Minding Feeling

In this commentary on Jørgen Dines Johansen’s paper, ‘Feelings in Literature’, an expanded approach to feeling is sketched, relying on the work of Susanne Langer. Without challenging the central and valuable insights presented by Johansen, this commentary attempts to develop and refine the notion of feeling beyond that found in Johansen and to focus on the heuristic power of images, especially artistic images, to reveal the deep structures of minding. Langer’s work is rooted in a nuanced philosophical psychology and biology, but she looks for her guide to exploring these domains to the ‘import of art.’ Her approach to the semiotics of art offers a set of powerful analytical tools that reveal the universal scope of aesthetic reflection and its relevance for the sciences of mind.     

The Logic of Feeling

The contribution of the feelings‐as‐information hypothesis to our understanding of the role of affect in judgment and decision making is discussed. Basic principles and regularities in how affective feelings guide judgments and decisions are then identified. Based on these principles and regularities, it is argued that the role of feelings in judgment and decision making may be more adaptive than has been assumed in most academic circles. This adaptivity transpires (a) in the variety of goal‐relevant signals that feelings convey, (b) the flexibility with which feelings are interpreted, (c) the judgmental properties of feelings, and (d) the selectivity with which feelings are invoked. It is speculated that affective feelings may tap into a separate system of judgment and decision making with its unique strengths and weaknesses.     

The Artistic Expression of Feeling

Philosophia - In the past 60 years or so, the philosophical subject of artistic expression has generally been handled as an inquiry into the artistic expression of emotion. In my view this...     

Fitting In and Feeling Good

Abstract

This study examined self-evaluation (self-esteem, perceived physical attractiveness, and perceived social competence) and indicators of psychological stress (physical and somatic symptoms of depression and substance use) among 463 adolescent biracial girls from three different backgrounds: Black-White, Hispanic-White, and Asian-White. Patterns of self-evaluation and psychological stress were examined as a function of both parentage and self-identification as either White or non-White. Biracial girls were compared with nonbiracial girls on all variables. Results indicated that outcomes vary as a function of parentage and ethnic self-identification and that there is broad variability among biracial girls from different backgrounds.     

悠悠学子情——石衍丰先生赠书介休绵山大罗宫记事

介休历史悠久 ,早在新石器时代就有人类在那里繁衍生息。据史料记载 :鲁隐公五年(前 71 8年 )“曲沃庄伯伐翼 ,晋翼侯奔随”。随就在介休城东 ,为晋大夫士会的食邑。晋顷公十二年 (前 51 4年 ) ,境内始置邬县。秦代设界休县 ,与邬县并存。新莽时改界休为界美。东汉复名界休。西晋改界休为介休。北周置郡 ,唐代设州 ,1 992年撤县改市 ,介休之名沿用至今。介休历来地灵人杰 ,尤以春秋晋国功不言禄、功成身隐的介之推而名播四海 ;介休人文荟萃 ,蔡邕、李世民、张商英等众多名流在此留下许多脍炙人口的诗文 ,其文物古迹多达 1 50余处 ,其中不乏…     

Feeling of knowing and restudy choices

Feeling-of-knowing judgments (FOK-Js) reflect people’s confidence that they would be able to recognize a currently unrecallable item. Although much research has been devoted to the factors determining the magnitude and accuracy of FOK-Js, much less work has addressed the issue of whether FOK-Js are related to any form of metacognitive control over memory processes. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that FOK-Js are related to participants’ choices of which unrecallable items should be restudied. In three experiments, we showed that participants tend to choose for restudy items with high FOK-Js, both when they are explicitly asked to choose for restudy items that can be mastered in the restudy session (Exps. 1a and 2) and when such specific instructions are omitted (Exp. 1b). The study further demonstrated that increasing FOK-Js via priming cues affects restudy choices, even though it does not affect recall directly. Finally, Experiment 2 showed the strategy of restudying unrecalled items with high FOK-Js to be adaptive, because the efficacy of restudy is greater for these items than for items with low FOK-Js. Altogether, the present findings underscore an important role of FOK-Js for the metacognitive control of study operations.     

Spinoza and the Feeling of Freedom

We seem to have a direct experience of our freedom when we act. Many philosophers take this feeling of freedom as evidence that we possess libertarian free will. Spinoza denies that we have free will of any sort, although he admits that we nonetheless feel free. Commentators often attribute to him what I call the ‘Negative Account’ of the feeling: it results from the fact that we are conscious of our actions but ignorant of their causes. I argue that the Negative Account is flawed. The feeling of freedom also depends on a vacillation of the mind. When the mind forms too many incompatible associations, it vacillates between them. When we act, the mind vacillates back and forth between the kinds of actions that we associate with our present mental state. We then mistake this subjective vacillation for an objective feature of ourselves—namely, the power to do otherwise.     

情感简论

人是感性的存在物。情感世界是人的基本存在方式。论文简要论述中国哲学、西方哲学和马克思主义哲学在情感问题上的主要观点,阐述了作者时情感的基本看法,强调应重视情感问题的研究,并把“情感”概念纳入马克思主义哲学体系。     

Acting with Feeling from Duty

A central claim in Kantian ethics is that an agent is properly morally motivated just in case she acts from duty alone. Bernard Williams, Michael Stocker, and Justin Oakley claim that certain emotionally infused actions, such as lending a compassionate helping hand, can only be done from compassion and not from duty. I argue that these critics have overlooked a distinction between an action's manner, how an action is done, and its motive, the agent's reason for acting. Through a range of examples I demonstrate how an emotion can determine an action's manner without also serving as the motive. Thus, it is possible for an agent to act compassionately from duty alone. This distinction between the manner and the motive of an action not only restores a central claim in Kantian ethics but it also allows for an expanded role of emotions in moral action.     

Feeling Understood in Family Therapy

This paper attempts to highlight a common experience, but neglected topic, in family therapy: that of feeling understood. Aspects of postmodernism and contemporary psychoanalysis are revisited to create a theme of understanding as a fully relational activity – making sense together through language of that which lies beyond language. Some ideas on preparing to try to understand are discussed.     

Feeling at home in language

What do we learn about language from reading Wittgenstein'sPhilosophical Investigations? This question gains urgency from Wittgenstein's alleged animus against philosophical theorizing and his indirectness. Section 1 argues that Wittgenstein's goal is to prevent philosophical questioning about the foundations of language from the beginning. This conception of his aim is not in tension with Wittgenstein's use of the notion of community; “community interpretations” of his views betray a misguided commitment to the coherence of the idea that language might need grounding. Wittgenstein's goal is not to enjoin us not to step “outside of language-games”, but to show that we have insufficiently clear grasp of the terms we try to use to express the limits of intelligibility. Section 2 suggests that appreciating Wittgenstein's moral concerning the relation between language and philosophizing about it involves allowing him to teach us how to read his book. What makes readingPhilosophical Investigations possible is openness to learning how not to forget our lives in language.