依律精持 弘扬道教——读王常月《龙门心法》

在对外开放和市场经济大潮中,道教界出现了一部分人信仰淡化、戒律松弛的现象,成为道教加强自身建设所要克服的突出难题。在此背景下,重温明末清初著名道教律师、全真龙门派中兴之祖王常月的《龙门心法》,倡扬他"依律精持"的思想,学习他为了道教事业,自觉自律,努力精进的伟大人格,对提振宗风、弘扬祖道具有重要意义。     

从《夷坚志》看南宋宗教多元竞争中的道士形象

作为宋代收录民间志怪故事最多的小说合集,《夷坚志》在一定程度上真切地反映出了道士群体在南宋人心目中的形象,体现出了道士群体在当时扮演的社会角色.通过对《夷坚志》中有关道士的故事进行统计和分析,并与有关其它宗教人士的故事进行对比,可以得到其典型的“专业、可靠”的职业形象.这种形象的出现,与道士群体在当时的宗教市场上所面对的多元竞争存在相关性.     

从《人群中的人》看现代人的孤独处境

“孤独”是人类的基本处境之一,工业革命的发展使得现代人的孤独感越来越强烈。早在19世纪,美国作家爱伦·坡就在短篇小说《人群中的人》中就形象的表现了身处孤独的现代人,如何在困境中挣扎。爱伦·坡极具洞见的预言了现代人的精神危机。而弗洛姆提出的现代人“逃避自由”的倾向,则是对这种孤独的一种解释。     

从《己易》看杨简易学的心学宗旨及其学术意义

杨简视易为"己",又从"我"、"吾"、"一"、"心"等不同侧面对其进行描述,"己"实为"心",己易即为心易,易为心之易,易道为心之易道.通乎一己,明乎一心,才能深悟易道.杨简把易学和经学彻底纳入心学的范畴,从心学的角度发展了易学和经学,这是中国易学史和经学发展史上不可或缺的重要环节.     

从《大秦景教三威蒙度赞》看唐代景教音乐

作为外来宗教,借助当地的文化形式来传播自身思想的策略,在文化传播史上屡见不鲜。因此可以推测,唐代景教音乐也可能采用了当时中国传统的音乐曲调。而这对于当前基督宗教音乐的中国化,也具有一定的借鉴意义。     

从宗白华《美学散步》看中国人的空间意识

宗白华的《美学散步》尤其重视对中国人空间意识的揭示,并用多个篇幅加以阐述.在他看来,空灵、充实、虚实与意境等范畴是与中国人的空间意识相联系的,只有通过对诗歌、绘画、音乐、书法、建筑等所蕴含的美学思想的探索,才能有机地把握艺术的自由灵动之美,展示艺术追求的无限空间,体现中国人“无往不复”的空间意识.     

从《无神论——绪论》看宗教自由和反无神论观念

《无神论》是美国马丁(MICHAEL MARTIN)教授写的一部名著,副标题《哲学的合理性证明》,1990年出版。书前有一篇颇长的《绪论》,针对一些有神论者的批评,作了扼要的回应,从中可以看出当代西方宗教神学是如何抨击无神论的,以及他对这些抨击所作的逻辑反驳和对无神论的合理性证明。我特别感兴趣的问题,还有作者无意中透露出来的美国的意识形态和宗教自由问题。作者回忆说,他幼年受家庭影响,倾向无神论,但同时知道,无神论在美国民众的心目中是很坏的,因为“他们大多数人都信仰上帝”。记得“三年级的一天,我向一个有同情心的指导顾问透露…     

哲人的面具——从《游叙弗伦》看苏格拉底的反讽

《游叙弗伦》讨论的是虔敬,然而,要真正理解虔敬的意义以及虔敬在两位对话人身上的表现,苏格拉底的反讽是关键。何以认定对话中暗含苏格拉底的反讽?除了其中众多不可小视的细节,还可以从二人定义虔敬的整个过程中发现某些意味深长的标记。由于反讽的运用,虔敬问题变得更复杂了;反过来,借着对虔敬的讨论,苏格拉底的反讽也展示了它多层面的意义。     

诗性智慧的结晶——从《周易》看中国古典美学

引言近年来,学术界又一次掀起讨论中国传统文化、思维方式的性质、根源及出路和趋向的热潮,使许多重大理论问题的研究走向深入,愈来愈多的学者承认:中国智慧绝非西方思维体系所能完全容纳和规范,它遵循人类认识发展的一般规律,又有其独特的个性和罕见的生命力。有的学者指出:中国传统思维的全息性、整体性、系统性、象征性、直觉性、模糊性等特点与艺术形象思维相通;中国智慧是一种审美型智慧,其最高层次是美学而非宗教,中国传统文化之谜在古老典籍《周易》中隐约可见……“思维方式”、“传统文化”、“中国智慧”、“美学、”“周易”几个热点在向一处聚焦,笔者曾苦苦     

How Morality Can Be Absent from Moral Arguments

What is a moral argument? A straightforward answer is that a moral argument is an argument dealing with moral issues, such as the permissibility of killing in certain circumstances. I call this the thin sense of ‘moral argument’. Arguments that we find in normative and applied ethics are almost invariably moral in this sense. However, they often fail to be moral in other respects. In this article, I discuss four ways in which morality can be absent from moral arguments in the thin sense. If these arguments suffer from an absence of morality in at least one of these ways, they are not moral arguments in what I will call the thick sense of ‘moral argument’. Because only moral arguments in the thick sense could possibly qualify as proper responses to moral problems, the absence of morality in thin arguments means that these arguments will fail to give us a reason to do whatever they claim that we ought to do, even if we see no independent reason to question the truth of the premises or the logical validity of the argument.     

Moral affect and cognitive processes: Differentiating shame from guilt among men and women

Men (n = 103) and women (n = 183) completed measures of shame, guilt, self-critical cognitions, and perfectionism in order to explore gender differences in cognitive processes associated with moral affect. Women reported significantly higher rates of shame and guilt than men. Separate factor analyses for gender indicated that for men, shame loaded with self-critical cognitions while guilt loaded with dimensions of perfectionism. For women, both shame and guilt loaded with self-critical cognitions, but only socially-prescribed perfectionism. Results suggest that a person's gender may need to be considered in evaluations of shame and guilt.     

Using Insights from Applied Moral Psychology to Promote Ethical Behavior Among Engineering Students and Professional Engineers

In this essay I discuss a novel engineering ethics class that has the potential to significantly decrease the likelihood that students (and professionals) will inadvertently or unintentionally act unethically in the future. This class is different from standard engineering ethics classes in that it focuses on the issue of why people act unethically and how students (and professionals) can avoid a variety of hurdles to ethical behavior. I do not deny that it is important for students to develop cogent moral reasoning and ethical decision-making as taught in traditional college-level ethics classes, but as an educator, I aim to help students apply moral reasoning in specific, real-life situations so they are able to make ethical decisions and act ethically in their academic careers and after they graduate. Research in moral psychology provides evidence that many seemingly irrelevant situational factors affect the moral judgment of most moral agents and frequently lead agents to unintentionally or inadvertently act wrongly. I argue that, in addition to teaching college students moral reasoning and ethical decision-making, it is important to: 1. Teach students about psychological and situational factors that affect people’s ethical judgments/behaviors in the sometimes stressful, emotion-laden environment of the workplace; 2. Guide students to engage in critical reflection about the sorts of situations they personally might find ethically challenging before they encounter those situations; and 3. Provide students with strategies to help them avoid future unethical behavior when they encounter these situations in school and in the workplace.