In defense of the possibilism–actualism distinction

Philosophical Studies - In Modal Logic as Metaphysics, Timothy Williamson claims that the possibilism–actualism (P–A) distinction is badly muddled. In its place, he introduces a...     

Towards the concerned study of religion: Exploring the double power–play disparity

Increasing numbers of students of religion, from various disciplines, address issues of public interest, going beyond documentation and analysis, taking the quality of human life in religion and society as a criterion for their recommendations. Accordingly, systematic reflection on the concerned study of religion is gaining relevance. The approach chosen in this article is to focus on one particular aspect, in this case the double ‐ cognitive and moral ‐ disparity in religious contexts between forms of power and play.

Power is viewed as the human capacity to influence other people's behaviour, even against their will. Play is defined here as the human capacity to deal simultaneously with different realities. Power and play represent two human capacities that in themselves are neutral but in combination may change from means, a situation of parity, into goal, a situation of disparity. A first type of disparity is cognitive in nature. It stems from the reduction of the potential open dynamic meaning-making that the power‐play constellation could stimulate as well. A second disparity is of a moral nature. It stems from the fact that the power‐play set may come to interfere with the quality of human life. As a set, power and play thus move between the roles of being either subservient means or self-fulfilling goal, between a soft and a hard version.

Religion is one field in which the gift for play is applied, resulting in the relationship with a sacred or divine reality. Whereas religions cannot survive without some form of power, the form given to the power‐play set marks out a religion's identity. Within our time the critical study of the double disparity of hard power and play has gained urgency. Global society faces severe problems of poverty, violence, pollution and miscommunication. Religions may act as a cause, but also as problem solver. Students of religion are invited to form multidisciplinary teams to study the double disparity in its actual form, while simultaneously exploring prospects for the promotion of both open meaning-making and the quality of human life, with power and play in a relationship of parity. This turn would necessitate a reappraisal of the research agenda for Religious/World-view Studies. It demands an identity change for this study field, both in the selection of themes for research and funding, and in the explicitly applied nature of scholarly work.     

A new American dilemma? The effect of ethnic identification and public service on the national inclusion of ethnic minorities

Three experiments integrate research from political science and social psychology to examine the consequences of two competing visions of American national identity. American identity has been defined not only in terms of shared ethnocultural heritage originating in Europe (the ethnocultural prototype) but also in terms of shared commitment to civic service (the civic responsibility prototype). Three experiments tested the consequence of highlighting each of these national prototypes on perceivers' inclusion of ethnic minorities as legitimately American. Experiments 1–3 showed that highlighting ethnic minorities' allegiance to their ethnic subgroup (versus downplaying it) challenges the ethnocultural prototype and makes ethnic minorities appear less American. Process data showed that this effect was mediated by increased threats to American distinctiveness. By contrast, emphasizing ethnic minorities' national service (versus local community service) highlights ethnic minorities' fit with the civic responsibility prototype and makes ethnic minorities appear more American (Experiments 2–3). Process data showed that this effect was mediated by enhanced American distinctiveness. Collectively, these experiments highlight how inclusion of ethnic minorities in the nation can wax and wane depending on which definition of national character is salient in the social context. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unsentimental ethics: Towards a content-specific account of the moral–conventional distinction

In this paper, we offer an overview and a critique of the existing theories of the moral–conventional distinction, with emphasis on Nichols’s [Nichols, S. (2002). Norms with feeling: Towards a psychological account of moral judgment. Cognition, 84, 221–236] neo-sentimentalist approach. After discussing some distinctive features of Nichols’s (2002) thesis and situating it within the context of his predecessors’ work [Blair, R. (1995). A cognitive developmental approach to morality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition, 57, 1–29; Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge: Morality and convention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press], we review a number of arguments and findings within the developmental literature that, collectively, pose a serious challenge to the proposition that emotion is indispensable for or plays a substantial contributory role in the construction of the moral domain. Furthermore, we report two studies whose results contravene those of Nichols’s (2002) Experiments 1 and 2 (the empirical basis for his “norms with feelings” hypothesis), while favoring a version of Turiel’s (1983) harm-based approach instead.     

Latin America 1520–1600: a page in the history of the study of religion

This article examines the texts written by the first generation of missionaries on the beliefs and mores of the indigenous people of what came to be called Mexico and Peru, supplemented by some accounts written by travelers in Brazil. These works claimed to put forward knowledge about ‘the others’. It is argued that they were important precursors for the study of religion and should receive more attention as such. The issue of location is shown to be always present in this early material, along with the biological notion of hybridization. The conclusion asks whether the contemporary pursuit of knowledge can move from the biological unity of the human race to a view of the race as a social whole with common interests.     

Reaching around barriers: the performance of the great apes and 3–5-year-old children

Inhibitory control has been suggested as a key predictive measure of problem-solving skills in human and nonhuman animals. However, there has yet to be a direct comparison of the inhibitory skills of the nonhuman apes and their development in human children. We compared the inhibitory skills of all great ape species, including 3–5-year-old children in a detour-reaching task, which required subjects to avoid reaching directly for food and instead use an indirect reaching method to successfully obtain the food. We tested 22 chimpanzees, 18 bonobos, 18 orangutans, 6 gorillas and 42 children. Our sample included chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans housed in zoos (N = 27) and others housed in sanctuaries in their native habitats (N = 37). Overall, orangutans were the most skilful apes, including human children. As expected older children outperformed younger children. Sanctuary chimpanzees and bonobos outperformed their zoo counterparts whereas there was no difference between the two orangutan samples. Most zoo chimpanzees and bonobos failed to solve the original task, but improved their performance with additional training, although the training method determined to a considerable extent the level of success that the apes achieved in a transfer phase. In general, the performance of the older children was far from perfect and comparable to some of the nonhuman apes tested.     

Mapping the scale of the narcissism epidemic: Increases in narcissism 2002–2007 within ethnic groups

[Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J. D., Campbell, W. K., & Bushman, B. J. (2008a). Egos inflating over time: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality, 76, 875–901.] found that Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) scores increased between 1982 and 2006 among college students nationwide, but [Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2008). Do today’s young people really think they are so extraordinary? An examination of secular changes in narcissism and self-enhancement. Psychological Science, 19, 181–188.] found that NPI scores remained unchanged over that time in samples from the University of California (UC) campuses. The increasing numbers of Asian-Americans at the UCs over time may have masked changes in narcissism, as Asian-Americans score lower on the NPI. When examined within ethnic groups, Trzesniewski et al.’s data show that NPI scores increased significantly between 2002 and 2007 at twice the rate of the yearly change found over 24 years in Twenge et al. (2008a). The overall means also show a significant increase 2002–2007. Thus the available evidence suggests that college students are endorsing progressively more narcissistic personality traits over the generations.     

Refractory semantics in global aphasia: On semantic organisation and the Access–Storage distinction in neuropsychology

Abstract

A single case study is reported of a global aphasic patient, JM, with impaired access to semantic information which was particularly severe for the class of proper names. JM's ability to perform matching tasks with printed words and pictures to auditory words deteriorated when items were repeated, especially when the response–stimulus interval was short. Performance was also inconsistent across items. The effect of repeated testing on items generalised to other, previously untested members of the same category. Despite this, JM was able to access general semantic information about stimuli from the affected categories (e.g. to categorise boys' and girls' names), and showed good ability to access an input lexicon concerning these stimuli. There was also a close relationship between the categories affected when he was tested with pictures and printed words. We propose that JM's deficit can be attributed to his semantic system entering an abnormal refractory state once semantic access for a particular item has been achieved, and with this stage being isolated from the procedures providing access to stored lexical knowledge. Furthermore, the representations affected seem common to pictures and printed words. We discuss the implications of the results for understanding the nature of semantic representations in general and for proper names in particular, and for the distinction between access and storage deficits in neuropsychology.     

Supernatural power,sexuality, and the paradigm of “women's space” in religion and culture

Many traditional social scientists still hold to the analytical view that dichotomizes magic and religion. By placing magic and religion in discrete categories we underdetermine the extent of women's space in religion and culture. In religion women were dipicted as subordinate ritually and spiritually. In magic, things feminine were usually identified with evil and witchcraft. The paradigm of women's space transcends the traditional dichotomy of magic and religion in a way that enhances feminine attributes in magicoreligious systems. Women are unique sources of supernatural power which emanates from their sexuality and reproductive capacities. This study examines several categories of supernatural power that are uniquely feminine and help delimit the paradigm of espace feminine or women's space in religion and culture. It takes the view that, as sources of supernatural power, women constitute a unique spiritual resource vital to religion and culture.     

Positive and negative reinforcement: Should the distinction be preserved?

Michael (1975) reviewed efforts to classify reinforcing events in terms of whether stimuli are added (positive reinforcement) or removed (negative reinforcement). He concluded that distinctions in these terms are confusing and ambiguous. Of necessity, adding a stimulus requires its previous absence and removing a stimulus its previous presence. Moreover, there is no good basis, either behavioral or physiological, that indicates the involvement of distinctly different processes, and on these grounds he proposed that the distinction be abandoned. Despite the cogency of Michael's analysis, the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement is still being taught. In this paper, we reconsider the issue from the perspective of 30 years. However, we could not find new evidence in contemporary research and theory that allows reliable classification of an event as a positive rather than a negative reinforcer. We conclude by reiterating Michael's admonitions about the conceptual confusion created by such a distinction.     

Searching for the Power–I: Nietzsche and Nirvana

The usual approach in Buddhist-Western writings uses Buddhist perspectives to help answer Western philosophical–psychological questions. This paper reverses the process and uses the Western philosophical perspective of Nietzsche to answer questions of Buddhist-conceived nirvana. Nietzsche's philosophy of will, expounded primarily through the Zarathustra essays, provides an active and affirmative alternative for understanding and attaining nirvana. His ideas of free will and will to power have commonalities with Buddhist practice and thought, including nonattachment, nihilism, no-self, and meditation. Nietzschean will revises the Buddhist notion of right effort to answer questions about coping with inner suffering and outer-world corruption. It shows nirvana to be less a state of passive being and more a state of active becoming.?Why approach such important matters as transcendence, power, and God from the standpoint of the ‘I’? First, I-centered analysis can clarify egological concepts such as the subject-I, object-self, and conceptualizing-ego and what these concepts contribute to an experience-based metaphysics, for even the most objective factual or mathematical expression must be stated and understood by an active subject-I. Second, I-centered analysis can advance the phenomenological study of the role of the I in the subjective realms of mind. Third, it can help resolve issues in both Western and Buddhist philosophy such as activism–passivism, subjectivity–objectivity, will and freedom, I and other, and secular/sacred presence in consciousness.     

Reverse-engineering ‘esotericism': how to prepare a complex cultural concept for the cognitive science of religion

The article introduces a framework for preparing complex cultural concepts for the cognitive science of religion (CSR) and applies it to the field of Western esotericism. The research process (‘reverse engineering') rests on a building block approach that, after problematic categories have been deconstructed, seeks to reconstruct new scholarly objects in generic terms that can be operationalized in interdisciplinary contexts like CSR. A four-step research process is delineated, illustrated by a short discussion of previous work on ‘Gnosticism,' ‘magic,' and ‘religion,' before applying it to ‘esotericism.' It is suggested that the implicit scholarly objects of esotericism scholarship can be reconstituted in generic terms as concerned with processes of creating and disseminating ‘special knowledge.' Five definitional clusters are identified in the literature; these provide a basis for formulating research programs on the psychological and cognitive level, drawing on metarepresentational processes, event cognition, and psychological dispositions for altering experience.     

A qualitative exploratory study on gender identity and the health risks and barriers to care for transgender women living in a U.S.–Mexico border city

This exploratory, qualitative study examined the health risks and barriers to care for transgender women who live in a U.S.–Mexico border city. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 self-identified transgender women in El Paso, Texas, seven of whom identified as Latina. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for analysis of emerging themes, using the qualitative analysis software Atlas.ti (v.7.0). The themes that emerged are (1) self-acceptance of transgender identity; (2) acceptance of transgender identity within social networks; and (3) health risks, including body modifications and barriers to health care. The findings reveal phases of self-acceptance of transgender identity, a high level of health risks, scarce health services resources, and low levels of acceptance from family, friends, and partners. This study provides an important contribution to the health disparities literature on gender identity and health risks and the needs of transgender women, particularly in a U.S.–Mexico border context.     

Bodies,religion and relationality: the paradox of the Buddhist trikāya

Rethinking religion along the lines of relationality rather than focusing on practice alone may substantiate the cultural meanings of embodiment. Yet, relationality may only provide a cover for exclusive practices that are intended to reduce the significance of the religious subject, as in the case of the practice of multiple embodiments in Tibetan Buddhism. This practice refers to the ability of lamas to activate a form of transcendental reciprocity in the service of their disciples’ salvation. But its application also suggests a paradox centring on the dissolution of bodies. It not only affirms ongoing relationships between lamas and their disciples but also reiterates the quest for transcendental goals beyond the intricacies of bodily connections. This paradox demonstrates that the question of bodies and subjectivity in religion may not be resolved simply by focusing on the meanings of personal relationships and relationality. The context of these meanings becomes clearer when a distinction is made between the lama's personal goals and the metaphor of spiritual empowerment in lama–disciple relationships.     

Careful Engagement: Can the work of Ettinger,Klein and Bion help us to understand the relational field in dementia care?

Despite a widespread focus on dementia – a focus on cause, care and cure – in both the media and on the agenda of policy makers, it is not always clear what is understood about the relational field in professional dementia care. This article draws on ideas that have their origins in psychoanalysis as a way in to exploring the affective and bodily encounters that can take place in a residential care setting. Informed by the work of Klein, Bion and Ettinger, the article sets out to demonstrate how connections between the professional carer and the cared-for are sometimes made, unmade and remade, and where at times the figure of the maternal might emerge in relationship to the other or to the wider organisation. Combining theory with observational vignettes, taken from an ongoing organisational study, the article suggests that to approach the work of relating from a psychoanalytical perspective can both enliven care practice and generate curiosity towards the other, both at an organisational and individual level.