TOUCHING THE MIND OF GOD: PATRISTIC CHRISTIAN THOUGHT ON THE NATURE OF MATTER

This paper seeks to examine the nature of matter from an Orthodox Christian patristic perspective, specifically that of St. Gregory of Nyssa, and compare this with David Bohm's concept of wholeness and the implicate order. By examining the ramifications of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, the basic nature of matter as being rooted in the mind of God reveals itself, and furthermore shows that certain conceptions of quantum physics can provide language with which to give voice to this ancient view.     

THE PATIENT'S OBJECTS IN THE ANALYST'S MIND

In every analysis, the analyst develops an internal relationship with the patient's objects—that is, the people in the patient's life and mind. Sometimes these figures can inhabit the analyst's mind as a source of data, but at other times, the analyst may feel preoccupied with or even invaded by them. The author presents two clinical cases: one in which the seeming absence of a good object in the patient's mind made the analyst hesitate to proceed with an analysis, and another in which the patient's preoccupation with a “bad” object was shared and mirrored by the analyst's own inner preoccupation with the object. The use and experience of these two objects by the analyst are discussed with particular attention to the countertransference.     

THE MIND AND THE 'SHEN-MING'a IN XUNZI

In Plan 21 of the Xunzi , the essay Dubs titles The Removal of Prejudices¹ and Watson calls Dispelling Obsession², there is a sentence one's eyes slide over rather easily until one tries to fit it into its context and that of the Xunzi generally. Dubs translates it The mind is the ruler of the body and the master of the spirit (p. 269); Watson shows a slight discomfort with the second clause when he gives The mind is the ruler of the body and the master of its god-like intelligence [whatever that is] (p. 129) Koester³ raises a few more doubts with his Das Herz nimmt im Koerper die Stelle des Herrschers ein, es ist der Gebieter ueber die shen-ming (Geister, die im Koerper wohnen) (p. 277). Interestingly enough, the commentatorial tradition seems to have felt no difficulties: Yang Liang's comment is merely a paraphrase of the sentence following, and Wang Xian-jian and Liang Qi-xiong simply quote him⁴.     

历史教训值得记取——1958年心理学批判的剖析

为了实现我国社会主义现代化建设的宏伟目标,目前正在大抓战略中心的转移。如何端正思想路线,切实解决好历史上遗留下来和现存的一些重大理论和认识问题,是当前理论战线讨论的一个重要方面。 实践是检验真理的唯一标准,二十年来的心理学实践证明,1958年的心理学批判运动的方向和做法是错误的。作者试图做一初步的剖析,引起讨论,共同总结这段历史,     

IN SIGHT, OUT OF MIND:

Abstract— Models of human visual memory often presuppose an extraordinary ability to recognize and identify objects, based on evidence for nearly flawless recognition of hundreds or even thousands of pictures after a single presentation. (Ntckerson, 1965, Shepard, 1967, Standing, Conezto, & Haber, 1970) and for storage of tens of thousands of object representations over the course of a lifetime (Biederman, 1987). However, recent evidence suggests that observers often fail to notice dramatic changes occurring during eye movements (e g., Grimes, 1996). The experiments presented here show that immediate memory for object identity is surprisingly poor, especially when verbal labeling is prevented However, memory for the spatial configuration of objects remains excellent even with verbal interferes e suggesting a fundamental difference between representations of spatial configuration and object properties.     

成年个体的心理理论与执行功能

为了说明成年个体心理理论与执行功能的发展及两者的关系,在匹配了智商和教育水平条件下,采用心理理论故事理解任务、失言理解任务和威斯康星卡片分类任务分别探察了30名62~77岁的老年人和30名19~25岁青年人的心理理论和执行功能。结果表明,老年人和青年人在2种心理理论任务上的得分与卡片分类任务的得分都不存在显著相关,老年人在失言任务上的得分显著低于青年人,在心理理论故事理解任务上和威斯康星卡片分类任务上,老年人的表现与青年人没有显著差异。结合已有的研究结果提示：心理理论与执行功能的相关模式在成年和学前阶段是不同的。     

BELIEFS ABOUT EVOLUTION, MIND, NATURE, AND SOCIETY: EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH ERVIN LASZLO

Abstract. Fundamental questions arise in every age, questions such as those concerning the individual in society, social order, labor and exchange, meaning and ethics, and spiritual life and values. In addressing these questions Ervin Laszlo emphasizes insight and understanding, the mutability and flexibility of knowledge, cultural diversity and organizational interdependence, and harmony in nature. General Systems Theory and a theory of general evolution provide the framework for his thinking. He asks that as human beings we assume responsibility for creative, reasoned, ethically sound decisions in dealing with the inner and outer limits of humanity.     

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EVITABILITY IN NATURE

Assessing the current situation of the religion–science dialogue, it seems that a consensus of nonconsensus has been reached. This nonconsensus provides a pluralistic context for the religion and science dialogue, and one area where this plurality is clear is the discourse on relational models of God and creation. A number of interesting models have gained attention in contemporary theological dialogue with science, yet there is an overriding theme: an emphasis on God's involvement with the world. In this article, I argue that theology has been preoccupied with this emphasis. It is suggested that the theme of the freedom of nature has been underrepresented. This theme of the freedom of nature I argue carries important theological implications. It is suggested that acts or events gain their significance largely by way of being contextualized by the fact that such acts or events could have been otherwise, a realization that might provide the various relational models of God and the world food for thought.     

CHANGE AND THE ETERNAL PART OF THE MIND IN SPINOZA

Spinoza insists that we can during the course of our lives increase that part of the mind that is constituted by knowledge, but he also calls that part of the mind its eternal part. How can what is eternal increase? I defend an interpretation on which there is a sense in which the eternal part of the mind can become greater without changing intrinsically at all.     

HUMANITY IN NATURE: CONSERVING YET CREATING

Abstract. Developing a scientifically grounded philosophy of cosmic evolution, and using the moral norm of completeness as dynamic harmony, this paper argues that humans are a part of nature in both its conserving and emergent aspects. Humans are both material and cultural, instinctual-emotional and rational, creatures and creators, and carriers of stability and change. To ignore any of the multifaceted aspects of humanity in relation to the rest of nature is to commit one of a number of fallacies that are grounded in a dualistic-conquest mentality. Examples of some new developments in philosophy and theology, metaphorical images, and ritual show how to overcome dualism in favor of a dynamic harmony of humanity within nature.     

THE EXTENDED MIND

The extended mind is the thesis that some mental—typically cognitive—processes are partly composed of operations performed by cognizing organisms on the world around them. The operations in question are ones of manipulation, transformation, or exploitation of environmental structures. And the structures in question are ones that carry information pertinent to the success or efficacy of the cognitive process in question. This essay examines the thesis of the extended mind and evaluates the arguments for and against it.