Somewhat ironically, some of these failures from thinking of oneself or others as agents causes a lack of agency! Maybe this is just a trick of language, but here’s what I have in mind from thinking about some of the pitfalls:
Self-hatred results in less agency (freedom to do what you want) rather than more because effort is placed on hating the self rather than trying to change the self to be more in the desired state.
Procrastination is basically the textbook example of a failure of agency.
Hatred of others is basically the same story here as self-hatred.
On the other hand, failing at Newcomb’s problem probably feels like you’ve been tricked or duped out of your agency.
Anyway this has got me thinking about the relationship between agents and agency. Linguistically the idea here is that “agency” means to act “like an agent” which is to say someone or something that can choose what to do for themselves. I see a certain amount of connection here to, for example, developmental psychology, where greater levels of development come from less thinking of oneself as a subject (an agent) and more thinking of the things one does as object and so thinking of oneself less as subject/agent results in greater agency because the range of things one allows oneself to consider mutable is greater.
This also suggests an end state where there’s no agent model at all, or at least not one that is held to tightly (it’s one of many lenses through which to see the world, and the agent lens is now totally optional rather than partially optional).
Somewhat ironically, some of these failures from thinking of oneself or others as agents causes a lack of agency! Maybe this is just a trick of language, but here’s what I have in mind from thinking about some of the pitfalls:
Yeah right, I agree with those three bullet points very much. Could also say “thinking of oneself or others as Cartesian agents causes a lack of power”. Does agency=power? I’m not sure what the appropriate words are but I agree with your point.
I see a certain amount of connection here to, for example, developmental psychology, where greater levels of development come from less thinking of oneself as a subject (an agent) and more thinking of the things one does as object and so thinking of oneself less as subject/agent results in greater agency because the range of things one allows oneself to consider mutable is greater.
Yeah, that seems well said to me. This gradual process of taking more things as object seems to lead towards very good things. Circling, I think, has a lot to do with taking the emotions we are used to treating as subject and getting a bit more of an object lens on them just by talking about them. Gendlin’s focussing seems to have a lot to do with this, too.
This also suggests an end state where there’s no agent model at all, or at least not one that is held to tightly
Yeah right, it’s a great lens to pick up and use when its helpful. But nice to know that it’s there and also to be able to put it down by choice.
Somewhat ironically, some of these failures from thinking of oneself or others as agents causes a lack of agency! Maybe this is just a trick of language, but here’s what I have in mind from thinking about some of the pitfalls:
Self-hatred results in less agency (freedom to do what you want) rather than more because effort is placed on hating the self rather than trying to change the self to be more in the desired state.
Procrastination is basically the textbook example of a failure of agency.
Hatred of others is basically the same story here as self-hatred.
On the other hand, failing at Newcomb’s problem probably feels like you’ve been tricked or duped out of your agency.
Anyway this has got me thinking about the relationship between agents and agency. Linguistically the idea here is that “agency” means to act “like an agent” which is to say someone or something that can choose what to do for themselves. I see a certain amount of connection here to, for example, developmental psychology, where greater levels of development come from less thinking of oneself as a subject (an agent) and more thinking of the things one does as object and so thinking of oneself less as subject/agent results in greater agency because the range of things one allows oneself to consider mutable is greater.
This also suggests an end state where there’s no agent model at all, or at least not one that is held to tightly (it’s one of many lenses through which to see the world, and the agent lens is now totally optional rather than partially optional).
Yeah right, I agree with those three bullet points very much. Could also say “thinking of oneself or others as Cartesian agents causes a lack of power”. Does agency=power? I’m not sure what the appropriate words are but I agree with your point.
Yeah, that seems well said to me. This gradual process of taking more things as object seems to lead towards very good things. Circling, I think, has a lot to do with taking the emotions we are used to treating as subject and getting a bit more of an object lens on them just by talking about them. Gendlin’s focussing seems to have a lot to do with this, too.
Yeah right, it’s a great lens to pick up and use when its helpful. But nice to know that it’s there and also to be able to put it down by choice.