The Exception and the Rule: Judith Butler's Antigone's Claim

Continental Philosophy Review -     

The Effects of Children's Exposure to Domestic Violence: A Meta-Analysis and Critique

A wide range of children's developmental outcomes are compromised by exposure to domestic violence, including social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and general health functioning. However, there are relatively few empirical studies with adequate control of confounding variables and a sound theoretical basis. We identified 41 studies that provided relevant and adequate data for inclusion in a meta-analysis. Forty of these studies indicated that children's exposure to domestic violence was related to emotional and behavioral problems, translating to a small overall effect (Z _r = .28). Age, sex, and type of outcome were not significant moderators, most likely due to considerable heterogeneity within each of these groups. Co-occurrence of child abuse increased the level of emotional and behavioral problems above and beyond exposure alone, based on 4 available studies. Future research needs are identified, including the need for large-scale longitudinal data and theoretically guided approaches that take into account relevant contextual factors.     

Changing the Legacy of Suicide

In the United States, despite the increase in knowledge about suicide, the rate of suicide has remained virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. The members of the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) are uniquely qualified to determine what, if anything, can be done to reduce the rate of suicide. The restructuring of the association has produced the potential for cross-divisional collaboration, and yet conventional membership boundaries have resulted in unrealized opportunities to impact the rate of suicide. Dr. Edwin Shneidman, stated in Albert Cain's 1972 landmark book Survivors of Suicide that “post-vention is prevention for the next generation” (p. x). The ability to design, implement, and study an effective model of postvention is within the considerable talents of our membership; however, doing so will require the commitment and flexibility of the entire association. By making postvention collaboration a goal of the association we can bring a national focus on suicide that could change the legacy of suicide.     

Qoheleth and the Existential Legacy of the Holocaust

This article explores thematic parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and the reflections and memories of Holocaust survivors. The three themes touched on find expression in the post-World War II existentialist literature which sought to respond to the incomprehensibility of the Holocaust: the role of extreme circumstances, (confrontation with) absurdity, and (particularly in relation to the legacy of the Holocaust) the individual struggle with, or against, death and fate. It is existentialist philosophy, then, that provides the categories for the comparison.
Although one cannot (indeed, should not) presume an experiential likeness between Qoheleth's narrative and the real suffering of Holocaust victims, Qoheleth's observations and lamentation about the absurdity of his own experience resonate a great deal with the (remembered) experience of the Holocaust's survivors.     

芭特勒对萨特身体观的阅读探析

美国哲学家茱迪恩·芭特勒认为连串理所当然地跟性相关的论述,同时存有化了及固定化了物质性的身体.芭特勒阅读波伏娃的<第二性>,认为这并非就是萨特的<存在与虚无>于女性问题或处境上的应用.波伏娃曾说意识存在于一个人的身体当中,并且在文化的脉胳里,参与形成一个人的性别.芭特勒认为对萨特身体哲学的理解,在很多方面都能提高我们对波伏娃思想的欣赏,并认定她是一个具原创性的思想家.     

Assessing the Legacy of the GBG Model

A critique of the article by Bryden, McManus, and Bulman-Fleming ("Evaluating the empirical support for the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda model of cerebral lateralization") is presented. Bryden et al. expose some of the principal weaknesses of the cerebral lateralization model put forth by Geschwind and colleagues and contribute an important meta-analysis of findings concerning the model′s predicted relationship between immune disorders and handedness. Nonetheless, the theory put forth by Geschwind and colleagues retains an important legacy despite a multitude of faulty assumptions and predictive failures. Also offered is a brief synopsis of a new model that explains the many positive relationships found among various neurodevelopmental disorders and medical conditions, as well as why abnormal handedness distributions occur in some but not other neurodevelopmental disorders.     

Phenomenology and the Poststructural Critique of Experience

Abstract

Phenomenology is considered a philosophy of experience. But in the wake of French post‐structuralism beginning in the 1970s, the concept of experience within phenomenology has fallen under heavy critique. Even today, in the context of feminist philosophy the phenomenological concept of experience has yet to recover from the poststructuralist critique.

In this article, I will closely examine the poststructuralist critique of the concept of experience within the context of feminist theory. I will thereby refer first and foremost to the poststructuralist theorist Joan Scott, and her influential text “‘Experience’”. In my examination of the poststructuralist critique of experience, the leading question will be whether or not this critique, down to its details, can in fact be applied to phenomenology. My thesis is that phenomenology is able to withstand the poststructuralist critique of experience. Further, I will argue that post‐structuralism and phenomenology have more in common as regards the concept of experience than is usually admitted. For several reasons, it seems – as I will maintain – that both poststructuralist feminism and phenomenology are equally interested in a strong concept of experience and thus do not promote doing away with the concept.     

Confucian Ethics and the Critique of Ideology

The debate between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jürgen Habermas provides a fresh perspective from which Confucian philosophy may be approached. In this paper, focusing on the Lunyu (Analects), I argue that the sayings of Confucius reflect an essentially 'conservative' orientation, finding in tradition a reservoir of insight and truth. There is a critical dimension to it in that ethical reflection and self-cultivation would enable the individual to challenge particular claims of tradition. However, can self-cultivation transcend tradition as a whole and enable the individual to effect radical change? Following the strategy of Habermas' critique of Gadamer, what happens if tradition is systemically corrupt? In this discussion, rather than taking tradition generally I will focus on the concept of ritual (li) to suggest how the Lunyu seeks to crystallise the wisdom of the past into an ethical guide. The conclusion I draw is in the main a Gadamerian one. Committed to a critical appropriation of tradition, Confucian philosophy seeks ethical renewal from within, on the premise that through incremental change self-cultivation can make a real difference in the quest for moral excellence.     

Violence and the disaggregated society

This paper reviews the evidence that social disaggregation is a major cause of destructive violence in non-human animal societies. The multifactorial theory of agonistic behavior is modified into a polysystemic theory which relates factors on each level to each other in an integrated model. As a result, it is suggested that disaggregation of systems on any level may lead to maladaptive violence. On theoretical grounds it is concluded that disaggregations of ecosystems and social systems are more probable and hence more dangerous than those of physiological and genetic systems. Applications of these findings to human affairs are discussed, both as explanations and as guides to positive action.     

Violence and the return of the religious

Continental Philosophy Review - René Girard speaks of the return of the religious as a “return of the sacred… in the form of violence.” This violence was inherent in the...