On the problem of the meaning of life in ��Chinese Philosophy��

The goal of “(modern) Chinese Philosophy” established during the period of the May 4th Movement is to reestablish the meaning of life for Chinese people. However, because it takes the approach of interpreting Chinese thinking through a Western lens, thus forming a discourse pattern of “Chinese A is Western B,” which is only capable of manifesting Western culture, “Chinese Philosophy” is made logically impossible as the ideological source from which modern Chinese thinkers could construct the meaning of life. The ideological source of the still lasting traditional lifestyle is Yili Xue 义理学 (The Learning of Righteousness and Principles); whereas that of modern life, which was established as an imitation of the West, is Western culture. Neither of them takes “Chinese Philosophy” as its ideological source. Therefore, “Chinese Philosophy” is excluded from the construction of the meaning of life, and falls into the dilemma of life meaning.     

The Holy Dog: Rite and Legend of a Pagan Cult in the Middle Ages—a Psychological Approach

This article describes the ritual and the legend of a pagan cult in a remote area of France during the Middle Ages; it continued till the 19th century, despite the fact that it was strongly forbidden by the church. In the 13th century a French Dominican discovered a hidden place in the forests where people came to worship the corpse of a dog. Mainly women brought their sick children to that place, celebrating a ritual that they believed would help those children. In the first part of the article the historical material is explored, including the legend and its sources. In the second part the ritual itself, as it is described in all its details by the Dominican, is interpreted psychologically. After discussing various symbolic and mythological aspects of the dog, the psychological interpretation of the legend is explored. The dog was venerated by peasants as a martyr and as a holy being who has the capacity to decide over life and death. Given this power, the dog can be seen as the animal of the Great Mother, for the Great Mother contains and symbolizes both life and death. From another perspective, the dog is the animal that is most closely bound to humans. For 14,000 years humans and dogs have walked the path of life together. The dog represents, as Marie-Louise von Franz once put it, “the warm, lively, vital urge of life”—that is—“the essence of relationship.”     

On the meaning of the question “How fast does time pass?”

In this paper I distinguish interpretations of the question ``How fast does time pass?’’ that are important for the debate over the reality of objective becoming from interpretations that are not. Then I discuss how one theory that incorporates objective becoming—the moving spotlight theory of time—answers this question. It turns out that there are several ways to formulate the moving spotlight theory of time. One formulation says that time passes but it makes no sense to ask how fast; another formulation says that time passes at one second per supersecond; and a third says that time passes at one second per second. I defend the intelligibility of this final version of the theory.     

On the malleability of the meaning of contexts: the influence of another person’s emotion expressions on situation perception

Research on the relationship between context and facial expressions generally assumes a unidirectional effect of context on expressions. However, according to the model of the meaning of emotion expressions in context (MEEC) the effect should be bidirectional. The present research tested the effect of emotion expression on the interpretation of scenes. A total of 380 participants either (a) rated facial expressions with regard to the likely appraisal of the eliciting situation by the emoter, (b) appraised the scenes alone or (c) appraised scenes shown together with the expressions they supposedly elicited. The findings strongly supported the MEEC. When a scene was combined with an expression signalling a situation that is undesirable, or high in locus of control or sudden, the participants appraised the scene correspondingly. Thus, the meaning of scenes is malleable and affected by the way that people are seen to react to them.     

Changes in the meaning of the term ‘the people’ (jen-min) — An example of conceptual revolution as reflected in semantic evolution

Analysis of the use of the key term the people shows that it has varied both semantically and syntactically along the time-line of the evolution of the CPC.     

Organization and work of missionaries in the Middle‐Volga in the second half of the nineteenth century

The missionary effort of the Orthodox Church in the Middle‐Volga—a region conquered by Russia in the sixteenth century and inhabited by an ethnically heterogeneous population practising Islam or a variety of indigenous religions—had led to the formation of important communities of converts. But until the nineteenth century, the church made essentially no effort to educate the converts in the meaning and content of the Orthodox faith and movements of apostasy were frequent. In the mid‐nineteenth century, an outstanding group of missionaries, concerned about the spread of Islam among the nominally Christian communities, began to deploy an important activity to enlighten converts in the Orthodox faith. Their methods—evangelization, education, and propaganda in native languages—were novel and radical. Concerned with the defence of nominally Christian populations against Muslim influences, anti‐Muslim activity was an important aspect of work of the missionaries. Missionaries developed a substantial anti‐Islamic literature and used their considerable influence to harm the Muslims culturally and politically. The legacy of the missionary experience contributed to the continuing distrust between Russians and indigenous peoples.     

Child protection workers’ understanding of the meaning and value of self-reflection in Estonia

This article describes an exploratory qualitative study in Estonia that focuses on how child protection workers (N = 93) perceive and understand the meaning and value of self-reflection. Participants discussed self-reflection in the context of self-analysis, motivation to improve professional performance, negative self-appraisal, and feedback from peers and clients. The findings highlight the workers’ emphasis on self-perceived weaknesses, reflecting Estonian cultural norms which eschew self-praise and focus on deficits rather than strengths and possibilities. Self-reflection was mainly associated with a cognitive process, namely learning from the experience. This study underscores the need to guide and encourage child protection workers to adopt and apply systematic and possibly less critical self-reflection so that they can strengthen their decision-making process to promote the well-being of children and their families in the child welfare system.     

Jivacide,Zombies and Jivanmuktas: the meaning of life in the Bhagavad Gitā

In discussing the meaning of life in the Bhagavad Gitā two obvious questions arise: first, what is the meaning of ‘the meaning of life'?, and second, how does that meaning apply to the Bhagavad Gitā? In Part I of this brief paper I will attempt to answer the first question by focusing on one of the common meanings of that phrase; in Part II, I will apply that very common meaning to the Bhagavad Gitā; and in the third and final part, I will point to a puzzle, the paradox of the jivanmukta, that would seem to follow from the discussion in the first two parts of this paper.

My own feeling is that the concept of ‘the meaning of life’ is a Western invention [1]. This being so, perhaps it would be wise to probe for that concept and its meaning among Western authors. We turn first, then, to one ancient writer, Aristotle of Stagira, and conclude Part I with a modern writer also concerned with the meaning of life, Albert Camus.     

On the Attention — Demand Value of Rorschach Stimuli

The attention-demand value of the Rorschach stimuli was investigated by measuring free looking time elicited by each card. Reports of content were not given by Ss. There were significant differences between cards in amount of looking which they elicited. This was closely related to judged complexity of the cards (r = .78) and response productivity of the cards under normal administration of the Rorschach test (r = .72). A comparison of looking times under two instructions, non-defensive and defensive, showed that the instructional variable tended to produce greater differences in looking time for some cards than for others. Cards low in complexity showed relatively longer looking times under the defensive conditions.     

On the role of lyrics in the music–exercise performance relationship

ObjectivesTo examine the role of lyrics on a range of psychological, psychophysical, and physiological variables during submaximal cycling ergometry.DesignWithin-subject counterbalanced design.MethodTwenty-five participants performed three 6-min cycling trials at a power output corresponding to 75% of their maximum heart rate under conditions of music with lyrics, same music without lyrics, and a no-music control. Cycling cadence, heart rate, and perceived exertion were recorded at 2-min intervals during each trial. Positive and negative affect was assessed before and after each trial.ResultsParticipants cycled at a higher cadence towards the end of the cycling trials under music with lyrics. Main effects were found for perceived exertion and heart rate, both of which increased from min 2 through to min 6, and for affect: positive affect increased and negative affect decreased from pre- to post-trials.ConclusionsParticipants pedalled faster in both music conditions (with and without lyrics) while perceived exertion and heart rate did not differ. The inclusion of lyrics influenced cycling cadence only at min 6 and had no effect on the remaining dependent variables throughout the duration of the cycling trials. The impact of lyrical content in the music–exercise performance relationship warrants further attention in order for us to better understand its role.     

On the Meaning of the Constant “c” in Modern Physics

In modern physics, the constant “c” plays a twofold role. On the one hand, “c” is the well known velocity of light in an empty Minkowskian space–time, on the other hand “c” is a characteristic number of Special Relativity that governs the Lorentz transformation and its consequences for the measurements of space–time intervals. We ask for the interrelations between these two, at first sight different meanings of “c”. The conjecture that the value of “c” has any influence on the structure of space–time is based on the operational interpretation of Special Relativity, which uses light rays for measurements of space–time intervals. We do not follow this way of reasoning but replace it by a more realistic approach that allows to show that the structure of the Minkowskian space–time can be reconstructed already on the basis of a restricted classical ontology (Mittelstaedt, Philosophie der Physik und der Raum-Zeit, Mannheim: BI-Wissenschaftsverlag, 1988 and Mittelstaedt, Kaltblütig: Philosophie von einem rationalen Standpunkt, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag, pp. 221–240, 2003), and that without any reference to the propagation of light. However, the space–time obtained in this way contains still an unknown constant. We show that this constant agrees numerically with “c” but that it must conceptually clearly be distinguished from the velocity of light. Hence, we argue for a clear distinction between the two faces of “c” and for a dualism of space–time and matter.     

Is a life without meaning satisfying? The moderating role of the search for meaning in satisfaction with life judgments

Results from two studies revealed that the relation between meaning in life and life satisfaction was moderated by the extent to which the rater was searching for meaning in his or her life. In Studies 1a and 1b, the presence of meaning was more strongly related to life satisfaction for those who were actively searching for meaning in life than for those who were not. Study 2 extended the finding to judgments concerning a fictitious target's life satisfaction based on experimentally manipulated information regarding meaning in life. Thus, the role of meaning in life satisfaction judgments varies across individuals, depending on the level of search for meaning in life. These results suggest that search for meaning behaves like a schema increasing the salience of meaning-relevant information, and provides new ways of understanding people's efforts to establish meaningful lives.