Spirituality in adolescence and young adulthood: A method for a qualitative study

This paper discusses an ongoing research project on contemporary forms of youth and young adult spirituality, highlighting issues in the history and definition of spirituality and in development of appropriate qualitative methods of investigation. Previous research on the topic has been bedevilled by difficulties of definition. 'Spirit' and 'spirituality' have a long history in both philosophy and religion and surviving senses of the terms include both religious and non-religious meanings. This paper suggests that 'lexical' definitions based on usage prove unwieldy because of widely varying and conflicting contents. Only a 'stipulative' definition will serve to provide a research project with a clear focus; our definition of spirituality as 'a conscious way of life based on a transcendent referent' is explained and defended. Next, we outline the distinctive features of our methodology: no direct mention of the term spirituality, an emphasis on personal narration and the use of evocative techniques. We conclude by outlining the 10 dimensions of spirituality which we have developed from our initial investigations.     

Knowledge,learning, and freedom from thought

This paper discusses the acquisition of knowledge by one generation from another, and the problems inherent in the process. The difficulties are seen as falling into three areas: (i) the difficulty of understanding the knowledge itself; (ii) the difficulty that a fact or a theory becomes an internal object subject to all the vicissitudes of object relations; and (iii) the difficulty of finding a training method that will enable the learner to assimilate knowledge and use it judiciously rather than to swallow it in an uncomprehending way. Examples are drawn from the history of ideas in general, and from the author's experience of therapeutic communities, particularly the Cassel Hospital. The danger of allowing a body of knowledge to become, in its passage from one person to another, a mere set of never-to-be-questioned beliefs is illustrated. The common frailties of both trainers and trainees are discussed and methods suggested for understanding and overcoming them.     

The counselling interview: First impressions

This paper examines the nature of a counselling interview. It concerns itself with the first interview between the counsellor and the client, when both, the client and the counsellor are attempting to form their first impressions of one another. The paper discusses three major problems that arise in the process of forming impressions, viz., 1) maintaining neutrality and objectivity, 2) exercising cognitive control, and 3) expressing empathy. It is the contention of this paper that the above problems have not been clearly understood from their historical, philosophical, and psychological perspectives, and as a result, they have not been satisfactorily resolved. As a result, they have not been given sufficient consideration by counsellors and psychotherapists. The article considers the three problems and discusses ways and means by which they can be clearly understood and hopefully 'taken on board' by professionals working in the area.     

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.     

Hobbes and the Imitation of God

This note discusses the implications of an incorrect quotation that appeared in Ted H. Miller's article, 'Thomas Hobbes and the Constraints that Enable the Imitation of God', from Inquiry42.2 (1999). Although surely inadvertent, this error is significant because the author uses it to support the thesis that Hobbes envisions philosophers imitating God by creating order out of chaos. The correct quotation from Leviathandoes not support such a thesis, and the paragraph in Leviathanfrom which it is taken actually runs counter to it. The correct quotation, taken in its context, and a passage from De Corporecited by Professor Miller reveal that Hobbes encourages philosophers to imitate God by following the order of creation in contemplation. In other words, philosophers imitate God by imitating the creation.     

Presentism and the Myth of Passage

Presentism is held by most to be the intuitive theory of time, due in large part to the view's supposed preservation of time's passage. In this paper, I strike a blow against presentism's intuitive pull by showing how the presentist, contrary to overwhelming popular belief, is unable to establish temporal change upon which the passage of time is based. I begin by arguing that the presentist's two central ontological commitments, the Present Thesis and the Change Thesis, are incompatible. The main problem is that satisfying the Change Thesis to establish passage requires the existence of more than one moment. This conflicts with the Present Thesis that only the present moment exists. The presentist's response is to appeal to surrogates to stand proxy for the past, so as to account for the difference between what does exist and what did exist. I argue that, for this surrogate strategy to be successful, the proposed surrogates must track what actually happened. I demonstrate that there is no guarantee that this is the case. As a result, the presentist's preservation of temporal change fails, which means that there is no passage in presentism. In the end, we should rethink just how intuitive presentism happens to be.     

PROBLEM‐SOLVING SCHEMATA FOR TEXT TYPES: A COMPARISON OF NARRATIVE AND EXPOSITORY TEXT STRUCTURES

In this paper we argue that comprehension is a problem solving activity and that different problem solving schemata exist for different types of texts, both narrative and expository. When processing the text, the reader uses these problem solving schemata to construct meaning of the context and to satisfy personal reading goals. For instance, comprehension of a text, such as a short story, a folk tale, or even a passage from a science book, can be viewed as a problem solving activity. Bransford and Stein's (1984) IDEAL model identifies the problem solver as one who (I) identifies problems, (D) defines and represents problems, (E) explores possible strategies for solving the problem, (A) acts on those strategies, and (L) looks back and evaluates the effects of those strategies. This problem solving model aptly describes what readers as problem solvers do when comprehending a text. The reader as a problem solver identifies and defines specific reading goals. To understand the content of the passage, the reader as a problem solver uses domain‐specific knowledge about the topic, prior experience in reading that type of text to explore a multitude of strategies. While reading the text, the reader uses those strategies to construct meaning about the text. After reading a passage, the proficient reader as a problem solver evaluates what has been read and checks to see if one's reading goals have been met.     

FINE'S MCTAGGART,TEMPORAL PASSAGE,AND THE A VERSUS B‐DEBATE

I offer an interpretation and a partial defense of Kit Fine's ‘Argument from Passage’, which is situated within his reconstruction of McTaggart's paradox. Fine argues that existing A‐theoretic approaches to passage are no more dynamic, i.e. capture passage no better, than the B‐theory. I argue that this comparative claim is correct. Our intuitive picture of passage, which inclines us towards A‐theories, suggests more than coherent A‐theories can deliver. In Finean terms, the picture requires not only Realism about tensed facts, but also Neutrality, i.e. the tensed facts not being ‘oriented towards’ one privileged time. However unlike Fine, and unlike others who advance McTaggartian arguments, I take McTaggart's paradox to indicate neither the need for a more dynamic theory of passage nor that time does not pass. A more dynamic theory is not to be had: Fine's ‘non‐standard realism’ amounts to no more than a conceptual gesture. But instead of concluding that time does not pass, we should conclude that theories of passage cannot deliver the dynamicity of our intuitive picture. For this reason, a B‐theoretic account of passage that simply identifies passage with the succession of times is a serious contender.     

Why is the receipt of social support associated with increased psychological distress? an examination of three hypotheses

Abstract

Although there is a great deal of research linking social support with favourable psychological well-being outcomes a number of contradictory findings have been published showing support to be associated with increased psychological distress. These contrary findings arise when social support is measured as the receipt of supportive behavior rather than perceptions of support availability and quality. This paper examines three hypotheses that have been advanced to explain why the receipt of support is associated with distress. The first of these hypotheses (the support mobilisation hypothesis) argues that the relationship is a spurious one, and that it is a product of distressing circumstances which increase both support receipt and psychological distress. The other two hypotheses (the inequity hypothesis and the esteem threat hypothesis) both argue that receiving support actually causes distress. We tested these hypotheses in two samples. One sample was a group of individuals who reported having some form of disability (N = 106). the other sample was a 'healthy' comparison group (N = 134). Our analyses showed that in both groups the receipt of support was significantly and positively related to reports of anxiety, but not to reports of depression. Among the 'healthy' sample, controlling for subjects' sex largely explained the positive association between support receipt and anxiety. This was not the case among the 'disabled sample, where the inequity hypothesis received the strongest support. The implications of these findings for interventions based around the provision of social support are examined.     

Russia's Umma and its Muftis

Abstract

In December 2006, after years of debate, the Romanian parliament passed the country's first postcommunist law on religious freedom and the status of religious denominations. This article offers a detailed examination of the law's provisions, describes the context in which the norm was adopted, discusses the legal framework before the law's passage, and provides a short analysis of the law's reception in Romania.     

Poem as Proposition in the Analects: A Whiteheadian reading of a Confucian sensibility[1]

I suggest that ubiquitous references made by Confucius to poetic songs in the Analects reveal an important aspect of his philosophy. This aspect involves the assumption that things in the world “resonate” with one another. Using elements of Alfred North Whitehead's thought, as well as metaphysical insights from the Han Dynasty text, Huainanzi, I first present an aesthetic theory along with a supporting cosmological vision that enhances our appreciation of this trait in the Confucian world. With these preliminaries in mind, I approach the Analects itself. I will isolate the term xing, or “stimulation “, and demonstrate how this term allows us to understand the function of poetry for the early Confucians. I conclude that poetry was thought to behave much like what Whitehead called “propositions”, and that this function assumes a world with certain basic tendencies normally associated with Daoist cosmology.     

People vs God: The logic of ‘divine sovereignty' in Islamic democratic discourse

This paper aims at clarifying the role which the concept of 'divine sovereignty' plays in the discussions which are taking place among Islamic thinkers (and others) concerning the possibility of democracy in an Islamic context. It argues that 'sovereignty' has at least two meanings, one 'factual', the other 'normative'. The paper also argues that the second sense of 'sovereignty' allows us to construe talk of 'divine sovereignty' as an attempt by Islamic thinkers to go beyond the merely procedural views of democracy which focus on the familiar procedures of power contestation, election and accountability.     

Important dates in the life of Erich Fromm

Sándor Ferenczi's first paper (1908) on the subject of premature ejaculation - in its stress on the repercussions of the symptom itself in the other (in this case, the woman), rather than its unconscious significance or the patient's pathology - is an early signal of the ethical directions his future clinical work would take. Ferenczi - displaying a decidedly relational, not merely intrapsychic, orientation - underlines the peculiar idiosyncrasies of each partner in the couple and also the fact that any relationship worthy of the name must take place in conditions of mutual pleasure and advantage. In particular, Ferenczi strikes a blow for the ''legitimate'' needs of the weaker partner to whom the stronger must allow and offer mental space and voice by virtue of his knowledge and power. For the above reasons this first paper is a ''calling card'' which announces Ferenczi's later reflections on the specific affective qualities that may render the psychoanalytic environment non-traumatic, as well as his criticism of the narcissistic aspects of the analyst (one of the most important motives for subtle and hidden trauma), who views the work of interpretation as the product of a single mind (in my terms: a kind of colonisation and expropriation of the other) rather than as fruit of an encounter that would take into account both the unique characteristics of the partner as well as the rhythms appropriate to such a relationship.     

Large numbers,Knuth's arrow notation,and Ramsey theory

Synthese - In the children's book ``The Phantom Tollbooth'' by Norton Juster one can find the following passage: ``Yes, please,'' said Milo. ``Can you show me the biggest number...     

Stoic Conditionals,Necessity and Explanation

An examination of a particular passage in Cicero's De fato—Fat. 13–17—is crucial to our understanding of the Stoic theory of the truth-conditions of conditional propositions, for it has been uniquely important in the debate concerning the kind of connection the antecedent and consequent of a Stoic conditional should have to one another. Frede has argued that the passage proves that the connection is one of logical necessity, while Sorabji has argued that positive Stoic attitudes toward empirical inferences elsewhere suggest that that cannot be the right interpretation of the passage. I argue that both parties to the debate have missed a position somewhere between them which both renders a connection between antecedent and consequent that is not merely empirical and makes sense of the actual uses to which the Stoics put the conditional. This will be an account which grounds the connection between antecedent and consequent in a prolêpsis, a special kind of concept which plays a special epistemological role for the Stoics, especially in grounding scientific explanations. My contention will be that Stoic conditionals are true when there is a conceptually necessary connection between antecedent and consequent such that the former explains the latter via a prolêpsis     

FINDING AN APPROPRIATE ETHIC IN A WORLD OF MORAL ACQUAINTANCES

This paper discusses the possibility of finding an ethic of at least partial and perhaps ever-growing content in a world not that of moral strangers (where we have nothing except our desire to live freely to unite us) and one of moral friends (in which values, goals and ways of doing things are held in common). I argue that both the world of moral strangers which Engelhardt's world view would support, as the world of moral friends which is the one Pellegrino seeks both are untenable and that furthermore both can lead to a similar state of affairs. I suggest a dynamic world of moral acquaintances in which different belief systems and ways of doing things can come to some broad agreements about some essential thing. This is made possible because although we do not share the intimate framework Pellegrino might suggest, yet we are united by a much broader framework than the one moral strangers share.     

Seeking double personality: Nakamura Kokyō's work in abnormal psychology in early 20th-century Japan

This paper examines Nakamura Kokyō's study of a woman with a split personality who lived in his home as a maid from 1917 until her death in 1940. She was his indispensable muse and assistant in his efforts to promote abnormal psychology and psychotherapy. This paper first explores the central position of multiple personality in Nakamura's theory of the subconscious, which was largely based on the model of dissociation. It then examines how it became a central issue in Nakamura's disputes with religions including the element of spirit possession, which invoked Western psychical research to modernize their doctrines. While both were concerned with the subconscious and alterations in personality, Nakamura's psychological view was distinguished from those spiritual understandings by his emphasis on individual memories, particularly those that were traumatic, and hysteria. The remaining sections of the paper will examine Nakamura's views on memory and hysteria, which conflicted with both the academic mainstream and the established cultural beliefs. This conflict may partly explain the limited success of Nakamura's academic and social campaigns.     

Bruno Bettelheim and the concentration camps

The paper analyzes the circumstances under which Bruno Bettelheim's (1903–1990) well-known paper, “Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations” (1943) came to be written and discusses its central arguments. The authors compare Bettelheim's analysis of the Nazi concentration camps with the interpretations of other authors, particularly those who had experienced the camps themselves, and identify areas of divergence. They also note the later modifications Bettelheim introduced in his own theories on occasions when the original article was reprinted or revised. In conclusion, we investigate the ways in which Bettelheim's analysis of the camps has been received and cited by later scholars. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Why did he do it? attribution of obedience and the phenomenon of dispositional bias

Two studies are reported which demonstrate the influence of perceptual or ‘perspective’ variables in mediating attribution processes. In both studies subjects first observed a re-enactment of Milgram's (1963) experiment of obedience in which a ‘teacher’ obeys an experimenter's request to deliver dangerously high levels of shock. They were then asked to make judgements concerning the magnitude of situational forces acting upon the teacher and also to make inferences about his personality dispositions. Study I showed that passage of time can lead observers to assume more situational control when they were required to think and write about the witnessed re-enactment of the Milgram situation compared with observers who had no time to contemplate or who were prevented from doing so. Study II did not support the notion that focus of attribution is a simple function of what one pays attention to, or a function of the differing perspectives which actors and observers employ. Both of these results seriously challenge Jones and Nisbett's (1972) contention that the differences in attribution tendencies between actors and observers arise from the difference in perspective, Moreover, considerable evidence suggests that changes in situational and dispositional attributions may not follow a simple ‘zero-sum’ model, and that subjects seem to be unwilling to treat the two sources of control as if they were inversely correlated.