Brigitta Balogh

A Foothold Piece of the Universe. The Spirit and Its Madness in Hegel’s Philosophy

The paper deals with the problem of the relationship between rationality and madness in the context of the philosophy of Hegel, which offers a very special concept of reason, mind, or spirit. We treat Hegel’s interpretation of madness first in the context of the „encyclopaedical” philosophy of the spirit, then in the context of the Phenomenology of Spirit. Our main purpose is to outline the attitude of the spirit toward its own limits, and to show in this attitude the main role of the concept and practice of recognition.

Ágnes Kónya–Zoltán Kónya

The Burnout Story

The meaning of burnout as a psychological phenomenon is examined through the lens of narratives. During the last twenty years, narrative has become one of the central metaphors in the field of systemic family therapy. The narrative metaphor is presented in the context of a brief history of psychotherapy. The elements of burnout as a story include a definition of the phenomenon, a presentation of the known risk-factors, the stages of burnout as a long-term process and the emotional, interpersonal and somatic components of the syndrome. Expert stories, like burnout, are clinically useful as far as they offer new meanings and open up possibilities for alternative action. Out of the multitude of preventive actions and attitudes highlighted by the burnout-story, the need for balancing activities is considered in more detail.

Bertalan Pethő

Spirit and Its Diseases

Taking into consideration ordinary language facts, we investigated various expressions concerning „Spirit” and „Soul”. After having collected some Hungarian and other modern words, we looked for their equivalents in ancient Greek. We interpreted their philosophical usage changing in historical perspective, and we tracked their translations to, and parallels in Latin. We found that the Spirit and the Soul are diversified and interconnected and both are perishable from their inceptions. Conversely, their proper processes and outcomes are negentropic: as regards Spirit mostly in civilization, concerning the Soul prominently in culture. Their fate is entropic, again. According to these circumstances, we conceptualize definitions. Soul is the principle of mediation while it is (trans)mediated more and more. The Spirit is a Mediator while becoming the instrument of the Soul. Malady is their entropic strain starting at their inception and undermining their negentropicity permanently. Morbi of the Spirit are manifestations and implementations of its entropicity at times when its process is getting on and otherwise could be continued negentropically. Some examples are mentioned.

Gábor Szendi

On Attila József – Somewhat Differently

There is a common belief that Attila József, the Hungarian poet suffered from schizophrenia and committed suicide. Collecting and investigating thoroughly all available data on his death, Garamvölgyi stated that it was an accident. Attila József’s alleged mental disorder can also be questioned. His original diagnosis, which was supported by the assumed suicide, seems to be the medicalization of the symptoms of his traumatization and the actual spiritual crisis.