Reflections about the concept of being in the world and the coexistence with the other

• Author: Jetmira Fekolli
• Position: University of Tirana
• Pages: 356-363

356

Vol. 3 No. 1

May, 2017

Balkan Journal of Interdisciplinary Research

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2410-759X

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Refl ections about the concept of being in the world and the coexistence with

the other

Jetmira Fekolli

University of Tirana

1. Interpretation of the thought about the individual-society relationship

We usually come to know ourselves by basing our own experience on the contacts

that we have with the outside world. Even Williams James, who is one of the

founding fathers of psychology, has said that understanding who we are, the sense

of “me” (knowing) is a result of the experiences that we have with the others. Social

comparison is one of the tools that we use to learn about ourselves. We can determine

our math skills by comparing our achievements with those of the others. Leon Festiger,

best known for his research on the social comparison, thinks that our self-esteem

is directly infl uenced when we compare ourselves with the others (Leon Festinger,

1954). We tend to make the individual responsible for everything that happens, for

every social problem. Durkheim thinks diff erent. Society is composed by social facts

that overcome our intuitive sense.

When people answer the question “who am I? They tend to focus on things that

are exclusively applied to them, and they described themselves as unique when

compared with the others. For example, children answered this question by saying

whether they are boys or girls, especially when they come from a family where their

gender does not constitute the majority of family’s gender (McGuire, 1981). So, by

being the only boy in the family, being the only male, it makes you diff erent and you

become part of the respective self-concept. In the same way, people prefer to mention

their race and ethnicity, especially when these characteristics make them distinctive,

or they prefer to say that they are fat or slim when these qualities are special and

exclusively applied to them (McGuire, 1978).

The modern era with its philosophy went back to reasoning by giving us a new

idea about individualism. What are some of the determining features of this kind of

individualism? Firstly, we have the secularism of society. Since the Renaissance, the

dominance of European society by Christianity was shaken. The natural right was

modernized, which meant that this right was valid if God was not existent. Now

the reason gained its place by throwing away every element of faith. So, the stoic

individualism and then the Christian one, appeared in a purer way. The modern

individualism took from stoicism the idea of a harmonious and transcendental cosmos

with humanity. Now, the society came to be determined as a product of a union, of a

contract reached between independent individuals. That’s how the modern freedom

began to develop its own features of the rule of law. Of course, this process was also

infl uenced by other historical social factors of the new era that was being born. As a

result, Protestantism began to favor capitalism and, consequently, the individualism

of the market economy. Completion of legal systems by the end of the XVIII century

and the beginning of the XIX century consolidated the safeguards and guarantees of

individual freedoms. The crisis of the collective values le its place to the individual