Have Hexagon Will Travel: An Interview With John Holland

John Holland is one of the major theorists, living or dead, in the area of career development/choice. He is the author of two books, more than 150 articles, and two inventories, one the popular Self-Directed Search. During the interview he seemed torn between his desire to be frank, honest, and outspoken, and his fear that should he be, the sex bias controversy that consumed so much of his time several years ago would be stirred up again. When he was first approached with the request for an interview, he declined because he felt that other individuals have made greater contributions than he. In this interview, Holland shares his views on how the SDS was developed, on the strengths and weaknesses of his theory, on how to provide vocational counseling efficiently, and outlines his hopes for the future.     

HOW MUCH CAN A PHILOSOPHER DO?

Some philosophers (Stephen Mulhall, Peter Winch, and D.Z. Phillips) complained that in Sources of the Self Charles Taylor allowed his Christian allegiance to “peep through”, whereas, as a philosopher, he should have done justice to other views than his own, without taking sides. They would no doubt have protested even more about A Secular Age. Reading these two books in the context of his previous work it becomes hard to accuse Taylor of failing to expound fairly views he opposes, especially regarding British empiricism. Moreover, how disinterested can critical genealogy of religion in the West ever be?     

Auseinandersetzung,Colonialism and Heidegger’s Oblivion of Other Beginnings

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to enact a creative confrontation (Auseinandersetzung) between Heidegger and Sikh spirituality. Heidegger’s idea of confrontation did not stay the same throughout his career. It goes through multiple transformations. The earliest iteration of this idea in the 1930s can be linked to his ethno-centrism. In the Black Notebooks, Heidegger performs a confrontation with himself, which marks his attempts to go beyond his prior position. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, Heidegger gets a glimpse of what a different confrontation might look like. However, he fails to enact it. This failure can be located in his inability to build a profound connection between his quest and non-European traditions. The article concludes with a fleeting glance at what such a connection between Heidegger’s quest and Sikh spirituality might look like.     

A conflict between van Inwagen’s metaontology and his ontology

Peter van Inwagen has in recent decades made significant and influential contributions to metaphysics. In his Material Beings he advanced a novel ontology according to which chairs and other medium-sized dry goods don’t really exist. He went on to make important contributions to metaontology. Parts of his Ontology, Identity, and Modality and Existence: Essays in Ontology defend a broadly Quinean conception of existence questions and how to address them. I argue that the metaontology articulated in those later works is in fact inconsistent with his defense of his ontology advanced in his earlier work.

     

A Child Mourns the Family He Cannot Come From1

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the clinical material from the analysis of a young adolescent who was conceived using artificial reproduction techniques (ART). After reviewing the scant literature regarding how a child is conceived through the use of ART, the use of the term birth other is employed to understand this child’s longstanding sadness and sense of isolation. The material from his analysis demonstrates that the meaning of birth other as Eherensaft suggested (2005, 2007) is not the only meaning that an individual can assign to his experience. This child created a fantasy of a family from which he felt excluded because his parents had birth other families within which they were conceived. The material indicated that his attempt at mourning his lack of a genetically based family in a way that not even adopted children often mourn, occurred only in an unconscious manner, inhibiting him from focusing on more age-appropriate concerns. The psychological issues that he brought to his analysis clearly reflected the complexity of the circumstances of his birth and that he felt he existed outside of a family that he could identify with.     

Yu Kil-chun’s Moral Idea of Civilization and Project to Make All People Gentlemen

Yu Kil-chun (1856–1914) was a pioneering theorist in Korea’s Patriotic Enlightenment Movement. Through works such as S?yu ky?nmun, he proposed a new path for the development of Korean civilization. Yu’s encounter with Pak Kyu-su in his early years prompted his interest in Western civilization. He soon decided to study abroad and experience the Japanese and American civilizations first-hand. Based on his experiences, Yu proposed a general blueprint for political reform during the Kabo Reform of 1894. In 1908, he initiated a political reform movement at the provincial level by organizing two groups named H?ngsadan and Hans?ng Puminhoe. Subsequently, Yu Kil-chun’s enlightenment theory and writings on reform were regarded as a classical model that helped to initiate the modernization of Korea. However, the existing literature concerning Yu’s work exaggerates the progressive role he played and overlooks the logical contradictions and limitations inherent in his ideas. In this article, I conclude that the contradictions in Yu Kil-chun’s enlightenment theory stem from his moral understanding of civilization and the rights of the people. As a result, the project he envisioned ‘to make all people gentlemen’ ultimately focused on how to raise Confucian subjects of an empire rather than how to cultivate modern citizens.     

Grote’s analysis of Ancient Greek political thought: its significance to J. S. Mill’s idea about ‘active character’ in a liberal democracy

ABSTRACT

George Grote (1794–1871) published the History of Greece between 1846 and 1856, thereby providing the first positive evaluation of democratic Athens in the early modern period and a novel interpretation of the roles of the sophists and of Socrates, premised on his understanding of democratic Athens. Grote’s account offered a sociological explanation of the moral psychology cultivated by the constitution of the Athenian polis through the citizens’ active political participation. This participation cultivated civic virtues, emotional and ethical attachment to the polis, and a sense of obligation towards the polis, even at the expense of self-interest. John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was familiar with Grote’s historical works and emphasized the parallels between the ancient direct democracy and the modern, representative democracy, which he himself promoted in his Considerations on Representative Government (1861). In this article it is argued that J. S. Mill’s concept of the ‘active character’ of the citizen in a modern representative democracy was inspired by Grote’s understanding and positive evaluation of ancient democratic Athens and its moral psychology. This is one example of the phenomenon mentioned in the editorial to this special issue, namely that accounts of past philosophy may influence philosophy proper.     

Introduction: Parts, Wholes, and Opposites: John Milbank as Geisteshistoriker

This special focus of the Journal of Religious Ethics begins with the mixture of admiration and apprehension that John Milbank's use of historical materials so often inspires and moves to specific reflection on specific figures and texts that appear in his grand story of secular modernity. Throughout, the focus is not on his moral theology per se, but rather on the way he treats certain figures, how he constructs his historical tale, and how his critical enterprise and his normative proposals depend upon his historical efforts. This introduction considers the difficulties of constructing and assessing a Geistesgeschichte, the genre of historical writing that Milbank prefers.     

Teaching Elder: Erik H. Erickson

A renowned child psychoanalyst, Erik H. Erikson (1902–1994) is perhaps best known for his work on developmental theory (Childhood and Society, 1950) and his studies of the lives of Martin Luther (Young Man Luther, 1958) and Gandhi (Gandhi's Truth, 1969). Twice he found himself intensely engaged in the role of teacher – once as a young artist who had been called by a friend to help in the progressive school formed for the children of Sigmund and Anna Freud's patients in Vienna (1927–1932), and years later (1960–1970) as a tenured professor at Harvard. This essay describes Erickson's teaching experience in both settings and suggests some of the reasons he was honored by Harvard in 1980 as a “humane teacher.” Implications from Erikson's educational practice are drawn that demonstrate how Erikson moved beyond the rote memorization and authoritarian educational practice he experienced as a youth. The essay suggests Erikson's teaching stance at Harvard fits the author's theological tradition's use of the term “teaching elder.”     

At the borders of the average man: Adolphe Quêtelet on mental,moral, and criminal monstrosities

This study examines Adolphe Quêtelet's conception of deviance. It investigates how he identified social marginalities and what actions he recommended governments to undertake. To get a close understanding of his views, this paper examines three cases of “monstrosities,” namely mental alienation, drunkenness, and criminality. My main thesis is that Quêtelet provided scientific authority to a conception of deviance as sickness, immorality, and cost thus encouraging legislators to use statistics for containing social marginalities. The case of alienation shows that Quêtelet viewed insanity as a pathology of civilization to be understood through phrenology. The case of drunkenness demonstrates how Quêtelet conflated the notion of statistical mean with moral decency. The case of criminality illustrates Quêtelet's major concern with the cost of criminals for the state. While advocating for the perfectibility of mankind, Quêtelet urged governments to take actions against what he considered the monstrosities of society.     

Sebastian Rodrigues in Shusaku Endo's Silence as a Theologian of the Cross1

In his book, On Being a Theologian of the Cross, Gerhard Forde asserts, “[T]he theology of the cross is an offensive theology. The offense consists in the fact that unlike other theologies it attacks what we usually consider the best in our religion.” If causing an offense against Christian theologians and the populace in general is considered a criterion for this theology, Shusaku Endo surely sets forth the theology of the cross in his novel, Silence. Although he would not identify his thesis by such a term, Endo presents the theology of the cross challenging the conventional understanding of the Christian faith. This short article explores Endo's book, Silence, examines how it demonstrates an articulation of the theology of the cross, and argues that Sebastian Rodrigues, the main character of the novel, is a theologian of the cross.     

MAX EITINGON'S RISE AND DECLINE: THE BERLIN YEARS

Max Eitingon's main achievement was the foundation of the Berlin psychoanalytic Poliklinik that served both as an outpatient center and a training institute. Another area of his responsibility was the Verlag, the International Psychoanalytic Press. By 1926, he occupied several leading positions, including presidency of the International Psychoanalytical Association and editorship of the major psychoanalytic journal of the time. The basis of his power was his personal relationship with Freud, as well as his monetary wealth, which he put into the service of the Freudian cause. By 1932, he had suffered an overall setback, however, with the Berlin Institute losing its best teachers, the Verlag barely escaping bankruptcy, and the journal's editorship returning to Vienna.     

“<Emphasis Type="Italic">Chalepa Ta Kala</Emphasis>,” “Fine Things are Difficult”: Socrates’ Insights into the Psychology of Teaching and Learning

The proverb “chalepa ta kala” (“fine things are difficult”) is invoked in three dialogues in the Platonic corpus: Hippias Major, Cratylus and Republic. In this paper, I argue that the context in which the proverb arises reveals Socrates’ considerable pedagogical dexterity as he uses the proverb to rebuke his interlocutor in one dialogue but to encourage his interlocutors in another. In the third, he gauges his interlocutors’ mention of the proverb to be indicative of their preparedness for a more difficult philosophical trial. What emerges in the study of these three Platonic dialogues is that Socrates believes that how he and others describe learning makes a tangible difference in philosophical investigation.     

Erikson’s Case of the Theological Student

This article focuses on Erik H. Erikson’s case of a theological student on the borderline of psychosis. The case, presented in a lecture published in Insight and Responsibility (1964, pp. 47–80), was important to Erikson for two important reasons: It enabled him to gain confidence in his capacity to help young adults and convinced him that he was not being disloyal to Freud by focusing on patients’ religious experiences. His presentation of the case focuses on an enigmatic dream image that caused the patient to believe that he was losing his mind but that, when interpreted, led to a breakthrough in his therapy and eventual recovery of his mental health. The springboard for his study of Martin Luther, this case illustrates the three primary religious images that Erikson identifies in Young Man Luther (1958): the maternal matrix, the paternal voice, and the pure self. It also illustrates how the timely appearance of a new person in one’s life may have enormous therapeutic value.     

Kovesi and the Formal and Material Elements of Concepts

In his seminal work Moral Notions, Julius Kovesi presents a novel account of concept formation. At the heart of this account is a distinction between what he terms the material element and the formal element of concepts. This paper elucidates his distinction in detail and contrasts it with other distinctions such as form-matter, universal-particular, genus-difference, necessary-sufficient, and open texture-closed texture. We situate Kovesi’s distinction within his general philosophical method, outlining his views on concept formation in general and explain how his theory of concept formation is applied in moral philosophy.     

Nietzsche’s Questioning

Abstract

When Nietzsche is called a radical philosopher, it is (among other reasons) because he claims to call into question what other thinkers take for granted. In the article I concentrate on the way in which Nietzsche asks his questions, and how his questions (and the vocabulary which he uses to express his questions) develop through his writings. The article points out how Nietzsche gradually discovers his guiding question and how this search reaches its climax around 1886. This guiding question turns out to be a practical or existential one: ‘To what extent can truth endure incorporation?’ (FW/GC 110 KSA 3.471).     

Jungian analysis: An elder's perspective

Dr. Joseph L. Henderson has the richest and longest history of any analyst who trained with Jung. He is in his 97th year, in excellent health and spirit, and continues to practice daily. He was in Zürich in the 1930s when Jung was developing many of his theories in the seminars Henderson attended. Henderson trained and analyzed with Jung, although he worked with other analysts as well. He received his medical training in London. Jung asked Henderson to write a chapter in Man and His Symbols, and he has been writing ever since. He is the author of Thresholds of Initiation and other books related to Jungian psychology. After World War II, along with the late Joseph Wheelwright, Elizabeth Whitney, Jane Wheelwright, and other analysts, he co-founded the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, one of two Jungian centers in the U.S. at that time. He continues to work with candidates in training to become analysts, and to help research organizations such as the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism (ARAS)     

Reflections of the Aging Caesar: Drama as Cultural Perspective

This article affirms the view that literature transmits multiple reflections on human life that shape social mores. Examining stereotypes of age in literature as socially constructed artifacts reveals the prevailing attitudes toward aging during that time. This study focuses on the aging Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. Writing 300 years apart, these two great playwrights inscribe both positive and negative models of aging, reflecting views in their eras that persist today. This article identifies these models, then explores them from a Lacanian standpoint, showing that each dramatist focuses on Caesar's ego development through the opinions of other characters. Offering a primarily negative view of aging, Shakespeare emphasizes the fragmented mirror images that other characters hold up to Caesar. Shaw self-consciously counters Shakespeare by foregrounding Caesar as subject, who beholds his aging self in the mirror of others' opinions while enacting a positive model of aging. Tracing this long tradition of aging stereotypes found in the two plays can be useful as scholars continue to reconstruct society's attitudes toward aging.