The antinomy of divine necessity

This paper arose out of a discussion of a paper, Necessity and Explanation, presented by Robert Prévost (University of Texas at Arlington) at the Spring 1986 meeting of the North Texas Philosophical Association. An earlier version was presented to the 1987 meeting of the Society for Philosophy of Religion. I particularly want to thank Professor Billy Joe Lucas (Manhattanville College) for his very helpful comments on that earlier draft.     

科学在中国的命运

一、科学是20世纪的时代标志我认为,20世纪推动社会发展的最重要的三种动力是:科学技术、市场经济和大众媒体。尽管在20世纪的百年史上,战争与意识形态风云激荡,为世人瞩目。众所周知,在军事上,20世纪上半叶曾     

The antinomy of perception: Merleau-Ponty and causal representation theory

This essay has benefited from discussions with Arthur Melnick, Frederick Schmitt, and Richard Schacht — all of whom had helpful and insightful suggestions at various stages of its conceptualization. I am also particularly indebted to Marjorie Hass who has repeatedly listened to it with a keen philosophical ear and significantly guided its formation.     

Populism and democracy: The challenge for deliberative democracy

Theorists of democracy have long grappled with the question of how to uphold the promise of popular government while restraining populist excesses. The deliberative conception of democracy proposes to do so by subjecting power to collective decision making through procedures of free and equal public deliberation. Critics of this idea often target its realizability. Though valid in theory, they claim, deliberative democracy is hopelessly utopian. The paper argues that, given a proper understanding of the deliberative approach and its underlying ideal of collective self‐government, this line of criticism is not very potent. However, another line of criticism, less pronounced in the contemporary debate, is more effective, questioning the very cogency of public discussion, even by a competent public, as a means of collective self‐government. Open public discussion is prone to various forms of manipulation and deception, which subvert rather than facilitate self‐government. Deliberative democracy's egalitarianism and populism therefore run counter to its deliberative aspiration, which underpins its ideal of democratic legitimacy.     

民主的概念

The core elements of modern democracy are citizens who share equally in mutually-compatible basic rights, serve as the final decision-makers on the community’s constitution, and choose whom to be entrusted with legislative and executive powers, while at the same time wielding final veto power over the present government. The rule of the majority in modern democracy is no longer a fundamental principle, but rather a derivative principle the validity of which is based on the above-mentioned core elements. Translated by Hu Jinglei from Tianjin Shehui Kexue 天津社会科学 (Tianjin Social Sciences), 2007, (5): 7–12     

On the hermeneutical nature of modern natural science

An effort is made in this essay to show the intrinsic hermeneutic nature of the natural sciences by means of a critical reflection on data taken from the history of classical mechanics and astronomy. The events which eventually would lead to the origin of Newton's mechanics are critically analyzed, with the aim of showing that and in what sense the natural sciences are essentially interpretive enterprises.     

Magic and science in the modern western tradition of the i ching

At various periods throughout the roughly two and a half millennia of its history in China, the I Ching or Book of Changes, while generally remaining grounded in a fundamentally spiritual world‐view, served as a foundational text for both magical and scientific thinking. This bivalence is reflected in some of the responses which this divinatory and philosophical system has received following its introduction to the West in the present century. The present paper looks at two such related, but contrasting responses, one emphasizing the more conspicuously magical dimension of the I Ching, the other emphasizing some of its suggested scientific implications. Both approaches take their primary inspiration from the psychological theories of C. G. Jung who was deeply engaged with the I Ching. It is suggested that part of the contemporary appeal of the I Ching in the West may derive from its serving as a symbol for the integration of scientific, magical, and spiritual thinking.     

浅析基督教在近代中国传播受阻的原因

基督教在近代中国传播受阻的问题一直是学界比较关注的,本文意在从以下三个方面来探讨受阻的原因,它们分别是:(1)基督教是靠帝国主义的坚船利炮强行进入中国的,传教士充当了侵略中国的急先锋;(2)基督教与中国传统文化之间存在着矛盾和冲突;(3)抱着"欧洲文化中心主义"观念的基督教拒绝中国化,并企图"为基督征服中国".     

Reframing the question of forbidden knowledge for modern science

In this paper I use the concept of forbidden knowledge to explore questions about putting limits on science. Science has generally been understood to seek and produce objective truth, and this understanding of science has grounded its claim to freedom of inquiry. What happens to decision making about science when this claim to objective, disinterested truth is rejected? There are two changes that must be made to update the idea of forbidden knowledge for modern science. The first is to shift from presuming that decisions to constrain or even forbid knowledge can be made from a position of omniscience (perfect knowledge) to recognizing that such decisions made by human beings are made from a position of limited or partial knowledge. The second is to reject the idea that knowledge is objective and disinterested and accept that knowledge (even scientific knowledge) is interested. In particular, choices about what knowledge gets created are normative, value choices. When these two changes are made to the idea of forbidden knowledge, questions about limiting or forbidding lines of inquiry are shown to distract attention from the more important matters of who makes and how decisions are made about what knowledge is produced. Much more attention should be focused on choosing directions in science, and as this is done, the matter of whether constraints should be placed on science will fall into place.