I am curious about the course this discussion has taken.
While I admire Ken's ability to analyze and summarize the threads that
occur on this list, I feel that the present summary risks contradicting our
other [implicit] approaches to research. A lot of work is in the public
domain in the fields of the philosophy of psychology and psychology, on
false consciousness. When such work is available we usually encourage
referencing rather than thinking the matter through from scratch. Ken's
admirable summary seems like the sort of thing that would be useful if
there were no work in the public domain on this subject. Is there a reason
why the only references are to earlier correspondents?
I have already suggested Fingarette. I could also suggest Wittgenstein (on
the ability to know one's internal states), and I think others have already
cited Kierkegaard and Sartre.
May I add that I think the subject is very relevant for anyone seeking to
validate reflective practice as a research method.
Michael
At 08:52 30/09/2003 -0700, Ken Friedman wrote:
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>The second range of issue involved in the problem of false
>consciousness involves considering how we may properly address the
>question of false consciousness.
>
>This also involves considering the circumstances under which it is
>necessary - or even obligatory - to do so.
>
>Finally, it is important to ask who may address this problem.
>
>To avoid misunderstanding, I will repeat my view that it is wrong to
>accuse others of false consciousness. No human being has the right to
>evaluate the consciousness of another human being. The reason we
>cannot assert that another human being suffers the condition of false
>consciousness is that we cannot know another human being's internal
>state. I will discuss this further below.
>
>The physical impossibility of knowing another's internal state and
>the ethical wrong of accusing another person of false consciousness
>does not invalidate the possibility of false consciousness.
>
>Here, I propose nine questions that inquire into the challenge of
>addressing the problem of false consciousness.
>
>2.0 Addressing the problem of false consciousness.
>
>2.1 The problem of asserting that a specific individual suffers from
>false consciousness.
>
>Early in the thread, Klaus Krippendorff stated that it is wrong to
>claim that a specific person suffers from false consciousness. This
>claim is often linked to specific incidents of ethically questionable
>behavior.
>
>Woody Allen gives a humorous example of the problem in a monologue
>where he claimed that he was expelled from New York University for
>cheating in metaphysics.
>
>"I looked into the soul of the boy next to me," he said.
>
>This joke neatly illustrates the impossibility of asserting in any
>valid sense that someone else suffers from false consciousness. To
>know whether such a claim is true, one would have to look into or
>somehow experience their consciousness. This is impossible.
>
>This problem has occurred in some debates on this list in another
>form: one list member claimed that another adopted a specific
>position for political, economic, or personal motives.
>
>It is one thing to state that adopting a position has political,
>economic, or personal consequences. This claim is a truth claim or an
>interpretive claim concerning issues external to the person who
>adopts a position.
>
>It is another matter to claim that someone adopts a position for
>specific political, economic, or personal MOTIVES. To make this claim
>is to say, "I know your internal state and I know the reasons you
>have for adopting this position." This is much like the claim "I know
>your internal state and I know that you suffer from false
>consciousness."
>
>We cannot know the internal state of another human being.
>
>Question 6: What are the limits and conditions - if any - that permit
>us to claim that another human being suffers from a state of false
>consciousness?
>
>Question 7: Is the declaration that another human being suffers from
>a state of false consciousness even possible in any meaningful sense?
>
>2.2.1 Valid engagement with the problem of false consciousness in
>other human beings in a situated context
>
>In some cases, individuals who seek to understand and clarify their
>own existential situation seek to examine self and consciousness with
>the help of another human being.
>
>These relationships are found in psychology, psychiatry,
>psychotherapy, and pastoral counseling.
>
>These relationships are bounded by ethical considerations. They
>entail a privileged relationship that requires clear bonds and clear
>boundaries between the conscious subject and his or her chosen
>counselor.
>
>There is a second range of relationships in which the problem of
>false consciousness becomes significant. These are not the strictly
>bounded relationships of the therapeutic and counseling professions.
>Rather, they are the more loosely bounded relationships of teaching
>and inquiry.
>
>This range of relationships moves from the therapeutic at one extreme
>to the analytical at the other. On one side of a continuum, we find
>people who function as therapists or mentors of some kind. On the
>other side, we find philosophers and we find scholars in the
>scientific study of therapeutic arts that work with individuals as
>teachers and mentors.
>
>It is here that Terry Love asked his original question. In essence,
>Terry's question asks how a doctoral supervisor or advisor can work
>effectively to help a research student address the problem of false
>consciousness.
>
>The attempt to answer this question is how I was introduced to Kierkegaard.
>
>My background included study in psychology and education. One of my
>thesis supervisors thought that Kierkegaard's work would be helpful
>to me in the issues I was then examining.
>
>Question 8: What are the psychological, therapeutic, or spiritual
>dimensions of inquiry into false consciousness?
>
>Question 9: How can a therapist, mentor, or counselor work
>effectively with the concept of false consciousness in a way that is
>constructively helpful for the conscious subject who seeks the
>support of a professional advisor?
>
>Question 10: Are there psychological, therapeutic, or spiritual
>circumstances in which a therapist, mentor, or counselor is required
>to address the problem of false consciousness under the obligations
>of declared responsibility (f.ex., Hippocratic Oath, priestly vows,
>etc.)
>
>Question 11: How can a doctoral supervisor or research advisor work
>effectively to help a research student address the problem of false
>consciousness?
>
>Question 12: What specific ethical and professional challenges must a
>doctoral supervisor or research advisor address to work effectively
>with a research student who hopes to address the problem of false
>consciousness?
>
>2.2.2 Valid engagement with the problem of false consciousness in
>other human beings in abstract terms
>
>A third range of professions examines the problem of false
>consciousness in a form abstracted from the immediate context of an
>individual life. Here, we also find philosophers, scholars, and
>scientists who study these issues.
>
>Any of the questions I articulate in this series of notes may be
>raised in the context of this kind of work as a subject of inquiry.
>
>2.3 What if false consciousness an inappropriate label or term?
>
>False consciousness may well be an inappropriate label or term.
>Nevertheless, the problem represented by the term may be genuine. If
>so, we need a better and more appropriate language to address the
>problems or challenges involved in various instances of what may now
>be labeled false consciousness.
>
>Question 13: Question 1 asks, "What do we mean by the term false
>consciousness?" Here, I ask what issues, problems, or situations may
>be worth exploring whether or not the term itself is appropriate.
>
>Question 14: If the term false consciousness is inappropriate for
>some or all of the conditions now designated by the term, would other
>terms be useful to describe or delimit some of these problems or all
>of them? If so, what are they?
>
>
>Best regards,
>
>Ken
>
>--
>
>Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
>Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
>Department of Leadership and Organization
>Norwegian School of Management
>
>Visiting Professor
>Advanced Research Institute
>School of Art and Design
>Staffordshire University
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