The ‘German Fathers’ of the Theological Turn in Phenomenology: Scheler,Reinach, Heidegger

This essay returns to the origins of the phenomenology of religion, offering an introduction to and a discussion of seminal contributions to the field. Three figures are examined: Max Scheler, Adolf Reinach and the early Martin Heidegger, who are presented as the ‘German Fathers’ of the phenomenology of religion. Each conducted a radical foray into the religious life‐world, sometimes in accord with the project of their Master Edmund Husserl, sometimes opposing or radically revising his project, but typically developing new methods and proposing radical insights. They attempted to define the proper attitude a phenomenologist – who might possibly also be a religious person – should adopt in the face of phenomena and lived experiences clearly beyond the ordinary. This enterprise led to heated debates and a rich analysis described here.     

Weyl on Fregean Implicit Definitions: Between Phenomenology and Symbolic Construction

This paper aims to investigate certain aspects of Weyl’s account of implicit definitions. The paper takes under consideration Weyl’s approach to a certain kind of implicit definitions i.e. abstraction principles introduced by Frege. Abstraction principles are bi-conditionals that transform certain equivalence relations into identity statements, defining thereby mathematical terms in an implicit way. The paper compares the analytic reading of implicit definitions offered by the Neo-Fregean program with Weyl’s account which has phenomenological leanings. The paper suggests that Weyl’s account should be construed as putting emphasis on intentionality of human mind towards certain invariant features of the elements of initial domains of discourse that are involved in equivalence relations. Definition of terms like direction, shape, number etc. is achieved by a kind of transformation of those invariants into ideal objects that is involved in intuition. Then the paper argues that at the period of 1926 Weyl’s writings on implicit definitions, he is inclined to endorse symbolic construction as a way to explicate the objectivity of certain processes as those that are carried out in case of implicit definitions.     

Taking a Turn Toward the Masculine: The Impact of Mortality Salience on Implicit Leadership Theories

The present research investigates the influence of subtle death-related thoughts (i.e., mortality salience) on people's images of effective leaders (i.e., their implicit leadership theories [ILTs]). We test the prediction that mortality salience will change the content of these implicit theories to be more gender stereotypical such that individuals will conceive of effective leaders in a significantly more masculine, or agentic, manner. To test this prediction, we assessed the communal and agentic components of participants' ILTs after they were presented with a mortality salience or control manipulation. Results show that priming individuals to think about their mortality with two open-ended questions resulted in a significant shift in their ILTs such that an effective leader is described in significantly more agentic terms compared to the control condition. This masculine shift in people's ILTs was demonstrated in both women and men, and mortality salience did not influence perceptions of effective leaders' communal traits. This work contributes to research on gender bias in leadership, ILTs, and terror management theory and has implications for female leaders.     

思辨现象学与实践现象学--从现象学视角诠释马克思哲学

马克思哲学与康德、黑格尔、胡塞尔等的思辨现象学思想的互释表明:思辨现象学有一种自我超越和回归实践的倾向,但在现实意义上却没有实现这种指归;思辨现象学在纲领、直观、世界、实践等方面脱离了对现实问题的关注,学理式地指向哲学逻辑的根据;而马克思哲学则通过实践还原与实践直观对哲学逻辑的前提发问的根本转换而扬弃了思辨现象学的缺陷,赋予现象学以现实的存在学和历史学的纬度,确立了一种逻辑在先意义上的、具有本真“同一性”的科学实践现象学思想。     

The Marginality of Phenomenology

The essence of Husserl’s intentionality does not lie in any object, but in the marginal horizon presupposed by intentional acts. This characteristic can be seen whether on the level of intensional act or that of noema (intentional object). The reason is that all intentional act and noema come from the stream of internal time consciousness, and thus have Zeithof (time halo or time aureole), while the original meaning constituted by such a halo is prior to the object they are concretized into, and the noema that contains the possibility of meaning will also be intuited together with the perceived adumbration. Using Husserl’s idea that the meaning of non-objectification is prior to the object, Scheler breaks through Husserl’s dogma that the presentation of an object must precede the giving of value to the object, and thus puts forward the new train of thought that the feeling of value is not later than the objectification, or even prior to it. Heidegger deepens and expands the sense of the marginal horizon, revealing in all human behaviors and world presentation such an ontological structure, that is, halo-like meaning or the act of Being itself precedes objects and beings created by the separation of subject and object. Maurice Merleau-Ponty states that the body field is prior to the separation of body and mind, and the body’s perception of external phenomena is first carried out in the manner of field rather than definite objects, therefore, it must have the original ambiguity and be realized in the form of body schema instead of a causal chain. So, the philosophical vitality of phenomenology does not significantly lie in the explanation of the levels and functions of intentional objects, but in the construction premise of such objects, namely, the spatio-temporal halo manifested as marginal horizon, time stream, and the displaying of existential vista.     

The Real Questions are Theological

Book reviewed in this article:
Alastair McFadyen, Bound to Sin: Abuse, Holocaust and the Christian Doctrine of Sin     

The Discipline and Habit of Theological Reflection

This article describes the process of theological reflection and the necessity of its practice in the formation of pastoral identity and development of ministry. Drawing upon the philosophy of C.S. Peirce, pastoral theology of the past twenty-five years, and the authors' clinical and classroom experiences, the essay illuminates the distinctive work of pastoral care givers that makes them unique in health care settings.     

The Rhetorical Impulse in Husserl's Phenomenology

Continental Philosophy Review -     

The Phenomenology of Homesickness in Boys

Homesickness is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home. It is characterized by acute longing and preoccupying thoughts of home and attachment objects. This study extended previous research on the phenomenology of childhood homesickness by assessing a sample of 316 boys, ages 8–16, who were spending 2 weeks at a single-sex residential summer camp. Some 18% of the children reported moderate or high levels of homesickness; 7% reported concomitant severe depressive and anxious symptoms. Homesickness intensity was negatively correlated with separation experience and age. It was most commonly associated with depressive symptoms and internalizing behavior problems. For severely homesick boys, intensity increased over time, decreasing just prior to their return home. Preseparation assessment suggested that severely homesick boys had elevated levels of homesickness and negative emotions months before arriving at camp. One-year follow-up data suggested that the intensity of severe homesickness decreased with age and experience. However, severely homesick boys were less likely than other boys to return to camp. The results demonstrate how brief separations can affect children's well-being and attitudes about separations. Severe homesickness is distinct from separation anxiety disorder, but has elements of this and other psychopathologies. Theories of negative emotion, attachment, and coping complement emerging theories of homesickness.     

The Phenomenology of Democracy

Molly Farneth’s Hegel’s Social Ethics hearkens back to the tradition of Josiah Royce, which has continued in the work of Richard Bernstein and Jeffrey Stout. At the same time, it reflects the impact of three decades of interpretive work which has offered an alternative to the 19th and early 20th century reading of Hegel as a metaphysical systematizer. In this new reading he was from the beginning a social critic and political theorist who looked to lay the groundwork for post-Enlightenment vision of the social world as evolving toward one of social cooperation based on mutual recognition. Farneth has developed this reading of Hegel into one of powerful resources for democratic pluralism.     

The Phenomenology of Rooting

This paper examines the attractions of passionate involvement in wanting particular outcomes, which is popularly known as rooting. The author’s lifelong personal experience is the source of his analysis, along with the insights provided by spiritual literature and especially the work of Dr. Thomas Hora, with whom the author studied for 30 years. The phrase “choiceless awareness,” utilized by J. Krishnamurti, and attained via meditation, is seen as the means of transcending a rooting mode of being in the world.