturally to a nonjudgmental stance"; they excelled at subjective and intuitive interpretations, and valued "truth that is personal, particular, and grounded in firsthand experiences." The more womanly they were, the more they suffered under the "tyranny of expectations," which is to say, the common objective standards of schools and workplaces. And so on."
Thinking of Carol Gilligan's work as social science has always been a bit of a stretch, but that is how it has generally been received by critics and adepts alike: as a body of psychological research supporting certain controversial hypotheses about the differences between men and women, probably the most influential such hypotheses of the last twenty-five years. Gilligan's famous contention is that girls and women are possessed of a distinctive morality more attuned to maintaining relationships and caring for others than to arguing for justice and equity. This generalization has often been taken as the product of stringent empirical research. So has Gilligan's idea that plucky and confident girls wilt into diffidence on the cusp of adolescence. Gilligan has always had it both ways. The fact that her writing in In a Different Voice and Between Voice and Silence was fervent, oracular, tremulous with concern about the fate of girls in a patriarchal culture, and laden with literary examples helped to popularize her work and to confer upon her the status of an American sage; and the fact that she was a psychologist and a Harvard professor who conducted interviews with real girls gave her work the imprimatur of science, even when most of her scholarship was anecdotal, or inclined to what seemed like foregone conclusions. Gilligan has a way of making her readers, especially her female readers, feel at once good and smart, virtuous and rigorous. The New Republic)
- Michael Commons and Cheryl Armon, editors. Adult Development (Adult Development, 1988, Praeger).
(They also edited a book titled Beyond Formal Operations. Both volumes give an overview and the current research in adult development.)
subtopic: OTHER 'INTEGRATIVE' APPROACHES
- Pourquoi la Psychanalyse. Elisabeth Roudinesco. Fayard
('vibrante defense et illustratrion de la psychanalyse', l'auteur nous avait deja fournit une impressionante Histoire de la Psychanalyse)
- Cent Ans Apres. Patrick Frote. Gallimard, 1998.
("entretiens avec neuf pontes" - Le Monde des Debats)
- A.H. Almaas. The Point of Existence: Transformation of Narcissism in Self-Realisation. Shambhala, 2000
(the Diamond approach by Almaas, one of the more recent 'integrative' approaches)
- Victor Frankl. Man's Search for Meaning. Washington Square Press, 1984.
- Jenny Wade. Changes of Mind: a holonomic theory of the evoluton of consciousness. State Univ. Press of NY, 1996.
subtopic: AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
- The Center of the Cyclone: an autobiography of inner space. By John Lilly. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972.
- John Lilly: The Scientist: a metaphysical autobriography. Ronin Publishing, 1996
- John & Antonietta Lilly. The Dyadic Cyclone. The autobiography of a couple. New York: Paladin Books, 1978.
(other recommended book by John Lilly: Simulations of God, the Science of Belief)
- Brian Caldwell. We all fall down.
("As an aside, there is a wondeful novel called We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell which seems to take quite a bit of Wilber's theory, and even mentions him several times in the book. The novel is a great example of a man caught trying to transform his life into something better, but who isable only to translate. It's about the frustration and difficulties in trying to move up to the next level of consciousness. Technically, it's set in a Christian framework, but it elevates past that small structure and uses it to really bring home quite a few of Wilber's theories. It's a wonderful novel and I'd highly recomend it to any fan of Wilber.")
- INDIVIDUALISM AND ITS EVOLUTION
- Louis Dumont, Essais sur l'individualisme - Une perspective anthropologique sur l'idéologie moderne. Paris, Seuil, 1983, 272 p. (coll. « Esprit »).
(Son analyse des concepts d'individualisme et d'holisme, doublée de ses réflexions sur les notions d'individu-hors-du-monde et d'individu-dans-le-monde, permet une meilleure appréhension de nos catégories mentales modernes. L.D. n'aurait réussi que cela qu'il aurait contribué à une meilleure compréhension des autres et de nous-mêmes, des différences et des ressemblances. Toutefois, son apport à la compréhension du concept de hiérarchie dans le cadre des études en sciences humaines demeure capital. )
- The Culture of Narcisism. Christopher Nash (the classic)
- The Culture of Morality: Social Development, Context, and Conflict by Elliot Turiel
(William Bennett had better beware! The claim that Bennett and other neoconservatives have made so much of--that America is in moral decline--has attracted a relentless new critic. Challenging the key terms in this widely accepted claim, Turiel argues that an authentic morality not only can survive breaks with communal traditions but often demands such ruptures. Among civil rights leaders of the 1960s and among Arab feminists today, Turiel finds exemplars of pioneers who risk conflict to end cultural practices that lend to oppression the name of morality.)
- Norbert Elias, La société des individus
(Le processus de civilisation est celui d'une normalisation, de la répression de la violence (monopolisée par l'Etat) au profit de règles sociales (cour, politesse, sport, marché). L'individu est un produit de la différenciation sociale et de l'intériorisation des contraintes. )
- Claudine Haroche et Robert Castel, Propriété privée, propriété sociale, propriété de soi ?, Entretiens sur la constitution de l'individu moderne, Paris, Fayard, 2001, 210 p.
- Louis Dumont : Homo Hierarchicus (Tel ?)
("Un travail détaillé sur les mecanismes de la plus sophistiquée des sociétés " holistes " : l'inde des castes. Un compagnon indispensable de ses essais sur l'individualisme" - remi sussan)
-Gilles Lipovetsky - L'ère du Vide, Essais sur l'individualisme contemporaine
(rec. by Philippe Vandenbroeck after query on extreme individualism)
- Christopher Lasch - The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy
(rec. by Philippe Vandenbroeck after query on extreme individualism)
subtopic: FICTION ON INDIVIDUALISM
- José Saramago - De Stad der Blinden (rec. Philippe Vandenbroeck)
- Reading note by science-fiction author Chris Moriarty on individualism as a theme in s-f literature
"In the SF context you're more likely to see individuality (and the idea of individual identity itself) questioned. Individuality and identity are central issues for many SF writers, and I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that one of the core themes of science fiction in general is the ways in which our identities, worldviews and life paths are shaped by society and technology.
I know this is a central theme in my own work. In both my Bantam Spectra novels (Intraface and Metaface) the central characters come from societies in which individualist/humanist values are at war with technologies and ideologies that problematize individuality. The main characters in Intraface are a genetic construct and an AI living in a society run by (and for) humans. Both of them struggle with the contradictions between their own identites as clones/machines and their cultural ideas about individuality, which are inherited from a human society much like ours. In Metaface the main character is a clone from a breakaway group that has established a utopian (sort of) world based on cloning. When he travels back to the human worlds he has to reexamine everything he's ever been taught about what makes a person worthy and valuable in society. Neither of these books will be in bookstores until next summer, but if you're interested I'll be posting excerpts from Intraface on my website sometime this month, and I'd also be happy to have Random House send you a galley when they're ready.
Other books that explore individuality include:
Bruce Sterling, Schismatrix. Schismatrix explores Sterlings multifaceted Shaper-Mechanist universe, and more than any other SF book it looks at the idea of what a post-human society and post-human personalities would be like. Sterling shows a whole range of societies in this future universe ranging from 'hive' type societies in which there is no indidivual identity separate from one's geneline or hive to societies based on genesculpting or mechanic prostheses in which individuals are extremely autonomous and sometimes close to immortal. This is probably the widest ranging and boldest exploration of these themes you're likely to find. Sterling's basic claim I think is not that extreme individuality (or extreme conformity) are either good or bad in themselves but that it's all up for grabs and we need to start opening our minds to new models instead of trying to be that traditional homo sapiens that (he would argue) we're not anymore.
C.J. Cherryh. Cyteen. This book goes to the opposite extreme and questions whether individual identity (let alone individualism) is even possible. Cherryh sets up a hypothetical society in which humans have created clones, turned them into slaves and developed a technology through which they essentially shape their personalities and memories by deep hypnosis. Of course sooner or later, the humans turn their personality-shaping technology on themselves ... and then Cherryh starts her readers wondering who's human and who's not and whether anyone--including us--is really his or her own person.
L.E.Modesitt, Jr., Adiamante. This book talks about what I would argue is a radically individualist society in which people are essentially bound to an extremely simple and materially spare lifestyle by a complicated 'credit' system. It's an interesting twist on the idea of individualism (Modesitt argues that self-sufficiency in an ecological sense is really the way to define independence, and not material freedom)
David Brin has written a number of books that touch on themes of how individuals and societies interact. One idea of his that comes to mind is his 'peripatetics' who travel constantly at near lightspeed while exploring distant planets. Time dilation causes them to lose contact with the rest of humanity and results in individuals completely outside of society and culture ... the ultimate individualists.
Another good but very disturbing book about individualism/identity is Susan R. Matthews' Exchange of Hostages, which follows the training of a torturer in a society where torture is a respected (in fact the most respected) profession.
All in all, none of these books are what I would call illustrations of societies based on extreme individualism. Which brings me back to my first response: that SF authors tend to problematize identity so much that there's not much room for even the idea of societies based on extreme individualism. I think, based on conversations with other writers and on reading their books, that most SF authors writing today (and particularly cyberpunk authors) would say that traditional SF, from Asimov to Bova, is flawed by the adoption of a kind of 1950s modernist worldview one of whose components was the idea that individualism and individual freedom are the most important values in society. If you look at the work of contemporary SF writers from Gibson to Stephenson to Asaro I think you'll see that one of the central threads running through their work is a questioning of whether our traditional ideas about individuality and identity even apply in the post-human world (a world a lot of writers would argue we've already entered ...)."
- 1.2 aspects of the self
- THE SELF AND ITS AESTHETIC JUDGMENT (ART, TASTE)
- Edouard Panofsky. Meaning in the Visual Arts. (recommended by Gebser)
- Karsten Harries, The Meaning of Modern Art: A Philosophical Interpretation, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1968.
- Capitalisme et nouvelles morales de l'intérêt et du goût de J. Wajnsztejn. L'Harmattan. 2002.
(Temps Critiques - Multitudes)
- Buci-Glucksmann, Christine Puissance du Baroque : les forces, les formes, les rationalités Galilée 1996
-Mennell, Stephen Français et anglais à table du moyen âge à nos jours Flammarion 1987
- THE SELF AND THE BODY
- The Body in the Mind: the bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. By Mark Johnson. Un of Chicago Pr, 1990.
- Caroline Walker Bynum The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 220-1336. 1995
- David Le Breton. 1) « la sociologie du corps » en Que-Sais-Je, « L'adieu au Corps » chez Metailié 3) « Signes d'identité : Tatouages, percing et autres marques d'identités » chez Metailié
(Chercheur en anthropologie à l'Université de Strasbourg. David Le Breton est Sociologue du corps. Il en analyse les transformations dans une bibliographie assez imposanteS reco Net+Ultra)
- Le Corps et le sens. Dialogue entre un psychanalyste et un neurologue. Bianca et Bernard Lechevalier. Lausanne: Delachaux et Niestle, 1998. (rec. Nouvelles Clefs)
- L'inscription corporelle de L'esprit (the embodied mind) Varela Thompson et Raush, Seuil pour la traduction française.
("Une introduction aux thèses de la " nouvelle intelligence artificielle " pour laquelle l'esprit, loin d'être un mécanisme abstrait de traitement des données, est entièrement intégrée à la structure de l'organisme. D'intéressants parallèles avec d'un côté la psychologie bouddhiste, et de l'autre la tradition phénoménologique de Husserl et Merleau Ponty." - rec. Remi Sussan)
- THE SELF AND ITS EMOTIONS
- Sin and Fear: The Emergence of Western Guilt Culture, 13th-18th Century. New York: St. Martin's, 1990.
(recommended Marcel Gauchet)
- Shame and Pride. By Donald Nathanson.
('important book', cfr. Bennett bibliography: thesis, nothing comes into awareness without affective amplication)
- Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. By Antonio Damasio. GP Putnam, 1994. (sd bib)
- The Feeling of what happens: body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Antonio Damasio. Harcourt Brace, 1999. (sd bib)
- Maury, Liliane Les émotions de Darwin à Freud PUF 1993 (marx biblio)
- Hornstein, H. A. (1976). Cruelty and kindness: A new look at aggression and altruism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
- THE SELF AND ITS RATIONALITY
- CARRILHO Manuel Maria, Rationalités. Les avatars de la raison dans la philosophie contemporaine, (Traduit du portugais par P. Martins), Editions Hatier. 1997. 80 pages.
- CARRILHO Manuel Maria, Rhétoriques de la Modernité, P.U.F. - Paris 1992 - 176 p.
("Ce livre se propose d'étre une façon de dire que la crise est terminée" : il s'agit de la crise de la modernité, ou de la philosophie, ou de "la conception de la raison comme faculté souveraine et suprême, capable de suturer ses fissures et d'ordonner le monde" (p.7). )
- Alfred Korwybski. Science and Sanity: an introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics.
(a classic, rec sd bib and Philosphere)
subtopic: REASON AND THE IMAGINARY/IRRATIONAL
- Eloge de la Raison Sensible. By Michel Maffesoli. Grasset, 1996.
( "Comment pourrions nous penser l'irrationel, en equilibrant mieux affect et intellect, en franchissant l'obtstacle epistemologique que constitue actuellement l'ideal de la raison abstraite et deconnecte du reel".)
- Henri Atlan. "a tort ou a raison : intercritique de la science et du mythe". Point Seuil
("henri atlan est un spécialiste de la biologie de l'autorganisation, de l'intelligence artificielle, etc. Mais c'est aussi un des membres du comité français de bioéthique (où il défend un point de vue extraordinairement ambigu et subtil sur le clonage),et simultanément, un spécialiste de la kabbale et du talmud. Son livre, "a tort ou a raison : intercritique de la science et du mythe" devrait te passionner si tu veux aborder les problèmes de "spiritualité et rationalité". Le livre est édité en Point Seuil, il estdonc aisément disponible et pas cher. Si tu es prêt à investir un peu plus, le premier volume de sa "connaissance spermatique", les "étincelles du hasard" (seuil) est probabelement l'application contemporaine la plus brillante de la kabbale juive qu'il m'ait été donné de lire. Il existe aussi un livre "entre le cristal et la fumée" plus ancien, mais très interessant également. Atlan est brillant et fécond. Il est aussi subtilement agaçant, car il écrit dans un style très "académique", très "convenu". Mais les idées, elles sont très souvent très originales...." Source: Remi Sussan)
- Georg Lukacs. The Destruction of Reason. London: Merlin, 1980.
- Hubert Dethier. Crisis der rede. Humanistisch Verbond, 1980
("de verzelfstandiging van de rede in de industriele samenleving, de verenging van de rede tot het domein der middelen")
- Les grecs et l'irrationnel, E.R. Dodds (1959) champs flammarion 1977.
("Plus qu'une simple étude mythologie, ce texte explore la difficile naissance de la raison, mais traite également de la naissance du moi " à l'occidental ", avec une comparaison très fine entre les " sociétés de honte " et les " sociétés de culpabilité". - remi sussan)
subtopic: IMAGINATION
- Gilbert Durand. 'The Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary'. the University of Queensland (French: Les structures anthropoligiques de l'imaginaire. Dunod,1992.)
(on the notion of the Imaginal, verify also other title 'On the Transfiguration of the Image of Man in the West', both recommended in postconpol; a foundational book).
- Gilbert Durand. L'imagination symbolique. PUF, 1993. (rec Pascal Houba)
- Cornelis Castoriadis. The Imaginary Institution of Society. Trans. Kathleen Blamey. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press and Cambridge, England: Polity Press, 1987. 418pp.
- Cornelis Castoriadis. World in Fragments. Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination. Ed. and trans. David Ames Curtis. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997. 507pp.
- Jean-Jacques Wunenburger. L'imagination. Que sais-je?
- Jean-Paul Sartre. L'imaginaire. Gallimard, 1940
- Jean Paul Sartre. L'imagination. Gallimard, 1950
subtopic: SYMBOLISM
- John Van Eenwyk's Archetypes and Strange Attractors: The Chaotic World of Symbols.
("a truly luscious book I included in my recent revisiting in depth - at this more, ahem, mature age - Jung and archetypes. This book is priceless": Sarah Ross, postconpol)
- Carl Jung. Metamorphoses de l'ame et ses symboles. Poche, 1992.
- 1.3 organisation by mode of consciousness / historical epoch
The following books should be read to understand the workings of the different modes of consciousness, as described by Jean Gebser, in the Ever-Present Origin, and Ken Wilber in 'Integral Psychology'.
- CONSCIOUSNESS (GENERALITIES)
- Julian Jaynes, "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind".
(His central thesis is that modern self-aware consciousness is a quite recent phenomenon, arising in Mesopotamia towards the end of the Second Millennium BC. Based on the neurophysiciological discovery of the bicameral mind (left and right hemisphere), Jayes maintains that ancient peoples could not "think" as we do today, but heard 'voices' coming from the left hemisphere, interpreting these as coming from the Gods."
- Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness
( According to a reviewer he "continued Jung's work, adding substantially, modifying and clarifying it and went much further into the origin and evolution of mental-egoic consciousness, and the depiction of this in the Great Mother/Hero myths. He alluded to symmetries between social and psychological structures, contemporary mythic systems and artistic and other cultural expressions." )
-La conscience expliquée : Daniel Dennet (editions odile jacob)
("La dénonciation de la croyance au " théâtre cartésien ", qui postule l'existence d'un centre psychologique ou se tiendrait, immobile, l'observateur ou la conscience." - Remi Sussan)
- Carl Jung. Les racines de la conscience. Poche, 1995. (rec Pascal Houba)
subtopic: THE UNCONSCIOUS
- Lancelot Law Whyte. The Unconscious Before Freud Aspects of Form Accent on Form (strongly recommended by Philosphere)
- Henri F. Ellenberger. Histoire de la decouverte de l'inconscient. Fayard, 1994.
("replace la decouverte de l'inconscient dans la longue duree historique", english edition 1970 - rec. Nouvelles Clefs)
- ARCHAIC
- 1.L'ouvert, De l'homme et de l'animal, Giorgio Agamben, Rivages, 2002
- 2. La part animale de l'homme, Esquisse d'une théorie du mythe et du chamanisme, Michel Boccara, Anthropos, 2002
(Ces deux livres renouvellent la question de nos rapport avec l'animalité. Leurs points de vue me semblent éclairer et compléter ce que j'ai pu avancer sur le rôle du cerveau dans l'ouverture au non-biologique (la distanciation). Nous verrons qu'alors que pour Giorgio Agamben, l'homme est tout entier dans son effort de différenciation de l'animalité (L'homme est un animal qui "se reconnaît ne pas l'être" 46), pour Michel Boccara, et sans contredire à ce processus d'arrachement au monde animal, notre humanité y reste profondément ancrée malgré tout, à travers le mythe ou le chant comme vécus qui nous renvoient au temps jadis où nous étions des animaux comme les autres, avant l'apparition d'un langage humain qui nous a rendu sourd au langage des oiseaux comme à la plupart de nos instincts. Nous verrons qu'il faut y voir le retour dans le langage de notre animalité perdue par le langage. - Jean Zin)
- MAGICAL
- The Golden Bough: a study in magic and religion. By James Frazier. Macmillan, 1890. (sd bib)
- Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: trance states and other ecstatic experiences. F. Goodman. Indiana Univ Pr, 1990. (sd bib)
subtopic: POSTMAGICAL REVIVALS
The following list suggested by Remi Sussan is not an expression of original tribal and magical forms of consciousness, but rather later reappropriations of it;
- True and faithful relation of what passed for many years between Dr John Dee and some spirits. Edité par Meric Casaubon (1659), edition Kessinger.
("Le témoignage le plus précis sur les " communications " entre un célèbre magicien de la fin de la renaissance et des "entités" proclamant être des anges. L'un des textes fondamentaux de la magie cérémonielle occidentale." - remi sussan)
- La philosophie occulte.(1510) Henri Cornelius Agrippa, Berg.
("Le grand classique de la magie en Occident. - Remi Sussan)
- La magie spirituelle et angélique de Ficin à Campanella
("D.P. Walker (Ed ?). Une présentation érudite de la magie neoplatonicienne de la renaissance. Le texte De Walker, assez ancien, est souvent cité par des auteurs plus récents, (Yates, Couliano) comme une référence indispendsable." - remi sussan)
- Eros et Magie à la renaissance. Ioan P. Couliano (Flammarion1984)
("Bien au delà d'une simple étude sur la philosophie de la renaissance, c'est peut être le texte le plus extraordinaire jamais écrit sur la magie. Couliano établit la connexion entre magie et media et fait du magicien un véritable " ingénieur memetique " - remi sussan)
- De la Magie( et " Des liens " (1590 env.) Giordano Bruno , éditions Allia (2001) pour la traduction française (inclus dans " cause principles and unity " Cambrige edition, pour la version anglaise (1998).
("Deux livres courts, très denses, donnant une point de vue très philosophique sur la pratique magique. Pour Ioan couliano (voir plus haut), " Des liens " est le prototype des manuels de manipulation de masse, de propagande et de publicité." - remi sussan)
- MYTHOLOGICAL
- Mythe et Epopee. G. Dumezil. Gallimard, Paris, 1968. 630 p.
- Mircia Eliade, Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1971.
(Looks at myth and time from a variety of religious traditions. Very important book in showing the underlying structure of the spiritual worldview.)
- The Power of Myth. Joseph Campbell. Doubleday, 1988.
- Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1968.
("Surveys the journey of the Hero--the struggle, the challenges, the betrayals and the ultimate victory. Metaphor for the self and for the challenges facing society." - rec Sohail Inatullah)
- Mythologies. By Roland Barthes. (a postmodern classic)
- Le Mythe et l'Homme. By Roger Caillois
- Mythes et Mythologies dans la litterature francaise. P. Albouy. Paris: Armand Collin, 1998.
("dans une brilliante anthologie du XVIieme au XXe siecle; il suit la palingenesie des mythes et leurs seculaires metamorphoses", Antaios)
- Mythologie et litterature a Rome: La reecriture des mythes aux Iers siecles avant et apres J.-C. Par J. Fabre-Serris. Lausanne: Payot, 1998
subtopic: GREECE
- L'Univers des Dieux, les Hommes. Jean-Pierre Vernant. Seuil.
("le grand helleniste raconte les mythes comme des histoire pour les enfants. Magnifique" - Nouvel Obs)
- Les ruses de l'intelligence, la Metis des grecs 1974, Vernant et Detienne, champs flammarion
("Une étude sur la " sagesse pratique " incarnée par la déesse Metis, et dont Odysseus est la parfaite incarnation. Poiur l'esprit grec, feru d'abstraction, la connaissance technique était à la fois sujet de fascination et de mépris. Ce livre expose cette ambiguité fondamentale de la pensée greque." - remi sussan)
- Les grecs et l'irrationnel, E.R. Dodds (1959) champs flammarion 1977.
("Plus qu'une simple étude mythologie, ce texte explore la difficile naissance de la raison, mais traite également de la naissance du moi " à l'occidental ", avec une comparaison très fine entre les " sociétés de honte " et les " sociétés de culpabilité". - remi sussan)
- La survivance des dieux antiques: Jean Seznec.Champs flammarion
("Comment les dieux de l'antiquité ont pu survivre sous différentes formes au cours du moyen age, pour reprendre leur plein puissance à la reanissance. - remi sussan)
- Les fictions d'Homere. L'invention mythologique et cosmographique dans l'Odyssee. Par A. Ballabriga. Paris: PUF, 1998.
('ouvrage nourri des analyses penetrantes et lumineuse de Dumezil et Rybakov', Antaios)
- Ulysse et la lumiere grecque. Par G. Haldas. Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme, 1998.
subtopic: INDIA
- Mythes et Dieux de l'inde. Alain Danielou champs flammarion.
("Une présentation très complète de la pensée indienne, et une vibrante défense du polythéisme." - remi sussan)
- Louis Dumont : Homo Hierarchicus (Tel ?)
("Un travail détaillé sur les mecanismes de la plus sophistiquée des sociétés " holistes " : l'inde des castes. Un compagnon indispensable de ses essais sur l'individualisme" - remi sussan)
- MENTAL/RATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS
- J W Burrow's The Crisis of Reason: European thought, 1848-1914 (Yale University Press)
- Crosby, Alfred W., The Measure of Reality: Qualification (QUANTIFICATION?) and Western Society, 1250-1600, Cambridge, 1997.
Alfred W. Crosby, Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas in Austin suggests in his latest book that: "Western Europeans were among the first, if not the first, to invent mechanical clocks, geometrically precise maps, double-entry bookkeeping, exact algebraic and musical notations, and perspective painting. They thus became world leaders in science, technology, armaments, navigation, business practice, and bureaucracy, and created may of the greatest masterpieces of Western music and painting." The Measure of Reality chronicles in charming detail these dramatic changes in mentalite, and how they radically altered the role of Europeans. He assigns a large measure of this success to the emergence of quantification -- in math, cartography, time competency, musical precision, artistic perspective, reductionists details, and other linear and analytical habits of thought.)
- Les grecs et l'irrationnel, E.R. Dodds (1959) champs flammarion 1977.
("Plus qu'une simple étude mythologie, ce texte explore la difficile naissance de la raison, mais traite également de la naissance du moi " à l'occidental ", avec une comparaison très fine entre les " sociétés de honte " et les " sociétés de culpabilité". - remi sussan)
- INTEGRAL CONSCIOUSNESS
- Jean Gebser. The Ever-Present Origin
(the classic that brought integral consciousness on the map)
- Spretnak, Charlene, The Resurgence of the Real: Body, Nature, and Place in a Hypermodern World, Addison-Wesley, l997.
(Spretnak, who co-authored Green Politics: The Global Promise with Fritjof Capra refutes the FS-Green claim that nothing is "real," only symbolic and then describes the transitions from "Modern" - 5th Level; then to Deconstructionist Postmodern - 6th Level -- then to sketchy definitions of the current worldview -- Ecological Postmodern that has strong elements of 7th Level (yellow) thinking. Her description of the inherent assumptions and elaborating behaviors part and parcel of 5th Level (Modern) on pages 219 - 220 is well worth the price of the book. Here is a Five Star ***** that is easy reading and provides more support for the nature of emerging human systems. - sd bib)
- Spretnak, C. (1991) States of Grace: The Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age. San Francisco: Harper-Collins.
- CARRILHO Manuel Maria, Rhétoriques de la Modernité, P.U.F. - Paris 1992 - 176 p.
("Ce livre se propose d'étre une façon de dire que la crise est terminée" : il s'agit de la crise de la modernité, ou de la philosophie, ou de "la conception de la raison comme faculté souveraine et suprême, capable de suturer ses fissures et d'ordonner le monde" (p.7). Le projet de ce livre est au moins original, à l'heure ou chacun se croit tenu d'annoncer ou de dénoncer "la crise" (de la démocratie, de l'économie, de la morale, de la science, etc...) enfin un chercheur qui nous déclare que l'une de ces crises -sans doute la plus "importante", celle "du bon usage de la raison" - est terminée ! "Façon de dire", sans doute, mais les occasions d'optimisme sont trop rares pour qu'on s'en prive ! D'autant plus que cette conclusion d'apparence paradoxale est fort soigneusement argumentée par un large balayage des discours contemporains sur les philosophies de la rationalité (bien qu'il manque nombre d'autres arguments qui corroboreraient aisément la thèse, que développent par exemple H.A. Simon, J. Piaget ou E. Morin). Si soigneusement argumentée qu'elle a, pour l'essentiel "emporté ma conviction". Etais-je"convaincu d'avance" ? Il est alors précieux de recevoir quelques solides renforts...pour le cas où... ! La thèse pourtant est ambitieuse "Le fait est que la sortie de la crise - et de l'immense parasitage théorique qui l'accompagne, multipliant les figures de l'impasse et de la clôture - n'est possible que par l'abandon de la logique qui l'a produite ; et plus particulièrement des conceptions qui ont fait de la nécessité l'axe majeur de la compréhension du monde, et de l'universalité la norme supérieure de la compréhension du sujet et de la raison" (p.7). "La reformulation de l'articulation rhétorique/rationalité ouvre les voies à une révision des moyens, des finalités, et, plus que tout, des problèmes de la philosophie" (p.8). )
- ARDOINO Jacques et DE PERETTI André, Penser l'hétérogène, Desclée de Brouwer, 1998
(Jacques Ardoino et André de Peretti nous entraînent, sous forme de dialogue, dans leur voyage à la fois complice et conflictuel en complexité. Sans doute faut-il entendre, en toile de fond de leurs échanges, la question de l'éducation. Mais leur propos est bien plus large, et vise à élaborer les conditions de possibilité (théoriques, épistémologiques) d'une pensée complexe, sans concession réductrice, inscrite dans son ampleur anthropologique et politique. Au fil de quinze entretiens, ils déploient leurs questions, leurs références, leurs doutes, leurs différends, leurs manques, reviennent parfois en arrière, se répètent, laissent quelques réflexions inachevées en suspens, et nous donnent ainsi une magnifique illustration d'un "chemin faisant" coélaboré, qui serait à la fois bouclé sur lui-même et qui pourtant aurait su avancer. reco complexity site)
- Ferrer, J. (2001) Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
- Skolimowski, H. (1994) The Participatory Mind. London: Arkana.
- Alfred Korzybski. Science and Sanity: an introduction to non-aristotelian systems and general semantics.
(a classic, rec sd bib and Philosphere)
- "Wisdom, Its Nature, Origins and Development", Ed Robert Sternberg, 1990.
("There is an article by Deidre A. Kramer called "Conceptualizing Wisdom - the primacy of affect-cognition relations". She argues that cognitive and affective development reciprocally interacts to produce a number of wisdom-related skills or processes that enable wisdom to operate through the individual. As these skills and processes address the stressors of adult life then that in turn allows for continued cognitive and affective development." - Sarah Ross)
- Jonas Salk. Anatomy of Reality: Merging Intuition and Reason (New York, Columbia University Press, 1983)
("Jonas Salk, most famous for his development of the Salk vaccine, and the founding of The Salk Institute, was a pioneer in evolutionary biology and philosophy, applying the lessons of how nature evolves to our own social evolution. He writes in Anatomy of Reality: "The most meaningful activity in which a human being can be engaged is one that is directly related to human evolution. This is true because human beings now play an active and critical role not only in the process of their own evolution but in the survival and evolution of all living beings. Awareness of this places upon human beings a responsibility for their participation in and contribution to the process of evolution. If humankind would accept and acknowledge this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process of metabiological evolution consciously, as well as unconsciously, a new reality would emerge, and a new age would be born." )
- POSTRATIONAL/SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS
The Moon of Hoa Binh . Cong Huyen Ton Nu Nha Trang & William L. Pensinger
(A mind-blowing conceptual novel which uses the Vietnam War as a backdrop for contemporary explorations of the psychology and cosmology of George Gurdjieff and John Godolphin Bennett. The site includes excerpts, discussions of character's psychological profiles, and the diverse models contained in Bennett's landmark four volume 'The Divine Universe' (1997) magnum opus. Recommended by Anthony Blake and other teachers in the Gurdjieff/Bennett legacy.)
- 1.4 organisation by topic
- CHILDHOOD
- Centuries of Childhood. By Philippe Aries. (Random House, 1962)**
- Luc, Jean-Noël L'invention du jeune enfant au XIXème siècle Belin 1997
- Stern, Daniel - The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology - New York, Basic Books, 1985
- DEATH AND DYING
- Ariès, P., Essais sur l'histoire de la mort en Occident du Moyen Âge à nos jours, Paris, Seuil, 1975.
- Ariès,P., L'homme devant la mort, Paris, Seuil, 1977
- EVIL
- André JACOB, L'Homme et le Mal. Paris, Les Éditions de CERF, collection Humanités, 1998, 126 p. (ISSN-2-204-06208-1)
- Badiou, Alain. Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil. Verso Books. New York, 2001, 224 pages, Hardcover, ISBN: 1859842976.
- LANGUAGE
- The Symbolic Species: the co-evolution of language and the brain. WW Norton, 1997. (sd bib)
- MEMORY
- The Art of Memory. By Frances Yates. (1966)
('fascinating ... already a classic' Pratum Book Co.)
- NARCISISM
- Alford, C. Fred - Narcissism: Socrates, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalytic Theory - New Haven and London, Yale University Press - 1988
- NATURE (relationship with)
- Keith Thomas. Man and the Natural World: A History of The Modern Sensibility. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983.
- Gregory Bateson. Mind and Nature: a necessary unity. Bantam, 1979. (French: La nature et la pensée Gregory Bateson,1979 Seuil 1984.)
("Quelle est la structure qui relie le crabe au homard et l'orchidée à la primevère ? Et qu'est ce qui les relie, eux quatre, à moi ? Et moi à vous ? Et nous six à l'amibe, d'un côté, et au schizophrène qu'on interne, de l'autre ? " au risque d'avoir l'air d'exagérer, c'est peut être un des livres les plus important du XX siècle. En tout cas, c'est mon avis, et je le partage." - remi sussan)
- PSYCHEDELICS
- The Long Trip: a prehistory of psychedelia. By Paul Deveraux. Penguin, 1997. (sd bib)
- The Invisible Landscape: mind, hallucinogens, and the I Ching. By Terence and Dennis McKenna. Harper San Francisco, 1994.
- TIME
- Figures du Temps.Strasbourg: Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 1997.
(contributions to colloqium treating of conception of time from antiquity to science fiction. According to Antaios: uneven but worthwile).
- The Nature of Time. By Prof. GJ Whitrow (Penguin, 1975)
- The Twin Dimensions: Inventing Time and Space. By G. Szamosi (McGraw-Hill, 1986)
- Hari Shankar Prasad, ed. Time in Indian Philosophy. Delhi, Indian Books, 1992.
(" 740 pages of all you wanted to know about time and Indian philosophy. Chapters in German are a bit tough going if you don't speak German but otherwise just lovely. Opening essay on the problem of time is an excellent summary of the book.")
- Dane Rudhyar, Astrological Timing. New York, Harper and Row, 1969.
(" Long wave theory of history and the future using astrological cycles. Even if one is skeptical of this method, the insights that come from this view of mind, self and history are often far deeper than what emerges from conventional psychological theory, Freud or Skinner. Believes we are in the midst of a grand transformation, the first of many to come in the next centuries.")
- Elias, Norbert. (1992). Time: An Essay. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
- Rifkin, J. (1987). Time Wars: The Primary Conflict in Human History. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
- Edward T. Hall. The Dance of Life: the outer dimension of time. Anchor Books/ Doubleday, 1983.
subtopic: speed
- Hyperculture: the human cost of speed. Stephen Bertman.Praeger, 1998.
- VIOLENCE
- Dave Grossman. On Killing: the psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society. Little Brown, 1996.
