THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN LIFE: ISLAMIC BIOETHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Abstract. In January 1985, about 80 Muslim religious scholars and biomedical scientists gathered in a symposium held in Kuwait to discuss the broad question “When does human life begin?” This article argues that this symposium is one of the milestones in the field of contemporary Islamic bioethics and independent legal reasoning (Ijtihād). The proceedings of the symposium, however, escaped the attention of academic researchers. This article is meant to fill in this research lacuna by analyzing the proceedings of this symposium, the relevant subsequent developments, and finally the interplay of Islam and the West as a significant dimension in these discussions.     

CHRISTIAN AND BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVES ON NEURO PSYCHOLOGY AND THE HUMAN PERSON: PNEUMA AND PRATITYASAMUTPADA

Abstract. Recent discussions of the mind‐brain and the soul‐body problems have been both advanced and complexified by the cognitive sciences. I focus explicitly here on emergence, supervenience, and nonreductive physicalist theories of human personhood in light of recent advances in the Christian‐Buddhist dialogue. While traditional self and no‐self views pitted Christianity versus Buddhism versus science, I show how the nonreductive physicalist proposal regarding human personhood emerging from the neuroscientific enterprise both contributes to and is enriched by the Christian concept of pneuma (spirit) and the Buddhist concept of pratityasamutpada (codependent origination).     

HUMAN LIFE AND CULTURE: DYNAMIC COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEMS

Abstract. Contemporary humanity—especially urban-industrial civilization with its domination of nature—is disturbing complex, integrated, self-regulating systems that have evolved over long periods of time. We are threatening not only biological ecosystems but also human self-regulating capabilities at both the biological and the social-systems levels. This paper presents examples of such disturbance both in the organism—respiratory-cardiovascular problems related to environmental pollution-and at the population level—rates of infant mortality and relations between fertility and mortality in light of economic and emotional factors. Prospects for our future survival and flourishing are thus linked less to technical know-how than to ecological understanding.     

THE END OF NEO-LIBERALISM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF INTEGRAL ECONOMICS

A burgeoning policy shift from neo-liberal economics is underway, with leadership by presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). His platform positions stem in part from his negative experiences with neo-liberalism when he was Mayor of Cleveland more than 30 years ago. Although his response as Mayor was based on confrontation politics, examples of community-based economies built on collaborative planning, ownership, and management have since become more widely known. We can now show that the successful Grameen Bank and the Mondragon Cooperatives were constructed on principles consistent with Integral Science.     

MENTAL FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF THE LOVING HEART: FREE WILL AND BUDDHIST MEDITATION

In Buddhism, Meditation and Free Will: A Theory of Mental Freedom, Rick Repetti explains how the dynamics of Buddhist meditation can result in a kind of metacognition and metavolitional control that exceeds what is required for free will and defeats the most powerful forms of free will skepticism. This article argues that although the Buddhist path requires and enhances the kind of mental and volitional control Repetti describes, the central dynamic of the path and meditation is better understood as a process of habituation. This not only involves the dis-identification from mental and emotional content that Repetti discusses—and is commonly emphasized in modern presentations of mindfulness or insight (vipassanā) meditation—but also a transformation of the heart that is effected through the complementary psychological and somatic qualities associated with calm abiding (samatha) and concentration (samādhi) and emphasized in the Pali Nikāyas and commentaries.     

UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING ADOLESCENT DATING VIOLENCE: THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENTAL, SOCIOCULTURAL, AND GENDERED PERSPECTIVES

The three articles in this special section on the development of adolescent dating violence provide important insights that can help shape future research and theory. Several common themes emerged. The roots of adolescent dating violence are broad and deep; thus, developmental and sociocultural perspectives are necessary to adequately understand this phenomenon. Adolescent dating violence is deeply gendered and requires that researchers make gender a centerpiece of their theorizing. These two insights lead to the conclusion that prevention efforts must start early, be broad based, and include gender in a fundamental way. In addition, longitudinal and ecological approaches hold the most promise for future research.     

THE EFFECTS OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT POLICIES ON REACTIONS TO HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN INTEGRATION OF PRIVACY AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE PERSPECTIVES

The goal of the present study was to extend research on information privacy and fairness by examining these constructs within the context of human resource information systems. Using a 2 × 2 experimental design and data from 124 employed subjects in an organization that was in the process of developing a human resource information system, the present study examined the main and interactive effects of policies concerning ability to authorize disclosure (ability to authorize vs. no ability to authorize) and target of disclosure (internal to the organization vs. external to the organization) on invasion of privacy perceptions and fairness perceptions. Results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that the independent variables had main and interactive effects on both fairness perceptions and invasion of privacy perceptions. Moreover, a confirmatory factor analysis suggested that invasion of privacy perceptions and fairness perceptions are distinct constructs. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

THE "OPEN COUNTRY WHOSE NAME IS PRAYER": APOPHASIS, DECONSTRUCTION, AND CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE

While much has been written on the dialogue between postmodernism and the Christian apophatic tradition, there has been little focus on the role of what lies at the heart of this tradition: the practice of contemplation. By looking at contemplative authors such as Evagrius Ponticus and others, this article shows that contemplative practice, situated in a life of contemplation, relates closely to postmodernism's critique of ontotheology. Contemplative practice deconstructs the epistemologically constituted self that knows itself as knowing and God as known (to paraphrase Mary‐Jane Rubenstein).