AUGMENTED REALITY,ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,AND THE RE‐ENCHANTMENT OF THE WORLD

There has recently been a surge of development in augmented reality (AR) technologies that has led to an ecosystem of hardware and software for AR, including tools for artists and designers to accelerate the design of AR content and experiences without requiring complex programming. AR is viewed as a key “disruptive technology” and future display technologies (such as digital eyewear) will provide seamless continuity between reality and the digitally augmented. This article will argue that the technologization of human perception and experience of reality, coupled with the development of artificial intelligence (AI)–based natural language assistants, may lead to a secular re‐enchantment of the world, in the sense outlined by Charles Taylor, where human existence is shaped through AR inhabited by advanced personal and social AI agents in the form of digital avatars and daemons, and that enchantment has been persistent throughout the formation of modernity and is being rekindled by the integration of AI in the plane of AR.     

Positive Psychology and Indian Psychology: Birds of the Same Feather

Positive psychology and Indian psychology share similar concerns regarding human life. But Indian psychology has more to offer towards our understanding of happiness and well-being than what Positive psychology can at this point of time, because of latter’s paradigmatic limitations. This commentary draws attention to certain shortcomings of the target article: (a) in presenting the contemporary Positive psychology perspective; (b) in conceptualizing IP with reference to its epistemological position; (c) and in equating certain concepts from PP and IP and their implications.     

What Is Sexual Empowerment? A Multidimensional and Process-Oriented Approach to Adolescent Girls’ Sexual Empowerment

Theorists disagree about how to define the concept of empowerment. This disagreement extends to discussions of adolescent girls’ sexual empowerment. Feminists struggle with whether sexual empowerment should be conceptualized as a subjective internal feeling of power and agency or an objective measure of power and control. Defining sexual empowerment as a subjective state may mistakenly equate feelings of agency with cultural and institutional power. Yet, a subjective definition of sexual empowerment is advantageous in that it validates girls’ own experiences and perceptions. This commentary argues that sexual empowerment might best be conceptualized as a continuous and multidimensional construct. This would allow for the recognition of sexual empowerment as a developmental process, and it would allow for the acknowledgement of ambivalent empowerment.     

Religious Experience: A Sociological Perspective

This paper draws on a wide range of researches to stress the importance of social context to the sociological understanding of religious experiences. It argues that individualistic definitions fail to take into account real group experiences such as those resulting from the reforms of Vatican II. For the sociologist, it is important to explore general patterns of group experiences and the meanings attributed to them. The paper discusses some of the methodological and conceptual problems in this area before considering evidence for the patterning of religious experience according to differences of generation, gender, class, level of urbanization, institutional involvement, and status inconsistency. The paper concludes by locating religious experiences in the context of modernity. In contrast to related theories of secularization, it draws attention to the recent work of Hervieu-Léger which suggests that utopian future expectations create space which can only be met by new forms of religious experience.     

Exploring Taiwanese Female Pastors' Intimate Relationships: Using the Story of the Levite's Concubine

The authors investigated intimate relationships and violence toward women, using group discussions and focus group techniques from a feminist group counseling perspective, with Taiwanese Presbyterian female pastors. The story of the Levite's concubine and the feminist commentary were provided to a group of Taiwanese female pastors to read at the beginning of the focus group session. The women's perspectives of their intimate relationship experiences in light of the biblical story were explored. The 6 themes related to participants' intimate relationships were generated and are discussed.     

De-centring social capital: exploring the implications of empirical research for conceptualising Christian faith-based social engagement

The concept of social capital is frequently applied in political and academic discussions about the role of churches and other faith groups in contemporary society. This article draws on findings from empirical research in two London-based megachurches to illustrate ways in which these churches contribute to the formulation of relational networks, both among their congregations and beyond them. However, more significantly, it highlights the limitations of the notion of social capital as a means of understanding the nature and purpose of the social engagement of these churches and—by paying close attention to accounts given by those involved in these activities—seeks to provide an alternative, more nuanced account of the way in which relationships were conceived and developed in these contexts.     

Adult Learners’ Informal Learning Experiences in Formal Education Setting

Schools typically ignore an enormous part of students’ learning, i.e. informal learning. Such informal processes include intentional, incidental, and tacit learning and tend to be unnoticed because of their taken-for-granted nature. By conducting in-depth interviews with 15 students, two teachers, and two program coordinators of an adult education program, this study examines informal learning outcomes, processes, and personal informal learning experiences within formal education. The study aimed to reveal the interaction between formal and informal learning as well as the respondents’ experiences in this matter. Respondents report a diverse array of informal learning results. Respondents describe informal learning to occur through self-directed learning projects, daily conversations and experiences, and the program’s informal and hidden curriculum. According to respondents, informal learning has the potential to enrich and complement formal learning. Moreover, the findings point to potential personal, educational, and societal benefits of revealing informal learning within formal education. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Experiences of the Risen Jesus: The Foundational Historical Issue in the Early Proclamation of the Resurrection

Abstract : That Jesus' disciples experienced what they believed were appearances of the risen Jesus after his death is generally conceded by the critical scholarly community. The nature of these experiences is the key component in recent historical discussions. Drawn from a survey of recent scholarly resurrection studies, and building upon agreed data, various reasons are given to establish the reality of the disciples' experiences. Three major responses to the cause of these experiences are also outlined. The chief goal of this essay is not to decide between these three positions, but to narrow the focus of the current discussion.     

“American” as a Proxy for “Whiteness”: Racial Color-Blindness in Everyday Life

This article discusses racial color-blindness as it relates to a modern strategy used by both Whites and People of Color (POC) to mask their discussions of race and privilege. People who endorse racial color-blindness tend to believe that race should not matter and currently does not matter in understanding individuals’ lived experiences. Therefore, racially color-blind individuals use strategies to justify their racial privilege and racist beliefs and attitudes. One such strategy is to use the term “American” as a proxy for “White” in describing instances of White privilege as norms and to hide discussions of race more generally. Study 1 findings show that there are many different socially constructed definitions for the term American. Study 2 findings reveal differences in definitions for American depending on an individual’s race and generational status.     

Some future directions for global justice

The fields of global ethics and global justice have expanded considerably over the last two decades and they now cover a wide variety of topics. Given this huge range there are many areas that are ripe for important developments. In this commentary I identify some useful directions for promising exploration in the field of global justice. I argue that expanded dialogue networks would considerably enhance work in philosophy and be beneficial to other disciplines as well. I indicate also how we could develop work on allocating responsibilities for reducing global injustices in useful ways, by considering a wider range of considerations that give rise to responsibilities and expanding the scope of, and audience for, these discussions. I catalog some under-theorized topics that should get more philosophical attention (including the notions of complicity, exploitation, and corruption). In addition, I draw attention to the ways in which a journal such as this one could facilitate a number of important dialogue networks.     

Screening,Skills and Cultural Fit: Theorizing Immigrant Skill Utilization from an Organizational Perspective

This article examines the issue of skill utilization among highly skilled immigrants in Canada from an organizational perspective. It argues that bringing insights from organizational sociology more strongly into discussions of skill utilization—which tend to focus on returns to immigrant capital (human, social, cultural) or employer discrimination—would provide greater understanding of how, when and the extent to which each one of these factors matters for immigrant hiring within a particular employment sector. In order to illustrate this point, it draws on empirical material from 20 interviews with hiring managers at information and communication technology (ICT) companies in the Greater Toronto Area to show that there is organizational-level variation among firms in three key aspects of hiring that are relevant to discussions of immigrant skill utilization: definitions of ‘skills’, notions of ‘cultural fit’ and screening processes. The article concludes by pointing to avenues for further study and considering implications for settlement policy.     

Immersion and the illusion of presence in virtual reality

This commentary briefly reviews the history of virtual reality and its use for psychology research, and clarifies the concepts of immersion and the illusion of presence.     

Metaphysics and methodology: Some prescriptions for social psychological research

By comparison with the physical sciences psychologists tend to pay little attention to ontology. This has had unfortunate consequences. Contemporary trends suggest a dual ontology, with psychology rooted in neurophysiology and social conversation. The notion of a ‘conversational skill’ bridges the two basic categories of psychological reality. The use of causal concepts in writing up psychological research is to be avoided since it enshrines a misunderstanding of the kind of necessity that is important in the normative control of social activity including conversing. Classical psychological experimental methodology needs radical revision since it is not appropriate to the investigation of collective semiotic structures. These points are illustrated with examples from recent empirical work by social constructivist psychologists.     

The impact of trauma on drug users' identities

This article addresses drug users' identity construction, and invites counsellors, psychotherapists, researchers and others who work with drug misusers to notice how cultural and societal discourses can shape drug misusers' stories, and the positions from which helpers listen and respond to them. By representing and analysing parts of two life stories, gathered as part of a wider narrative inquiry, this article draws attention to the learning embedded in a person's story about how traumatic life experiences shaped their drug misuser identity during adolescence and young adulthood. It suggests that by focusing on identity construction and reconstruction we can enable drug users to identify the discourses that have shaped their identities and thereby open up spaces for new and more hopeful stories of identity to emerge.     

Challenges and opportunities in the psychological sciences

In this commentary, the author draws on his experiences at the National Science Foundation to reveal that threats to the value and autonomy of social science research are more common than most psychologists suspect. To reduce the likelihood of these threats in the future, it is necessary to improve the public's understanding and confidence in the psychological sciences. The key is to focus on the results and accomplishments of the research and to avoid caveats and qualifications. It is also important to motivate the interest of the public by helping them to understand why and how psychological research is improving the quality of their lives. The author concludes with some practical suggestions regarding how psychologists can become more proactive in their education of the public, the media, and congressional representatives.     

Paranoid disorders: The core of truth behind the delusional system

This is the first paper of a series of articles reporting the findings, life course, and psychiatric outcomes of a group of 34 families in which at least one member of the family developed a delusional system. In this study the author discusses chiefly several issues regarding the genesis, ways of reinforcement, and perpetuation of the delusional ideation which, despite their great contributory importance to the success of treatment of the paranoid patient, seem neglected in the professional literature. The author draws attention to two basic findings that appeared consistently in the study group of 34 paranoid patients: (1) there is always a basis of truth and reality behind every delusional system; and (2) authentic past and current interpersonal transactions play a dominant role in generating and activating the paranoid beliefs.     

The therapeutic relationship as a paradoxical experience

The therapeutic relationship exists within multiple levels of reality—including that of ordinary life and that of the therapeutic frame. This interplay between these two levels of reality gives rise to paradoxical experiences for both participants. Certain “principles”; or “rules”; of technique can be understood as a means of enabling the therapist to cope with what is usually referred to as “boundary”; issues. It is essential that the analyst or therapist demonstrate capacity to shift playfully from one level of reality to another. The “rule”; of abstinence and the asymmetry of desire that exists between the two participants are discussed. Gratification within the therapeutic frame is paradoxical in that gratification at one level of reality leads to privation at another level of reality. These paradoxical experiences for both patient and analyst are examined in relation to projective identification and to the analyst's countertransference.     

Animal Disenhancement in Moral Context

To mitigate animal suffering under industrial farming conditions, biotechnology companies are pursuing the development of genetically disenhanced animals. Recent advances in gene editing biotechnology have brought this to reality. In one of the first discussions of the ethics of disenhancement, Thompson argued that it is hard to find compelling reasons to oppose it. We offer an argument against disenhancement that draws upon parallels with human disenhancement, ecofeminism’s concern with the “logic of domination,” and a relational ethic that seeks to preserve a meaningful relationship between farmers and their animals. In addition, we respond to two arguments in favor of animal disenhancement—one grounded in the non-identity problem and one that argues disenhancement is the best we can do to protect animal well-being right now. We argue that animal disenhancement does not address the fundamental issue of oppression of animals in the context of contemporary animal agriculture. Therefore, we conclude that animal disenhancement is not nearly as valuable as it might appear initially.