Evolutionary economics of mental time travel?

What is the function of our capacity for 'mental time travel'? Evolutionary considerations suggest that vivid memory and imaginative foresight may be crucial cognitive devices for human decision making. Our emotional engagement with past or future events gives them great motivational force, which may counter a natural tendency towards time discounting and impulsive, opportunistic behavior. In this view, whereas simple episodic memory provides us with a store of relevant, case-based information to guide decisions, mental time travel nudges us towards more restrained choices, which in the long term are advantageous, especially so given human dependence on cooperation and coordination.     

“My Family Would Crucify Me!”: The Perceived Influence of Social Pressure on Cross-Cultural and Interfaith Dating and Marriage

The present study examined the perceived influence of parental and social pressure on individuals’ perceptions regarding cross-cultural and interfaith dating and marriage. The questions of interest were: (1) What is the influence of parental attitudes towards interfaith and cross-cultural relationships? (2) How do the participants feel it impacts upon them? And lastly, (3) How do the participants predict they will respond to their children’s choice of such relationships? Fifty-five university students with diverse backgrounds participated in this study. The findings indicate that the majority of the participants were influenced by the social pressure put upon them. Moreover, the participants perceived the previous generation as “racist”. However, interestingly there are signs of a generational attitude shift. Finally, the findings show that over 80 % of the participants did not want to interfere in their children’s partner selection. The remaining 20 % were against interfaith and cross-cultural dating and marriages.     

The Market for Bodily Parts: Kant and duties to oneself

ABSTRACT The demand for bodily parts such as organs is increasing, and individuals in certain circumstances are responding by offering parts of their bodies for sale. Is there anything wrong in this? Kant had arguments to suggest that there is, namely that we have duties towards our own bodies, among which is the duty not to sell parts of them. Kant's reasons for holding this view are examined, and found to depend on a notion of what is intrinsically degrading. Rom Harré's recent revision of Kant's argument, in terms of an obligation to preserve the body's organic integrity, is considered. Harré's view does not rule out all acts of selling, but he too ultimately depends on a test of what is intrinsically degrading. Both his view and Kant's are rejected in favour of a view which argues that it does make sense to speak of duties towards our own bodies, grounded in the duty to promote the flourishing of human beings, including ourselves. This provides a reason for opposing the sale of bodily parts, and the current trend towards the market ethic in health care provision.     

Eschatological companions: Christian hope in virtual worlds

ABSTRACT

The Christian faith is oriented around the hope that is found in the birth, life, death, resurrection and return of Jesus Christ, and this hope shapes Christian understandings of being human and human flourishing. What then might this Christian hope have to say about our technological developments and, in particular, how those shape our reflection on being human? Moreover, how do the various virtual worlds that we inhabit in continuity with our physical environment shape our thinking on bodies, gender, sexuality, identity and relationships? This article adds constructive theological reflection on technologically shape virtual worlds through the lens of Christian hope, moving beyond only eschatological dimensions to focus also on technological narratives of purpose and novelty and theological thinking around humanity, Christology and salvation. It is our contention that Christian hope provides a unifying theme for fruitful theological reflection on virtual worlds and our lives within them.     

Beliefs and Experiences of Bereaved Teenagers: some spiritual and moral issues

When people die it is quite common for the bereaved to think about where they have gone and to maintain links with them in some way. Traditional Christian beliefs about ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ may be revised and other ideas about spiritual continuity are often explored. This article will discuss responses from 94 11‐17‐year‐olds (38 males/56 females) regarding circumstances of and reasons given for a death; explanations and support; religious affiliation and belief in God; answers to the question ‘Why do people die?’ and ‘What happens after death?'; experiences of having a sense of the presence of the deceased; and personal qualities, attitudes towards other people and views of life. It will conclude by reassessing some of the moral and spiritual issues raised.     

Puerto Rican youth speaks out: SOME QUOTATIONS

In April 1971 11 lively and perceptive Puerto Rican young people met with guest editor Uvaldo Palomares for a discussion. Nine of the young people were in high school and two were enrolled in universities in the New York City area. All of them were involved in the Aspira Club Federation¹, whose aim is to enlighten and encourage Puerto Rican students to attain the educational level to which they aspire. First Palomares explained to the group that he was preparing a special issue of this journal and would like their opinions about counselors. Then he asked them to respond to the following questions: (a) Are there problems that are special to the Puerto Rican? What do you think is the present situation? (b) What are some positive characteristics of Puerto Ricans that counselors and teachers usually don't know about? (c) Why don't counselors or teachers generally recognize these things? (d) What can they do to overcome this problem? What follows here are frank, forthright responses relating to a great variety of concerns, from culture and stereotyping to poverty and tokenism. The interview has been edited by Geraldine Palomares, who is a consultant at the Human Development Training Institute in San Diego.     

Do pastoral counselors have a duty to report clergy sexual abuse done by their clergy clients?

What does a pastoral counselor do when a clergy client reveals that he or she has been sleeping with a parishioner? Does the counselor have an ecclesiastical duty to report this offense to a church official; or does the pledge of confidentiality trump any disclosure? Some ecclesiastical bodies require their clergy to bring knowledge of these offenses to church authorities. Does this requirement apply to pastoral counselors? The authors have been confronted with these questions in their ministry of pastoral counseling and have struggled with producing a faithful, professional response. Along the way they have not received clear direction from judicatories or professional organizations. This article is the authors' attempt to answer the questions raised above as well as to challenge professional and ecclesiastical bodies to confront more forthrightly the dilemmas these situations cause for pastoral counselors who seek to protect the welfare of the Church as well as protect the pledge to maintain confidentiality.     

A Plea against Apologies

What, if anything, gives us the right to ask the victim of our wrongdoing for forgiveness? After some conceptual clarifications, I attempt to lay open a paradoxical structure in apologies. Apologies are made in a spirit of humility: if the offender recognizes his guilt, he will see the victim?s negative emotions towards him as proper and justified. Nevertheless, by begging for forgiveness, he tries to change the victim?s negative feelings towards him. Thus, by apologizing, the offender tries to bring about a state of affairs which, if genuinely repentant and remorseful, he has no reason to want to bring about. In what follows, I examine various attempts to dissolve this paradox. These include offering reasons for apologies that are independent of our wish to alter the victim?s feeling of resentment and construing apologies as expressive or as mixed speech acts. All of these attempts, or so I argue, fail. Some of them fail to provide justificatory reasons for asking for forgiveness, others fall short of explaining why apologies can be accepted or rejected, still others cannot give a convincing account of the relation between remorse and asking for forgiveness or fail to distinguish between redressing a harm and redressing a moral wrong. The upshot of the argument is that an offender who recognizes his own guilt has no rational reason for asking for forgiveness. In many cases, not offering one?s apologies is a sign of taking guilt seriously.     

A primer on PRO (and other empty categories)

GB phrase markers are populated with empty categories that are hard to detect using current psycholinguistic techniques. What implications does this have for a grammatical theory that postulates them? How might these psycholinguistic facts be accommodated? Some modest proposals are offered for further consideration.     

Icy roads and urban environments. Passenger experiences in autonomous vehicles in Finland

This study focused on identifying customerś real-life experiences, perceptions and feelings about travelling in different autonomous vehicles and in various operating conditions in Finland in 2018. Quantitative convenience sample (n = 141) were collected from passengers travelling on an autonomous shuttle bus in Helsinki. Qualitative data (n = 70) were gathered by interviewing passengers of a driverless shuttle bus in Helsinki and passengers of an autonomous car in winter conditions in Lapland. This research was first one which included passengers’ real-life experiences after using autonomous vehicles in winter conditions. We applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The research questions were (a) What beliefs about outcomes and evaluation of outcomes do passengers have and carry out when they travel in an autonomous vehicle, irrespective of vehicle type or operating conditions? (b) What key factors influence people’s positive or negative attitudes towards autonomous vehicles? (c) What key factors could induce people to use autonomous vehicles? The quantitative data were analysed by nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis H test and qualitative data by inductive content analysis. According to the results, trust, safety and security were the main factors influencing people’s positive attitudes towards using autonomous vehicles. Results from passengers travelling in heavy winter conditions indicate that winter conditions do not significantly influence passengers’ attitudes towards using autonomous vehicles. There were no significant differences between gender regarding passengers’ perceptions of traffic safety, personal security and emergency management. However, younger passengers felt their personal security on board to be significantly better than older and students their possibilities to act in a case of emergency significantly better than employed people.     

Please May I Have a Bike? Better Yet, May I Have a Hug? An Examination of Children’s and Adolescents’ Happiness

Academic research on children’s and adolescents’ happiness has been slow to develop. This research provides an empirical investigation to answer the question, “What makes children and adolescents happy?” We explore this question in two studies with a total of 300 participants ages 8–18. Study 1 asks participants to answer the open-ended question, “What makes me happy?” There were five emergent themes—“people and pets,” “achievements,” “material things,” “hobbies,” and “sports”. Study 2 also asks participants to answer the question, “What makes me happy?”, but uses two different measures (a semi-structured thought listing task and a collage task). Using three different happiness measures, we found consistent age differences in what children perceive to make them happy.     

What does Mr. Tennessen mean,and what should I say?

Referring to Professor Tennessen's article “What Should We Say?”; (Inquiry, vol. 2 (1959), pp. 265–90), Mr. Stigen argues that Tennessen fails to distinguish between the speech situation of the speaker and that of the interpreter. He therefore, according to Stigen, confuses the problems relevant to each of them and frequently treats problems of “What should I say?”; with considerations relevant only to interpreters, whose proper question is “What does he mean?”;, and vice versa. Among other mistakes, according to Stigen, this failure to distinguish the problems leads Tennessen to recommend a Humpty Dumpty attitude for speakers, although it is appropriate only to interpreters. The paper closes with some remarks on the use of modifying expressions.     

The Being, the Origin and the Becoming of Man: A Presentation of Philosophical Anthropogenealogy and Some Ensuing Methodological Considerations

In two of the most significant and influential contemporary exponents of German philosophical anthropology, anthropogenetic accounts play a large role. Hans Blumenberg and Peter Sloterdijk have presented their mode of philosophical anthropology as a philosophical anthropogenealogy. To this end both of them have ventured into an alliance with paleoanthropology, incidentally drawing on the same paleoanthropolgist, the forgotten pioneer of philosophical anthropology: Paul Alsberg. Taking this observation as its cue, the article addresses two questions. What are the motives for philosophical anthropology to turn into philosophical anthropogenealogy? What is the methodological status of anthropogenetic accounts in philosophical anthropology? By reflecting on these questions the article aspires to convey a synthesis of themes in contemporary German philosophical anthropology and introduce them especially to an English-speaking audience.     

On Revolutionizing the Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy

The original concepts psychological hurt and therapeutic catharsis are proposed as the basis for a revolutionary change in the theory and practice of psychotherapy. Psychological hurt, understood as any residual interference with psychological functioning from an adverse event(s), is proposed as the irreducible cause of any such difficulty. Therapeutic catharsis is proposed as the optimal healing process for psychological hurt. Such a transformational view of the theory and practice of psychotherapy is deemed as necessary because of the lack of unequivocal answers to the following fundamental questions: What causes psychological problems? What resolves them in the most optimal way?     

God Takes our Place: A Religious-Philosophical Approach to the Concept of Stellvertretung

What does it mean to say, theologically, that God takes our (human beings') place (Stelle)? In himself becoming human (the incarnation), does God enter into joys and needs, into the possibilities and the limitations of the human, in such a way as to take them all to himself? Or does he, specifically, take the blame of all people? Or only that of those who believe? Or is it something else again that is meant? What does it mean to say that ‘God stands up for us’ is the event of salvation– a claim which the church has in mind with its central dogma of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ? How is human Stellvertreten, occurring in different forms, connected with the divine Stellvertreten? What does the word ‘Stelle’ (of humans) mean at all?     

Lower income Hindu women's attitude towards abortion: a case study in urban India

After a brief discussion of Hindu views on abortion as reflected in classical Hindu philosophical and religious texts, this article examines, from an interdisciplinary perspective, current social attitudes towards abortion among lower-income Hindu women in Calcutta and attempts to identify the reasons for the striking disparity between traditional and modern Hindu views. Does Hindu dharma have the regulatory power it wielded in the past? What accounts for the changing face of mores in urban centers like Calcutta? These and related issues are the focus of this essay.     

“Almost everything is unusual and indescribably eccentric”

The Salvation Army was established in Norway towards the end of the nineteenth century. It attracted considerable attention, first and foremost because of its unorthodox methods of evangelization. The Army met opposition from the official church. In this article, this opposition will be examined. What was it about The Salvation Army that caused attacks from the Church, and what arguments were used in this criticism?     

Migratory Emotions: The Murder of Jean Charles de Menezes

What does it mean to have empathy within a late capitalist world? What does it mean to practise solidarity in a time of common sense individualism? In this piece, I reflect upon the deeply tragic case of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian immigrant who was brutally murdered by the British police in the wake of the London bombing. Drawing upon concepts from psychoanalysis and critical psychology, I discuss the affective and emotive nature of the case. I argue that the case offers insight into the irrational nature of `terror' used to explain state-led violence in a time of mass Islamophobic paranoia. I further argue that the emotive nature of the political is consistently disavowed in order to consolidate the face of the nation state as a white, western, masculinist, rational one. Finally, I offer thoughts on what this case might tell us about the interrelationship between discourses of `race,' racism, and citizenship within our contemporary political moment. Rather than being used to support succinct political and theoretical categories of identity politics, the death of Jean Charles de Menezes is an example of the urgent necessity for solidarity to be formed between marginalized bodies. The persistence of state-led murders, justified and legislated by the newest `N word' of the decade – `terrorist' – requires theoretical endeavours that transcend disciplinary boundaries and political action that transcends bodies.     

Cross-national transfer of policy models to developing countries: Epilogue

What lessons can we learn from the historical and contemporary narratives and analyses from the previous articles? Can any tendencies or trends be distinguished as to the dos and don’ts of policy transfer to developing countries? To answer that question, we will first go back to the issues raised in the prologue and then relate them to the particular events in the different cases.     

Melancholic Response to War Destruction and the Emergence of a Group Assumption of Post-Ness

What psychological response does war and forced displacement evoke in victims? How do survivors of war communicate their experiences to their children? Finally, what culture does the psychological response to loss shape? Using data collected through interviews, psychological consultations, and children’s drawings from two sources—the ongoing Syrian civil war and the Bosnian war of 1992–1995, this paper suggests that the experience of the war generation becomes the organizing axis of their identity and that of their children. It seeks to demonstrate that survivor parents communicate their experience of loss through gesture, act, and object rather than through a coherent narrative. Whereas survivor children use metaphoric and metonymic readings of their parents’ everyday performance in order to construct meaning and form their identities as descendants of a given family. This paper argues that such an identity is characterized by ambivalence towards the self and towards others, melancholic longing for an idealized pre-war past, and the impossibility of letting it go.