Seminar 2016
Macmurray, Fear and Reciprocity
Why are so many philosophers – even personalists – afraid of reciprocity?
How did Macmurray steer a path between individualism and collectivism, allowing for mutuality and friendship and openness?
Does Macmurray’s view of power and professional responsibility still allow for mutual care in unequal relationships?
What is the political role of Macmurray’s concern to overcome fear and build up reciprocity?
all personal consciousness is problematic; so that the consciousness of the common life is ipso facto a consciousness that it may or may not be realized in action. It is the consciousness that hostility may take the place of fellowship, and the unity be broken. This will happen if personal relations become negatively motived, if fear of the others replaces love for the others. Thus the problem of community is the problem of overcoming fear and subordinating the negative to the positive in the motivation of persons in relation. ‘Persons In Relation’, 1961 p161
we need other people to achieve individuality. For others to play this role for me, they have to be available to me in an unmediated way, not via a representation that is tailored to my psychic comfort. And conversely, I would have to make myself available to them in a way that puts myself at risk, not shying from a confrontation between evaluative outlooks. For it is through such confrontations that we are pulled out of our own heads and force to justify ourselves. Matthew Crawford ‘The World Beyond Your Head’ 2015 p180
Cost: £30 (£14 for unwaged) includes: refreshments, lunch and conference pack.
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