A holistic model is proposed for assessing different worldviews on how accurate and effective they are.
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Andras Angyal, a little known theorist but one that Maslow thought was
brilliant, presented a holistic psychological model for the
personality. People either operate in a biopositive mode or a
bionegative mode. A biopositive mode is characterized by the trend
towards autonomy and the trend towards homonomy, whereas a bionegative
mode is characterized by the pattern of vicarious living and the
pattern of noncommitment. For an organism to survive it must manifest
the trend towards autonomy and the trend towards homonomy. The trend
towards autonomy consists of establishing oneself as independent,
self-sufficient, self-governing, in control, secure, etc. The trend
towards autonomy maintains the organism's internal integrity. The trend
towards homonomy consists of seeking to become one with one's
environment--be that nature, society, other individuals, God, etc. The
trend towards homonomy maintains the organism's integration and
successful cooperation with the other forces in its environment. Both
trends are necessary for the organism to survive and function
successfully. A common misconception is that homonomy and autonomy
exist on opposite sides of a spectrum--that the increase in one
necessitates a decrease in the other. This is not the case. While they
can be trends that compete for attention--like the desire to eat and the
desire for sex--they are not mutually exclusive. The success of one
bodes well for the other. You can have a lot of both--and ideally you
would have a lot of both--or you can have little of either--as would be
detrimental for an organism.
Under certain conditions, however,
these systems can impugn upon one another and give rise to a
bionegative mode of operating in the world. The bionegative system
exhibits two patterns--the pattern of noncommitment and the pattern of
vicarious living. The pattern of noncommitment arises as a result of
the individual having an inconsistent/difficult environment from which
rational and successful adaptations are not easily formed. The
individual does not trust the world because the world has not proven
itself trustworthy in the individual's experience. Such individuals
focus on the existential issue of
good and evil--because
the world is threatening. Actions become ritualistic and thoughts
become dogmatic--trying to maintain control in a world of chaos. The
main neurosis associated with this pattern is
obsessive compulsive disorder.
The
pattern of vicarious living arises as a result of the individual
feeling rejected and that its true self is unacceptable. The individual
thus creates a false, social self that is acceptable but feels
unfulfilled because no one really knows/loves the real self and it is
not seeking its true joy in life. Such individuals focus on the
existential issue of
life and death--because they have killed their real selves. The main neurosis associated with this pattern is
hysteria.
We all have both--it is merely a matter of degree. We would only
consider individuals with very high examples of one of these, to the
point that it impairs functioning significantly, to have an antisocial
or mental problem.
Angyal seems to think that the two systems
are different and that the individual alternates between them--but it
seems obvious to me that the latter bionegative system is explainable
as a functioning, or misfunctioning, of the biopositive system. The
pattern of noncommitment is the result of the trend towards autonomy
being overemphasized and overpowering the trend towards homonomy--the
individual is obsessed with protecting itself because it does not feel
safe and thus remains guarded, constricted, and at times hostile. The
pattern of vicarious living is the result of the trend towards homonomy
being overemphasized and overpowering the trend towards autonomy--the
individual is obsessed with being accepted by others because it does
not feel loved and thus sacrifices its own internal integrity to please
others. The problem with both patterns is that, while they are to some
degree rational adaptations, they ultimately do not provide the
individuals with true happiness or give them what they really want. The
noncommitting individual does not achieve autonomy but instead
stagnates and becomes weaker as a result of not being able to live in
harmony with its environment, and the vicarious individual is never
really loved or accepted for who it is as a result of hiding its true
identity away--the exposure of which is a source of much dread.
For image, click here:
http://bendench.blogspot.com/2009/06/adpas.html
From
this we can create a schemata that can then be used to assess any given
worldview or paradigm by where it falls on an axis between homonomy vs.
noncommitment and an axis between autonomy vs. vicarious living. The
homonomy/noncommitment axis can be used to assess epistemology--whereas
a biopositive epistemology is pragmatic (reason based) and develops
principles to fit evidence, a bionegative epistemology is dogmatic
(faith based) and organizes evidence to fit principles. The
autonomy/vicarious living axis can be used to assess ethics--whereas a
biopositive ethics is idealistic (romantic) and affirms life, self,
sex, pleasure, the body, the world, the mind, the spirit, power, etc, a
bionegative ethics is nihilistic (fatalistic) and masochistically
renounces these things. In a sense, the bionegative system seems to set
ideals through reality (superego) rather than phantasy (id) (thus
confusing facticity for transcendence--facts for values--sensation for
impulse--the significant/contextual for the fundamental/purposeful) and
to interpret the world through phantasy (id) rather than reality
(superego) (thus confusing transcendence for facticity--values for
facts--impulse for sensation--the fundamental/purposeful for the
significant/contextual).
I co-authored a paper on the use of Angyal's holistic model to create a typology of personality disorders:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18567235
ANGYAL, A. (1965)
Neurosis and treatment. New York: Wiley.
LESTER, D. (1995)
Theories of personality. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
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Together we can raise awareness. Thank you.
Authors Bio:Ben Dench graduated valedictorian of his class from The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in the Spring Semester of 2007 with a B.A. in philosophy (his graduation speech, which received high praise, is available on YouTube). He is currently enrolled in the Pebble Hill School of Sacred Ministry, where he is studying to be an interfaith minister. His interests include all forms of experiential and technique oriented spirituality, especially shamanism and the out-of-body-experience; social justice, including environmentalism and building a sustainable global community; and the study of how to live effectively and maximize human potential.