‘Mystic Atheism’: Julia Kristeva's Negative Theology

Abstract

This article examines Julia Kristeva's paradoxical concept of a ‘mystic atheism’. It falls into three parts. First, it briefly surveys Kristeva's psychoanalytic account of Christian theology in Au commencement était l'amour (1985). Secondly, it assesses Kristeva's analysis of the Christian mystical tradition from Teresa of Avila to Angela of Foligno in such works as Le féminin et le sacré (1999) and the three volumes on Le génie féminin (1999-2002). For Kristeva, Christian mysticism represents a key moment in the transition from theology to psychoanalysis: what she locates within the work of the female mystics is a so-called ‘mystic atheism’, that is to say, an affirmation of an other within the subject as opposed to the divine other that supposedly lies outside it. Finally, the article offers some critical comments upon Kristeva's own ‘mystic atheism’: I argue that—like much negative theology—Kristeva's psychoanalysis remains ontotheological in form and that this dimension expresses itself in a problematic tendency to anthropomorphize the other within. In conclusion, I will suggest that Kristeva's ‘mystic atheism’ ultimately remains within the theological tradition it seeks to call into question.     

What is it like to be nonconscious? A defense of Julian Jaynes

I respond to Ned Block’s claim that it is “ridiculous” to suppose that consciousness is a cultural construction based on language and learned in childhood. Block is wrong to dismiss social constructivist theories of consciousness on account of it being “ludicrous” that conscious experience is anything but a biological feature of our animal heritage, characterized by sensory experience, evolved over millions of years. By defending social constructivism in terms of both Julian Jaynes’ behaviorism and J.J. Gibson’s ecological psychology, I draw a distinction between the experience or “what-it-is-like” of nonhuman animals engaging with the environment and the “secret theater of speechless monologue” that is familiar to a linguistically competent human adult. This distinction grounds the argument that consciousness proper should be seen as learned rather than innate and shared with nonhuman animals. Upon establishing this claim, I defend the Jaynesian definition of consciousness as a social–linguistic construct learned in childhood, structured in terms of lexical metaphors and narrative practice. Finally, I employ the Jaynesian distinction between cognition and consciousness to bridge the explanatory gap and deflate the supposed “hard” problem of consciousness.     

The Creative Imagination of the Sufi Mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi

The 12^th–13^thcentury mystic, Ibn 'Arabi, was known as the Greatest Master among the Sufis. His insights into dreams, visions and prophetic processes may prove enlightening to our own more secular age. The findings of Carl Jung parallel some of the revelations of the mystic, but Ibn 'Arabi goes farther than Jung into the Active Imagination as both conscious—willed—and spontaneous, autonomous process. Through surrender and annihilation in the Divine, the mystic opens himself to receive theophanies, resulting in a life lived perpetually in awareness of Divine Presence. Union with the Divine is the aim of the mystic and Ibn 'Arabi shows us a detailed account of how that life is experienced.     

The flesh of all that is: Merleau-Ponty, Irigaray, and Julian’s ‘showings’

Julian of Norwich (b. 1342) anticipated the ontological and epistemological work on sexed embodiment pioneered in the work of Merleau-Ponty and Irigaray in the 20th century. Her epistemology of sensual ‘showings’ helped reconfigure women’s embodiment and speech acts (‘bodytalk’): by recognizing cognitive emotions and the knowledge-producing body; and by envisioning the intertwining of human flesh with All That Is. The paper next examines Merleau-Ponty’s somatic discourse on the chiasmic flesh, which leads to a discussion of Irigaray’s work on poetic mimesis.     

Supported Education Practitioners: Agents of Transformation?

Interviews with adult mental health in- and out-patients attending a psychiatric hospital-based supported education program, and their program staff and volunteers, demonstrated that while an informal program structure had initial success in increasing student confidence and independence, the subsequent expansion of the program requires formalizing it using adult and transformative education protocols to increase literacy gains. We argue that professional development in adult education showing the value of transformative learning for staff can complement their occupational therapy and mental healthcare training, so that the empowerment and identity transformation can be increased for these vulnerable students.     

The development of expertise: animal models?

There is a continuing debate in the psychological literature between researchers who lean more toward learning theories of expertise development and those who lean more toward talent theories. However, the development of human expertise has not been open to direct experimental methods and will probably continue to elude experimentalists in the future. A promising alternative to direct experimental methods is to use human animal models, a possibility that researchers in expertise seem to have overlooked. However, there are studies in the animal behavior literature that address the development of nonhuman animal expertise without specifically referring to the topic as expertise. In the present study, the author discusses two nonhuman animal examples of expertise development that have been researched by ethologists. Nonhuman animal expertise development, unlike human expertise development, is subject to direct experimentation. The author thus recommends that researchers use nonhuman animals in their studies of expertise.     

Pacifism: Equipment or Accessory of War?

It is my intention to attempt to define pacifism, in its engagement and concept, as a necessary requisite of war and military action, following a phrase used over a hundred years ago by Franz Rosenzweig when speaking of pacifism as “necessary equipment of war.” I will try to defend the importance of pacifism as an integral part of war (as such, pacifism as a requisite of war ought to shorten the period of war and mitigate destruction) and oppose this concept of pacifism to Jan Narveson’s old attempt at constructing pacifism as a position and then designating it as “untenable and unreasonable,” and then further oppose this to his later attempt to find in pacifism the cause of further (and more) violence for ever more vicious wars.     

Dynamic deformation of shape-memory alloys: Evidence of domino detwinning?

Deformation of NiTi shape-memory alloys (SMAs) under dynamic tension has been studied. It is found that the stress plateau associated with detwinning still exists at the highest strain rate tested (300s -1 ). Beyond the stress plateau, when dislocation mechanisms dominate the deformation process, the strain-hardening effect is more strongly dependent on strain rate. The dynamically deformed specimens exhibit a shape-recovery process and a two-way memory effect which are identical with that for the alloy deformed under quasistatic conditions. The observations suggest that the detwinning process takes place in SMAs under dynamic tension.     

Melancholy: An elusive dimension of depression?

Journal of Medical Humanities - This paper presents a view of melancholy based on Kierkegaard's insight of the self, showing that this dimension of depression is anticipatory of threat to...     

Salivation: an assessment of food craving?

The validity of salivation as a measure of hunger and food craving was examined. Previous studies examining the relationship between salivation, food cues, and self-reports of hunger and food craving reported inconsistent results. The present study, using a modification of the Strongin-Hinsie-Peck (SHP) test to measure salivation, examined these relationships with overweight subjects. Salivation measures were taken on 25 subjects in a weight-control program during three experimental conditions: baseline I, food exposure and baseline II. While food exposure significantly increased the amount of salivation as compared to baseline, salivation did not correlate with self-reports of hunger or food cravings. Significant correlations were found for salivation, age. sex, and body fat. Implications of these results are discussed.     

Theory of mind: is training contagious?

In this study, preschool children were successfully trained in theory of mind tasks, namely false belief inference and appearance–reality distinction. Results show that both types of training had a direct effect, as measured by the improvement of performance on the FB and AR delayed post‐tests. Both types of training also had an indirect effect, as measured by transfer of the benefits of the training to the task that was not in the training. Finally, both types of training were effective even when the children were trained in a task they had already mastered.     

The Development of Expertise: Animal Models?

There is a continuing debate in the psychological literature between researchers who lean more toward learning theories of expertise development and those who lean more toward talent theories. However, the development of human expertise has not been open to direct experimental methods and will probably continue to elude experimentalists in the future. A promising alternative to direct experimental methods is to use nonhuman animal models, a possibility that researchers in expertise seem to have overlooked. However, there are studies in the animal behavior literature that address the development of nonhuman animal expertise without specifically referring to the topic as expertise. In the present study, the author discusses two nonhuman animal examples of expertise development that have been researched by ethologists. Nonhuman animal expertise development, unlike human expertise development, is subject to direct experimentation. The author thus recommends that researchers use nonhuman animals in their studies of expertise.     

Cyberbullying: Another main type of bullying?

Cyberbullying has recently emerged as a new form of bullying and harassment. 360 adolescents (12-20 years), were surveyed to examine the nature and extent of cyberbullying in Swedish schools. Four categories of cyberbullying (by text message, email, phone call and picture/video clip) were examined in relation to age and gender, perceived impact, telling others, and perception of adults becoming aware of such bullying. There was a significant incidence of cyberbullying in lower secondary schools, less in sixth-form colleges. Gender differences were few. The impact of cyberbullying was perceived as highly negative for picture/video clip bullying. Cybervictims most often chose to either tell their friends or no one at all about the cyberbullying, so adults may not be aware of cyberbullying, and (apart from picture/video clip bullying) this is how it was perceived by pupils. Findings are discussed in relation to similarities and differences between cyberbullying and the more traditional forms of bullying.     

Argumentative Discussion: The Rationality of What?

Topoi - Most dialectical models view argumentation as a process of critically testing a standpoint. Further, they assume that what we critically test can be analytically reduced to (1) individual...     

Pharmacotherapy of aphasia: myth or reality?

Pharmacotherapy of aphasia had been discussed for the last twenty years with first bromocriptine and amphetamine and then serotoninergic, GABAergic and cholinergic agents. Here, we reviewed the MEDLINE available reports of drug therapy for aphasia. So far, proofs of efficiency were found indubitable for none of the studied molecules. However, some of them showed limited efficiency (piracetam and amphetamine). Moreover, drug therapies for aphasia were less efficient alone than when they were associated with speech therapy.