[ox-en] selbstentfaltung revisited
- From: Graham Seaman <graham theseamans.net>
- Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:29:23 +0100
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Long long ago there were repeated discussions on this list of the word
'selbstentfaltung' (literally 'self-development') in the context of an
oekonux society. I never fully understood what it was about except that
it was associated (though not derived from) Marx's idea of communism as
a state where 'the free /development/ of each is the /condition/ for the
free /development of all', so that the idea involves more than is in the
etymology of the word; simultaneously self- and joint- development.
German speakers on the list (Stefan Mz in particular) assured us that
the idea had been much developed by the German school of 'critical
psychology', though Holzkamp is the only actual name that came up, IIRC.
Stefan Mn wrote a general introduction:
http://www.oekonux.org/list-en/archive/msg03531.html, which expands a
little but simply states things as fact without trying to provide the
background arguments.
Recently I wanted to know more about it so started searching again. I
don't know enough german to be able to read long technical pieces, so
I'm very limited in what I can find. But I've been surprised by the
things I have found and am not sure whether this is such a good idea to
be associated with. The word seems to be in (relatively) general use as
a kind of unquestioned 'good thing' in quite different contexts. I had a
go at translating one very short example below (don't trust my
translation!) - this is from a wikipedia page,
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wertewandel. In this case it seems to be
tied in with the whole very German theme (from Weber through Schmitt..)
of 'values', and to be a rather unquestioning take on the 'good' side of
the destruction of permanent employment, the kind of praise of the
permanently mobile web worker that was common in the 90s. Is this typical?
The little that is available in English about Holzkamp and Critical
Psychology doesn't seem to have selbstentfaltung as a theme, and
concentrates entirely on the therapeutic side of C.P.
Would it be possible for a German speaker to write or translate a longer
piece on selbstentfaltung in English, as one of the keywords of oekonux
- including something about the background in Critical Psychology? It
might be the kind of thing that would be good to have in the new oekonux
journal, especially as so little exists about it in English.
Graham
My attempt at translation of the wikipedia section and the original
German below:
Selbstentfaltung corresponds to the needs of modern society.
1. The downfall of the major institutions which instilled values has
been counterbalanced
or compensated for by the development of smaller autonomous subsystems
2, Creativity, agility and curiousity are to be sought above all on the part
of the subsystem, which is analogous to individual selbstentfaltung
3. Selbstentfaltung is not an emotional drive based on affect and
experienced
as desire, but a requirement for the individual to reveal his own
qualities and
bring them into social life
4. Empirically there can be no question that there has been a
destruction of
values like love of order, diligence and executing one's duties.
Rather, this
situation needs to be managed appropriately and [thereby made less
apparent??]
5. In no way does selbstentfaltung mean egoism and irresponsibility. That
is shown by the growing tolerance for varied minorities.
6. Selbstentfaltung is not an aspect of any kind of anonymisation, as is
shown by
the rise of the new social networks
7. The disappearance of universal value constellations will be
compensated for
by new values which link all the subsystems such as instrumental
intelligence,
flexibility, skill in adapting to or changing roles or highly developed
ability to bear failure or malfunction and to work through it productively.
Selbstentfaltung entspricht den Erfordernissen moderner Gesellschaften
1. Der Wegfall der grossen wertegebenden Institutionen wird durch Bildung
kleinerer autonomer Subsysteme aufgewogen oder ganz kompensiert
2. Von Seiten der Subsysteme sind vor allem Kreativit?t, Beweglichkeit
und Neugier gefragt, was analog zu individualistischen Selbstentfaltung
liege.
3. Selbstentfaltung ist keine affektiv betonte und lustvoll erlebte
Triebbefriedigung,
sondern der Zwang des Individuums, seine Qualit?ten zu f?rdern und ins
gesellschaftliche
Leben einzubringen
4. Von einem Verlust von Werten wie Ordnungsliebe, Fleiss und
Pflichterf?llung k?nne
von empirischer Seite keine Rede sein. Vielmehr werden diese
situationsangemessen
gehandhabt und dadurch weniger offensichtlich
5. Selbstentfaltung bedeutet keinesfalls Egoismus und
Verantwortungslosigkeit.
Dies l?sst sich aus der steigenden Toleranz gegen?ber diversen
Minderheiten belegen.
6. Selbstentfaltung hat keine Anonymisierung zu Folge, was durch das
Entstehen ganz
neuer sozialer Netzwerke bewiesen ist
7. Der Wegfall ,,universaler" Wertevorstellungen wird durch neue, alle
Subsysteme
verbindende Werte ersetzt, wie instrumentelle Intelligenz, Flexibilit?t,
Anpassungs-
und Umstellungsgeschick oder hochentwickelte F?higkeit, Misserfolge oder
Versagen
zu ertragen und produktiv zu verarbeiten
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