Attachment, Transformation, and the Self
Human beings are attached to other human beings, such as our parents, romantic partners, and friends. Our attachments to them transform us over time in ways we may or may not expect. The strong, affectional bonds we develop with our caregivers steadily shape our understanding of who we are. The intimate relationships we cultivate with our loved ones gradually modify our preferences and priorities. The friendships we develop with our peers slowly change our interests and characters. Theorists in the past fifty years have attempted to conceptualize close relationships in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood from the perspective of attachment. By contrast, surprisingly little research explores types of attachment other than that to human individuals. My research interests lie in this underexplored area. Specifically, I want to address the following two questions:
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What are the nature and structure of attachment to a language, a culture, and a community?
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How does developing those attachments transform our core values and sense of self?
My current research centers around questions on attachment, transformation, and the self. In my dissertation, which I successfully defended in April 2020, I take an initial step to answer these questions with a focus on attachment to language specifically and the transformative effects of having such an attachment. Two of my current projects theorize and measure different patterns of language attachment, explain the conceptual connections among language attachment, value-and self-transformation, and explore attachments to culture and community based on the phenomena of code-switching (linguistic and cultural). Two of my future projects investigate transformations in textual translation and aesthetic appreciation.
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Dissertation: Learning a New Language as a Transformative Experience
Recent work on the topic of transformative experience distinguishes two different kinds of this type of experience, namely epistemic and personal (e.g., L. A. Paul, 2014, 2015). An experience is epistemically transformative if the subject learns something that could not have been learned without having that kind of experience (e.g., what pineapple tastes like). An experience is personally transformative if it changes the subject’s core values and sense of self (e.g., giving birth). However, there is a distinct kind of transformative experience that has not yet been systematically investigated—learning a new language. This experience differs from seeing color for the first time, or becoming a parent, or undergoing a religious conversion in several crucial ways. Nonetheless, I argue that learning a new language can be a transformative experience.
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Current Projects
PROJECT I. Language Attachment: Normative Features, Individual Differences, Implications for Value- and Self-Transformation
This project further develops the conception of language attachment in my dissertation. There are currently four papers under this project.
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A paper on being attached to a language and its relationship to personal transformation (under review)
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A paper on normative aspects of attachment (under review)
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A paper on a topology of attachment to a language (draft available upon request)
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A paper on measuring individual differences of attachment to language (draft available upon request)
PROJECT II. Codeswitching, Narrative Intersectionality, Attachments to Cultures and Communities
This project is another further development on the nature of attachment, focusing on attachments to culture and community based on the analysis of the phenomena of codeswitching. There are two papers under this project.
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A paper on narrative unity and codeswitching (draft available upon request)
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A paper on codeswitching, rational decision making, and transformative experience (draft available upon request)
PROJECT III. Translation as Testimony
This new project investigates textual translation. There are three papers under this project.
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A paper on translation as testimony (preliminary literature review)
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A paper on thick translation (preliminary literature review)
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A paper on concepts, traditions, and translation: helping students appreciate classical Chinese philosophy
PROJECT IV. Aesthetic Appreciation
This is another new project, focusing the epistemic barriers of appreciating literary and philosophical texts in some languages
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A paper on epistemic barriers and the opacity of appreciation (draft available upon request)
Future Projects
PROJECT I. Mathematical Explanations in Mathematical Proofs: Fundamental Theorem of Algebra as a Case Study
This is a project based on my research at Renmin University of China. I set it aside for a while and am hoping to come back to it. In that project, I conducted in-depth analyses of thirteen historical and modern proofs of Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. I analyzed analytic, algebraic, geometrical, and topological methods and techniques used in the proofs. I proposed four forms of explanatoriness—rigorousness, simplicity, primitiveness, and conceptual novelty. The goal of the project was to improve philosophical theorization of mathematical explanation by articulating diverse epistemic virtues of the thirteen proofs and using these virtues as a guide to explore further virtues in other proofs.
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PROJECT II. The Metaphysics of Points of View in the Zhuangzi
In this project, I offer a new account of the tension between two ontological categories, the heavenly and the human in the Zhuangzi. I focus on the conception of “wandering” in the text, arguing that wandering should be interpreted as both a human’s capacity and heaven’s power. This interpretation, I suggest, gives us insights about the tension in the Zhuangzi, as well as the tension between the subjective and objective points of view proposed by Thomas Nagel.
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