{"title":"For Whose Greater Good? The Case of Hero-Making: Girch and Darius","authors":"G. Sviderskytė","doi":"10.26736/hs.2019.01.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/hs.2019.01.05","url":null,"abstract":"This article reviews an investigation into the case of Stanley Girch (aka Girėnas) and Stephen William Darius as (multi)transfigured and transforming heroes and seeks to examine a twofold assumption that has emerged in heroism science, namely that people create heroes mostly for the better and that learning from the past can help assess which heroes are needed. We argue that it may be beneficial to shift the focus of the analysis and follow the reverse course of a hero’s journey, tracing the impact, evolution and origin of the heroic status ascribed to the historical figures, whether individual or collective. Presuming that heroic status follows contextualization of actions, the developmental phases, techniques, and authorship of hero-making can be revealed through a reverse analysis of multi-layered contexts. The findings have led to the unsettling conclusion that the making of historical heroes hardly served the greater good and was quite removed from what was thought necessary. The same contradiction, however, may give an impulse for further development of heroism science as it prompts a broad-based, interdisciplinary assessment of the effectiveness of hero-making in the past, its present influence and projections for the future.","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130089041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: No Greater Love: How My Family Survived the Genocide in Rwanda","authors":"Rhoda E. Howard-hassmann","doi":"10.26736/HS.2019.01.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/HS.2019.01.07","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130094043","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self-Realization and Validity Surplus in Proactive Heroism","authors":"Bryan Smyth","doi":"10.26736/HS.2019.02.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/HS.2019.02.03","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a brief outline of an approach to understanding proactive (or social) heroism in embodied terms, taking this as essential to supporting the idea of ‘the banality of heroism’. I first present an analysis of heroic action in general that shows it as involving self-realization through nonselfsacrificial existential necessity, and then show how in cases of reactive heroic action this necessity is best understood in predispositional embodied terms, such that the agent may be said to quite literally incarnate certain generally accepted norms of the intersubjective ethical context. I then briefly sketch out how this same kind of embodied necessity can be seen in proactive cases, albeit with the difference that here it has to do with realizing the ‘validity surplus’ of that ethical context, that is, with the expansion of the scope of application of its norms. Unlike the norms enacted in reactive cases, this expansion is initially not generally accepted, and in this way proactive heroism is conceptually tied to the idea of immanent social progress. By way of conclusion, I comment very briefly on how this relates to questions concerning the wider cultivation of heroism.","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131256939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"John Wick: Keanu Reeves’s Epic Adventure","authors":"A. Hall","doi":"10.26736/hs.2022.01.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/hs.2022.01.08","url":null,"abstract":"Three films create the John Wick universe and franchise: John Wick (2014), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), and John Wick: Chapter 3, Parabellum (2019). A fourth film is scheduled to be released in March 2023. All are wildly popular, and all are criticized for violence, particularly gun violence. I argue, however, that by examining the visual references that appear in all the films, it becomes clear that the films are defending themselves from such attacks through their allusions to ancient and classical epics from around the world. As Wick battles his way through museums and beautiful cities, the film reminds us that art, all art—fine and popular--relies on violence. Wick follows many of the traditions of the epic hero, and in the end, thanks to the visual cues in the films, he is no different than Achilles or Hector or even High Noon’s Will Kane. And if there is a hero, and if there is art, there will be blood.","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126067153","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self-Directed Universalists: Social Heroes and Value-Oriented Challenges to Authority","authors":"M. Condren","doi":"10.26736/hs.2019.02.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/hs.2019.02.08","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the role of values in the actions of social heroes, which previous research has suggested may play a role in motivating principled challenges to authority. Kelman and Hamilton’s (1989) orientation to authority framework was used to identify when valueoriented challenges to authority – suggestive of later social heroism – first emerged in their lives, and the values associated with those behaviors. Analyses of archival interviews with 15 leaders of a social activist group found that all participants acted on a value orientation to authority, and they considered these actions to be important experiences in their development as social heroes. The values most associated with these actions were self-direction, universalism, power and achievement. Four participants made value-oriented challenges to authority in childhood; 14 by late adolescence; and all by young adulthood. The early emergence of this behavior suggests that a value orientation to authority is a core element of their identity, and value-oriented challenges to authority were critical experiences in their developmental trajectories as social heroes.","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"340 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115886519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The State of the Art (and Science) of Heroism: Growth, Paradigms, and Future\u0000 Directions in an Emerging Field","authors":"Scott T. Allison, E. Kinsella","doi":"10.26736/hs.2019.01.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26736/hs.2019.01.04","url":null,"abstract":"Although less than a decade old, the nascent field of heroism science has enjoyed considerable growth in the form of publication output, a regular conference series, and a flagship journal. We briefly discuss the tradeoffs of heroism science’s paradigmatic multiplicity. Moreover, we offer several observations about the future direction of heroism science, with emphasis on bridging gaps with allied field, embracing cultural diversity, taking a more critical stance, building academic rigor, and developing better measures of heroism. We conclude with a call for the formation of an international professional organization and for the stronger academic legitimation of heroism science.","PeriodicalId":446177,"journal":{"name":"Heroism Science: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"65 Supplementum 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130312251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}