GRGR (20) Special Topic: Is It OK to Be a Manichean?

[David Morris]

>From: Paul Mackin >  it's not so much the "improvement", but the 
>"personality".
> >  this word is, as you know, rooted in the latin "persona".
> >  & this means: "mask".
> >  kfl
>
>So I'm guessing the German word the student used was "personlichkeit" and
>Heidegger chose to pick up on the "persona" or "mask" connection. Would
>that be a normal connotation for the word or was H. reaching?
>"Personality" in English has such a variety of usages--even outside of
>the psychiatric ones, such as split personality, personality disorder,
>etc. In normal everyday American language especially when joined with
>"improved," "pleasant" or "nice" the word often means degree of
>attractiveness in a nonphysical sense. Dorothy Lamour's use of it as a
>metonym for sexuality and sex appeal was highly ideosyncratic.
>

http://www.abess.com/glossary.html#P

personality: Enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking 
about the environment and oneself. Personality traits are prominent aspects 
of personality that are exhibited in a wide range of important social and 
personal contexts. Only when personality traits are inflexible and 
maladaptive and cause either significant functional impairment or subjective 
distress do they constitute a Personality Disorder.

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mweb

Main Entry: per·son·al·i·ty
Pronunciation: "p&r-s&n-'a-l&-tE, "p&r-'sna-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Middle English personalite, from Late Latin personalitat-, 
personalitas, from personalis
Date: 15th century
1 a : the quality or state of being a person b : personal existence
2 a : the condition or fact of relating to a particular person; specifically 
: the condition of referring directly to or being aimed disparagingly or 
hostilely at an individual b : an offensively personal remark <angrily 
resorted to personalities>
3 : the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a 
nation or group; especially : the totality of an individual's behavioral and 
emotional characteristics
4 a : distinction or excellence of personal and social traits; also : a 
person having such quality b : a person of importance, prominence, renown, 
or notoriety <a TV personality>

Main Entry: per·so·na
Pronunciation: p&r-'sO-n&, -"nä
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural per·so·nae /-(")nE, -"nI/; or personas
Etymology: Latin
Date: 1909
1 : a character assumed by an author in a written work
2 a plural personas [New Latin, from Latin] : an individual's social facade 
or front that especially in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects 
the role in life the individual is playing -- compare ANIMA b : the 
personality that a person (as an actor or politician) projects in public : 
IMAGE
3 plural personae : a character in a fictional presentation (as a novel or 
play) -- usually used in plural <comic personae>

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