BETWEEN KNOWING AND BEING: REFLECTIONS ON BEING TAUGHT SCIENCE AND RELIGION BY PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER SOUTHGATE

It is a joy to be asked to contribute to this commemorative edition of Zygon, in honor of my friend Christopher Southgate. But a narrowly academic article seems not to fit the brief of writing a reflection on Southgate's teaching of science and religion, as one who has witnessed it, gladly, as both student and colleague. What follows, then, is deliberately reflective in tone, with little in the way of academic references apart from occasional links to Southgate's own work—though, I hope, enough of a strand of argument to justify inclusion in these pages. My argument is simply put: Southgate teaches by not teaching, but by drawing out knowledge from students and thereby empowering their growth. He is an exemplar, a kind man committed to the unfolding of understanding, interested too in forming dispositions in his students that will lead to their flourishing as thinkers and as people.     

DIRECTIONS IN HISTORICISM: LANGUAGE, EXPERIENCE, AND PRAGMATIC ADJUDICATION

Abstract. This article examines the current affirmation within theology of historicism, with its assumption that the historical realm, broadly construed, is the only arena of human activity and knowledge and its repudiation of traditional forms of foundationalism and correspondence theories of truth. The essay performs this task by analyzing the work of Gordon Kaufman and William Dean, setting forth their commonly shared historicism, pragmatism, and constructivist approaches to theology, as well as their differences concerning nonlinguistic dimensions of experience. The essay also focuses on the move by both thinkers to include nature in their understanding of history and to offer biocultural interpretations of human existence.     

GIANNI VATTIMO AND RENÉ GIRARD ON THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRISTIANITY

The possibility of a naturalistic explanation of religious phenomena (including Christianity) which is offered by natural science gives the question of the uniqueness of Christianity a new urgency, for it raises the question of whether an irreducible otherness in Christianity vis-à-vis a generally-human, natural religiosity (which may be explained naturalistically) can be demonstrated. In what follows, we shall discuss the answer of two contemporary thinkers to this question: that of the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo and that of the French-American literary critic and fundamental anthropologist René Girard. There is also an interesting link between both thinkers, as we shall see below – Vattimo has stated that it was his reading of Girard which made him return to Christianity after having abandoned it earlier in his life.     

The Problem with Sex According to Buddhism

Abstract : This essay offers a primer for readers unfamiliar with Buddhist sexual ethics. Sex is a problem for Buddhism because it epitomizes the human predicament and the difficulty of its resolution. The essay begins with religious views of the human predicament and its resolution, and how these views shape religious ethical systems. Next follows a brief section on the Buddha and his teachings about human existence and ethical living, focusing particularly on the ultimate goal of liberation from the unsatisfactoriness of a life driven by desire. Given Buddhism's historic emphasis on a renunciatory ideal modeled by a monastic community, a substantial portion of the essay examines the disciplinary rules and sexual behaviors of Buddhist monks and nuns. Sexual ethics for lay Buddhists and non‐conventional sexual categories round out the essay.     

Engineered Knowledge,Fragility and Virtue Epistemology

Philosophia - There is a clean image of knowledge transmission between thinkers that involves sincere and reliable speakers, and hearers who carefully assess the epistemic credentials of the...     

Consciousness,Power and sacrifice: Conversations with Marie-Louise von Franz

Marie-Louise von Franz has long been regarded as one of the leading thinkers in the world of Jungian psychology. In this wide-ranging conversation, which took place in her home at Kusnacht, Switzerland, she discusses some trends in current-day spiritual movements within the broader context of the historical evolution of consciousness in religion and psychology. Her message is particularly appropriate for those who are working toward the resolution of conflict between nations, as well as for anyone who is on an inner path of Self development.     

Some big ideas for some big problems

Although most psychologists do not see sustainability as a psychological problem, our environmental predicament is caused largely by human behaviors, accompanied by relevant thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and values. The huge task of building sustainable cultures will require a great many psychologists from a variety of backgrounds. In an effort to stimulate the imaginations of a wide spectrum of psychologists to take on the crucial problem of sustainability, this article discusses 4 psychological approaches (neo-analytic, behavioral, social, and cognitive) and outlines some of their insights into environmentally relevant behavior. These models are useful for illuminating ways to increase environmentally responsible behaviors of clients, communities, and professional associations.     

Constructivism Contested: Implications of a Genetic Perspective in Psychology

Constructivism is an approach to knowledge and learning that focuses on the active role of knowers. Sanchez and Loredo (Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science 43:332–349, 2009) propose a classification of constructivist thinkers and address what they perceive to be internal problems of present-day constructivism. The remedy they propose is a return to the genetic constructivism of James Mark Baldwin, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. In this article we first raise the question of whether thinkers like Baldwin, Vygotsky, Maturana and Varela are adequately depicted as constructivists, and subsequently argue that constructivism is caught in an overly epistemic version of the subject/object dichotomy. We then introduce a genetic logic that is not based on the Hegelian dialectics of negation and mediation, but rather on the idea of the recursive consensual coordination of actions that give rise to stylized cultural practices. We argue that a genuinely genetic and generative psychology should be concerned with the multifarious and ever-changing nature of human ‘life’ and not merely with the construction of knowledge about life.     

Alienation in Commercial Society: The Republican Critique of Jean‐Jacques Rousseau and Adam Ferguson

This article explores the republican critiques of commercial society of Jean‐Jacques Rousseau and Adam Ferguson, focusing on their kindred analyses of social alienation. The joint study of these thinkers reveals a Rousseauean strand of eighteenth‐century republicanism that effectively combined a traditional (yet idiosyncratic) Stoic view of human flourishing with an innovative, proto‐sociological analysis and critique of quintessentially modern social phenomena. Rousseau and Ferguson regard alienation as a loss of wholeness, both in humans individually and in their relations to their (social) surroundings. The article addresses two specific aspects of alienation in commercial society as the two thinkers see it. The first aspect concerns the insincerity underpinning the new moral vocabulary of polite sociability; the second aspect concerns the division of labor. According to Rousseau and Ferguson, this division threatens true human flourishing as well as political liberty. Finally, the conservative dimension of their republican solutions for overcoming alienation and bolstering liberty is considered.     

RENAISSANCE HUMANISM AND PHILOSOPHY AS A WAY OF LIFE

A long-established view has deprecated Renaissance humanists as primarily literary figures with little serious interest in philosophy. More recently it has been proposed that the idea of philosophy as a way of life offers a useful framework with which to reassess their philosophical standing. This proposal has faced some criticism, however. By looking again at the work of three important figures from the period, this essay defends the claim that at least some thinkers during the Renaissance did see philosophy as a way of life, while also acknowledging the force of reservations made by recent critics.     

HAND IN GLOVE: EVALUATING THE FIT BETWEEN METHOD AND THEOLOGY IN VAN HUYSSTEEN'S INTERPRETATION OF HUMAN UNIQUENESS

Wentzel van Huyssteen's Alone in the World? (2006) presents an interpretation of human uniqueness in the form of a dialogue between classical Christian theological affirmations and cutting‐edge scientific understandings of the human and animal worlds. The sheer amount of information from different thinkers and fields that van Huyssteen absorbs and integrates makes this book extraordinary and, indeed, very rich as a work of interdisciplinary theology. The book commands respect and deserves close attention. In this essay I evaluate van Huyssteen's proposal as well as the method he uses to produce it. Special attention is given to the concept of embodiment. Van Huyssteen's concept of embodiment is substantially correct in most respects and largely consistent with the scientific and theological pictures of human nature. In a few respects, however, his interpretation of the bodily character of human life appears to be insufficiently thoroughgoing relative to our best contemporary knowledge of human nature from the natural sciences.     

From ‘slumdog’ to humanitarian: educating orphans to save the world

The purpose of education should not only be to build content knowledge and literacy but to awaken the inherent human values within each child and encourage the translation of those values into social transformation. At the Hariharananda Balashram, we see one example of how destitute children are being provided with a moral and academic education that fits both Paulo Freire’s model of empowering the oppressed and Joseph and Efron’s emphasis on the seven worlds of moral education. The result is a group of children who not only are determined to succeed, but to use that academic and moral foundation to give back to their communities and become agents of social change.     

Comparative Perspectives on Solutions for the Problem of Other Minds

This paper aims to establish a dialogue between contemporary research on the problem of other minds and classical Chinese philosophical theories. It first explores the idea, inspired by the recent discovery of the mirror neuron mechanism, that a direct exchange of experience may occur between the observer and the observed. Next, it analyzes the ways in which the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi and Confucian thinkers reflected on the problem of other minds, which are quite similar to the idea inspired by the latest research on mirror neurons. In these thinkers’ views, knowledge of other minds is the result of mental activity and what it provides is, to a large extent, something related not to epistemology but rather to a situational understanding of other minds from the perspective of value theory. The author points out that this solution takes two aspects, humans’ innate nature and human experience, into consideration simultaneously. In terms of humans’ innate nature, the body of a human being is a body that represents the unity of man and nature, and it has something in common with the natural world, which lays a foundation for the perception of other minds. In terms of human experience, human beings have such actual needs as emotions, pursuits, and desires, and their behaviors need to conform to certain norms. It is in a body of this kind that the mind of human beings can be formed and enjoy the potential to develop. Effective interpersonal communication can thus be achieved.     

Divine determinism,human freedom,and the consequence argument

In this paper I consider the view, held by some Thomistic thinkers, that divine determinism is compatible with human freedom, even though natural determinism is not. After examining the purported differences between divine and natural determinism, I discuss the Consequence Argument, which has been put forward to establish the incompatibility of natural determinism and human freedom. The Consequence Argument, I note, hinges on the premise that an action ultimately determined by factors outside of the actor’s control is not free. Since, I argue, divine determinism also entails that human actions are ultimately determined by factors outside of the actors’ control, I suggest that a parallel argument to the Consequence Argument can be constructed for the incompatibility of divine determinism and human freedom. I conclude that those who reject natural compatibilism on the basis of the Consequence Argument should also reject divine compatibilism.     

PERSONAL PARTICIPATION: Michael Polanyi, Eric Voegelin, and the Indispensability of Faith

In this paper I focus on the central role faith plays in the thought of Polanyi and Voegelin. I begin by indicating how both find the modern conception of scientific knowing seriously wanting. What Polanyi terms “objectivism” and Voegelin calls “scientism” is the modern tendency to reduce knowledge to only that which can be scientifically demonstrated. This errant view of knowledge does not occur in a vacuum, though, and both men draw a connection between this and the political pathologies of the twentieth century. I then show the complementary ways in which these two thinkers believe recovery is possible: an epistemological solution encompassed in Polanyi's personal knowledge and an ontological reorientation that is the core of Voegelin's insistence that we must recover an awareness of human participation in transcendent reality.     

EVOLUTION AND SUBJECTIVITY

Evolutionary theory is becoming an all‐encompassing form of explanation in many branches of philosophy. However, emergence theory uses the concept of self‐organization to support yet alter traditional evolutionary explanation. Biologist Stuart Kauffman suggests that the new science will need to tell stories, not simply as a heuristic device but as part of its fundamental task. This claim is reminiscent of C. S. Peirce's criticism of the doctrine of necessity. Peirce's suggestions reference Hegel, and this essay draws out this Hegelian background, addressing the question of subjectivity and issuing some Hegelian reminders so that such evolutionary and emergent theories will consider the implication of this research program on philosophy of mind. The primary focus is on two post‐Kantian, neo‐Hegelian thinkers in contemporary philosophy who deal with this problem: John McDowell and Robert Brandom.     

Russian Eurasianism – Historiosophy and Ideology

I attempt to answer thequestion about the place of Eurasianism in theRussian intellectual tradition. I reconstructits historiosophical assumptions as well thepolitical ideology following from them. I sharethe opinion of certain historians thatEurasianism is interesting for a variety ofreasons, but I disagree with those who see init nothing more than a synthesis of standardideas often found in the history of Russianthought. Eurasianism's originality includes itsacknowledgment of the positive contribution ofthe Mongols to the history of the Russianstate, the radicalism of its critique of theWest, the innovativeness of its theory ofrevolution, as well as the absence, unusual forRussian thinkers of the period, of aneschatological sensitivity.     

What can philosophy offer counselling and psychotherapy?

The big questions about life and its meaning belong to, and must be explored within, our culture as a whole and not just to groups of medical or counselling specialists. Talking treatments would therefore benefit by drawing from broader and deeper intellectual and artistic traditions. Philosophers, for example, have considered questions about identity, meaning and purpose for millennia. Given that moral development has in no way kept pace with technological progress in the 20th century, we would be unwise to draw only from contemporary thinkers in making sense of our predicament. We cannot escape from philosophy: when people say that they do not know any philosophy, what is really meant is that they know only one philosophy, but they have no means of locating or assessing it. As a result, it structures everything they do and care about. It also prevents them from considering alternatives or placing immediate preoccupations into a larger perspective.