The catechism of the citizen: politics,law and religion in,after, with and against Rousseau

As a way of thinking through the bleakness of the political present through which we are all too precipitously moving, this essay attempts to demonstrate the interconnections between three concepts: politics, law and religion. By way of a detailed reading of Rousseau, I try to show how any conception of legitimate politics and law requires a conception of religion at its base and as its basis. In my view, this is highly problematic and in the conclusion an argument is presented for a politics of the supreme fiction, which attempts to show how poetry might take the place of religion.

Bodies against the law: Abu Ghraib and the war on terror

In this essay, I argue that the contemporary notion of law has been reduced to regulations and disciplinary codes that do not and cannot give meaning to our emotional lives and moral sensibilities. As a result, we have increasing numbers of what I call “abysmal individuals” who suffer from a split between law—broadly conceived as that which gives form and structure to social life—and personal embodied sensations of pain and pleasure. My attempt to understand the place of Abu Ghraib within American culture leads to an analysis of our valorization of innocence and ignorance that not only becomes the grounds on which we morally (if not legally) excuse abusive behavior as “fun,” but also becomes part of the justification for condoning some forms of violence while condemning others. In addition, I argue that the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate violence trades on underlying assumptions about the relationship between culture and nature, technology and bodies, wherein bodies are imagined as natural and outside of the realm of law.

Reading Their Book of Faith: North American Muslims and Their Interpretations of the Qur'an in the Post 9/11 Era

Abstract :  This article seeks to provide an overarching view of the North American Muslim conversation about interpreting the Qur'an in a post 9/11 world. While most Western critiques of Islam focus on reading the texts of Islam, the author argues that one must also listen to the contemporary intra-Muslim conversation about their own text, in order to faithfully understand the Muslim perspective. In this conversation, the author provides evidence for a plurality of social-political views among Muslims and notes that the post 9/11 North American context is alive and well with such faith conversations.     

Radical Orthodoxy, Luther, and the Challenge of Western Secularization

This "Theology Update" analyzes the Radical Orthodoxy of John Milbank in light of Martin Luther's dialectic between Law and Gospel. Milbank and his colleagues attack contemporary secularized culture in a manner parallel to Luther's attack on the 16^th century Holy Roman Empire for being soulless, aggressive, litigious, materialistic, and finally nihilistic. By re–engaging the battle between Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus, the radical orthodox party seeks to become post–modern by making a half turn back to the pre–modern Thomas, for whom philosophy and theology were integrated, subject was united to object, and being could be understood as relational because the Trinity is relational. Luther is mistakenly dismissed when reducing him to Scotus' nominalism, however. Lutheranism complements radical orthodoxy's analysis of secularized culture; yet Lutheranism maintains an integrity to faith–as the presence of Christ–that this new school fails to grant.     

Demonstrating “Reasonable Fear” at Trial: Is it Science or Junk Science?

This paper explores how scientific knowledge is used in a criminal case. I examine materials from an admissibility hearing in a murder trial and discuss the dynamics of contesting expert scientific opinion and evidence. The research finds that a purported form of “science” in the relevant scientific community is filtered through, tested by, and subjected to legal standards, conceptions, and procedures for determining admissibility. The paper details how the opposing lawyers, the expert witness, and the judge vie to contingently work out what will count in court as appropriate scientific authority, methods and evidence, and as a scientifically valid and legally admissible account of “reasonable fear.” When science becomes enmeshed in legal controversies, science does not trump law. Rather, it is the court’s canons of proper procedure and measures of substantive adequacy that take precedence.

Beyond the Couple: A Qualitative Analysis of Successful In‐law Relationships in Iran

In‐laws can play a significant role in the success or failure of marriages around the world. In the Middle East, recent quantitative research indicates that having trouble with in‐laws is a major predictor of divorce in Iran. To explore this further, we undertook a qualitative (grounded theory) analysis of in‐depth interviews with 17 Iranian daughters‐in‐law, five sons‐in‐law, three mothers‐in‐law, three fathers‐in‐law, and three expert family clinicians. Emergent concepts, themes, and coding categories were consistent with a Family Triad Model (FTM) of successful marital and in‐law relationships, wherein each spouse must (a) form we‐ness with their partner, (b) establish flexible boundaries between themselves and their families of origin, and (c) join their in‐laws. A higher‐order core category suggested that optimal couple and family functioning depends on the coherence or balance of these functions across the triadic role components of spouse, child‐in‐law, and family‐in‐law (or family‐of‐origin). In the changing cultural context of Iran, where blood relations have traditionally held primacy over marital relations, such triadic coherence appears crucial to marital success, at least from the perspective of many women. Our FTM results also highlight the importance of taking in‐laws into account when planning educational, preventative, or clinical interventions.     

Seeing Small,Seeing the Future

The Role of Science in Law by Feldman analyzes the vexed relationship between science and law. The book provides a good overview on the ongoing debate on the topic, but the author's attempt to suggest a guideline for the conflict between science and law falls short of any satisfactory conclusion.     

Cosmopolitan ethics and global legalism

This article analyses the legal and ethical dimensions of the wide gap between commitments to universal human rights and the reality of their widespread and systematic abuse, particularly as related to poverty and inequality. The argument put forward is that, properly conceived, global legalism, that is, the quest to apply the rule of law across and among states and societies, and cosmopolitan ethics, both support restricting harms imposed on weak and vulnerable individuals worldwide by an unjust institutional order. Therefore, those who have tended to value either a global rule of law or cosmopolitan ethics independently have good reason to pursue their requirements together. The article also considers the problem of legalism and cosmopolitanism being used by powerful agents in global politics to enhance their prerogatives and their freedoms from legal and ethical restraints.     

新尝试“假设法脑出血测量”与常用方法的对比

介绍一种CT脑血肿体积测量的新方法——假设法。制作水模进行CT扫描,分别用CT脑出血测量之假设法与多田公式法、CT定量法对其测量,比较结果的准确性。该方法较多田公式法、CT定量法更便捷准确。此假设法,计算简单、快速、准确,比多田公式法、CT定量法更具优势。