The origins and crisis of Continental philosophy

When contemporary continental philosophy dismisses, with the discourse of post-modernism, the role of origin, teleology, foundation, etc., it is forsaking its own style of thinking and as a consequence is no longer able to discern crises of lived-meaning or to engage in the transformation of historical life. I address this crisis by characterizing continental philosophy as a particular style of thinking, generative thinking. I then examine the meaning and origins of philosophical thinking by drawing, for strategic reasons, on Jacques Derrida's essay Cogito et histoire de la folie. For not only has the very question of origins come under fire through various post-modern readings of Derrida, but Derrida's own point of critique concerning Western Metaphysics depends upon a specific understanding of origin that I call origin-originating. In the final section of this paper. I interpret the crisis within continental philosophy as a forgetting the point of origin-originating within the generative structure of experience.     

The War Memoirs: Some origins of the thought of W. R. Bion

The work of W. R. Bion changed the shape of psychoanalytic theory in fundamental ways, one of the most important of which was Bion's insight into the nature of normal projective identification. No other psychoanalytic theorist has Bion's ability to represent the horrors of psychic abandonment and the converse, the absolute necessity of the presence of another mind for psychic survival. Through a discussion of Bion's War Memoirs 1917–1919 ( Bion, 1997 ), Attacks on linking and A theory of thinking (1993), this paper explores the link between war, masculinity, the maternal and Bion's sensitivity to the significance of everyday interpersonal contact. It is argued that Bion's apocalyptic experiences as a teenage tank commander gave him shattering insight into the extent to which mind is inter-mind, self is inter-self. Bion's life writing has the quality of survivor insight: 'And only I am escaped alone to tell thee' (Job 1: 14–19), as he returns repeatedly to the events of the day when he 'died ', 8 August 1918. His insight into the elemental passions nature of love, hate and mindlessness are borne of his experiences on the battlefield, and exquisitely crystallized in his repeated explorations of an encounter with a dying soldier.     

The crisis of medicine: philosophy and the social construction of medicine

During the past decade there has been a debate about the field of philosophy of medicine. The debate has focused on fundamental questions about whether the field exists and the nature of the field. This article explores the debate and argues that it has paid insufficient attention to the social dimensions of both philosophy and medicine. The article goes on to argue that by exploring this debate one can better understand some of the difficult questions facing contemporary medicine and health care.     

The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence

In recent years, there has been increased attention to the development of “moral,” “social”, or “self-conscious” emotions, such as embarrassment, shame, and pride, in 2- and 3-year olds. In the present study, 17-month-olds' behaviours in several contexts were observed; and observations of behaviours of their parents were obtained. Results indicated that toddlers did react appropriately to the situations, and their behaviours in the semi-naturalistic situations cohered as three factors: a guilt factor, an embarrassment factor, and an anxiety/inhibition factor. Embarrassed behaviour included a smile accompanied by indications of embarrassment (gaze aversion, lip press, lip bite, and/or body touching/self-adaptors). Moreover, parental behaviours systematically predicted children's behaviour patterns, but self-recognition was unrelated to most behaviours. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The social and political origins of German diffusionist ethnology

Diffusionism, an ethnological theory particularly dominant in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, can be shown to have had roots in the politics and major trends of social development of nineteenth-century Germany as well as in a variety of intellectual tendencies. In particular, it is argued that several important features of diffusionism, especially the concepts of Lebensraum, of “colonization” as a natural process, and of the primacy of agriculture in cultural development, in part developed out of conservative political ideologies and reflected the social origins of the early diffusionists in preindustrial segments of the German middle class.     

The myth of the Jewish origins of philosophy in the Renaissance: from Aristotle to Plato

The myth of the Jewish origins of philosophy and science is an ancient tradition dating from the Hellenistic period. It originated with pagan scholars, as part of the Greek-Hellenistic myth of the eastern origins of wisdom. Hellenistic-Jewish scholars acquired this theme from them, developed it further and transmitted it to the Church Fathers. In time, this myth achieved great popularity among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Aristotle’s prominence in medieval culture gave rise to traditions claiming that he studied with Jewish sages and was deeply impressed and influenced by Jewish books. Some of these traditions even maintain that he converted to Judaism, or was born a Jew. Although stories about the Judaized Aristotle continued to circulate, many accounts of the Jewish sources of Plato also began to appear in various forms among Christian and Jewish scholars. Stories about Plato proliferated especially following the decline of the Aristotelian-Averroist tradition, when kabbalistic-hermetic influences were first discernible in the writings of Ficino and Pico della Mirandola in the late Quattrocento.