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In this article, the author wishes to defend a naturalistic version of phenomenology rooted in and expropriated from William James's radical empiricism against Max Scheler's non-naturalistic phenomenology. By drawing from Jack Reynolds's arguments for a minimal phenomenology, the author posits that radical empiricism is a middle way between the misguided self-sufficiency of transcendental phenomenology and the misguided self-sufficiency of ontological naturalism. The orthodox reading of Scheler as a dualist is found problematic, and in outlining four propositions characteristic of Scheler's positions, the author motivates resources from Jamesian thought to argue for the superiority of a naturalistic phenomenology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'religion/secular' frame should be retired as a way of characterizing contemporary northern European cultures. The concepts of 'secularity' and 'religion' are both falsifying and question begging. They invisibly and unhelpfully predetermine the conversation about who and where we are now. Further, they are terms which increasingly lack salience in these cultures. If we seek to locate and articulate, in order to reflectively engage, the horizons within which contemporary northern Europeans generally live, the goods that orient people's lives, the ideas and values that move and motivate them, we need to talk not about 'religion' and the lack of it, but about the idea of the human. Within the concept of the human is nested today the sense of orientation, meaning, goodness and importance that notions of 'religion' used to express. This is the conceptual territory on which arguments about 'what really matters' are now conducted. If one wishes to have salience in contemporary culture, one needs to speak to this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Enoch attempts to develop a general theory of authority, not by defining the concept of authority or identifying a normative reason for obeying its commands but by describing the mechanism of commanding. According to Enoch, commands are part of a broader phenomenon, the so-called robust reason-giving, which includes promises and requests in addition to commands. By describing the mechanism of robust reason-giving, we also get a description of the mechanism of commanding, Enoch says. Crucial to the theory of robust reason-giving is the intention of the person providing the reason. In other words, commanding, promising, or requesting can only be done by someone who can form a complex intention, that is, to have a will of his own. But it is precisely in intentionality that the problem of the theory of robust reason-giving lies, which Enoch points out. In Enoch's view, adult human beings, not small children and animals, form sufficiently complex intentions. Yet it seems young children and perhaps even animals can request, that is, of providing reasons robustly. This incoherence needs to be resolved if a theory of robust reason-giving, and hence a general theory of authority, is to be plausible. In this text, I have suggested how to understand the requests of small children and animals. Their speech acts resembling requests can be relatively unproblematically considered as communicating needs or wishes or merely triggering motivational reasons-giving. If we do not classify their speech acts as robust reason-giving, the theory of robust reason-giving (at least on this issue) remains coherent and can form the basis of a general theory of authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the author's personal experience with her colleague Uwe at the university. She praises Uwe for his support and attention and describes the team as warm and motivating. Uwe is retiring and is described as someone who has met many people and shares his experiences with others. He is a good cook and is socially engaged. The author thanks Uwe for his support and wishes him all the best for the future. [Extracted from the article]

The Golden Rule ("what you want done [or not done] to yourself, do [or don't do] to others") is the most widely accepted summary statement of human morality, and even today it continues to have philosophical supporters. This article argues that the Golden Rule suffers from four faults, the first two related to the ethics of justice and the second two related to the ethics of benevolence. One, it fails to explain how to deal with non-reciprocation. Two, it fails to make clear that my obligations are obligations regardless of how I would wish to be treated by others. Three, it lacks any special value in explaining the right occasions for benevolence. And, four, it has no power to motivate benevolence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freud argued that people perceive reality through their unconscious fantasies while striving to fulfill their wishes. This paper claims that the role of unconscious fantasies should be expanded beyond Freud's description; and that our unconscious imaginary process generates inner communication that is motivated by thoughts and emotions about relating to oneself and others. The clinical case illustrates the role of analysis in closing the permeable gap between reality and unconscious fantasy. In analysis, uncovering unconscious fantasy can serve as a bridge to reality and can be used to facilitate resolution of the patient's underlying conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two recent studies by Joseph Torchia and Paul Griffiths show the importance of Augustine's critique of the vice of curiositas to contemporary life and thought. Superficially, it might seem that Augustine condemned curiosity because it "seeks to find out whatever it wishes without restriction of any kind." Though profoundly influenced by Augustine, Bernard Lonergan praised intellectual curiosity precisely insofar as it is motivated by an unrestricted desire to know, rather than by less noble motives. Drawing upon the researches of Torchia and Griffiths, this article endeavors to show that Augustine does not simply equate curiositas with an unrestricted desire to know, and that the virtue of intellectual curiosity as Lonergan understood it is in fact endorsed by Augustine by means of its relationship to the virtue of studiositas. This more nuanced view of the virtues and vices of intellect can provide guidance for contemporary intellectual pursuits, both how to pursue and not to pursue knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Here, we talk to first author Shubhi Pandey about her paper, "Intrinsic bias at non-canonical, β-arrestin-coupled seven transmembrane receptors," and group leader Arun K. Shukla about the research in his lab, the evolving research landscape in India, and his wish to motivate young Indian researchers abroad to return to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aristotle invokes a specifically human desire, namely wish (boulēsis), to provide a teleological explanation of the pursuit of the specifically human good in terms of virtuous activity. Wish is a basic, unreasoned desire which, independently of other desires, or evaluative attitudes, motivates the pursuit of the human good. Even a person who pursues what she mistakenly believes to be good is motivated by wish for what in fact is good, although she is oblivious of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the outcomes of executing three wishes that must have a selfish motivation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is fiction. Findings – The paper reveals that wishes executed with a business methodology may have greater impact than those executed without prior planning. The emotional source of motivation can be a subjective definition. Research limitations/implications – The paper implies that definition of "good" and "bad" outcomes may be subjectively defined. Practical implications – The paper has a limited application to real-world situation due to fictional constructs. It allows internal consideration of personal motivations. Social implications – The paper allows discussion of motivation within business and philanthropy. It considers that perhaps the means may justify the ends. Originality/value – The paper is a fictional story that provokes thought and discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the purpose of hope? Most often it is argued that we hope in order to fulfil a wish. Havel (1999) wonders whether this notion of hope has not been accepted too quickly, whether we focus too readily and easily on the fulfilment of hope thus skewing our understanding of the act itself and of its motivations. Is the goal of hoping always, or necessarily, its actualisation? Exploring the testimonies of humanitarian aid workers, this paper takes up this question, focusing on the exercise of hope rather than on its outcome. Relying on Arendt's notion of natality, hope is explored as an act, which in itself is valuable, that is, an act which need not be actualised to be realized. It considers how sometimes the very act of hoping itself satisfies the purpose of hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's motivational states--their wishes and preferences--influence their processing of visual stimuli. In 5 studies, participants shown an ambiguous figure (e.g., one that could be seen either as the letter B or the number 13) tended to report seeing the interpretation that assigned them to outcomes they favored. This finding was affirmed by unobtrusive and implicit measures of perception (e.g., eye tracking, lexical decision tasks) and by experimental procedures demonstrating that participants were aware only of the single (usually favored) interpretation they saw at the time they viewed the stimulus. These studies suggest that the impact of motivation on information processing extends down into preconscious processing of stimuli in the visual environment and thus guides what the visual system presents to conscious awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on wishes and containment. The distinction between the specific nature of the wish and the informing ability of the capacity to wish is discussed. The major serious error in some treatments is the failure to allow the patient to discover his wishes on his own with conviction. The significance of a situation is informed through the awareness of the wish. Containment is the result of the patient's ability to allow himself to be emotionally impacted upon and then to reply. The containment of the treatment process is a product of the patient's development of trust that his vulnerability can be delivered into the treatment situation. The phenomenon of narcissism is also discussed.

Wishful thinking (WT) is the link between preference (wish) and expectation (prediction). New Zealand voters (N = 605) were asked to predict election outcomes 8 to 10 weeks prior to the 1990 general election and to state their preference for one of the two major parties (Labour or National). Strong and consistent WT effects were found, with more favorable outcomes being predicted for the preferred party. Level of confidence in their prediction also contributed to anticipated election outcomes. A minority of respondents who displayed accurate information about the outcome of the previous election showed no WT effect in their predictions. An instruction to be objective, designed to increase rationality, was ineffective in reducing WT. Independent of preference and WT, predictions of nationwide election outcomes also varied as a function of electorate of residence. Mechanisms contributing to WT, adaptive and maladaptive aspects of WT, and the human capacity for rational control are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preference for a variety of ‘private wishes’ were investigated in two studies. In Study 1, two college samples and two samples of pedestrians selected 10 out of a list of 48 wishes. In Study 2, two college samples rated 20 wishes. Although ethnicity data were not gathered, the populations from which the samples were drawn are ethnically diverse. Correlations of preferences between women and men within samples averaged .86 in Study 1 and .85 in Study 2, indicating a great deal of similarity between genders in their overall wish preferences. By far, the largest gender difference was for the wish ‘To have sex with anyone I choose.’ Men consistently preferred this wish across all samples and age groups. These results point to sexuality in its interpersonal context as a primary focus of difference in the inner emotional lives of women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex differences in smoking motivation were evaluated. It was hypothesized that women smoke to satisfy power wishes, whereas men smoke for the comforting regressive body sensations involved. The hypotheses were evaluated by an objective analysis of themes in the stories related by men and women in response to pictures of people in smoking situations. Support was found for the importance of power motivation in the female smoker; but not for the importance of regressive comforting experiences in the motivation of the male smoker. Significant exploratory findings appeared concerning the role of masculinity-femininity in smoking behavior within sex groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10 (N = 80) and institutionalized and non-institutionalized retardates ( N = 80) made up 3 wishes they hoped would come true. With increasing age, children wished for abstract or intangible human conditions rather than for concrete or tangible possessions; wished for things consistent with adult rather than child status; and made altruistic wishes, benefiting others rather than themselves. Age and IQ differences in frequency of the 3 types of wishes were discussed in terms of differential rates of conceptual, social and emotional development, generally, and the adverse experiences of retardates, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case of a 31-year-old housewife presented when 27 week pregnant with complaints of restlessness and voices debating in her head. Autoscopy occurring during pregnancy is described. The parts played by excessive narcissism, wish fulfillment and the use of visual imagery are commented upon. The patient's description of seeing objects as being doubled shows an underlying mechanism which has similarities to the process in Capgras' Syndrome. Narcissism, wish fulfillment and a predominance of visual imagery have contributed to patient's complaint.