A Confucian in Buddhist clothing? – Interpreting Nishida’s conception of the good as a realisation of the Mandate of Heaven

ABSTRACT

In this study, I examine the Confucian influence upon An Inquiry into the Good, the first publication of Nishida Kitarō. Nishida’s student Kōsaka Masaaki depicts his mentor’s conception of the good in terms of realising the 'Mandate of Heaven'. Taking this to be indicative of the importance of Confucianism for Nishida’s early thought, I compare his philosophy of pure experience and ethical project of ‘self-realisation’ with corresponding ideas found in the Confucian corpus. I especially focus on the Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean as interpreted by the Neo-Confucian Wang Yang-Ming. This study builds upon the pioneering work of Michel Dalissier, Dermott Walsh and David Williams on the Kyoto School and Confucianism. My portrayal of Confucianism is indebted to the ‘philosophical’ translations of Roger Ames, David Hall and Henry Rosemont, Jr., which bring into relief the tradition’s ‘relational ontology’ that Graham Parkes teaches is shared by the Kyoto School.     

The Hopkins Verbal Learning Test: an in-depth analysis of recall patterns

One of the earliest signs of dementia is memory issues and verbal word lists, such as the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT), are successfully used for screening. To gain insight in how memory is affected in dementia, and to further improve the efficacy of the HVLT, in-depth analysis of the recall patterns of dementia cases and controls was conducted. Dementia cases and controls were matched for factors that can affect performance, such as age, gender and education level. Word frequency, syllable length, and orthographic neighbourhood size did not differ in the Indonesian version of the HVLT, nor did these characteristics affect recall. However dementia cases showed consistent and poor recall across the three trials; with the worst recall for the “human shelter” category and best recall for the “animals” category. Dementia cases also showed impaired accessibility of all categories with reduced subsequent recall from accessed categories and reduced primacy and recency levels. Finally, dementia cases exhibited lower levels of re-remembering and recalling new words, and higher levels of immediate forgetting and never recalling words. It was concluded that utilising the extra information provided by the in-depth analyses of the recall patterns could be beneficial to improve dementia screening.     

The Effects of Differing Knowledge Transfer Strategies on Group Decision Making and Performance

Encouraging reflection on one's existing knowledge in a group setting increases shared understanding, makes information available for problem solving, and makes it easier for members to show and to be shown the merit of others' preferences. However, it is also possible that attempting to constrain the process by which problem solvers manage this reflection process may prevent them from effectively tailoring their approach to different problems. The current research focuses on how the nature of different knowledge transfer strategies impacts problem solving processes and outcomes by examining manipulations of, or constraints to, problem solvers' approach to knowledge transfer. Participants were directed to generate associated knowledge in preparation for answering a series of estimation items, either in a group or individually. We found that groups using a shared reflection process (as opposed to reflecting at an individual member level) were able to give more weight to the inputs of their more expert members and that groups outperformed individuals. We discuss the process of promoting knowledge transfer in a group context relative to an individual context and relate this to the concept of task demonstrability. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Casuistic Reasoning in Expert Narratives on Healthy Eating

Individualisation of healthy eating is a broad tendency in Western culture and is becoming a popular ideal in nutrition science. Public perception of dietary knowledge is central to this individualisation and many experts now aim to present dietary knowledge in a way which relates to individual experience, as well as a casuistic style in which particular cases are discussed in relation to general, universal principles. Analysis of casuistic narrative styles in the public communication about healthy eating by experts makes explicit their flexible use of both particular cases and universal claims, in which clinical and personal cases are narratively employed by the experts to invite readers to personally consider dietary knowledge. Such casuistic narration by experts relates human agency and particular bodies to universal concepts in a way that has generative and critical functions with respect to dietary knowledge and understanding. The public articulation of clinical narratives by experts make salient the intersubjective emergence and accumulation of dietary knowledge between expert reasoning and lay understanding. Personal narratives have an essential role in presenting casuistic reasoning through experts’ personal lives and making their own bodies relevant to public communication about healthy eating. This emphasises the experts’ personal agency in relationship to common norms and general knowledge. Furthermore, both clinical and personal narratives are used by experts in their assessment of the shortcomings in public health messages. Experts’ casuistic narration thus does not merely construct credibility but has epistemic functions in constructing dietary knowledge tangible with respect to actual eating practices.     

生成性绘图与合作对高中生科学知识学习的影响

生成性绘图是学习心理学中一种有效的学习策略,能够促进学习者对科学文本知识的表征和深层理解。目前关于学习者生成性绘图的研究主要集中在个体学习领域,很少有研究探讨合作学习中生成性绘图的作用。本研究将合作学习与学习者生成性绘图相结合,探讨生成性绘图和合作对高中生科学知识学习的影响。实验1采用单因素(绘图、阅读)被试间设计来验证生成性绘图对学习效果以及认知负荷等主观体验的影响;实验2采用2(合作、个体)×2(绘图、阅读)被试间设计来探讨合作与生成性绘图对学习效果和学习者主观体验的影响。研究表明,生成性绘图和合作都可以有效促进高中生科学知识的学习效果;生成性绘图能够降低学习者的内在认知负荷;合作能够降低学习者的内在和外在认知负荷,提高学习者的相关认知负荷和学习兴趣。     

Photovoice and pre-service geography teachers' visual sense of place

This study researched the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of pre-service geography teachers (PGTs), adopting a place-based approach. The study planned and implemented a photovoice-based semester class on visualization, happiness and sense of place. Data were collected through photographs taken by PGTs, including their narratives and reflections and analyzed through grounded theory. The geographical place where PGTs felt happiest was the first-place they lived as a child. Participants' affective feelings of place happiness appeared attached to objects that reflected mobility such as a cellular phone or a transportation means, such as bus.     

Defeasibility and Gettierization: A Reminder

For some of us, the defeasibility theory of knowledge remains the most plausible approach to the Gettier Problem. Epistemological fashion and faded memories notwithstanding, persuasive objections to the theory are very hard to find. The most impressive of those objections to the theory that have hitherto gone unanswered are examined and rejected here. These are objections put forward by Richard Feldman, Richard Foley, and John Turri. While these are all interesting, the objection recently put forward by Turri is, we think, by far, the most serious threat to the theory that we have seen in a long time. A successful reply to it requires a surprising amount of care, as it turns out. If tenable, Turri's objection deals a devastating blow to the theory developed by Roderick Chisholm, Keith Lehrer, Peter Klein, Marshall Swain, Risto Hilpinen, John Pollock, and Paul Moser, among others. Under scrutiny, however, the threat proves illusory. It results from inattention to a crucial, but relatively subtle, aspect of the theory. Interestingly, there is only one source in the defeasibilist literature for a precise account of this crucial feature of the theory: one of the most neglected passages in Peter Klein's work on the issue. That crucial feature is put under the spotlight here. Our response to three major objections to the defeasibility theory requires a brief introduction to the theory as an anti-Gettier weapon, an introduction aimed at countering the numbing simplicity that characterizes most introductions to the topic. Following this brief introduction, those three objections are tackled. We conclude, on that basis, that anybody who fails to notice how resilient the defeasibility theory has proven to be for the last fifty years has a seriously deficient understanding of the current state of play in the debate over the Gettier Problem.     

Theology of the Heart and Cognitio Dei Experimentalis (Experiential Knowledge of God)

The first meeting of the official Lutheran‐Pentecostal Dialogue took place in September 2016 and focused on introductions and our identity in Christ. This article sets out a narrative of a Russian Pentecostal with Lutheran roots, a specialization in Jewish studies, and an interest in cognitive studies. A basic challenge for the dialogue partners lies in understanding the crucial role of experience to our knowledge of the divine and the formulation of theology.     

Experiential self‐understanding

The notion of insight is at one and the same time central to psychoanalysis and to the self‐understanding that is part of everyday life. Through clinical material and critical engagement with contemporary philosophical work on self‐knowledge, this paper clarifies one crucial aspect of this key notion. Self‐understanding of the sort we have in mind, while of course involving cognitive elements, is not sufficiently accounted for by cognition about one's affects, motivations, or other aspects of the psyche, nor by the simple conjunction of such cognition with felt affect, motivational urges, etc. Nor is it best modelled in terms of internal self‐observation. Rather, it is the product of an ongoing process of the unfolding articulation of one's psychic life. The notion of experience is important here in three ways. First, lived experience is that out of which the self‐understanding arises. Second, this self‐understanding is a development and articulation of these aspects of our inner lives; it is a part of that same lived perspective. And third, this understanding in turn shapes one's experience of one's inner world: as it is attained, one's experience of oneself thereby changes. Central here is the emphasis upon a developing process involving the ability to speak from one's subjective perspective while experiencing one's subjective perspective as the perspective that it is.