论柏拉图摹仿说的知识学背景——兼析柏拉图学说的伦理学底蕴

学界历来认为,柏拉图对荷马史诗的否定,是柏拉图从理念论出发对前苏格拉底哲学中的摹仿说进行否定的结果。但笔者以为,不管是前苏格拉底哲学对摹仿的肯定,还是柏拉图对摹仿的否定,都存在一个共同的与原始摹仿文化密切相关联的知识学背景问题。也就是说,作为西方哲学源头的古希腊哲学,其整体行程均表现出对原始摹仿文化进行新的知识学综合的趣向。其间,既有原始摹仿文化异质性的延续,也有福柯所说的人类知识学上的“断裂”和“非连续性”现象,这里或许包含许多被传统研究遮蔽的问题,值得我们解读。     

正确领会晚年恩格斯的历史观——“两种生产依次决定论”质疑

对于晚年恩格斯的"两种生产"理论,一种解读范式认为,"物质生活资料的生产"与"人自身的生产"在人类历史上依次扮演了社会制度、社会发展的"决定者"的角色。"人自身的生产"决定早期原始社会的社会制度与社会发展,其"决定者"的身份或地位被"物质生活资料的生产"所取代,发生在原始社会的后期。其实,晚年马克思和晚年恩格斯并不认为物质生产、经济因素对人类社会每一微观领域、人类历史进程中每一具体事件都起直接的"决定"作用。但是,在"归根结底"的意义上,决定着人类社会的整体面貌和人类历史的总体进程。"物质生活资料的生产"对原始社会制度及原始社会发展的"决定"作用贯穿于原始社会的整个历史过程。     

再谈原始社会与社会发展的原动因——兼答刘崇民同志

刘崇民同志的《也谈原始社会与社会发展的原动因》(载《哲学研究》1990年第4期),在部分同意我的观点的基础上,对我的文章《原始社会与社会发展的原动因》(载《哲学研究》1989年第6期)提出了不同意见,认为我的文章把“人类自身生产和在其中起作用的自然选择看作是整个原始社会发展的原动因,而把物质资料生产方式排斥在外,不区分历史时期地把整个原始社会都看成是自然形成的社会,认为原始社会都是自然形成的生产力的观点”(重点系引者     

原始社会的性道德——性道德历史发展介绍之一

在原始社会,调节和控制人们的血缘关系的最重要的社会意识,是性道德规范。下面,我们分析和解剖一下原始社会的典型状态——母系氏族社会的性道德。 原始社会的性道德规范表现为一系列的性禁忌,这些禁忌五花八门,光怪陆离,但归总起来主要有以下两大类:(一)有关生产活动的性禁忌,即在生产活动期间实行严格的非性关系。例如,据民俗学家的记叙,当处于原始社会的“印第安人……如果在猎取鲸鱼的时候发生了不幸事故,那他们就毫无疑问认为是由于狩猎者中有人违反了性禁忌,     

基于目的论对亚里士多德《诗学》中“摹仿”说的解读

亚里士多德在《诗学》中指出"悲剧是要对一段严肃、完整、有一定长度的行动进行摹仿",从这一定义出发,以亚里士多德《形而上学》《物理学》等哲学著作中所体现的目的论思想为基础,从"完整""行动""摹仿"这三个关键词入手,对《诗学》中的"摹仿"说进行新的解读。从而借助目的论的视角,纠正"摹仿"说的常见误读,加深学界对亚里士多德美学观念的理解。     

腊尔山苗族"巴岱"原始宗教"中心表现形态"的分径与混融

腊尔山苗族巴岱原始宗教是产生于原始社会并继续遗存于现代社会的各种原始宗教形式如自然崇拜、祖先崇拜的总称。在历史过程中,由于文化交流的作用,原有牢固单一的文化体系受到冲击,并迫使其原有文化作出回应,出现了两大截然不同的文化选择,巴岱原始宗教内部巴岱雄与巴岱扎两大支系的分径,其中心表现形态发生变化就是明证。这是原始宗教运演过程中值得注意的一个事实,对之进行剖析,可透视原始宗教变迁过程中的诸种情态。     

伽达默尔论艺术作品的存在与诠释学的真理

伽达默尔拒绝从审美体验开始他的艺术诠释学考察,而把焦点方放在艺术作品的存在方式上,以此他希望恢复艺术经验的真理要求。在他看来,艺术作品像游戏一样,以实际发生在那里的方式存在;在作品中真理作为无蔽而发生并敞开存在的意义。此外,艺术游戏的重复发生形成可重复的结构,它对参与者发挥着主宰作用;在另一方面,可重复的结构只存在于具体发生之中,它把其中新的因素融会进自身之中,从而得到充实;这种充实是通过理解的有限视域的融合而实现的,因而结构是可变的,并且并不趋向最终目的。这种既敞开又充实的真理在艺术作品中的发生有赖于摹仿。在这一背景下,文章集中讨论伽达默尔的摹仿概念。文章指出,伽达默尔强调摹仿不是盲目的复制,而是借再现来实现的创造活动,它把关于现实的本真理解呈现在那里。这正是诠释学真理的发生,借此过去和未来得到中介。作者着重阐明伽达默尔的如下意图,即突显摹仿抵制抽象的力量——摹仿通过创制新的存在而使先前的东西来到自己被呈现的存在,并借此被提升到自身更丰富更真实的存在,而如此被创造的存在整体拒绝任何方法论的简化和区分。     

巫傩文化对桃源木雕影响探究

桃源县在战国时期一直是楚国的属地,是楚文化的继承者。楚文化在《楚辞》里一直是浪漫瑰丽的代表,充满着诡谲奇幻。而这种诡谲奇幻与楚地一直兴盛的巫文化离不开。楚地的巫文化自原始社会传承而来,充满着神秘。文化与艺术相辅相成,艺术离不开文化传承的影响,桃源地区的非物质文化遗产的艺术呈现形式则深受楚国巫文化的影响,现在的匠人在其艺术作品中还大量运用着巫傩文化中的元素,使桃源地区保持着艺术的独特性。     

对柏拉图文艺对话中“诗哲之争”的再解读

柏拉图在《理想国》中对诗和诗人提出了严厉的批评,认为其不利于城邦的"正义",并提出将其逐出"理想国"。但实际上,柏拉图并非反对所有的诗,他攻击的只是诗人在盲目追求爱欲下对真理的不作为和不负责任的摹仿。柏拉图的文艺对话表明,诗人和哲人因对"爱"的不同的理解与追求形成了不同的"诗",一种主要是摹仿诗,另一种则是旨在揭示真理的"哲人诗"。因此,《理想国》中的"诗哲之争"可以解读为"摹仿诗"和"哲人诗"之争,其本质是诗歌内部的争论,而非诗歌与哲学之间的争论。     

云冈石窟的艺术变形

云冈佛教石窟艺术,做为一种强化感性的宗教文化,绝不单单是对未来“粉本”和佛图仪轨的封闭摹仿。其艺术手法和美学品格是一个开放体系,呈现出丰富多彩的情态,除了象征和夸张之外,还有一种重要的美学品格——变形。     

PREDICATION AND EXTENSIONALIZATION

In his 2000 book Logical Properties Colin McGinn argues that predicates denote properties rather than sets or individuals. I support the thesis, but show that it is vulnerable to a type-incongruity objection, if properties are (modelled as) functions, unless a device for extensionalizing properties is added. Alternatively, properties may be construed as primitive intensional entities, as in George Bealer. However, I object to Bealer’s construal of predication as a primitive operation inputting two primitive entities and outputting a third primitive entity. Instead I recommend we follow Pavel Tichy in construing both predication and extensionalization as instances of the primitive operation of functional application.     

Using a bad tool with good intention: young children's imitation of adults' questionable choices

We present three studies exploring 2- to 4-year-olds’ imitation on witnessing a model whose questionable tool use choices suggested her untrustworthiness. In Study 1, children observed the model accidentally select a physically optimal tool for a task and then intentionally reject it for one that was functionally nonaffordant. When asked to perform the task for her, children at all ages ignored the model’s intentional cues and selected the optimal tool. Study 2 found that when the model’s nonaffordant tool choice was emphasized by claims about its design, 3-year-olds increased imitation. They also imitated, as did 2-year-olds, when the model selected a suboptimal rather than nonaffordant tool. The 4-year-olds consistently avoided imitation. Study 3 replicated these findings with new tools and participants. Additional measures indicated that knowledge about artifact design predicted children’s tendency to ignore the model. These results shed light on developmental trends in the social and cognitive functions of imitation.     

Imitation: definitions, evidence, and mechanisms

Imitation can be defined as the copying of behavior. To a biologist, interest in imitation is focused on its adaptive value for the survival of the organism, but to a psychologist, the mechanisms responsible for imitation are the most interesting. For psychologists, the most important cases of imitation are those that involve demonstrated behavior that the imitator cannot see when it performs the behavior (e.g., scratching one's head). Such examples of imitation are sometimes referred to as opaque imitation because they are difficult to account for without positing cognitive mechanisms, such as perspective taking, that most animals have not been acknowledged to have. The present review first identifies various forms of social influence and social learning that do not qualify as opaque imitation, including species-typical mechanisms (e.g., mimicry and contagion), motivational mechanisms (e.g., social facilitation, incentive motivation, transfer of fear), attentional mechanisms (e.g., local enhancement, stimulus enhancement), imprinting, following, observational conditioning, and learning how the environment works (affordance learning). It then presents evidence for different forms of opaque imitation in animals, and identifies characteristics of human imitation that have been proposed to distinguish it from animal imitation. Finally, it examines the role played in opaque imitation by demonstrator reinforcement and observer motivation. Although accounts of imitation have been proposed that vary in their level of analysis from neural to cognitive, at present no theory of imitation appears to be adequate to account for the varied results that have been found.     

Using imitation with congenitally deafblind adults: establishing meaningful communication partnerships

All congenitally deafblind people are potential communication partners. The key question for practitioners is how to help them achieve that potential. Imitation offers a particularly powerful means of doing so because it allows both partners to occupy a joint dyadic space, where the process of repairing the damaged communication partnerships that many deafblind people have been forced to function within throughout their lives can begin. I will first outline a brief history of deafblind education over the last 150 years in order to provide a general account of changes in practice and theory and corresponding impacts on interventions. I will then describe some of the difficulties that congenitally deafblind people face in making contact with and being understood by other people before drawing on both practical examples and theoretical accounts on neonatal imitation to examine four key functions that imitation plays in facilitating communicative exchanges between deafblind individuals and their partners: it attracts attention, it stimulates turn‐taking, it allows partners to recognize each other and it reveals the other as ‘just like me’. I will conclude that imitation is simply the starting place for a journey towards a ‘natural’ language for congenitally deafblind people, a language where meanings are jointly negotiated from the actions, gestures and vocalizations that develop between deafblind people and their communication partners. This starting place is the same for congenitally deafblind people as it is for all infants: a companion space where imitation acts a powerful and immediate source of feedback about your value as a fellow human being. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From imitation to conversation: the first dialogues with human neonates

The functional maturity of the newborn infant's brain, the resemblances between neonatal imitation and imitation in adults and the possibly lateralized neonatal imitation suggest that the mirror neuron system may contribute to neonatal imitation. Newborn infants not only imitate but also initiate previously imitated gestures, and are able to participate in overlapping imitation–initiation communicative cycles. Additionally, these social responses in neonates are faster than previously thought, and may enable them to have long‐lasting intimate interactions much before language develops. Infants are equipped with a powerful, innate, reciprocal communicative ability already at birth. The earliest communication originates from imitation and this communicative ability presumably later evolves to language. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The instinct to teach: Altruism or aggression?

In this paper, the term ‘teaching’ means activities which induce a specific change in the behavior of a member of the same species, and are adapted until the pupil reaches a certain standard of performance. Teaching in this sense is confined to man, with one group of exceptions. Other forms of social learning are observed among the mammals and even the buds. The most important is imitation, or learning by observation. Teaching by other species always involves punishment, and always leads to the separation or spacing out of individuals. It occurs 1) at weaning, 2) in maintaining status within a group, and 3) in territorial behavior. In each case an animal is punished for approaching another. Man is distinguished by using punishment not only as a deterrent but also in the teaching of skills. Such conduct is sometimes called aggressive. To give it this name is to put teaching (by punishment) in the same class as socially undesirable acts. Such a usage obscures questions that can profitably be asked. Children learn much by imitation, and are encouraged to do so. But teaching of skills (usually not by punishment) and of customs seems to be universal in human communities, both primitive and advanced. To say that there is an instinct or drive to teach adds, however, nothing to this statement. Some teaching, especially the formal process in schools, is by adults and is confined to particular societies. But, in addition, children teach younger children, sometimes evidently without prompting by elders. This is one aspect of the nurturant behavior which is perhaps a feature of all societies. Some traditions seem to be maintained solely by children. Such conduct is probably at times altruistic in the traditional sense of the term. “Altruism” in biological writings today has, however, a different meaning, and is therefore becoming a source of confusion. In many communities, both primitive and advanced, nurturant behavior and the teaching of young children by older children are reported to be more prominent among girls than among boys. Teaching, considered as a type of behavior, has been neglected as a subject of study. It would repay multidisciplinary investigation, especially as it appears in the conduct of children.     

Imitation and repetition of prosodic contour in vocal interaction at 3 months

This study investigates vocal imitation of prosodic contour in ongoing spontaneous interaction with 10- to 13-week-old infants. Audio recordings from naturalistic interactions between 20 mothers and infants were analyzed using a vocalization coding system that extracted the pitch and duration of individual vocalizations. Using these data, the authors categorized a sample of 1,359 vocalizations on the basis of 7 predetermined contours. Pairs of identical successive vocalizations were considered to be imitations if they involved both partners or repetitions if they were produced by the same partner. Results show that not only do mothers and infants imitate and repeat prosodic contour types in the course of vocal interaction but they do so selectively. Indeed, different contours are imitated and repeated by each partner. These findings suggest that imitation and repetition of prosodic contours have specific functions for communication and vocal development in the 3rd month of life.     

Toward a reconceptualization of the reciprocal imitation phenomenon: Two experiments

This paper reports two experiments which consider the increased imitation exhibited by models who have been imitated. Experiment 1 was concerned with whether the reciprocal imitation effect is really reciprocal or if the subsequent imitation will generalize to someone else. It was found that adult subjects who were previously imitated at the 75% rate on a perceptual judgments task subsequently imitated their partner more, rated their partner more attractive, and felt more confidence when imitated than did subjects imitated at the 25% rate. These results were obtained regardless of which confederate the subjects imitated, thus indicating that reciprocal imitation is not necessarily reciprocal, but is generalizable. Experiment 2 assessed whether the subsequent imitation is the product of the effects of being imitated or is the result of the subject observing the imitator's imitation. The results indicated that after having observed imitation at a 75% rate, adult onlookers are more likely to subsequently imitate and be attracted to the imitator, the imitated person, and a person new to the situation than are onlookers who observed a 25% imitation rate. A theoretical modification is advanced which holds that subsequent imitation effects, whether from observing others imitate or from being the target of the imitation, result from a process of imitation of imitativeness. The results of these two experiments have implications for theory in imitation and social learning.     

Kierkegaard on Imitation and Ethics: Toward a Secular Project?

This essay demonstrates the prominence of imitation in Kierkegaard’s ethics. I move beyond his idea of authentic existence modeled on Christ and explore the secular dimension of Kierkegaard’s insights about human nature and imitation. I start with presenting imitation as key to understanding the ethical dimension of the relationship between the universal and individual aspects of the human self in Kierkegaard. I then show that Kierkegaard’s moral concepts of “primitivity” and “comparison” are a response to his sociological and psychological observations about imitation from an ethical point of view. In the final section of this paper, I briefly engage Friedrich Schleiermacher’s “ethics of individuality” and Gabriel Tarde’s “laws of imitation” to explore Kierkegaard’s consideration of ethics and imitation as situated within the context of a broader conversation on imitation.     

An assessment of generalization of imitation in two enculturated orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

Deferred imitation of object-related actions and generalization of imitation to similar but not identical tasks were assessed in two human-reared (enculturated) orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). Each ape displayed low levels of deferred imitation but did not provide evidence of generalization of imitation. Results suggest that enculturated orangutans may not possess social-cognitive abilities similar to that which enculturated chimpanzees are assumed to possess.