James L Kelley - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by James L Kelley

Book chapter, 2021

Shame has become a prominent topic in recent research in psychology and philosophy, but it has ra... more Shame has become a prominent topic in recent research in psychology and philosophy, but it has rarely been linked to aesthetic contexts. The present study’s examination of the life and work of fashion designer Karl Otto Lagerfeld (1933-2019) attempts to understand how the subject was able to transform shame experiences through his particular approach to aesthetics. Both the history of aesthetics and Positive Psychology 2.0 (PP2.0) will be drawn upon to cast lights on salient events and relationships in Lagerfeld’s life, the overarching concern being to reveal the nexus between the subject’s experience of shame and the strategies he marshalled to meet life challenges.
The chapter takes a psychobiographical approach to the life of the subject, Karl Otto Lagerfeld. The subject was purposefully sampled.
The study found that Lagerfeld’s early affective experiences with his mother, Elizabeth, as well as an entire childhood spent learning about culture and art at her feet, informed his later ability to reach for the positivity hidden within shameful experiences and turn it toward the creation of new and original fashion designs.

Dandyism began in Restoration England when sons of the well-to-do shocked their squire fathers by... more Dandyism began in Restoration England when sons of the well-to-do shocked their squire fathers by dressing in the style of the French court that many of them witnessed at first hand during their Grand Tours of Europe (Van Dooren, 2006: 25-31). By the time the trend jumped the Channel and arrived in Paris, it had taken on a more theoretical cast with the writings of Barbey d'Aurevilly and Charles Baudelaire. These writers updated the socially progressive Romanticism of the Second Empire by combining intensity of stylistic expression with detachment from the mass readership whom they were forced to address. Many of the same critiques of French Bourgeois society were extended by Baudelaire and his ilk, but whereas the July Monarchy Romantics absolutized the work of art, these dandies absolutized their own mode-molded personae as impotent yet unvanquished denunciations of middling vulgarity (Amann, 2015: 6-7; de Vugt, 2018: 5). The dandy did not seek direct social change; rather, he sought to stand out from mass society by combining Stoic detachment with demonic passion. An uncanny aura emanated from his overwrought style of dress and versification; he was a walking, talking Renaissance hieroglyph who could only be deciphered by disaffected journalists, disowned aristocratic scions, and in-the-know café habitués. Dandyism's combination of marketing savvy with a cynicism toward the average “bourgeois” consumer is replicated in Karl Lagerfeld, who once wrapped a sheaf of wheat in expensive bead necklaces for a model to hold while walking the runway at a “Back to Nature” themed Chanel show. He quipped to the model: “It means money-that's all they care about anyway” (Orth, 1992).

We live in an age in which “esotericism” has become almost synonymous with “spiritual.” Everythin... more We live in an age in which “esotericism” has become almost synonymous with “spiritual.” Everything from sex to politics has its occult side; in fact, this imagined esoteric counter-face—hidden yet ubiquitous—is often assumed to actually be the true meaning or reality that the material husk—the exoteric, well-known aspect—serves only to obscure. Modern culture is “occulture.” That is, today's everyman recognizes as legitimate cultural expression only that which is grounded in “rejected knowledge.” But rejected by whom and for what? These questions are rarely even acknowledged, much less tackled. All that matters is that their esoteric wisdom is in some sense anti-traditional and pro-gnostic.
Most distressing of all, for an Eastern Orthodox Christian, is the continued—even growing—confusion among theologians and laymen concerning the relationship between esotericism and the teachings of Orthodoxy. The studies in this volume shed light on the historical development of esoteric thought from an Orthodox perspective.

This three-part analysis of modernity assesses the impact that Western thought and philosophy has... more This three-part analysis of modernity assesses the impact that Western thought and philosophy has had on today's world. Making use of neglected research from the fringes of academia, "Anatomyzing Divinity" traces the circuitous path of occult wisdom from China, India, Egypt and the Hellenistic world to Byzantium and beyond. At the heart of the book is an investigation of the life and thought of G. W. Leibniz, the man who invented calculus and laid the groundwork for binary code, which in turn made computers possible. Leibniz's roots, Kelley shows, lay in the Frankish metaphysical tradition, and thus have little in common with some of his contemporaries' materialism. Along the way, sidelights are turned on 1) the occult basis of Western political systems, as well as 2) the alchemical basis of much Western philosophy and theology.

This study of Greek-American theologian John S. Romanides explores the first half-decade of his c... more This study of Greek-American theologian John S. Romanides explores the first half-decade of his career, a span which includes his seminal book Ancestral Sin. Each chapter of this book is adapted from a lecture written by theologian James L. Kelley, one of the world's foremost authorities on Fr. John's work.

Papers by James L Kelley

International Review of Psychiatry, 2025

By the mid-2020s, Elon Reeve Musk (1971-) became the world’s wealthiest man despite a tumultuous ... more By the mid-2020s, Elon Reeve Musk (1971-) became the world’s wealthiest man despite a tumultuous upbringing at the hands of his father Errol Musk. the article utilized attachment theory and psychobiographical methods to tell the story of Musk’s rise to become an archetypal Fourth industrial Revolution (4IR) success story. the study concluded that Musk, whose childhood was dominated by a father whom he described as ‘evil’, may have developed an anxious-avoidant attachment style. On the positive side, this detached mode of interpersonal relating has allowed Musk to make business decisions relatively free from emotional bias. On the negative side, Musk’s standoffishness has often caused friction in his familial and romantic relationships.

The chapter provides a psychobiographical study of Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) that focuses on a pi... more The chapter provides a psychobiographical study of Carl Schmitt (1888–1985) that focuses on a pivotal moment in the famed jurist’s life. Just as he became engaged to Pawla Dorotić in 1912, Schmitt was facing overwhelming financial and personal pressure, and he expressed his Angst in a diary that he began writing that year, and also in a short satirical work of fiction that he published that same year, “The Mirror.” Parallels between the story’s protagonist and Schmitt are examined, and the chapter concludes that Schmitt’s mother Louise’s authoritarian parenting style may have influenced her son’s deep ambivalence toward sexuality, Jews, and modernity in general. The chapter’s second part is J. L. Kelley’s translation of “The Mirror,” the piece appearing here in English for the first time.

Recent research suggests that older people who lack adequate social support can experience inordi... more Recent research suggests that older people who lack adequate social support can experience inordinate shame. The present writing examined the life and work of legendary musician, poet, and painter Don Van Vliet (1941-2010), better known as Captain Beefheart. In the late 1970's, after having already released a series of critically-acclaimed but low-selling albums, Van Vliet was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Recent shame research was paired with psychoanalytic insights to shed light on Van Vliet's successful transition to life as a respected painter. A qualitative research schema, featuring a hermeneutical-interpretative paradigm and a psychobiographical approach, was employed. The chapter concluded that the subject's infusing into his art his lifelong feeling of shame over American society's unconcern with environmentalism, animal rights, and women's rights allowed him to overcome a history of personal and professional adversity.

This, the first of two interviews conducted with Audrey deChanenedes, was conducted via email 9 F... more This, the first of two interviews conducted with Audrey deChanenedes, was conducted via email 9 February, 2023. The second interview, which was also an email exchange, was completed 23 February, 2023, and is also reproduced herein. Becker’s dissatisfactions with Steely Dan’s touring situation are discussed, as are his troubled relationships with his parents and sister.

The chapter uses the methods of psychobiography and object relations theory to conduct a single-c... more The chapter uses the methods of psychobiography and object relations theory to conduct a single-case study of the life and loves of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003). Leni’s childhood home was dominated by her father, who had to be cajoled, and sometimes outright deceived, into supporting his daughter’s desire to enter a career in the performing arts. Unfortunately, Leni’s success was often her worst enemy: Just as she evaded her father Albert’s censorious glance, so did she avoid the barbs of German film critics by gaining Adolph Hitler as her patron until the fall of the Nazi regime in 1945. At this time, Leni lost not only her marriage and her film career, but even her sanity, if only for a short time. The chapter shows, through a Fairbairnian analysis, how Leni adapted to the disaster that was her early career by reinventing herself as a photographer of African tribes. Also, in her romantic life, she changed tacks. Compared with her late-in-life companion Horst Kettner, Leni’s early romances were relatively shallow because her counterpart was either too involved in promoting her career (Harry Sokal) or too far removed from her working life (Peter Jacob).

Qeios, 2023

Dr. Hyland's paper on Neo-Idealist theories of consciousness is reviewed. The paper is praised fo... more Dr. Hyland's paper on Neo-Idealist theories of consciousness is reviewed. The paper is praised for its style and message, though reservations are expressed about its assumption that Spinozistic monism can yield a therapy appropriate for religious traditionalists.

Clio's Psyche, 2023

Both Leonardo Da Vinci and musician Scott Walker grew up without a strong paternal presence, and ... more Both Leonardo Da Vinci and musician Scott Walker grew up without a strong paternal presence, and both seem to have had neuroses connected to their creative drives later in life. A psychobiographical consideration of both subjects concludes that one contributing cause to their artistic difficulties lies in their compromised preoedipal development, which led Leonardo into procrastination and Walker into dissolution.

Clio's Psyche, 2023

In the final pages of Menninger, Dr. Friedman paints a picture of an aging Karl, a man who remain... more In the final pages of Menninger, Dr. Friedman paints a picture of an aging Karl, a man who remained an enigma until the very end. By turns irascible and serene, the great man would show signs of having come to terms with his dwindling influence upon the Clinic’s affairs, only to launch suddenly into an angry tirade against his grandson Roy’s leadership (Friedman, Menninger, pp. 349-350). Because Dr. Friedman has an enviable ability to control the unfolding of his often complex narrative, we as readers are able to gather insights into the inner dispositions of each of the major players in the historical drama—Flo, Charles, Karl, and Will—and to marvel as the author enriches the picture by sprinkling evaluative comments into descriptions of the interactions between his historical dramatis personae. Is Menninger a psychobiography? In the broadest sense, certainly. However, I am tempted to proclaim this, the first panel in Dr. Friedman’s triptych of psychological biographies, a bridge between psychobiography (with its bold juxtaposition of theory to life history) and classical biography (with its austere attention to source material and its lighter evaluative touch).

Clio's Psyche, 2023

Daniel Benveniste’s Libido, Culture and Consciousness is an attempt to flesh out Freud’s underdev... more Daniel Benveniste’s Libido, Culture and Consciousness is an attempt to flesh out Freud’s underdeveloped notion that psychosexual stages originated with our ancestors’ traumatic prehistoric experiences. Though Freud wrote about his “phylogenetic fantasy” (this term deriving from the title editors gave to an English translation of one of Freud’s unpublished papers) throughout his later life, it is in 1914’s Totem and Taboo that we find the fullest expression of his idea that humans inherit memory traces of their forebears’ traumatic experiences. The 1914 work spoke of a “primal horde” that was lorded over by an alpha male, a “primal father” who kept all the women to himself and subjugated or drove away the weaker males in the group. These disinherited sons banded together, killed and ate their father, and agreed to cooperate to forge a society that was gentler and more equitable. However, the repressed guilt over the patricide influenced the creation of totemism and exogamy, practices that defined the fraternal society that succeeded the primal horde. As Benveniste summarizes Freud in Totem, “The two principal taboos of totemism are the taboo against harming the totem and the taboo against sexual relations within the clan” (p. 18). Freud has, in effect, linked a stage in human history with a psychosexual stage (phallic), a cultural practice (exogamy) and a myth/religious ritual (totemism/totemic feast). Libido, Culture, and Consciousness wishes to extend this kind of analogue-catena into each of Freud’s psychosexual stages, and also into suitably adapted versions of each of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages.

Past leadership research has accorded African women leaders far too little attention. This chapte... more Past leadership research has accorded African women leaders far too little attention. This chapter seeks to redress the imbalance through a psychobiography of a prominent woman leader from Ethiopia, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. Aside from its examination of the African-Ethiopian perspective on leadership, this single case study will be guided by Jung’s heroine archetype, as well as by the design leadership approach. The chapter provides insights into intra- as well as inter-psychological qualities in business leadership in a selected woman leader. It contributes to the existing body of psychobiographical research on women leaders by addressing the void in life span research through its dual theoretical grounding, which spans the psychological (Jung’s archetypes) and the social (leadership theory). The research methodology is qualitative, using a hermeneutical-interpretative paradigm and a psychobiographical approach. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future research and practice for women in leadership in Africa are offered.

Though Charles Baudelaire often has been named as the quintessential modern poet, few scholars ha... more Though Charles Baudelaire often has been named as the quintessential modern poet, few scholars have been able to shed light on the poet’s religious beliefs as they relate to his art and life. A psychobiographical examination of the subject with a Kleinian emphasis found that Baudelaire forged a personal space for meaning making via his notion of “sacred prostitution”, according to which the human being in his finitude relates to the divine through aesthetic productivity and pious praxis, the goal being expiation of sins, or, in Klein’s language, reparation. The chapter traces how Baudelaire’s familial and professional struggles were partially solved through his attempts to forge a dynamic equilibrium between such classic religio-philosophical binaries as conventional-unconventional and intimacy-aloofness.

Clio's Psyche, 2022

Edvard Munch (1863-1944), who suffered a variety of illnesses throughout his life, offers admirer... more Edvard Munch (1863-1944), who suffered a variety of illnesses
throughout his life, offers admirers of his paintings an example of an artist
who incorporated a pandemic into his art. By analyzing his paintings
related to the 1918 Pandemic, we can see the artist’s ability to turn his
past into a more positive view of life.

Design leadership, a conceptual component in design theory, provides a useful template for leader... more Design leadership, a conceptual component in design theory, provides a useful template for leaders in an ever-changing world. Design leadership has gained importance in global leadership and decision-making processes in contemporary politics. This chapter focuses on the life and work of the famous German political leader, Angela Merkel, who has become one of the most influential global woman leaders in world history. A psychobiographical approach to Merkel’s life and leadership is taken to explore design leadership. The findings will provide insight into successful global governance in terms of design leadership. The chapter provides an example of future-oriented design leadership by using a single case study approach with a purposeful sampling process within a qualitative hermeneutical and interpretative research paradigm. Findings will provide applied insights into design leadership; recommendations will include guidelines for future research and the presentation of best practices.

Euorpe's Journal of Psychology, 2021

During his lifetime, Karl Otto Lagerfeld (1933-2018) attained such industry renown that he became... more During his lifetime, Karl Otto Lagerfeld (1933-2018) attained such industry renown that he became widely known as the Emperor of Fashion. Lagerfeld ran several fashion houses, such as Chanel and Fendi, leading them to unprecedented profits. He also created his own fashion label. Owing to his unremitting pursuit of excellence through creative expression, Lagerfeld's creativity, energy and intuition for fashion trends seemed only to expand throughout his long career. The authors suggest that, through his creative approach to fashion, architecture, and publishing, Lagerfeld articulated and refined a core set of values-such as "Bildung, " "lightness" and "the unexpected"-that served as a Diltheyan "nexus" linking the Prussian-born designer with the global consumer. The authors apply two specific creativity theories to Lagerfeld's life and work, namely the mini-c, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity theory and Sternberg's WICS-model (wisdom, intelligence and creativity). The article uses a psychobiographical case study design formulated according to a research paradigm of modern hermeneutics. First-and third-person data on Lagerfeld were collected and evaluated through a hermeneutically-informed syntho-analysis. Research ethics were followed. The findings demonstrate the interplay of minic, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity throughout the subject's lifetime, as well as the subject's application of WICS, both of which led to the subject's worldwide success. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

Book chapter, 2021

International Review of Psychiatry, 2025

Qeios, 2023

Clio's Psyche, 2023

Clio's Psyche, 2022

Euorpe's Journal of Psychology, 2021

Europe's Journal of Psychology, 2021

During his lifetime, Karl Otto Lagerfeld (1933–2018) attained such industry renown that he became... more During his lifetime, Karl Otto Lagerfeld (1933–2018) attained such industry renown that he became widely known as the Emperor of Fashion. Lagerfeld ran several fashion houses, such as Chanel and Fendi, leading them to unprecedented profits. He also created his own fashion label. Owing to his unremitting pursuit of excellence through creative expression, Lagerfeld’s creativity, energy and intuition for fashion trends seemed only to expand throughout his long career. The authors suggest that, through his creative approach to fashion, architecture, and publishing, Lagerfeld articulated and refined a core set of values-such as “Bildung,” “lightness” and “the unexpected”—that served as a Diltheyan “nexus” linking the Prussian-born designer with the global consumer. The authors apply two specific creativity theories to Lagerfeld’s life and work, namely the mini-c, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity theory and Sternberg’s WICS-model (wisdom, intelligence and creativity). The article uses a psychobiographical case study design formulated according to a research paradigm of modern hermeneutics. First- and third-person data on Lagerfeld were collected and evaluated through a hermeneutically-informed syntho-analysis. Research ethics were followed. The findings demonstrate the interplay of mini-c, little-c, Pro-c and Big-C creativity throughout the subject’s lifetime, as well as the subject’s application of WICS, both of which led to the subject’s worldwide success. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future research and practice are provided.

In Søren Kierkegaard’s (1813–1855) philosophical psychology, love is not a feeling or a shared me... more In Søren Kierkegaard’s (1813–1855) philosophical psychology, love is not a feeling or a shared mental state per sé; instead, love is a self-relation that is grounded in a unified and transcendent principle beyond self and society. This chapter seeks, through a Kleinian psychobiography of Kierkegaard, to sketch an outline of a psychology of love beyond the paradigm of persons-in-relation, which is dominant in social science research today. We will draw upon Søren Kierkegaard’s troubled relationship with his father Michael Kierkegaard to illustrate just how the transcendent function of the superego in Freud, which was taken over somewhat by the overarching concept of phantasy in Kleinian thought, can be seen as a gesture toward radical transcendence. In our concluding remarks, we will touch upon Donald W. Winnicott’s “non-communicating self” as a perhaps unconscious elaboration of Freud’s transcendent primal father.

International Review of Psychiatry, 2020

The now-dominant medical model of psychiatry has recently been challenged by the postpsychiatry m... more The now-dominant medical model of psychiatry has recently been challenged by the postpsychiatry movement. However, the former discounts the agential or subjective aspect of the human being; the latter misses the axiological aspect. A new model is proposed - the Transcendent Meaning Model (TMM) - that nests the individual person within the social (the interperson), and the social within the transcendent or ideological. The study concludes that TMM, with its integration of the personal, the social and the religious-ideological with the material, is a viable blueprint for a future psychiatry that can address some of the current model’s vulnerabilities.

The study examines Hans Eysenck's (1916-1997) “multicomponent view of humor” (Gibson, 2019: 61). ... more The study examines Hans Eysenck's (1916-1997) “multicomponent view of humor” (Gibson, 2019: 61). First, Eysenck's earliest theory of personality, which follows a long tradition in the history of psychology of importing metaphysical and cultural schemas into research programs, is outlined. These traditional schema importations, the study demonstrates, use empirical observation and mathematical analysis to derive a small set of categories that turns out not to differ substantively from the three mental faculties recognized at least since the time of Plato, and which-it could be argued-have not been altered meaningfully since. Second, the study addresses the possibility that Eysenck, like Plato, Kant, Wundt, and others, either consciously or unconsciously fell back on what might be termed the Western Trifunctional schema of psychosocial order. The study concludes that Eysenck, from the beginning of his Galtonian training under Cyril Burt, saw himself as continuing an age-old tradition of dividing humanity into a triplicity based upon a subjective-objective axis of mental orientation (this binary leading directly to cognitive, conative, and vocational types that match the poles and midpoint of the axis). This triple division of society is shown to be based upon a trio of characteristic or ideal virtues or strengths that correspond to each of the three societal orders (Eysenck, 1947: 106).

Throughout Donald Fagen’s life, he used the concept of bohemianism to position himself vis-à-vis ... more Throughout Donald Fagen’s life, he used the concept of bohemianism to position himself vis-à-vis his family, peers, and the mainstream culture as a whole. A psychobiographical examination of the subject with an object relations emphasis found that Fagen used his role as a successful musician to confer on himself a sense of legitimacy and to distance himself from the strictures of conventional, “bourgeois” existence. However, by the end of the first phase of his band Steely Dan’s recording career, Fagen found himself in a musical, romantic, and social dead end, his bohemianism’s promise of self-contained aesthetic completion being revealed as a mistaking of the ideal for the real. This chapter shows that Fagen recovered meaning in life, and thus a multilayered positivity, through psychotherapy, which led to the singer’s reentry into the worlds of music, family, and friendship by tempering the perfectionism and isolationism concealed within his bohemian self-image. Ironically, Fagen’s reality principle gained in strength as he loosened his grip on his mistaken self-identification as a bohemian; Fagen’s self-reformulation late in life allowed him to turn a category error about the artist’s role in modernity into a positive adaptation to a society that requires an adult to play multiple, often contradictory, roles.

Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (1905-1976) became a millionaire at age nineteen, when he inherited his... more Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (1905-1976) became a millionaire at age nineteen, when he inherited his father's tool company (Hack 2001). However, he did not rest on his father's achievements, but rather used his business savvy, flair for publicity, and engineering genius to increase his net worth to 1.5 billion dollars. Indeed, Howard Hughes was the richest man in America from the 1960s until his mysterious death in 1976 (Financhill 2025). The subject was chosen because of his success in multiple areas of business (film industry, aviation, corporate world), and because of his idiosyncratic psychological profile (impulsive and fame-seeking, yet reclusive and paranoid). Moreover, there are a plethora of book-length studies of the subject, including eye-witness accounts set down in memoirs (Dietrich & Thomas 1972, Thain, Wadsworth, & Whetton 2012). The chapter will demonstrate that Howard Hughes embodies both the corrupt and the everyday varieties of power in his leadership style. From an early age, Hughes stated his goals quite starkly: To be the greatest golfer, the greatest aviator, and the greatest Hollywood producer, all at the same time (Hack 2001). Money was never an end-in-itself, but it was certainly prerequisite to becoming the unprecedentedly successful person Hughes wished to be. Hughes had no problem driving competitors from the playing field (Barlett & Steele 2003), that being the name of the business game. However, his establishment of multiple foundations for medical research (Dietrich & Thomas 1972), his concern to advance technologies that will likely improve living conditions worldwide (Richardson 2011), and his seemingly genuine concern to better the living conditions of the average Las Vegan during his years in the Desert Inn (Brown & Broeske 1997, Schumacher 2008) all evince Hughes' sense of responsibility to use his power for more than breaking speed records or accumulating ever-more acres and dollars.

Elon Reeve Musk (1971-) rose from obscurity to become the world's wealthiest man by the mid-2020s... more Elon Reeve Musk (1971-) rose from obscurity to become the world's wealthiest man by the mid-2020s. Musk's childhood was dominated by his abusive and controlling father, Errol Musk. The article uses attachment theory and psychobiographical methods to tell the story of Musk's rise to became the archetypal Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) success story. It concludes that Musk, whose childhood was dominated by a manipulative and abusive father, developed an anxious-avoidant attachment style. On the positive side, this detached mode of interpersonal relating allowed Musk to make business decisions substantially free from emotional bias. On the negative side, Musk's standoffishness often caused friction in his familial and romantic relationships.

The present psychobiography took up the three main psychoanalytic conceptions of love to illumina... more The present psychobiography took up the three main psychoanalytic conceptions of love to illuminate the psychological development of famed experimental writer William Seward Burroughs (1914-1997). The study found evidence of all three concepts of love in the subject’s life strategies: (1) Love as cathexis was present in Burroughs’ fascination with centipedes and other vermin that appeared in his dreams and which symbolized, in part, his terror over early childhood traumas as well as his concomitant struggle to integrate sex with intimacy. (2) Love as eroto-philiac fusion was observed in Burroughs’ unstable and even exploitative relationships with others. This tendency was most salient in Burroughs’ abortive attempts to seduce straight men, as well as in his failed efforts to be a traditional husband and father. (3) Reparative love became the subject’s primary mode of interaction late in life. The study showed that, in his declining years, Burroughs was able to overcome partially the maladaptive strategies of his early life through his numerous pet cats, upon whom he projected aspects of his past romantic partners and friends. Though Burroughs may not have found an optimal fusion of eros and friendship in his life, the study concludes that he nevertheless was able to find solace and generate insight through his life as an artist and writer. The latter afforded Burroughs an inner circle of devoted friends as well as a worldwide audience. Indeed, Burroughs came to view love as both a diachronic process of “contact” via mourning and remembrance as well as a synchronic, Dionysiac dissolution of boundaries, or what Burroughs termed a “schlup.”

Both Leonardo Da Vinci and musician Scott Walker grew up without a strong paternal presence, and ... more Both Leonardo Da Vinci and musician Scott Walker grew up without a strong paternal presence, and both seem to have had neuroses connected to their creative drives later in life. A psychobiographical consideration of both subjects concludes that one contributing cause to both men’s artistic difficulties lay in their compromised preoedipal development, which led Leonardo into procrastination and Walker into dissolution.

This translation of Carl Schmitt's "Der Spiegel" will bring home to the Anglophone world the full... more This translation of Carl Schmitt's "Der Spiegel" will bring home to the Anglophone world the full range of the famous jurist's ouevre. Schmitt is known mostly for his efforts in political theory, but the picture is limited without a window into his youthful musings. This piece is just such a portal. In fact, it is a "mirror" into Schmitt's philosophical likes and dislikes. Often, when a writer tries on an unaccustomed hat, his deeper convictions and more searching moves come into view. Thus it is with "Der Spiegel." The critical notes I have provided will help the reader find a context for the piece.

A thinker such as Hans Freyer, so salient in a line inaugurated by Hegel, has to endure the most ... more A thinker such as Hans Freyer, so salient in a line inaugurated by Hegel, has to endure the most intense hostility [intersivster Feindschaft]. This is because another line, one that also begins with Hegel, ends with Lenin and Stalin, and this line claims a monopoly on Hegel interpretation, which for them has become a source of their intellectual prestige, indeed, of their historical legitimization. Here the struggle to lay claim to Hegel spills out beyond the schoolroom and enters the realm of historical forces. Arthur Rimbaud’s words apply here: The struggle of Spirits [Geister] is as brutal as the bloodiest battle. Nietzsche, in a fit of rage, declaimed: Hegel is the great delayer on Germany’s path to atheism. Every hastener of this path, however, will be of one mind regarding a man like Hans Freyer, who writes in his works about the katechon of 2nd Thessalonians, which is the force that temporarily restrains the diabolical power, along with the most egregious accelerators along the route to the abyss [Abgrund].

The Spanish Flu was only one short episode in a long line of illnesses for Edvard Munch (1863-194... more The Spanish Flu was only one short episode in a long line of illnesses for Edvard Munch (1863-1944), but it gives us an example of an artist who incorporated a pandemic into his art, and, once we relate his paintings about the 1918 Pandemic to his central works, we see just how this greatest of Norwegian artists used his creative work to frame his own past into a more positive, or at least consoling, view of life.

The chapter uses the methods of psychobiography and object relations theory to conduct a single-c... more The chapter uses the methods of psychobiography and object relations theory to conduct a single-case study of the life and loves of German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003). Leni's childhood home was dominated by her father, who had to be cajoled, and sometimes outright deceived, into supporting his daughter's desire to enter a career in the performing arts. Unfortunately, Leni's success was often her worst enemy: Just as she evaded her father Albert's censorious glance, so did she avoid the barbs of German film critics by gaining Adolf Hitler as her patron until the fall of the Nazi regime in 1945. At this time, Leni lost not only her marriage and her film career, but even her sanity, if only for a short time. The chapter shows, through a Fairbairnian analysis, how Leni adapted to the disaster that was her early career by reinventing herself as a photographer of African tribes. Also, in her romantic life, she changed tacks. Compared with her late-in-life companion Horst Kettner, Leni's early romances were relatively shallow either because her counterpart was too involved in promoting her career (Harry Sokal) or too far removed from her working life (Peter Jacob).

Innovative musician, producer and songwriter Walter Becker (1950-2017) wielded humor to distance ... more Innovative musician, producer and songwriter Walter Becker (1950-2017) wielded humor to distance himself from a traumatic childhood and to bind himself to a peer group that shared his skewed, wry worldview. Following years of struggle at the fringes of the music business, Becker achieved worldwide success as co-founder of the platinum-selling band Steely Dan. By the end of the 1970s, however, Steely Dan was defunct, and Becker retreated to the Polynesian-American subculture of Maui, Hawaii, where he continued to write and record songs that tackled the orientalist theme of "East meets West" in his inimitable droll style. This chapter takes up Eysenck's psychology of humor as well as various social theorists' assessments of Romantic irony as spectacles through which to view Walter Becker's lifelong struggle to bend his potentially ego-diminishing sardonicism into positive relations with self and others. Positive Psychology 2.0 (PP2) will be called upon to frame the chapter's discussion section, in which it is concluded that Becker was able to mitigate the self-other corrosion that emanated from his hipster-satirist persona by integrating into his art the more earnest, sincere sentiments that sprang from life on his Maui estate, where sustained interaction with family, friends, and artistic collaborators reflected his embrace of a slow-paced, pastoral culture that the Manhattan-born bohemian had earlier dismissed as shallow and vacuous.

As both Schwab (2016a) and Giang (2013) have noted, each industrial revolution has eliminated or ... more As both Schwab (2016a) and Giang (2013) have noted, each industrial revolution has eliminated or drastically altered a host of common occupations. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is qualitatively different, however, in that it not only obviates entire job sectors but also requires workers to embrace and internalize an entirely new vocational culture (Kessler, 2017). Shifts in work culture certainly occurred in the past, such as the Enclosure Movement in England (Neeson, 1993; Marx, 1967: 717-733) and Fordism in the United States (Hounshell, 1984; Polanyi, 1944), but these movements did not splice directly into each and every person's life as does the 4IR, which is intertwined with the technological innovations that saturate the global population's personal choices as well as its work paths (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014; Ford, 2015; Pew Research Center, 2018). This study, while averring that the 4IR world will reward those holding terminal degrees from the highest-tier universities, nonetheless warns that holding a doctorate will not guarantee success in the future workforce (Johannessen, 2019: 22). Instead of clinging to a profession that has customarily provided high income and security, such as engineer or lawyer, the 4IR worker, or entreployee, should raid the entrepreneurial toolkit, grafting the strategies and mindsets found therein onto their own self-managed “company of one” (Jarvis, 2019). Ripe for such an appropriation would be the “effectuation process”, which in the entrepreneurial lexicon refers to the fulfillment of work tasks using the materials, contacts, and information at hand, rather than first picturing a goal and only afterward devising means to achieve that end (Hisrich, Peters, & Shepherd, 2017: 9).

Benveniste’s book is an attempt to flesh out Freud’s underdeveloped notion that psychosexual stag... more Benveniste’s book is an attempt to flesh out Freud’s underdeveloped notion that psychosexual stages originated with our ancestors’ traumatic prehistoric experiences. Though Freud wrote about his “phylogenetic fantasy” (this term deriving from the title editors gave to an English translation of one of Freud’s unpublished papers) throughout his later life, it is in 1914’s Totem and Taboo that we find the fullest expression of his idea that humans inherit memory traces of their forebears’ traumatic experiences. The 1914 work spoke of a “primal horde” that was lorded over by an alpha male, a “primal father” who kept all the women to himself and subjugated or drove away all of the weaker males in the group. These disinherited sons banded together, killed and ate their father, and agreed to cooperate to forge a society that was gentler and more equitable. However, the repressed guilt over the patricide influenced the creation of totemism and exogamy, practices that defined the fraternal society that succeeded the primal horde. As Benveniste summarizes Freud in Totem, “The two principal taboos of totemism are the taboo against harming the totem and the taboo against sexual relations within the clan” (p. 18). Freud has, in effect, linked a stage in human history with a psychosexual stage (phallic), a cultural practice (exogamy) and a myth/religious ritual (totemism/totemic feast). Libido, Culture, and Consciousness wishes to extend this kind of analogue-catena into each of Freud’s psychosexual stages, and also into suitably adapted versions of each of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages.