Death obsession in Arabic and Western countries

The current investigation compared a measure of death obsession among 1,853 volunteer undergraduates from four Arab countries (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Syria) with 791 from three Western countries, i.e., Britain, Spain, and the USA. Comparable Arabic, Spanish, and English versions of the Death Obsession Scale were used. The mean scores on death obsession for the Arabic participants were higher than those of their Western counterparts for both men and women.     

Death and immortality ideologies in Western philosophy

This article examines immortality ideologies in Western philosophy as exemplified in the writings of Descartes, Heidegger, and Derrida, showing in each instance the distinctiveness of the ideology. The distinctiveness is doubly significant: it broadens understandings of the nature of immortality ideologies generally and deepens comparative understandings of the ideologies of the philosophers discussed. Pertinent writings of Otto Rank, the psychiatrist who first wrote of immortality ideologies, contribute in fundamental ways to the discussion as do pertinent writings of cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker, who elaborated and publicized Rank's thesis concerning immortality ideologies. The notion of an ideology, clarified in the beginning as an empirically unfounded belief structure, hence an illusion, is taken up briefly but pointedly at the end in the context of Rank's distinction between rational and irrational elements of the self as they are played out in the creations of the hero-artist. The article ends by examining his distinction in the context of the philosophic perspectives discussed, most notably the perspective of Heidegger.     

The Crisis of Narrative in Contemporary Culture

This article explores the crisis of narrative in contemporary culture. It begins by examining the challenge represented by the mass media for the continuing art of storytelling. Taking up Walter Benjamin's warning that we are moving from an age of narrative experience to an age of instant information, it analyses the implications of the post-modern 'cult of simulation' for education, historiography and ethics. The paper concludes by advocating a critical hermeneutic approach as the most apt response to this contemporary dilemma. Only by means of such hermeneutic retrieval, inspired by the work of Ricoeur and Gadamer, can we avoid the current reduction of temporal experience to a 'depthless present' without past or future, thereby reaffirming the crucial narrative dimensions of historical memory and hope.     

主体性与西方文化

一西方哲学家对于何谓主体性或自我有各种不同的解释 ,大致有下列几种 :(1 )笛卡尔、康德等人认为 ,主体的认知能力是恒久不变的、超历史的 ,并且所有的人都一样 ,“人同此心 ,心同此理。”当代康德主义者亨利希(ＤｉｅｔｅｒＨｅｎｒｉｃｈ)在其著作《理性统一性》(ＴｈｅＵｎｉｔｙｏｆＲｅａｓｏｎ ,1 944)中持这种观点。(2 )人心不是指心理状态或过程 ,而是人的信念、知识、决策和行动。因而“人心”是由社会、文化、民族、语言、风俗、习惯等等产生的 ,人的信念和行动决定于当时当地的具体情况。这是当代大多数哲学家的看法。(3 ) 2 0…     

略论当代西方天主教的女性主义伦理学

天主教女性主义伦理学是在女性主义运动影响下形成的一个重要的基督教伦理学学派。它批判了传统道德神学中的男性中心主义和贬低妇女的倾向,主张要从女性的经验出发来建构一种强调女性与男性应有平等关系的平等主义模式的伦理学。     

Transformations of the Sacred in Contemporary Chicana Culture

Abstract

Focusing on the transformation of the sacred icon La Virgen de Guadalupe into a secularized and sexualized modern woman in illustrations by Yolanda M. López and Ester Hernández, the rearticulation of ex-votos in Sandra Cisneros's short story ‘Little Miracles, Kept Promises’, and the development of a lesbian form of spirituality in Ana Castillo's Massacre of the Dreamers, this essay argues that it is the tradition of syncretism and cultural hybridization within the folk version of Mexican Catholicism and its concomitant propensity toward the deconstruction of binary oppositions (such as colonizer versus colonized; male versus female; body versus soul; sexuality versus spirituality) that forms the basis for many of the feminist revisions, reinterpretations, and transformations of Catholic figures, motifs and texts in contemporary Chicana art.     

从社会文化的角度看脑死亡

从社会文化的角度思考脑死亡,有多方面的重要性.它既影响到人们对脑死亡事实的认定.更影响到人们相应的价值选择.中国传统社会中蕴含着赞同脑死亡的文化因子,同时.儒家传统的孝文化以及死亡仪式化的深远影响也成为脑死亡社会化的重大障碍.要使脑死亡观念在社会上广为接受,除了要进行科学普及,更需要重塑相关的社会文化.     

当代西方的德性伦理学运动

本文从德性伦理学的复兴、主旨及扩展为一场运动,提示出以人的幸福昌盛为宗旨的伦理学,即应当从德性、情感的角度,来发现生命中真正重要的是什么,为什么生活会有意义.     

当代西方模态哲学研究及其意义

根据牛津哲学词典,模态逻辑是"研究必然性和可能性概念的一种逻辑".既然模态逻辑以探讨基本哲学范畴及其逻辑关系为目标,那么它就必然涉及相关的哲学问题,而对这些问题的讨论则构成了模态哲学的主题.     

西方自然法理论在当代的转向

自然法观念构成了西方政治法律思想的传统,这一传统因19世纪实证主义的冲击而一度中断,进入20世纪后,西方自然法理论得以复兴,但当代新自然法理论并不是对传统的重复。自然法何以认识和证明？自然法包含哪些规范内容？自然法对现实政治秩序和法律体系发生何种效力？正是在这些基本问题的认识上,当代新自然法学家通过理论变革和创新而实现了从传统到当代的转向,从而促使西方自然法理论进入新的发展阶段。     

当代西方“实践智慧”问题研究的四种进路

当代西方实践哲学积极地阐发了亚里士多德实践哲学中的实践智慧(Phronesis)概念,并在当代的思想与实践语境中提出了一些新的问题与解答,形成一股实践智慧复兴的潮流。在诸多关于实践智慧的哲学研究中,大致可以区分出四种研究进路:伦理学进路、存在论及诠释学进路、修辞学进路,以及后现代进路。本文旨在对这些进路分别进行扼要的分析和述评,为读者呈现出当代实践智慧研究的一个全景式的概观。     

当代西方发展伦理学初探

20世纪下半叶以来 ,以解除贫困为首要任务的第三世界的发展是人类面临的最大的社会和经济挑战之一。为了更加全面地反映世界各国之间的经济发展状况和人民生活水平 ,多种衡量社会发展状况的标准相继提出 ,如哈根 (E .E .Hagen)的五项指标 (包括基本必需品的消费量、收入和分配的均等程度、识字率、健康水平和就业状况 ) ,莫里斯 (M .D .Morris)的实际生活质量指数 (PhysicalQualityofLifeIndex ,PQLI ,包括识字率、预期寿命指数、婴儿死亡率 )以及联合国计划开发署的人类发展指数 (HID ,包括预期寿命、受教育程度等 )。伴随着越来越…     

Locating Contemporary British Paganism as Late Modern Culture

This paper addresses the place of contemporary British Paganism as part of Western culture. It is in two parts. The first explores Paganism theoretically and socio-historically and the second provides a ‘micro-cosmic’, ethnographic level of analysis. The first part focuses on the way in which the processes of modernity, manifesting within the West through such processes as individualisation and secularisation, have provided fertile ground for the inculcation of Pagan worldviews by effectively undermining cultural and institutional impediments to the adoption of overtly magical sensibilities. The second part examines more closely the group processes underlying British Paganism, using data from participant observation and in-depth interviews to illustrate the way in which late modern community forms can assuage potential areas of conflict among adherents. These two viewpoints combine to locate British Paganism as late modern culture.     

当代心理学文化转向的方法论意义

当代心理学的文化转向关注人的心理与行为的文化特性,揭示文化与人的心理发展的相互关系,为理解人类行为提供了一种新的视野。文化转向带来了心理学研究中文化的回归,全面而深刻地影响了心理学的方法论思想,揭开了心理学文化性质的神秘面纱,促进了心理学研究中多元取向的综合与多元方法的整合。     

儒家与当代西方环境伦理学:一个初步的比较

当代西方环境伦理学是一个多元化的话语体系。人类中心主义(anthropocentrism)、动物/解放权利论(ani mal liberation/rights theory)、生物中心主义(biocentrism)和生态中心主义(ecocentrism)是这个话语体系的四个主要思想流派。它们之间的相互批评、回应、沟通和交流构成了当代西方环境伦理学的历史主题。一、规范层面的共识与差异人类中心主义是西方近现代伦理学的主流话语体系。这个话语体系的基础是康德的这样两个基本预设:只有人(作为惟一的理性存在物)才是目的王国和道德共同体的成员;人只对人负有直接的道德义务,人对动物等非人类存…     

当代西方社会科学哲学发展的三种态势

从历史的角度看,社会科学哲学的历史发展并不存在一个连续和统一的过程.曼尼卡斯(Peter T.Manicas)把社会科学哲学的历史发展大致分为四个阶段,每个阶段都有与之相对应的主题[1]:第一个阶段开始于西方哲学和科学的肇始——主题是古希腊城邦;第二个阶段开始于文艺复兴晚期,延续到法国革命——主题是西方现代性;第三个阶段大约是在19世纪——主题是科学观念与人文科学观念之争;第四个阶段是现在,开始于20世纪50年代——主题是实证主义与反自然主义关于人文科学观念的争论.