Borders,Tensegrity and Development in Dialogue

In this article we propose a development of the Dialogical Self Theory by introducing the notions of borders, cogenetic logic and tensegrity that we have elaborated during the last 5 years, in order to introduce a stronger developmental and dynamic perspective within the theory. We start from the discussion of some recent advancements of the model proposed by Hermans et al. (Integrative Psychological and Behavioural Science, 51(4), 2017), who refer to the metaphor of democratic society of the Self to understand the challenges and possible directions of adaptation that the persons can face in those border-crossing processes characterizing contemporary western societies. We conceptualized the Self as a dynamic semiotic system in constant evolutive tension, rather than a system in equilibrium adapting to the environmental changing conditions. Then, we propose to replace the concept of stability and continuity of the Self with the more fruitful idea of tensional integrity.     

Life,Joy, and Love: Together towards Life in Dialogue with Evangelii Gaudium and The Cape Town Commitment

This article offers reflections on key themes and missiological significances of the WCC's Together towards Life in dialogue with the other evangelical and Roman Catholic documents, specifically, Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium and the Lausanne Movement's Cape Town Commitment. Organizing his reflections around the significant words in each document – life, joy, and love – as well as other meaningful and powerful words that arise in analysis, the author finds that these three new mission statements cover much of the same ground and are quite complementary, with concern for the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, and the forgotten and disregarded playing a central role in all of them. The article concludes that it is important to study these three documents together, as each has the potential to be a friendly yet challenging ecumenical dialogue partner to the others.     

Dialogue in the Context of Development

Interfaith dialogue is much more than an intellectual activity of learning about and witnessing to the different religious convictions of the partners involved. Genuine dialogue often takes place in actual life situations. Thrown together into the common struggles of life, dialogue between people of different religious convictions becomes an inevitable way of life. Here is an illustration of such dialogue from Sri Lanka. In a deeply divided nation, facing many contradictions in its social and economic life, there are groups of people — Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims — committed to human development and, within that commitment, living in dialogue with one another. This is an abridged version of a paper entitled “How do we live the gospel today?” In the introductory part of the paper, not included here, the authors deal with the ashram tradition and the earlier movements in Sri Lanka for indigenization and development within the churches. The concluding sections have also been left out for reasons of space.     

Development and Environment: in Dialogue with Liberation Theology

There was indeed a time when Environment and Development were not on speaking terms…Those who loved the environment regarded those who championed progress and 'development' as the enemy, and those who wanted to develop the poorest peoples and nations felt that much of the 'environment would have to be sacrificed in this worthwhile endeavour.¹     

宗教与全球发展:一种对话路径

宗教与全球发展成为当代社会的一个重要议题,一个标志在于联合国千禧年发展目标的提出及世界宗教和精神领袖千禧年和平高峰会议。其中,由前世界银行行长及当时的坎特伯雷大主教联合发起的世界信仰发展对话,即为推动类似目标的一个重要机构。发展的目的在于人。贫困不仅包括物质的层面,也包括精神的层面。全球经济的发展需要一种伦理和价值的支撑。文化应该作为一种创新机制,参与并影响全球发展的过程。在中国,宗教是建设社会主义和谐社会的重要因素。中共十七大明确指出,要发挥宗教在社会经济发展中的重要作用。十七届六中全会则明确提出文化体制改革的目标。随着中国改革开放的进一步深入,中国对世界的影响日益加强,文化和精神的维度在社会发展和国家建设方面将扮演更重要的作用。中国模式也将对世界论坛的讨论产生一定影响。     

Dialectics and the Transcendence of Dialectics: Adorno's Relation to Schelling

The influence of the thought of the great German Idealist philosopher G.W.F Hegel on the thought of Theodor Adorno, the leading thinker of the first generation of the Frankfurt School, is unmistakeable, and has been the subject of much commentary. Much less discussed, however, is the influence of Hegel's prominent contemporary, F.W.J. Schelling. This article investigates the influence of Schelling on Adorno, and the sometimes striking parallels between fundamental motifs in the work of both thinkers. It argues that Adorno's critique of Hegelian (and indeed of his own, negative) dialectics, his conception of the relation between nature and spirit, and his philosophy of history (amongst other aspects of this thought) owe a considerable debt to Schelling. Furthermore, when adequately explicated, Schelling's position on a range of problems which confronted German Idealist philosophy often prove intrinsically preferable to those of Hegel.     

北风与太阳的对话:科普宣传要讲究方法——关于科学与无神论宣传的对话之四

申:看来,“对科学的迷信也是迷信“这类说法确实不妥.“科学并非万能“的说法,从理论上并没有什么错,在我国当前形势下这样强调出来却易招致误读,效果不佳.……     

Tymieniecka,Anna-Teresa and Evandro Agazzi,eds., Life: Interpretation and the Sense of Illness within the Human Condition: Medicine and Philosophy in Dialogue

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

Reconstructing Paul Tillich's Anthropology: Multidimensional Life in Dialogue with Feminist Process Theology

Abstract: Influenced by feminist process theology, this article offers a difference‐oriented reconstruction of Paul Tillich's anthropology. The first section analyzes Tillich's anthropological reductionism at the “basis”(Grund ) of his unity‐oriented binary ontology and epistemology. The second section discloses Tillich's “reverse‐dynamics,” co‐present beside and despite of his anthropological “basis.” This concept of reverse‐dynamics prepares a new, pneumatologically and christologically deepened, “ground”(Grund ) for personhood and life as multidimensional.     

Tom, Huck, and Oliver Stone as advocates in Kohlberg's just community: theory-based strategies for moral education

Kohlberg's studies of moral reasoning provide a good theoretical framework for describing the developmental process that may serve as the basis for programs of moral education for adolescents. Kohlberg viewed moral education, particularly during adolescence, as the stimulation of the natural developmental process which leads to mature moral reasoning. Building on Kohlberg's work, specifically his concept of the just community approach where the teacher and more advanced peers serve as advocates of mature moral reasoning, this article presents the educator with a theoretical rationale for implementing procedures that can foster moral development. A case is made for using contemporary films and literature as mechanisms for stimulating moral development among adolescents.     

Globalization,Redemption, and the Dialectics of Courage

This essay explores forms of religious narrative that shape self-understanding and engagement with the world through the idea of redemption. An analysis of the landscape of religious perspectives within the context of globalization shows a bifurcation between competing notions of redemption in fundamentalist and postmodern narratives. Where fundamentalism uses meta-narrative that is hyper-theistic, postmodernism uses contextual narratives that deconstruct narrative and can lose a sense of the transcendent. The purpose of the essay is to show how these two competing notions can become entrenched and destructive to the very redemption they seek. Using Paul Tillich’s understanding of courage, these positions are placed into a dialectical tension that points to a third understanding of redemption as the perpetual mediation between the desire for belonging to a community and the desire to recognize the limitations of any individual or community’s perspective and understanding of the world in relationship to the holy.     

Disability,Dialogue, and the Posthuman

This article is the result of a mutual interest in the radical philosophical dialogue discussed by Martin Buber. The radical dialogue is rooted in western European values of humanism, values that are challenged because they exclude women, people with disabilities, non-western, indigenous people and sexual minorities. With our basis in radical dialogue we are discussing flaws within the very concept of dialogue, how dialogue is challenged in encounters between people with severe disabilities and their helpers, and we are proposing a new interpretation of dialogue in a posthuman area. To illuminate what might be at stake in relations where power is clearly imbalanced we use Pierre Bourdieus theory of the gift when asking ourselves: “How can we understand dialogue when there apparently is one dominant giver and one receiver unable to return the gift?” Discussing this question, we draw on Rosi Braidotti and her Posthuman Critical Theory to see if we can find new grounds to build dialogue on.