Avowal under oppression

Leading expressivist proposals characterize the mental state expressed in the making of a normative judgment solely in terms of intrinsic, psychological dispositions. As a result, they fail to capture a subset of the normative judgments that agents can and do make; they miss the way that external factors can influence what the making of a normative judgment looks like. This problem can be seen most plainly in the context of systemic oppression. Intuitively, one can make a normative judgment that conflicts with the oppressive ideas one has previously been conditioned to endorse, but expressivism seems to deny that this is possible. The expressivist's inability to count these avowals made under oppression as genuine normative judgments makes expressivism deficient as a metaethical theory.     

Activity,Passivity, and Normative Avowal

The idea that agents can be active with respect to some of their actions, and passive with respect to others, is a widely held assumption within moral philosophy. But exactly how to characterize these notions is controversial. I argue that an agent is active just in case (A) her action is one whose motive she can truly avow as reason‐giving, or (B) her action is one whose motive she can disavow, provided her disavowal effects appropriate modifications in her future motives. This view maintains a link between activity, reason‐responsiveness, and answerability, while avoiding commitments to an implausible theory of motivation.     

Freedom, Unfreedom and Skinner's Hobbes

In an array of writings stretching over the better part of two decades, Quentin Skinner has repeatedly challenged the modern conception of negative liberty developed by Isaiah Berlin and many other theorists. He has sought to draw attention to some once vibrant but now largely peripheral traditions of thought—especially the civic-republican or neo-Roman tradition—in order to highlight what he sees as the limitedness and inadequacies of the currently dominant ways of thinking about freedom. The present essay will endeavor to defend one important aspect of the modern understanding of negative liberty against Skinner's strictures, and will challenge Skinner's reading of Thomas Hobbes.     

Beauvoir on Women's Complicity in Their Own Unfreedom

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir argues that women are often complicit in reinforcing their own unfreedom. But why women become complicit remains an open question. The aim of this article is to offer a systematic analysis of complicity by focusing on the Heideggerian strands of Beauvoir's account. I begin by evaluating Susan James's interpretation of complicity qua republican freedom, which emphasizes the dependent situation of women as the primary cause of their complicity. I argue that James's analysis is compelling as far as it goes, but that it implies complicity is the inevitable outcome of women's current existence and fails to adequately account for Beauvoir's claim that women actively embrace their own unfreedom. I then draw out the Heideggerian strands of Beauvoir's analysis, demonstrating how this enables us to systematize Beauvoir's account of women's oppressive situation with her claims regarding the active role women can play in reinforcing their own unfreedom. I argue that this approach preserves the strengths of the republican interpretation, but provides a better account of cases where complicity may not be inevitable and yet some women still act to reinforce rather than resist their own unfreedom.     

Seeing and hearing and space and space and time

A previous experiment had shown spatial location to be judged in terms of the framework provided by the modality in which stimuli were presented. In the present study, digits were either auditorally or visually presented, and in either form the three digits appeared successivly to the left, in the center, and to the right of the S. The digit which occurred temporally in the middle of the sequence was never central from the spatial viewpoint. The S was asked to indicate which digit was the middle one. Ss were blind, deaf, or normal. The deaf and two control groups saw visual displays, and the blind and their controls heard auditory displays. The former groups predominantly chose the spatially middle digit and the latter groups the temporally middle. It was concluded that modality of presentation was the trigger which switched in the coding dimension of time or space.     

Bob and Carol and Tess and Ali

Conflicting religious experiences in different traditions do not necessarily defeat the rationality of conflicting beliefs sustained by those experiences in those traditions. The circularity that protects religious beliefs from such mutual defeat is not vicious. Moreover, the lack of ‘epistemological humility’ exhibited by such believers poses no threat to world peace. In fact, a campaign for compulsory humility would itself constitute a much greater threat.     

Law and Gospel,and Youth and Family Ministry

Abstract : If “faith comes through hearing” the word of God comprised in law and gospel, how do the imperatives that characterize ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ make such hearing possible? Here, literature delineating ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ is analyzed in light of its biblical foundations. The primary lens implemented in this analysis is the law/gospel hermeneutic advocated by Martin Luther and other reformers.     

Extremes of self-esteem and narcissism and the experience and expression of anger and aggression

This study examined the level of self-esteem and narcissism as personality variables involved in the disposition to experience and express anger. Three hundred thirty-eight subjects were sampled across two higher education centres and one student teaching programme in the United Kingdom. It was reasoned that individuals with both high self-esteem and narcissism would report especially high tendencies to experience and express anger and aggression and that those with high self-esteem and low narcissism would report the lowest. These predictions were influenced by theories that emphasise the role of threats to high self-esteem in the production of aggression and violence. Results indicate that groups defined by their extreme scores on self-esteem and narcissism scales produced levels of anger expression in the predicted direction. The importance of considering extreme levels of self-esteem and narcissism (in conjunction with other factors) in an analysis of anger is discussed with reference to currently influential theories in the field. Aggr. Behav. 24:421–438, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Perversion and infancy and adolescence

Abstract

Studying the works of Freud and Lacan, the authors carried out research on perversion in childhood. Their work covered the perverse polymorphism of infantile sexuality and the perception of the anatomic difference between the sexes that leads the child to create sexual theories and fantasies. The phallic mother and the fetish are viewed as imaginary solutions directly related to the Oedipus and castration complexes. In perversion, a particular position is taken in relation to the Oedipus complex: a serious flaw occurs in the symbolization of the law, and the mechanisms of denial and disavowal take form. Sexuality requires a second “logical time,” separated from infancy by the latency period, in order to confirm (in action) that a fixed position of jouissance (enjoyment) has actually been established. This can only happen in a period after adolescent enhancement. The distinction between perverse traces and a perverse structure is made, taking into account the fact that, in the case of child analysis, the analyst should free the child from the family fantasy and help him/her to build his/her own fantasy.

Campos Santoro V. et al. Perversion und Kindheit und Adoleszenz.

Im Studium der Arbeiten von Freud und Lacan haben die Autoren Forschung über Perversion in der Kindheit gemacht. Die Studien behandeln den perversen Polymorphismus der infantilen Sexualität und die Wahrnehmung des anatomischen Unterschiedes zwischen den Geschlechtern, welche das Kind dazu führt, Sexual-Theorien und Phatasien zu schaffen.

Die phallische Mutter und der Fetisch werden als imaginäre Lösungen angesehen, die sich direkt auf den Ödipus- und Kastrations-Komplex beziehen. Bei der Perversion wird eine besondere Position in Bezug auf den Ödipus angenommen; ein ernsthafter Mangel tritt bei der Symbolisierung des Rechts auf; die Mechanismen der Verneinung und der Verleugnung bilden sich. Sexualität erfordert eine zweite “logische Zeit”, von der Kindheit durch die Latenz Periode getrennt, um (in der Handlung) zu bestätigen, daß eine fixierte Position der jouissance (Vergnügung) sich tatsächlich etabliert hat. Das kann sich nur in einer Periode nach der adoleszenten Verstärkung ereignen.

Es wird die Unterscheidung zwischen perversen Spuren und einer perversen Struktur gemacht, in Rechnung stellend, daß im Fall der Kinder-Analyse der Analytiker das Kind von der Familien-Phantasie befreien sollte und ihm/ihr helfen sollte, seine/ihre Phantasie auszubilden.

Campos Santoro V. Perversión e infancia y adolescencia.

Estudiando los trabajos de Freud y Lacan, los autores han investigado la perversión en la niñez. Los estudios cubren la sexualidad infantil perversa polimorfa y la percepción de la diferencia anatómica entre los sexos, que llevan al niño a crear teorías sexuales y fantasías.

La madre fálica y el fetiche son vistos como soluciones imaginarias relacionadas directamente con el complejo de Edipo y de castración. La perversión, toma una posición particular en relación al Edipo; un fallo importante tiene lugar en la simbolización de la ley; los mecanismos de negación y repudio toman forma. La sexualidad requiere un segundo “tiempo lógico” separado de la infancia por el periodo de latencia, para confirmar (en acto) que una posición fija de jouissance (goce) se ha establecido. Esto solo puede ocurrir en un periodo posterior a la intensificación adolescente.

La distinción entre las huellas perversas y la estructura perversa se ha hecho, teniendo en cuenta que, en el caso del análisis de niños, el analista debe librar al niño de la fantasía familiar y ayudar a el/ella a construir su propia fantasía.     

Dance and psychotherapy--possibilities and limits

From a starting point of therapeutic and prophylactic components identifiable in the dance, the authors regard the dance as deserving of greater attention than was hitherto the case in programs of physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and sociotherapy. From the existing essays at a therapy basing on body and motion, they infer basic common points, and to promote discussion, they state their attitudes in respect of the potential and rank of the dance in the concept of complex multimodal psychotherapy.     

神圣、凡俗与净明、忠孝

本文结合有关宗教学理论,对宋元净明道所推崇的"净明"、"忠孝"概念进行了解析.作者以为:宋元净明道视世俗性的道德实践为"神圣"的宗教修炼,实与宗教学中的凡俗可以"转换"为神圣之理论相合;而净明道徒的这种"转换",则多与其个体的"宗教体验"有关.至于元代净明道借"无极"概念来释"净明",以"净明"为回复宇宙根源之境界,则合于宗教人经验到与万物的根源、终极的本体或神圣的世界契合之感.换言之,宋元净明道的"净明"、"忠孝"说,实与各种宗教的本质有着相通之处.     

Spirituality and Religiosity and Its Role in Health and Diseases

Religiosity is a factor involved in the management of health and diseases/patient longevity. This review article uses comprehensive, evidence-based studies to evaluate the nature of religiosity that can be used in clinical studies, thus avoiding contradictory reports which arise from misinterpretation of religiosity. We conclude that religiosity is multidimensional in nature and ultimately associated with inherent protection against diseases and overall better quality of life. However, a number of untouched aspects of religiosity need to be investigated further before we can introduce religiosity in its fully functional form to the realm of health care.     

Yin and Yang,and the Hot and the Cold

Yin and Yang are important concepts in ancient Chinese philosophy.Western scholars have become more familiar with these two concepts recently,but for a long time almost no one considered comparing them with their own tradition such as the ancient Greek philosophy,and especially with the ideas of the Hot and the Cold in Presocratic philosophy.In this paper,I make an attempt to do exactly that,and especially make a detailed comparison between the thoughts of two ancient thinkers:Laozi and Anaximander.I discuss the thought of Yin and Yang in Laozi-who was the earliest philosopher making use of the concepts Yin and Yang-to express his cosmological thought in ancient Chinese philosophy.Comparatively,I discuss the ideas of the Hot and the Cold in Anaximander,the earlier among Presocratic philosophers referring to the Hot and the Cold as fundamental concepts used to establish his cosmological system.Through this comparison,I indicate that the similarity between ancient Chinese and Western traditions is far more significant than what people are used to imagining.     

Midline and off-midline tongue and right- and left-hand vibrotactile thresholds of stutterers and normal-speaking individuals

Vibrotactile thresholds for 7 male stutterers and 7 normal-speaking men (age range for both groups = 19 to 32 yr.) were obtained from the right, midline, and left sides of the lingual dorsum, and the thenar eminences of both hands. The stutterers showed slightly higher (less sensitive) mean thresholds than the normal speakers for all three lingual test sites. This was not the case for the thresholds obtained from both hands. The preliminary data suggest that oral peripheral sensory integrity might be somewhat different for stutterers than for normal-speaking individuals.     

Relations and Dissociations between Appraisal and Emotion Ratings of Reasonable and Unreasonable Anger and Guilt

Recent studies have used self-report methods to defend a close associative or causal connection between appraisal and emotion. The present experiments used similar procedures to investigate remembered experiences of reasonable and unreasonable anger and guilt, and of nonemotional other-blame and selfblame. Results suggest that the patterns of appraisal reported for reasonable examples of emotions and for situations where there is a near absence of emotion may be highly similar, but that both may differ significantly from the appraisal profiles reported for unreasonable examples of the same emotions. Further, relevant appraisals were not always identified by participants as the most influential determinants of guilt and anger. These findings demonstrate either that the relationship between certain appraisals and emotions is less consistent than implied in some contemporary versions of appraisal theory, or that there are problems with the validity of existing questionnaire-based measures of the variables in question.     

Status and solidarity in social comparison: agentic and communal values and vertical and horizontal directions

Social comparison involves positioning the self relative to others on a vertical or status dimension (ranging from upward to downward comparisons) and a horizontal or solidarity dimension (ranging from contrastive to connective comparisons). Across 3 studies in which 389 undergraduates recorded everyday social comparisons (n = 4,417), downward and connective comparisons were rated as more helpful and mood enhancing than upward and contrastive comparisons. The effects of horizontal comparisons were greater for people for whom solidarity was an important value; however, the effects of vertical comparisons were not greater for people who valued status. The roles of the comparison target, topic, and situation were also explored; for example, noticing undesirable features of the target enhanced status but undermined solidarity.