CRITICISM OF LITERATURE AND CRITICISM OF CULTURE

There is a class of critics who are dissatisfied with the academic status of literary criticism and who want to re-establish for literary criticism the status it possessed in the early and mid nineteenth century as simultaneously cultural and social criticism. This is an impossible task. The 'cultural critics' of the nineteenth century possessed their authority because they were without competition and because they could command the attention and respect of the whole of the literate audience. However, at the end of the nineteenth century intellectual authority came to be based in specialised academic disciplines and individual authority was undermined and ultimately disappeared. At the same time, the arrival of universal literacy in Britain fragmented and ultimately destroyed the generally educated audience to which the cultural critics addressed themselves. Consequently there is today no role for the cultural critic. Literary critics cannot speak with authority about social, political, or cultural questions. They can, however, speak with authority about literature. Whether or not this criticism can be grounded in disciplinary knowledge, it serves a necessary function for an audience that no longer possesses the skill of reading literary works and lacks the background knowledge that is necessary to make sense of literature.     

ORTHODOXY AND THE CHALLENGE OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM

Traditional Jewish theology and practice are predicated on belief in the divinity of the Torah. Biblical criticism has posed increasingly formidable challenges to this belief in modern times. To the extent that Modern Orthodoxy has addressed the problem, it has generally attempted to refute the findings of scientific scholarship on its own terms. This article will suggest that such an approach represents a misplaced framing of the question, by viewing all religious truth claims cognitively as simple statements of fact. Instead of questioning whether the doctrine of Torah from Heaven is true empirically, its “truth” is established via its function within the context of the “form of life” (in the Wittgensteinian sense) that it engenders.     

SOCIAL VALIDATION OF COMPONENT BEHAVIORS OF FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS,ACCEPTING CRITICISM,AND NEGOTIATING

This study evaluated whether behaviors often taught as part of social skills training are judged favorably by others. Community judges evaluated the performances of people in various situations requiring one of three social skills: following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating to resolve conflicts. These skills were displayed in videotaped scenes by actors with and without mental retardation who acted out roles that had different types of authority relationships, and when different components or clusters of behavior (nonverbal, specific verbal, or general verbal behaviors) were performed well or poorly. The highest ratings by judges were of videotaped scenes that depicted correct use of all behaviors, regardless of which skill was being examined, whether or not the actor had mental retardation, or what the relationship was between the two actors. The lowest ratings were of videotaped scenes that depicted poor performance of all behaviors, and intermediate ratings were obtained when only some of the behaviors were performed poorly. These results, as well as the verbal responses of judges to questions, indicated that the different behaviors commonly used in teaching the skills of following instructions, accepting criticism, and negotiating are relevant to judgment of social performance, and are likely to be reinforced and maintained by social contingencies.     

HUMANE PHILOSOPHY AND THE QUESTION OF PROGRESS

According to some recent critics, philosophy has not progressed over the course of its history because it has not exhibited any substantial increase in the stock of human wisdom. I reject this pessimistic conclusion by arguing that such criticisms employ a conception of progress drawn from the sciences which is inapplicable to a humanistic discipline such as philosophy. Philosophy should not be understood as the accumulation of epistemic goods in a manner analogous to the natural sciences. I argue that the progressiveness of philosophy consists, if anything, in its capacity to provoke and sustain critical reflections upon the ideas and practices which shape and guide human life.     

PSYCHOLOGY AND LITERATURE: THE QUESTION OF READING OTHERWISE

By making literature the partner of a dialogue with psychology, with the aim of better understanding the psyche, psychoanalysis has truly altered our way of understanding the literary phenomenon. Thus, Freud resorted to literature in an attempt to validate his theories. At the same time, though, in striving for "natural" scientific status, he shifted the emphasis away from any possible deep comprehension of the literature. However, psychoanalysis, trying to delve deeper into literature, has elaborated a whole theory regarding the literary meaning that is still prevalent today. In this paper, the author examines the Freudian conception of literature that points beyond the intrapsychic and moves towards intersubjectivity.     

记忆与遗忘的社会建构

国家与市民社会的记忆《你们法国人记性短》(Fran ais,vous avez la m啨moire courte)是在圣苏比教堂对面的影院中上映的一个电影的片名。那是在20世纪60年代早期;第二次世界大战过去了几乎还不到15年,纳粹主义的恐怖尚未被完全揭露出来。德国是一个被占领和被分裂的国家。法国