Carving a dialogical epistemology for investigating altruism: A reply to Mitchell and Eiroa–Orosa

ABSTRACT

This is a reply to Sue Mitchell and Francisco J. Eiroa-Orosa’s ‘Love your enemy.’ The latter seeks to explore the self-transcending potential of altruistic behaviour through a dialogical paradigm. It not only initiates fresh discussion on the subject of altruism, but also advances new discussion on Bakhtinian aesthetics. For the continuation of this forward momentum, we suggest a more nuanced approach to the placement of the ‘researcher’ within the applied methodological matrix. Similarly, we also advocate for the synthesising of research tools, often appropriated by theological studies, into said methodological matrix.

This is a reply to:

Mitchell, Sue and Eiroa-Orosa, Francisco J. 2018. “Love your enemy? An aesthetic discourse analysis of self-transcendence in values-motivated altruism.” Global Discourse https://doi.org/10.1080/23269995.2018.1511766

KEYWORDS:

• Aesthetic discourse analysis
• altruism
• theology
• self-transcendence

This article responds to:

Love your enemy? An aesthetic discourse analysis of self-transcendence in values-motivated altruism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. It is essential not to confound emic accounts with primary material such as letters, diaries and autobiographical notes. The task here is for the researcher to use the insider’s (participant’s) point of views and actions as authoritative.