Monthly Archives: April 2017

Love and Other Emotions: Reflections from the Novel The Girlfriend Project

This review is published in the New Existentialist Blog: https://www.saybrook.edu/newexistentialists/posts/07-22-14/. A brief summary is posted here. 

I first read The Girlfriend Project (2014) by Jason Dias as he is a colleague and a friend. I am thankful that I did. Through fiction, Dias provides an interesting exploration of Asperger’s disorder and emotions. Dias engages this topic with sensitivity to existential perspectives as well. It is a valuable read for therapists, and also can be a valuable read for individuals with Asperger’s disorder (now part of the Autism spectrum) or their family. Beyond that, it is also an interesting piece of fiction that many may enjoy.

Read more New Existentialist Blogs by Louis Hoffman

The Proper Use of Tradition and Scholarly Authority

This post is a brief introduction to a New Existentialist Blog by Louis Hoffman, PhD. The full blog can be read at: https://www.saybrook.edu/newexistentialists/posts/07-01-14/.

Society and the academy often tend to fluctuate between idealizing history and devaluing it. As we witness many tragic errors of the past repeated in contemporary society, it is evident that engagement with history is critically important for our present and our future. History can best aid us when it is not idealized or devalued, but rather engaged with honestly through consideration of both the good and tragic aspects of history.

This blog takes into consideration the value of history in scholarly writing and the academy. Lu Xun, an important Chinese literary figure, was the primary inspiration for this blog, which can be read at the link above.

Read more New Existentialist Blogs by Louis Hoffman

Finding Oneself and Creating Oneself: Implications of the Psychotherapy Folklore

The full post is a New Existentialists blog by Dr. Louis Hoffman posted at https://www.saybrook.edu/newexistentialists/posts/10-01-14/. A brief introduction is below.

The idea of finding oneself if deeply embedded in pop views of psychology. However, this understanding of “the self” and therapy is based upon some faulty assumptions about the nature of the self, which are explored in this blog. Read the full blog at the link above.

Read more stories by Louis Hoffman on the New Existentialist Blog