Ben Mijuskovic's Books

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Third Edition

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Third Edition

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

Drawing on the fields of psychology, literature, and philosophy, Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature argues that loneliness has been the universal concern of mankind since the Greek myths and dramas, the dialogues of Plato, and the treatises of Aristotle. Author Ben Lazare Mijuskovic, whose insights are culled from both his theoretical studies and his practical experiences, contends that loneliness has constituted a universal theme of Western thought from the Hellenic age into the contemporary period. In Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature, he shows how man has always felt alone and that the meaning of man is loneliness. Presenting both a discussion and a philosophical inquiry into the nature of loneliness, Mijuskovic cites examples from more than one hundred writers on loneliness, including Erich Fromm, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Clark Moustakas, Rollo May, and James Howard in psychology; Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Thomas Wolfe and William Golding in literature; and Descartes, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre in philosophy. Insightful and comprehensive, Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature demonstrates that loneliness is the basic nature of humans and is an unavoidable condition that all must face. European Review, 21:2 (May, 2013), 309-311. Ben Mijuskovic, Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. 2012). Ben Lazare Mijuskovic offers in his book a very different approach to loneliness. According to him, far from being an occasional or temporary phenomenon, lonelinessor better the fear of lonelinessis the strongest motivational drive in human beings. He argues that following the replenishment of air, water, nourishment, and sleep, the most insistent and immediate necessity is man desire to escape his loneliness, to avoid the feeling of existential, human isolation (p xxx). The Leibnizian image of the monadas a self-enclosed windowless beinggives an acute portrait of this oppressive prison. To support this thesis, Mijuskovic uses an interdisciplinary approach--philosophy, psychology, and literaturethrough which the picture of man as continually fighting to escape the quasi-solipsistic prison of his frightening solitude reverberates. Besides insisting on the primacy of our human concern to struggle with the spectre of loneliness, Mijuskovic has sought to account for the reasons why this is the case. The core of his argumentation relies on a theory of consciousness. In Western thought three dominant models can be distinguished: (a) the self-consciousness or reflexive model; (b) the empirical or behavioral model; and (c) the intentional or phenomenological model. According to the last two models, it is difficult, if not inconceivable, to understand how loneliness is even possible. Only the theory that attributes a reflexive nature to the powers of the mind can adequately explain loneliness. The very constitution of our consciousness determines our confinement. When a human being successfully reflects on his self, reflexively captures his own intrinsically unique situation, he grasps (self-consciously) the nothingness of his existence as a transcendental conditionuniversal, necessary (a prioristructuring his entire being-in-the-world. This originary level of recognition is the ground-source for his sensory-cognitive awareness of loneliness (p. 13). Silvana Mandolesi

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306

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iUniverse

Published Date

ISBN 10

1469789353

ISBN 13

9781469789354

Feeling Lonesome

The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Feeling Lonesome

The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

This book presents an intricate, interdisciplinary evaluation of loneliness that examines the relation of consciousness to loneliness. It views loneliness from the inside as a universal human condition rather than attempting to explain it away as an aberration, a mental disorder, or a temporary state to be addressed by superficial therapy and psychiatric medication. Loneliness is much more than just feeling sad or isolated. It is the ultimate ground source of unhappiness—the underlying reality of all negative human behavior that manifests as anxiety, depression, envy, guilt, hostility, or shame. It underlies aggression, domestic violence, murder, PTSD, suicide, and other serious issues. This book explains why the drive to avoid loneliness and secure intimacy is the most powerful psychological need in all human beings; documents how human beings gravitate between two motivational poles: loneliness and intimacy; and advocates for an understanding of loneliness through the principles of idealism, rationalism, and insight. Readers will understand the underlying theory of consciousness that explains why people are lonely, thereby becoming better equipped to recognize sources of loneliness in themselves as well as others. Written by a licensed social worker and former mental health therapist, the book documents why whenever individuals or groups feel lonely, alienated, estranged, disenfranchised, or rejected, they will either withdraw within and shut down, or they will attack others with little thought of consequence to either themselves or others. Perhaps most importantly, the work identifies the antidotes to loneliness as achieving a sense of belonging, togetherness, and intimacy through empathic emotional attachments, which come from a mutual sharing of "lived experiences" such as feelings, meanings, and values; constant positive communication; and equal decision making.

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225

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1440840296

ISBN 13

9781440840296

Metaphysical Dualism, Subjective Idealism, and Existential Loneliness

Matter and Mind

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Metaphysical Dualism, Subjective Idealism, and Existential Loneliness

Matter and Mind

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

Since the ages of the Old Testament, the Homeric myths, the tragedies of Sophocles and the ensuing theological speculations of the Christian millennium, the theme of loneliness has dominated and haunted the Western world. In this wide-ranging book, philosopher Ben Lazare Mijuskovic returns us to our rich philosophical past on the nature of consciousness, lived experience, and the pining for a meaningful existence that contemporary social science has displaced in its tendency toward material reduction. Engaging key metaphysical discussions on causality, space, time, subjectivity, the mind body problem, personal identity, freedom, religion, and transcendence in ancient, scholastic, modern, and contemporary philosophy, he highlights the phenomenology of loneliness that lies at the very core of being human. In challenging psychoanalytic and neuroscientific paradigms, Mijuskovic argues that isolative existence and self-consciousness is not so much of a problem of unconscious conflict or the need for psychopharmacology as it is the loss of a sense of personal intimacy. The issue of the criteria of "personal identity" in relation to loneliness has long engaged and consumed the interest of theologians, ethicists, philosophers, novelists and psychologists. This book will be of great interest to academics and students of the humanities, and all those with an interest in the philosophy of loneliness.

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258

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000478955

ISBN 13

9781000478952

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Third Edition

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Third Edition

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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306

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iUniverse

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1469789353

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9781469789354

Theories of Consciousness and the Problem of Evil in the History of Ideas

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Theories of Consciousness and the Problem of Evil in the History of Ideas

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

In this book, Ben Lazare Mijuskovic uses both an interdisciplinary and History of Ideas approach to discuss four forms of intertwined theories of human consciousness and reflexive self-consciousness (Plato, Augustine, Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, and Hegel; Schopenhauer’s subconscious irrational Will; Brentano and Husserl’s transcendent intentionality; and Freud’s dynamic ego). Mijuskovic explores these theories within the context of psychological issues, where the discussion is undergirded by the conflict between loneliness and intimacy. He also explores them in the context of ethics, where the dynamic is between the values of good and evil. The book historically traces these issues in both a personal as well as a political framework.

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223

Publisher

Springer Nature

Published Date

ISBN 10

3031264053

ISBN 13

9783031264054

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

By: Ben Mijuskovic

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Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

By: Ben Mijuskovic

Current research claims loneliness is passively caused by external conditions: environmental, cultural, situational, and even chemical imbalances in the brain and hence avoidable. In this book, the author argues that loneliness is actively constituted by acts of reflexive self-consciousness (Kant) and transcendent intentionality (Husserl) and is, therefore, unavoidable. This work employs a historical, conceptual, and interdisciplinary approach (philosophy, psychology, literature, sociology, etc.) criticizing both psychoanalysis and neuroscience. The book pits materialism, mechanism, determinism, empiricism, phenomenalism, behaviorism, and the neurosciences against dualism, both subjective and objective idealism, rationalism, freedom, phenomenology, and existentialism. It offers a dynamic of loneliness, whose spontaneous subconscious sources undercuts the unconscious of Freud and the “computerism” of the neurosciences by challenging their claims to be predictive sciences. "Mijuscovic demonstrates a psychological framework in which the self is motivated by a fear of loneliness and the desire for intimacy. The author thoroughly substantiates his perspective via a ‘History of Ideas’ format, which engages Plato’s metaphor of ‘the Battle between the Gods and the Giants,’ an allusion to the historical debate between idealists and materialists. Ultimately, these two groups and their allies attempt to address the question: can senseless matter think? The idealists, with whom Mijuscovic identifies, assert the reality of the self, reflexive self-consciousness, and the spontaneity of the mind." -Joshua Marcus Cragle, University of Amsterdam, Journal of Thought, Fall/Winter 2019 "Ben Mijuskovic continues his ambitious life project in this fifth installment of an interdisciplinary series in consciousness and loneliness within philosophical, psychological, and literary discourse. Mijuskovic possesses the unique combination of academic, clinical, and professional experience to cross the aisle between philosophers and therapists. Such a CV emboldens his argument for a return to a metaphysical argument for human consciousness culminating in intrinsic and inevitable loneliness. Embracing this universal reality is the first step to philosophical grounding and psychological wholeness. His methodology, argumentation, and conclusions tend to be highly provocative in the age of contemporary neuroscientific and pharmaceutical predominance." -Michael D. Bobo, Norco College, Philosophy in Review 40.1 (February 2020)

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517

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BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004385975

ISBN 13

9789004385979

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

By: Ben Mijuskovic

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Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

By: Ben Mijuskovic

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517

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BRILL

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9004385975

ISBN 13

9789004385979

Feeling Lonesome

The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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Feeling Lonesome

The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness

By: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

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222

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Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 13

9798216083719

Book's by Ben Mijuskovic

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Feeling Lonesome

Feeling Lonesome

Metaphysical Dualism, Subjective Idealism, and Existential Loneliness

Metaphysical Dualism, Subjective Idealism, and Existential Loneliness

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature

Theories of Consciousness and the Problem of Evil in the History of Ideas

Theories of Consciousness and the Problem of Evil in the History of Ideas

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis

Feeling Lonesome

Feeling Lonesome

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