This book examines, for perhaps the first time, singlehood at the intersections of race, media, language, culture, literature, space, health, and life satisfaction. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach, borrowing from sociology, literary studies, medical humanities, race studies, linguistics, demographic studies, and critical geography to understand singlehood in the world today. This collection of essays aims to establish the discipline of Singles Studies, finding new ways of examining it from various disciplinary and cultural perspectives. It begins with laying the field and then moves on to critically look at how race has shaped the way we understand singlehood in the West and how class, age, gender, privilege, and the media play a role in shaping singlehood. It argues for a need for increased interdisciplinarity within the field, for example, analyzing singlehood from the perspective of medical humanities. The volume also explores the role workplace, living arrangements, financial status, and gender play in single people’s life satisfaction. With an interdisciplinary and transnational approach, this interdisciplinary volume seeks to establish Singles Studies as a truly global discipline. This pathbreaking volume would be of interest to students and researchers of sociology, literature, linguistics, media studies, and psychology.

Harr[ac]e draws on psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and linguistics to develop an intellectually rigorous and integrative understanding of selfhood as a "unitas multiplex" - a diversity in unity. The breadth of Harre[ac]e's scholarship and the rigor which he evaluates various conceptual positions are awe inspiring. Harr[ac]e's keen insights and erudite arguments about selfhood help to clear a space for an intellectually rigorous psychology of persons. Although many readers will find this a very challenging book, Harr[ac]e bills his text as An Introduction to the Psychology of Personhood. He is laying out some of the basic concepts that must be invoked if one is to develop a credible science of persons.... In conclusion, Harr[ac]e's brilliant exegesis of the grammar underlying self-talk provides a philosophical clearing within which a sophisticated and generative science of persons may be allowed to take place' - "Contemporary Psychology " This landmark work draws on material from psychology, philosophy, anthropology and linguistics to develop a hierarchical and structured concept of personhood. Rom Harr[ac]e shows that despite the centrality of our social and cultural identities, the self must ultimately be understood as autonomous, distinct and continuous - as a shifting but unified pattern of multiplicities and singularities. This masterly analysis offers an opportunity to develop a truly scientific account of personhood. By charting a path across the psychological landscape that acknowledges both the symbolic and the physiological aspects of our being, from language to biology, Harr[ac]e maps the terrain of what it is to be a person in the context of discursive psychology.

`[This book′s] fundamental thesis is a rather challenging one - the idea that the unified, singular "self", which we all take for granted we possess, does not exist... fascinating and important... I will certainly revisit the book... when you′re ready for a challenge, this book is certainly worth dipping into′ - Counselling News `I thoroughly recommend this book. I found it challenging, provocative, exciting and full of delights. (It makes such a change to be told that ideal personality characteristics would include a Monty Pythonesque sense of humour and a tolerance of mind-altering drugs!) While reading it I often felt nourished and refreshed′ - The Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy With the emergence of postmodern thinking, the notion of a unified, singular `self′ appears increasingly problematic. Yet for many, postmodernism′s proclamation of `the death of the subject′ is equally problematic. As a response to this dilemma, there has been a rise of interest in pluralistic models of the `self′ in which the person is conceptualized as a multiplicity of subpersonalities, as a plurality of existential possibilities or as a `being′ which is inextricably in-dialogue-with-others. Bringing together many disciplines, and with contributions from foremost writers on self-pluralism, The Plural Self overviews and critiques this emerging field. Drawing together theory, research and practice, the book expands on both the psychological and philosophical theories underlying and associated with self-pluralism, and presents empirical evidence in support of the self-pluralistic perspective, exploring its application within a clinical and therapeutic setting.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Hegel's Transcendental Induction challenges the orthodox account of Hegelian phenomenology as a hyper-rationalism, arguing that Hegel's insistence on the primacy of experience in the development of scientific knowledge amounts to a kind of empiricism, or inductive epistemology. While the inductive element does not exclude an emphasis on deductive demonstration as well, Hegel's phenomenological description of knowledge demonstrates why knowing becomes scientific only to the extent that it recognizes its dependence on experience. Simpson's argument closely parallels Hegel's own in the Phenomenology of Spirit, highlighting those sections, like Hegel's analysis of mastery and slavery, that contribute to the argument that knowing is both vulnerable and responsive to the way in which experience resists our attempts to make sense of things. Simpson's argument connects his account of Hegelian phenomenology with traditional accounts of induction, and with a number of other commentators. "The central thesis about the inductive development of the Phenomenology is worked out with care. This thesis allows the author to present fresh and often compelling re-readings of such often commented on themes as the natural consciousness, desire, slavery, morality, and forgiveness. Since Hegel himself does not describe his method in terms of induction, this book suggests a truly interesting shift of perspective on the Phenomenology". -- Daniel Berthold-Bond, Bard College

Investigates the role of family in Hegel’s phenomenology.