The Power of Being a Subject

Transcending Myth and Machine
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-04009-5
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 106 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm

Reihe: Routledge Focus on Mental Health

Amid countless prescriptive self-help manuals, The Power of Being a Subject: Transcending Myth and Machine emerges as a refreshing intellectual cornerstone in contemporary psychology and personal development literature.

Dr. Bowker dismantles the persistent "myth of human mechanics" – the flawed belief that individuals and their psyches "function" like computers or machines. He argues compellingly that authentic self-improvement demands embracing our full subjectivity, with all of its putative dysfunction, and recognizing our agency, creativity, and complexity. Through thoughtful exploration, readers learn how critical thinking, honesty, patience, and bravery can help them achieve deeper maturity and genuine freedom.

This is essential reading for those disillusioned with surface-level solutions and hungry for meaningful transformation.

Zielgruppe

General, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bowker, Matthew H.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse Psychoanalyse (S. Freud)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: Realities and Myths 1. States of Confusion 2. "Something Wrong" 3. The Fear of Freedom 4. The Great Machinery and the Myth of Human Mechanics 5. Realities 6. Subjects and Objects Part II: Critical Thinking Is Radical Thinking 7. What Is Critical Thinking? 8. Paradigms 9. Critical Thinking as a Set of Capacities 10. Resilience and Growing-up Experience 11. The Dilemma of Activation 12. The Dilemma of Teaching and the Solution of Facilitation Part III: Lessons in Subject-Activation: Honesty, Patience, and Bravery 13. Living and (Almost) Dying Honestly 14. Patience, Breaking, and Writing 15. Bravery and Working Through Subjectivity in Psychoanalysis Conclusion: Thinking, Happiness, and the Problem with Eckhart Tolle

Über Autor(innen)

Matthew H. Bowker, PhD, is the author of more than 20 books and more than 40 papers on psychoanalysis and political theory. He teaches at the State University of New York at Buffalo.