Open AccessVryheid in menslike identiteitsvorming en sinbelewing: alternatiewe vir deterministiese benaderings
Author(s) -
Magda van Niekerk
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
koers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.166
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 2304-8557
pISSN - 0023-270X
DOI - 10.4102/koers.v57i1.774
Subject(s) - humanism , humanity , epistemology , determinism , sociology , perspective (graphical) , identity (music) , meaning (existential) , humanistic psychology , philosophy , economic justice , dimension (graph theory) , theology , law , aesthetics , mathematics , political science , geometry , pure mathematics
Representatives of humanist approaches in psychology answer the basic question o f the meaningfulness o f life by overemphasizing human freedom, thereby differing from determinist schools. Man forms his own identity in an independent way, via the possibilities of a free choice o f objectives and ideals and by means of his freedom in adapting to circumstances. In this article the concepts o f meaning and identity, as presented by four prominent humanist psychologists, ‘are investigated. In spite of doing justice to the humanity of man to a larger extent than in the case of determinist theories, humanist approaches fall short f presenting an integrated view of man implied by the Biblical perspective on the central religious dimension o f the existence of man. Nevertheless, these theories entail insights that can be integrated into an own theory within the framework of the reformational paradigm