scholarly journals Practical Identity and Duties of Love

Disputatio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (60) ◽  
pp. 27-50
Author(s):  
Berit Brogaard
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationships ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
Practical Identity ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Moral Duties

Abstract This paper defends the view that we have special relationship duties that do not derive from our moral duties. Our special relationship duties, I argue, are grounded in what I call close relationships. Sharing a close relationship with another person, I suggest, requires that both people conceive of themselves as being motivated to promote the other’s interests. So, staying true to oneself demands being committed to promoting the interests of those with whom we share a close relationship. Finally, I show that the proposed account of special relationship duties circumvents two problems facing self-conception accounts of special relationship duties.

scholarly journals Perceptions of close relationship through the Machiavellians´ dark glasses: Negativity, distrust, self-protection against risk and dissatisfaction

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 806-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Ináncsi ◽  
Attila Pilinszki ◽  
Tünde Paál ◽  
András Láng
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Heterosexual Couples ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Actor Partner Interdependence Model ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Self Protection ◽  
The Relationship

It is commonly known from the literature that Machiavellian individuals have negative attitudes towards people and in general towards the world´s affairs. They are distrustful of the intentions of others, and they get cautiously involved into interpersonal interactions and take risks only if that may not have any severe negative consequence. It is also a fact that there are few ventures in life that potentially involve as much insecurity and personal vulnerability as the establishment and maintenance of close relationships. In our study, we were seeking the answer to the question: do people with high levels of Machiavellianism show a generally negative, distrustful and cautious attitude in their intimate relationships, as well? What effect their pessimistic approaches have on the other consequences of the relationship (satisfaction, commitment, investment, quality of alternatives)? This question was investigated on a dyadic sample of heterosexual couples (N = 101 pairs) with Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). The results of the correlations and actor effects show that men with high levels of Machiavellianism perceive in a negative way not just people in general, but their romantic partners and relationships as well and they experience an increased level of distrust, risk, and dissatisfaction into their close relationships. Women with high levels of Machiavellianism are less negativistic and feel less discontent towards their intimate partner and relationship, but even they are unable to put their distrust and precaution aside. The results of partner effects have revealed that women's Machiavellianism undermines men's trust, while men's Machiavellianism has the effect of minimizing women's investment into their relationship.

scholarly journals Guilt, Practical Identity, and Moral Staining

Philosophy ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-645
Author(s):  
Andrew Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Moral Obligations ◽  
Practical Identity ◽  
Moral Duties

AbstractThe guilt left by immoral actions is why moral duties are more pressing and serious than other reasons like prudential considerations. Religions talk of sin and karma; the secular still speak of spots or stains. I argue that a moral staining view of guilt is in fact the best model. It accounts for guilt's reflexive character and for anxious, scrupulous worries about whether one has transgressed. To understand moral staining, I borrow Christine Korsgaard's view that we construct our identities as agents through our actions. The contribution of immoral actions to self-constitution explains why moral obligations have priority and importance.

Minding the Close Relationship

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Harvey ◽  
Julia Omarzu
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Empathic Accuracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Social Penetration ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

In this theoretical analysis, we argue that a process referred to as minding is essential for a couple to feel mutually close and satisfied in a close relationship overa long period. Minding represents a package of mutual self-disclosure, other forms of goal-oriented behavior aimed at facilitating the relationship, and attributions about self's and other's motivations, intentions, and effort in the relationship. Self-disclosure and attribution activities in minding are aimed at getting to know the other, trying to understand the other's motivations and deeper dispositions as they pertain to the relationship, and showing respect and acceptance for knowledge gained about other. We link the concept of minding to other major ideas and literatures about how couples achieve closeness: self-disclosure and social penetration, intimacy, empathy and empathic accuracy, and love and self-expansion. We argue that the minding process articulated here has not previously been delineated and that it is a useful composite notion about essential steps in bonding among humans. We also argue that the minding concept stretches our understanding of the interface of attribution and close relationships. We present research possibilities and implications and consider possible alternative positions and counterarguments about the merits of the minding idea for close relationship satisfaction.

scholarly journals Modulation of Instagram Number of Followings by Avoidance in Close Relationships in Young Adults Under a Gene x Environment Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Bonassi ◽  
Alessandro Carollo ◽  
Ilaria Cataldo ◽  
Giulio Gabrieli ◽  
Moses Tandiono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Genetic Features ◽  
Online Socialization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Desirability Index

The advent of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) has determined radical changes in human social life, demanding to deepen investigations on the mechanisms underlying socialization processes on online platforms. The knowledge acquired from previous studies on in-person sociability could guide researchers to consider both environmental and genetic features as candidates of the online socialization. In the current research, we explored the impact of the quality of adult attachment and the genetic properties of the Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) on Instagram social behavior. Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised questionnaire was adopted to assess 57 Instagram users' attachment pattern in close relationship with their partner. Genotypes from the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 region were extracted from the users' buccal mucosa and analyzed. Details on users' Instagram social behavior were acquired from four indexes: number of posts, number of followed users ("followings") and number followers, and the Social Desirability Index calculated from the followers to followings ratio.Although no interaction between rs25531 and ECR-R dimensions was found, results suggested an association between avoidance in close relationships and Instagram number of followings. Specifically, post-hoc analyses revealed that adult avoidance from the partner predicts the Instagram number of followings with good evidence. Moreover, users who reported high avoidance levels displayed fewer followings than users who reported low levels of avoidance.This research provides a window into the psychobiological understanding of online socialization on SNSs as Instagram.

scholarly journals Machiavellianism and Adult Attachment in General Interpersonal Relationships and Close Relationships

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Ináncsi ◽  
András Láng ◽  
Tamás Bereczkei
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Attachment Style ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Significant Others ◽  
Attachment Anxiety ◽  
Avoidant Attachment ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Distance Regulation ◽  
The Relationship

Up to the present, the relationship between Machiavellianism and adult attachment has remained a question to be answered in the psychological literature. That is why this study focused on the relationship between Machiavellianism and attachment towards significant others in general interpersonal relationships and in intimate-close relationships. Two attachment tests (Relationship Questionnaire and long-form of Experiences in Close Relationship) and the Mach-IV test were conducted on a sample consisting of 185 subjects. Results have revealed that Machiavellian subjects show a dismissing-avoidant attachment style in their general interpersonal relationships, while avoidance is further accompanied by some characteristics of attachment anxiety in their intimate-close relationships. Our findings further refine the relationship between Machiavellianism and dismissing-avoidant attachment. Machiavellian individuals not only have a negative representation of significant others, but they also tend to seek symbiotic closeness in order to exploit their partners. This ambitendency in distance regulation might be particularly important in understanding the vulnerability of Machiavellian individuals.

scholarly journals Attraction in Close Relationships

Psychology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela C. Regan
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationships ◽  
Interpersonal Attraction ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Relationship Development ◽  
General Process ◽  
Relationship Initiation ◽  
Interaction Field ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Social Opportunities

Interpersonal attraction—liking or positive sentiment—plays a fundamental role in human life. The experiences we have and the outcomes we receive in virtually all areas of our existence—developmental, educational, occupational, social, relational, physical, and mental, to name a few—are deeply and continuously affected by the sentiments, feelings, and attitudes we evoke in others. Indeed, the answer to the question of who likes/dislikes us, who loves/hates us, or who is merely indifferent to us determines not only the personal, interpersonal, and social opportunities and outcomes we receive, but also the quality and even the quantity of our very lives. Although interpersonal attraction permeates and influences all human interactions and relationships, it plays a particularly important role in the formation and development of voluntary close relationships such as friendships and romantic relationships. Voluntary relationships typically are born within an open interaction field in which each potential partner is relatively free to initiate (or refrain from initiating) the relationship; consequently, the development and continued survival of these relationships is heavily dependent on the partners’ degree of attraction to one another. Thus, most theoretical and empirical work conducted on interpersonal attraction and relationship development—and virtually all work cited in this bibliography—is focused on voluntary relationships (and may not be applicable to nonvoluntary relationships [e.g., parent-child, coworker, arranged marriage]). The first section of this article introduces general review articles and books that summarize the scientific literature on interpersonal attraction and close relationship development. The second section focuses on theories of attraction and includes citations for the early models that focused primarily on attraction between strangers in lab settings, as well as more general process-oriented models that explain attraction in initial encounters and throughout subsequent relationship development. The third section presents research on the general factors that have been shown to generate liking and spark relationship initiation and development (e.g., familiarity, similarity, responsiveness, desirable partner attributes, physical attractiveness, proximity, receptivity). The article’s remaining sections cover research exploring the communication of attraction (i.e., flirting), and theory and research on one important and extensively investigated type of attraction—love.

scholarly journals The Ethical Importance of Close Relationships

Etyka ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 9-30
Author(s):  
Joanna Iwanowska
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Narrative Identity ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Moral Agents ◽  
The People ◽  
Narrative Truth ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Way

The main task of this paper is to draw a normative picture of close interpersonal bonds and demonstrate why they are ethically relevant and important. I start by showing that the notion of ‘close relationships’ is a notion in its own right—overlapping with but not reducible to the notion of ‘love,’ ‘friendship,’ or ‘kinship.’ Then, I go on to discuss particular features of close relationships. I start with consensuality, reciprocity, persistence in time. After that, I move on to non-instrumental treatment and the mutual sharing of responsibility, which is connected with treating the interests of the close other as one’s own. Another features I discuss are truthfulness in the way we narrate our autobiographical stories, openness to the close other’s co-creation of our narrative truth, and the readiness to co-create the narrative truth of the close other in return. Finally, I focus on trust; I show that the kind of trust which is characteristic of close relationships is connected with particular competences that a person should manifest in order to be a trustworthy close-relationship partner. From the fact that no person is morally infallible, it can be inferred that we need to depend on competent others in order to take full respon­sibility for ourselves as moral agents (we need to be inter-responsible). The people we choose to be in close relationships with are precisely such competent others; they are the guardians and the co-authors of our moral agency and our narrative identity.

Love, Morality, and Alienation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Driver
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationships ◽  
Moral Reasons ◽  
Kantian Ethics ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Moral Nature ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Susan Wolf ◽  
Reasons Of Love

Is love incompatible with morality? A popular criticism of standard moral theories such as consequentialist theories and Kantian ethics—any theory that holds that the reasons of morality are impartial—is that such theories cannot accommodate the reasons of love. Either the reasons of love are not moral reasons, yet outweigh moral reasons in many situations, or they are moral reasons that are partial, not impartial. Many moral theorists try to retain both impartiality and the special moral nature of partial reasons for close relationships by presenting approaches that justify partial norms on the basis of impartial reasons. These writers are divided on the issue of whether or not such approaches need to be self-effacing. For those who argue that the indirection need not be self-effacing, and that people should be able to step back and evaluate all of their normative commitments, a problem is raised by writers such as Susan Wolf who argue that even considering the possibility of violating a close relationship norm for the sake of morality is problematic to the relationship in question. This article challenges this view of Wolf’s, arguing that, in effect, we can provide justifications for “silencing” when it really is practically appropriate in standard moral theories that do not threaten good relationships.

The years of transition: Anglo-American relatons 1961–1967

1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dobson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Far East ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Special Relationship ◽  
World War ◽  
The Far East ◽  
The Us ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Relationship

The term ‘Special Relationship’ can give the false impression that Britain and the US have related to each other in an unchanging way since the forging of close bonds during World War II. If, like the present author, one chooses to use this terminology it is important to identify how the relationship has changed over the years.This article focuses on the period 1961–67, which was an important period of transition. In 1961, Suez notwithstanding, it was possible for British leaders to continue to think in terms of drawing on unique links with the US, some of which had been forged in World War II and still existed, others which had been developed in their common struggle against communism. By 1967 some of these links had been broken and others greatly weakened for a variety of reasons. Britain's relative world power had continued to decline, thus reducing her usefulness to the US; Britain began to look seriously to the EEC for its future and away from the US, which, for its part, was becoming increasingly preoccupied with Vietnam and the Far East in general; the economic structure Britain and the US had designed to manage the free world's. economy and in the direction of which they had cooperated extensively began to breakdown; and finally after the Kennedy–Macmillan friendship there was no really close relationship between British and American leaders until the mid-1970s. Before looking at this period of transition, however, it is necessary to review an earlier era when the Special Relationship was unquestioned.

scholarly journals Partner Commitment in Close Relationships Mitigates Social Class Differences in Subjective Well-Being

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacinth J. X. Tan ◽  
Michael W. Kraus ◽  
Emily A. Impett ◽  
Dacher Keltner
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationships ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Romantic Couples ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

The present exploratory research examined the possibility that commitment in close relationships among lower class individuals, despite greater strains on those relationships, buffers them from poorer subjective well-being (SWB). In two samples of close relationship dyads, we found that when partners reported high commitment to the relationship, the typical deficits in relatively lower class individuals’ well-being compared to their upper-class counterparts, assessed as life satisfaction among romantic couples (Study 1) and negative affect linked to depression among ethnically diverse close friendships (Study 2), were mitigated. Conversely, when partners reported low commitment to the relationship, relatively lower class individuals reported poorer well-being than their upper-class counterparts. These patterns were not found with actors’ commitment. Implications of these findings for upending the class divide in SWB are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document