The Storytelling Brain

The well-established techniques of the professional storyteller not only have the potential to model complex ??truth?? but also to dig deeply into that complexity, thereby perhaps getting closer to that truth. This applies not only to fiction, but also to medicine and even science. Compelling storytelling ability may have conferred an evolutionary survival advantage and, if so, is likely represented in the neural circuitry of the human brain. Functional imaging will likely point to a neuroanatomical basis for compelling storytelling ability; this will presumably reflect underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms.     

The Experience of Magic

Despite its enduring popularity, theatrical magic remains all but ignored by art critics, art historians, and philosophers. This is unfortunate, since magic offers a unique and distinctively intellectual aesthetic experience and raises a host of interesting philosophical questions. Thus, this article initiates a philosophical investigation of the experience of magic. Section I dispels two widespread misconceptions about the nature of magic and discusses the sort of depiction it requires. Section II asks, “What cognitive attitude is involved in the experience of magic?” and criticizes three candidate replies; Section III then argues that Tamar Szabó Gendler's notion of “belief‐discordant alief” holds the key to a correct answer. Finally, Section IV develops an account of the experience of magic and explores some of its consequences. The result is a philosophically rich view of the experience of magic that opens new avenues for inquiry and is relevant to core issues in contemporary aesthetics.     

意识形态的魔力与主体的祛魅——哲学视域中的《法兰西阶级斗争》和《雾月十八日》

《1848年至1850年的法兰西阶级斗争》和《路易.波拿巴的雾月十八日》在马克思哲学思想的发展过程中起到极为重要的推动作用。在这两个文本中,马克思打破了市民社会决定国家的单向模式,详细分析了政治国家对市民社会的反作用,进一步完善了历史唯物主义的基本原理。在此基础上,马克思看到,无产阶级并不像他在《德意志意识形态》中预言的那样,彻底摆脱了资产阶级国家意识形态的束缚,成为共产主义革命的真正代言人,相反,他们却陷入到资产阶级意识形态和金钱拜物教的漩涡之中。但马克思认为,这种束缚是暂时的,随着资本主义经济危机的爆发,工人必然会冲破意识形态和拜物教的牢笼,上升为自为的革命阶级。与《德意志意识形态》相比,这两个文本无疑在主体向度上深化了马克思的历史唯物主义。     

Storytelling in Liberal Religious Advocacy

Previous research suggests liberal religious advocates often find it necessary to use broadly accessible technical or moral language to communicate with policymakers and public audiences, yet this conformity to secular speech norms diminishes the distinctiveness of their religious voices. Communicating through storytelling offers them one way of overcoming this dilemma. This is demonstrated by examining liberal religious advocacy during recent healthcare reform debates in the United States, using data from interviews and public communications by advocates. By embedding stories within religiopolitical performances that highlight their religious identities, advocates convey policy‐relevant information without relying on explicitly religious language that may be inaccessible or unpersuasive to diverse audiences. They also deploy storytelling strategically, bearing witness to injustices experienced firsthand, secondhand, from the pews, and from the past, depending on the context. These findings have implications for ongoing debates about religious citizens’ capacity to communicate across lines of difference in the public sphere.     

Zen and the Art of Storytelling

This paper explores the contribution of Zen storytelling to moral education. First, an understanding of Zen practice, what it is and how it is achieved, is established. Second, the connection between Zen practice and ethics is shown in terms of the former’s ability to cultivate moral emotions and actions. It is shown that Zen practice works at the roots of consciousness where, according to the fundamental tenets of Buddhism, the possibility of human goodness, known as bodhicitta (awakened heartmind), lies. Third, it is suggested that storytelling is a viable and desirable means of moral education. Two examples of Zen stories are introduced, and interpretive commentaries are offered in the service of illustrating the major points made in this article.     

The Magic Background of Modern Anti-Semitism by Adolf Leschnitzer

A range of joyful emotions may be woven into the therapeutic group process for older persons. Experiencing joy is a powerful healing factor because it helps reduce the pain of losses inherent in the aging process, restores self-confidence and hope, and renews an investment in living. This paper identifies ten facets of joy which can help develop a therapeutic group climate. Examples from the authors' practice illustrate conceptual approaches.     

道教太乙派及其道法考

唐宋之际,随着道教的兴盛与发展,出现许多新的道派,如洞渊派、北帝派、神霄派、清微派、天心派、太乙派、东华派、净明派等。他们多以雷法为用,济世度人,安邦护国,具有广泛的社会影响力。这里,仅就太乙派的历史、沿革、道法而论。一、由冯佑、刘浩然肇始的太乙派冯佑,平生好道,     

Storytelling and Coping With Stressful Events1

Three studies explored the coping benefits and limitations of stories people hear about others undergoing similar stressful events. In Study One, cancer patients reported that positive stories about other patients were preferable to and more helpful than negative stories, yet negative stories were more commonly told. Study Two manipulated the valence and source of stories told to college students facing midterm exams. Stories with positive endings and those relayed by expert sources were regarded more positively than negative stories and those told by nonexperts. Study Three manipulated the valence and informativeness of stories in a similar college sample. Positive and informative stories were rated more favorably, although these effects were independent of each other. Implications for social comparison and social support are discussed.     

Dyadic Versus Individual Storytelling by Preschool Children

A constructive model of recall and communication (D. Edwards & D. Middleton, 1986) and certain whole-word approaches to learning (C. Pontecorvo & C. Zucchermaglio, 1989) were evaluated in conjunction with an investigation of the benefits of joint storytelling on children's cognitive processes. Preschoolers (N = 36, aged 30-62 months) were prompted to compose a story, working with a classmate (during which they talked together freely and generated a mutual narrative) or individually. Findings revealed that, although dyadically generated stones were longer, containing significantly more words, propositions, and additive conjunctions, stories told by individuals contained proportionally more logically connected statements and greater use of the past tense. Moreover, compared with dyadic stories, individually generated narratives contained fewer alterations of the protagonist.     

Magic vs. enchantment

This paper draws on a distinction by J. R. R. Tolkien between Magic (an exercise of the will to change something in the world) and Enchantment (the creation of and entering into a secondary world). After elaborating this contrast and some of its consequences—one of which is to illuminate the common ground between science and what is usually thought of as magic, as distinct (in both cases) from art—I suggest some complications and refinements, including a third category, Glamour. I then discuss contemporary modernist magic, including Weberian ‘disenchantment’ which, 1 argue, is actually central to the triumph of the former. One consequence of that triumph is to place an historically unique emphasis upon enchantment as a source of resistance and possibly re‐enchantment. I then take a closer look at wonder, as the hallmark of enchantment, and at the special relationship between wonder and nature, before concluding with some suggestions for how to recognise genuine contemporary re‐enchantment.