Social evolution and the planetary crisis

This article provides perspective on today's planetary crisis by seeing it as a transition within the larger picture of human social evolution. There are certain ground qualities that were present at the beginnings of our social evolution—natural living, belonging, vitality, community, equality. Over the span of human history certain emergent qualities have developed to give us greater power in the world—technology, social organization, rational thinking. However, in developing these qualities we have suppressed the ground qualities, at the expense of our health and wholeness and now leading to a profound crisis. The next step in social evolution is to take conscious charge of our future by integrating the ground qualities with the emergent qualities. This model of social evolution helps to extend and deepen the concept of general evolution, giving us a broad view of our place in human and cosmic evolution.     

COGNITIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY FACTORS IN THE EMERGENCE OF HUMAN ALTRUISM

One of the central tenets of Christian theology is the denial of self for the benefit of another. However, many views on the evolution of altruism presume that natural selection inevitably leads to a self‐seeking human nature and that altruism is merely a façade to cover underlying selfish motives. I argue that human altruism is an emergent characteristic that cannot be reduced to any one particular evolutionary explanation. The evolutionary processes at work in the formation of human nature are not necessarily in conflict with the possibility of altruism; rather, aspects of human nature are uniquely directed toward the care and concern of others. The relationship between altruism, human nature, and evolution can be reimagined by adopting an emergent view of the hierarchy of science and a theological worldview that emphasizes self‐renunciation. The investigation of altruism necessitates an approach that analyzes several aspects of altruistic behavior at different levels in the hierarchy of sciences. This research includes the study of evolutionary adaptations, neurological systems, cognitive functions, behavioral traits, and cultural influences. No one level is able to offer a full explanation, but each piece adds a unique dimension to a much larger puzzle.     

网络突发事件中的负性偏向：产生与表现

在网络突发事件的产生和传播中, 人们往往更关注负面信息的加工和传递, 存在负性偏向。本研究依据事件酝酿、爆发、蔓延阶段的特征, 构建心理机制模型, 通过3项研究分别检验了信息内容、信息加工和信息传递中负性偏向的产生和发展。结果表明, 负性偏向不仅产生于网络突发事件的源头语篇中, 还产生于个体信息加工和人际信息传递过程, 表现为个体对负性词汇更好的记忆效果及更高的辨别力, 以及网民间对负性信息的选择性传递和对模糊信息的负性解读。研究有利于认识网络突发事件信息传播规律, 科学应对舆情危机, 创新网络治理。     

EMERGENCE FROM PHYSICS TO THEOLOGY: TOWARD A PANORAMIC VIEW

Abstract. At its best, the emergence debate provides a helpful model of what religion‐science scholarship can and should involve. (At its worst it represents the faddishness and bandwagon effects to which our field is also prone.) Those involved in the debate must pay close attention to concrete theories and results in the natural sciences. They rely on the careful conceptual distinctions that philosophers of science draw concerning complexity, novelty, and organization. The resulting views about human mentality and consciousness are tested against these results and checked for their adequacy to the phenomena of human experience. Emergentist theories of nature and personhood have entailments for one's theory of religion and for theological reflection; conversely, theological accounts may constrain one's interpretation of emergent phenomena. In my response to the four symposiasts I draw out these deeper dimensions of the emergence debate.     

SPIRITUALITY AS A NATURAL PHENOMENON: BRINGING BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES TOGETHER

Abstract. Working in Britain and in Poland, the authors independently arrived at an interpretation of spirituality as a natural phenomenon. From the point of view of the British author, spirituality is based on a biological predisposition that has been selected for in the process of evolution because it has survival value. In several important ways this approach is in harmony with the psychological perspective of the Polish author that sees spirituality as a socioculturally structured and determined attempt to cope with the existential human situation. Thus interpreted, spirituality is a human universal appearing in many secular as well as religious forms, although its most typical manifestations have been in religious experience. In this essay we discuss research data in support of this theoretical point of view and highlight some of the issues in bringing the two theoretical perspectives together.     

进化心理学视角中的腐败行为及心理机制

腐败作为全世界普遍关注的焦点问题,不同领域学者针对腐败行为产生原因与对策进行探讨。普遍认为制度、权力、文化等因素是腐败行为产生的重要原因,个别研究涉及到腐败主体的内在心理。进化心理学从进化和适应的视角对人类行为发生及心理内在特征具有终极解释度。因此,本文在前人研究的基础上,基于进化心理学的独特视角,从个体生命史历程(如童年创伤、贫穷经历等)去揭示腐败行为产生的心理机制。     

EXPERIENCING AND INTERPRETING NATURE IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract. I trace three paths from nature to religious interpretation. The first starts from religious experience in the context of nature; examples are drawn from nature poets, reflective scientists, and exponents of creation spirituality. The second,„Natural Theology”uses scientific findings concerning cosmology or evolution to develop an argument from design–or alternatively to defend evolutionary naturalism. The third,„Theology of Nature”starts from traditional religious beliefs about God and human nature and reformulates them in the light of current science. I point to examples of each of these paths in papers by other participants in this symposium, and suggest that all three paths can contribute to the task of relating science and religion today.     

Naturalism,Experience, and Hume’s ‘Science of Human Nature’

Abstract

A standard interpretation of Hume’s naturalism is that it paved the way for a scientistic and ‘disenchanted’ conception of the world. My aim in this paper is to show that this is a restrictive reading of Hume, and it obscures a different and profitable interpretation of what Humean naturalism amounts to. The standard interpretation implies that Hume’s ‘science of human nature’ was a reductive investigation into our psychology. But, as Hume explains, the subject matter of this science is not restricted to introspectively accessible mental content and incorporates our social nature and interpersonal experience. Illuminating the science of human nature has implications for how we understand what Hume means by ‘experience’ and thus how we understand the context of his epistemological investigations. I examine these in turn and argue overall that Hume’s naturalism and his science of man do not simply anticipate a disenchanted conception of the world.     

Some Thoughts on the Integration of Narrative and Humanistic/Existential Approaches to Psychotherapy

Although humanistic and narrative approaches to psychotherapy make some different assumptions about the nature of the human condition and emphasize different aspects of human functioning in their therapeutic endeavors, I argue here that the underlying assumptions of these two approaches reflect a common view of humanness, thus making these two approaches candidates for attempts at integration. Four areas of commonality are discussed in detail: (a) life as a process of continual development, (b) the nature of experience and the process of meaning creation, (c) the nature of psychological dysfunction, and (d) the nature and importance of human relationships. The implications of these commonalities for the practice of therapy from an integrated perspective are explored in an extended case example.     

Post-Cartesian Psychoanalysis and the Sociocultural Turn: From Cultural Contexts to Hermeneutic Understanding

This article addresses the tension between the defining impact of culture on human experience and the role of the person as agent. Focusing on the sociocultural turn in psychoanalysis, it examines the evolution of the notions of culture and the person, first in the culturalist psychoanalysis of Harry Stack Sullivan and Erich Fromm, and then in the hermeneutic turn of recent psychoanalysis. The article maintains that persons are inescapably shaped by the culture in which they live. At the same time, the manner in which individual psychology is organized and experienced within culture points to the role of agency as an emergent human potential. The article suggests that culture and personal agency are mutually reinforcing and that psychoanalysis must account for both. It develops a hermeneutic perspective as an alternative to postmodernism and concludes by outlining a post-Cartesian approach in psychoanalysis that addresses culture and the person in a non-dualistic fashion.     

The Human Being in the Context of Nature: Philosophical Anthropology and Natural Sciences in Hedwig Conrad-Martius

The most original aspect of Hedwig Conrad-Martius’ research is her interpretation of nature, performed through the phenomenological method. She pinpoints the very essences of the natural phenomena, discovering entelechies inside them and a trans-physical dimension. She reads the evolution of nature in a new way, against the deterministic interpretation of it. Inside nature one can discover many levels, qualitatively different. The human being participates to all of them, but his/her peculiarity is linked to the mental–spiritual life.     

Chaos and self-organization: emergent patterns at critical life transitions

A feeling of chaos can accompany many real-life events over which we have little or no control, and latent developmental needs may create tension that manifests in symptoms of depression or anxiety. Particularly at critical life transitions, conflicts may arise which have no obvious solution. From an analytic perspective, recent scientific models from the area of complexity theory can prove illuminating as analogies to Jung's archetypal view of the individuation process. Throughout life, human beings, like many complex, open systems, pass from disordered phases to more complex stages of order. This paper shows how the scientific concept of self-organization can be compared with our physical and psychological developmental processes. From embryology, the model of the 'epigenetic landscape' (C.H. Waddington) is introduced as an analogy to Jung's individuation process, with a clinical example to illustrate these parallels. The emergent nature of behaviour and development is seen from the viewpoint of the organism as a dynamical system, and Jung's concept of the archetype viewed as an emergent property of the activity of the brain/mind.     

Entry and Emergent Agendas of Adults Visiting an Aquarium in Family Groups

ABSTRACT

Understanding visitors' agendas is important in providing insights about learning experiences in informal settings, particularly if we consider learning to be both a product (what they learn) and a process (how they learn it). Accordingly, a handful of studies have investigated the impact of visitors' agendas on learning. However, little attention has been directed to investigating the impact of individual and collective agendas on the nature of the visit experience for the adult members of family groups, or the dynamics and evolution of these agendas during and after a visit to an informal setting. This article examines the roles that personal agendas play in shaping and framing the aquarium experiences of the adult members of 13 family groups visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre in Canada. It explores the dynamic and changing character of entry and emergent agendas within the family group context and the factors that constitute and shape such agendas. The roles of these agendas in the overall on-site learning experience of the adult members of the participating family groups, and the longitudinal impact of the aquarium visit are further discussed.     

The myths of Brexit

Cassirer's notion of myth and Langer's process philosophy are used to provide a novel perspective upon how feelings were both expressed and organised in the Brexit referendum, showing how multiple, overlapping organisations of feelings created a set of emergent rationalities. Political parties and campaigns, the media, and lived experience serve as analytic foci, and various feelings are identified. It is concluded that the result was largely rational on its own terms and that understanding this is central to the social psychology of Brexit.     

The developmental/emergent model of archetype, its implications and its application to shamanism

This paper addresses the ongoing debate in the JAP to do with archetype theory and supports an emergent/developmental model which sees archetypal imagery as an emergent phenomenon arising out of neural bio-structures laid down in early infant life as a result of developmental experience. This model is supported by the current findings of those developmental biologists who adhere to Developmental Systems Theory. The themes of Developmental Systems Theory are examined and corroborative parallels are drawn with the model. A number of implications follows: the model has substantial explanatory power and leads to a new perspective on innatism; it implies an archetype-environment nexus; it collapses the nature-nurture debate in relation to archetype theory; it collapses the 'sacred heritage' approach to archetypes and it removes the conceptual division between the collective and personal unconscious. This developmental/emergent perspective is then applied to the shaman archetype, using ethnographic records of the Sakha (Yakut) Siberian tribe. The material supports the hypothesis that the shamanic complex is laid down in early infancy by a combination of events which cause emotional ruptures in the mother-infant dyad. Siberian shamanism is then understood to arise out of developmental experience and not from the constellation of an autochthonous archetype.     

Being With Andres: Commentary on Paper by Ellen F. Fries

A good interpretation contributes to the patient's feeling of being witnessed or recognized. Recognition is an affective experience, not a matter of truth value, so that the truth in an interpretation, while it may be necessary to the recognition, is not sufficient. In fact, since interpretation is hardly the only form in which recognition can be couched, a good outcome can take place apart from any kind of interpretation. But this does not mean that new understanding is unimportant. It's just that the place of that new understanding in clinical process matters more than its content. I discuss Ellen F. Fries'case of Andres from this perspective.     

心理传记学的研究方法思考

摘 要 当代心理学由于“本体与方法”的割裂形成科学心理学与人文心理学双峰对峙的局面,科学心理学受自然科学方法的影响而难以直面人性关怀问题;以人文心理学为研究传统的心理传记学,通过对悬疑性问题的逐层解读,直面人类心理动力系统,从而能够直面人性关怀问题。为进一步促进心理传记学的发展,对当前心理传记研究的资料筛选、研究模式、理论运用改进,以期研究者能够更好地通过史料分析进入传主生命事件的历史现场,对传主生命历程进行恰当的理论解释,从而进一步激发中国本土心理传记学发展的动力。     

CREATED FOR EVERLASTING LIFE: CAN THEISTIC EVOLUTION PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE CHRISTIAN ACCOUNT OF HUMAN NATURE?

Christians who affirm standard science and the biblical doctrine of creation often endorse theistic evolution as the best approach to human origins. But theistic evolution is ambiguous. Some versions are naturalistic (NTE)—God created humans entirely by evolution—and some are supernaturalistic (STE)—God supernaturally augmented evolution. This article claims that NTE is inadequate as an account of human origins because its theological naturalism and emergent physicalist ontology of the soul or person conflict with the Christian doctrine that God created humans for everlasting life. Both the traditional Christian account of the afterlife and its modern Christian alternatives involve God's supernatural action and a separation (dualism) of person and body at death. STE can combine with several philosophical accounts of the body‐soul relation to provide an adequate Christian account of original human nature.     

Emergence and human conduct.

Emergence, the occurrence of novel, unpredictable human behavior, is an inherent aspect of human experience on both the individual and collective levels. In this article, we considered the ubiquitous nature of emergent events, indicated some of the ways such events manifest themselves, analyzed the personal and interpersonal processes that give rise to them, and suggested some of their implications for psychology and the other social sciences. Given the inescapable presence of emergence in human conduct, a redefinition of the goals and scope of social science may be desirable.     

Emergence and Human Conduct

Emergence, the occurrence of novel, unpredictable human behavior, is an inherent aspect of human experience on both the individual and collective levels. In this article, we considered the ubiquitous nature emergent events, indicated some of the ways such events manifest themselves, analyzed the personal and inter-personal processes that give rise to them, and suggested some of their implications for psychology and the other social science. Given the inescapable presence of emergence in human conduct, a redefinition of the goals and scope of social science may be desirable.