FROM PESSIMISM TO HOPE: A NATURAL PROGRESSION

Mutual critique by scientists and religious believers mostly entails the pruning of untenable religious beliefs by scientists and warnings against scientific minimalism on the part of believers. John F. Haught has been prominent in formulating religious apologetics in response to the challenges posed by evolutionary theory. Haught's work also resonates with a parallel criticism of the conventional scientific metaphysics undergirding neo‐Darwinian theory. Contemporary systems ecology seems to indicate that nothing short of a complete reversal of the Enlightenment assumptions about nature is capable of repositioning science to deal adequately with the origin and dynamics of living systems. A process‐based alternative metaphysics substantially mitigates several ostensible conflicts between science and religion.     

A PENTECOSTAL PERSPECTIVE ON ENTROPY,EMERGENT SYSTEMS,AND ESCHATOLOGY

Many contemporary theologies have given considerable attention to the inbreaking work of God whereby the Spirit imbues creation with life and vitality, but in the process the seriousness of the destructive forces that plague the world has been overlooked. This oversight not only has significant theological consequences, but it also generates a tension with scientific postulates about physical reality. Paradoxically, increasing complexity, including emergent life systems, arise in spite of the overarching conditions. I posit from a theological perspective that the Spirit acts within the world to generate pockets of organization out of disorder. The Spirit not only was present and active at initial creation but also continues to act within the cosmos, sustaining the natural order and giving rise to innovative acts of creation. The world, which groans for and anticipates transformation, experiences local decreases in entropy as proleptic events of God's inbreaking kingdom. This theological hypothesis provides the framework for considering an eschatological response to the world's decay.     

ON COMMUNICATION RULES FROM A SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

The paper addresses some of the assumptions and criticisms of rule-governed approaches to interpersonal communication research and theory. A definition of rules is first outlined which does not require sole reliance on interpersonal actors’ statements about their behavior or assumptions of communicator self-awareness. Then the paper addresses the intercultural and developmental criticisms directed by Miller (1978) against rules studies. With regard to the former, it is suggested that communications researchers account for (1) the behavior patterns of individuals interacting intraculturally, (2) the culturally patterned attitudes and behavior manifest in intercultural exchanges, and (3) the rule-governed strategies for negotiation. While the paper does not deny the existence of some idiosyncratic behavior, it is suggested that researchers consider rules-based concomitants of relationship developments which are socially patterned in lieu of focusing on relationship-specific (unique) behavior.     

从情绪描述看青少年期到成人期认知结构的发展

该研究依据研究者制定的认知发展水平评价系统,对年龄范围在13—55岁之间的90名被试关于生气、害怕、伤心、高兴四种情绪的自我描述进行了评价分析。结果表明,青少年期的思维具有形式化、外在、抽象等特点,成人期的思维具有内在、具体、形象等特点,前者具有刻板性、封闭性,后者具有灵活性、开放性。     

LEARNING TO TIME: A PERSPECTIVE

In the last decades, researchers have proposed a large number of theoretical models of timing. These models make different assumptions concerning how animals learn to time events and how such learning is represented in memory. However, few studies have examined these different assumptions either empirically or conceptually. For knowledge to accumulate, variation in theoretical models must be accompanied by selection of models and model ideas. To that end, we review two timing models, Scalar Expectancy Theory (SET), the dominant model in the field, and the Learning‐to‐Time (LeT) model, one of the few models dealing explicitly with learning. In the first part of this article, we describe how each model works in prototypical concurrent and retrospective timing tasks, identify their structural similarities, and classify their differences concerning temporal learning and memory. In the second part, we review a series of studies that examined these differences and conclude that both the memory structure postulated by SET and the state dynamics postulated by LeT are probably incorrect. In the third part, we propose a hybrid model that may improve on its parents. The hybrid model accounts for the typical findings in fixed‐interval schedules, the peak procedure, mixed fixed interval schedules, simple and double temporal bisection, and temporal generalization tasks. In the fourth and last part, we identify seven challenges that any timing model must meet.     

STRATEGY INSTRUCTION FROM A SOCIOCOGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

One of the characteristics of proficient readers and writers is their flexible use of reading and writing strategies. Students experiencing difficulties with reading and writing frequently do not use as many strategies as they read and write. Strategies are the cognitive tools that readers use as they construct meaning from text and that writers use as they produce texts. Many of the strategies that proficient readers and writers use are acquired and some are learned. Reading and writing strategies are frequently learned by purposeful instruction in meaningful social situations. This paper describes the nature of strategy use and instruction from a sociocognitive perspective, discusses the need for purposeful strategy instruction for struggling readers and writers, discusses factors that influence strategy instruction, describes current classroom practices that are congruent with sociocognitive theory, and suggests that strategy instruction should be grounded in classroom routines and situated within beliefs about teaching and learning.     

GENEROSITY: VARIATIONS ON A THEME FROM ARISTOTLE TO LEVINAS

This paper traces the concept and phenomenon of generosity from Aristotle to Emannuel Levinas and beyond. The question motivating this investigation is: must the generous act be restricted by a rational calculation of correct, or prudent, giving? Answers to this question vary. Aristotle and Kant would answer in the affirmative, while Emerson and Levinas would (apparently) not. The bulk of this paper is dedicated to Levinas's characterization of excessive generosity as a condition for the fundamental ethical relation, namely, the generous welcome of the Other. I end by considering the phenomenon of generosity from the point of view of the mid‐20^th century Mexican philosopher, Emilio Uranga.     

FEELING WITHOUT THINKING: LESSONS FROM THE ANCIENTS ON EMOTION AND VIRTUE-ACQUISITION

Abstract: By briefly sketching some important ancient accounts of the connections between psychology and moral education, I hope to illuminate the significance of the contemporary debate on the nature of emotion and to reveal its stakes. I begin the essay with a brief discussion of intellectualism in Socrates and the Stoics, and Plato's and Posidonius's respective attacks against it. Next, I examine the two current leading philosophical accounts of emotion: the cognitive theory and the noncognitive theory. I maintain that the noncognitive theory better explains human behavior and experience and has more empirical support than the cognitive theory. In the third section of the essay I argue that recent empirical research on emotional contagion and mirroring processes provides important new evidence for the noncognitive theory. In the final section, I draw some preliminary conclusions about moral education and the acquisition of virtue.     

CONVERSION AND THE NEW EVANGELIZATION: A PERSPECTIVE FROM LONERGAN

A key legacy of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II was the concept of the new evangelization. This, amongst other things, was seen as a response to rising levels of religious indifference especially in countries that share a Western culture. This paper discusses the new evangelization in the light of two seminal ideas from the work of Lonergan, namely conversion and transcendence. It argues that these perspectives help explain and enrich the concept of the new evangelization. The second part of the paper explores some of the factors that can assist conversion, especially religious conversion.     

CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY: BACK TO THE FUTURE

In its many interwoven traditions, continental philosophy has a distinctive focus on what escapes the concept—experience, change, agency, responsibility, the future, the Other. The challenges that face us in the future are many: reaffirming and renewing what has already been thought and needs repeating, responding to emergent questions. None could be more urgent than the question of the animal and the fate of the planet. Addressing each of these requires that we suspend our normal conceptual assurances and think anew.     

A RELATIVISTIC ESCHATOLOGY: TIME,ETERNITY, AND ESCHATOLOGY IN LIGHT OF THE PHYSICS OF RELATIVITY

Unique epistemological challenges arise whenever one embarks on the critical and self‐critical reflection of the nature of time and the end of time. I attempt to construct my preference for an eschatological distinction between time and eternity from within a middle way, avoiding both the hubris that claims complete comprehension and the resignation that concedes readily to know nothing. Surveying the history of reflection on this multifaceted question of time, with its ephemeral and everlasting dimensions, I argue that the eschatological interplay between the “already” and the “not yet” has much to offer: promise for the religion‐science dialogue as well as hope for humanity, especially for those on society's bleakest edges. But understandings of time, to be authentically theological, must be also informed by cosmology and the physics of relativity. My proposal seeks to respect the theological and scientific interpretations of the nature of time, serving the ongoing, creative interaction of these disciplines. Between physics and theology I identify four formal differences in analyzing eschatology, all grounded in the one fundamental difference between extrapolation and promise. Discussion of what I term deficits in both the scientific and theological approaches leads to further examination of the complex relationship between time and eternity. I distinguish three models of such relationships, which I label the ontological, the quantitative, and the eschatological distinction between time and eternity. Because of the way it embraces a multiplicity of times, especially relating to the culmination and the consummation of creation, I opt for the eschatological model. The eschatological disruption of linear chronology relates well to relativ‐istic physics: This model is open, dynamic, and relational, and it may add a new aspect to the debate over the block universe.     

A VIROCENTRIC PERSPECTIVE ON EVIL

Abstract. The coronavirus pandemic has stirred interest in viruses. This has been accompanied by a proliferation of popular works trying to explain how viruses fit into the Christian worldview. In an anthropocentric perspective, viruses are easily regarded as malicious entities. This article, however, shows that a proper understanding of the biology of viruses actually adds another level of complexity to our perception of good and evil. Interestingly, this additional layer of complexity might help us solve some of the most urgent difficulties in the discussion about good and evil, if we recognize the subjective nature of what we call natural evil. We need to be more nuanced not merely in our theological discussion about good and evil, but also in the way we talk about viruses.     

PARADOXES AND STRUCTURAL RULES FROM A DIALOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

In recent years, substructural approaches to paradoxes have become quite popular. But whatever restrictions on structural rules we may want to enforce, it is highly desirable that such restrictions be accompanied by independent philosophical motivation, not directly related to paradoxes. Indeed, while these recent developments have shed new light on a number of issues pertaining to paradoxes, it seems that we now have even more open questions than before, in particular two very pressing ones: what (independent) motivations do we have (if any) for restrictions on structural rules, and what to make of the plurality of new logics emerging from these restrictions, i.e. how to ‘choose’ among the different options. In this paper, we address these two questions from the perspective of a dialogical conception of logic that we've been advocating in recent years. We will argue that dialogical interpretations of structural rules, that is, as rules determining specific properties of the dialogues in question, provide a conveniently neutral framework to adjudicate between the different substructural proposals that have been made in the literature on paradoxes.     

TAKING SCIENCE SERIOUSLY WITHOUT SCIENTISM: A RESPONSE TO TAEDE SMEDES

In responding to Taede Smedes, I first examine his thesis that the recent dialogue between science and religion has been dominated by scientism and does not take theology seriously. I then consider his views on divine action, free will and determinism, and process philosophy. Finally I use the fourfold typology of Conflict, Independence, Dialogue, and Integration to discuss his proposal for the future of science and religion.     

FROM YANG AND YIN TO AND OR BUT IN CROSS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE*

Ancient Chinese metaphysics, as recorded some 4000 years ago in I Ching, the Book of Changes, expresses three fundamental characteristics of human thinking: (1) bipolar organization of the dimensions of cognitions; (2) attributions of positive polarity to the Yang pole and negative to the Yin; (3) parallelism in the orientation of the dimensions in terms of underlying Positiveness/Negativeness. In this paper, eight postulates governing the dynamics of interactions among cognitions are presented, utilizing both linguistic and psychological evidence. These postulates are used to predict the performance of native speakers of 12 languages – American English, Belgian Flemish, Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Iranian Farsi, Hindi, Malaysian, Thai and Japanese - on a simple cognitive task: the insertion of their equivalents of and vs. but in the conjunction of pairs of familiar adjectives, X is ADJ₁ — ADJ₂ (e.g., X is tail BUT weak). The comparably measured affective meanings of the pairs of adjectives were found to predict the differential usage of and vs. but equivalents with high precision - in a frame which, linguistically speaking, will accept either conjunction - and these results displayed very high consistency across all 12 languages sampled. Yang and Yin appear to be universals of human cognizing and sentencing.