Intentional explanations and radical theories of education

In this paper I argue that Marxist studies of schools have overlooked the power of intentional explanations to explain schooling practices and policies. This oversight is at least in part due to many radical analyses failing to distinguish between explaining the acquisition and persistence of beliefs and determining the social consequences that follow from acting on beliefs. I further contend that radical researchers examining schooling practices must develop a more rigorous and refined conception of capitalist class interests.     

The technical drift of applied behavior analysis

Four dimensions (applied, analytic, general, conceptual) were selected from Baer, Wolf, and Risley's (1968) seminal article on the nature of applied behavior analysis and were monitored throughout the first 10 volumes of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Each of the experimental articles in Volumes 1 through 6 and the first half of Volumes 7 through 10 was rated on each of these dimensions. The trends showed that applied behavior analysis is becoming a more purely technical effort, with less interest in conceptual questions. We are using simpler experimental designs and are conducting fewer analogue studies. Although concern for maintenance is increasing, other forms of generality are being measured or analyzed less often. These trends are discussed in terms of a technical drift in applied behavior analysis.     

Alterity,Intimacy, and the Cultural Turn in Religious Ethics

This essay responds to four critics of Friends and Other Strangers: Studies in Religion, Ethics and Culture: Diana Fritz Cates, Eric Gregory, Ross Moret, and Atalia Omer. Focusing on the book’s organizing concepts of intimacy and alterity, engagement with empirical sources, discussion of Augustine’s thought, and attention to moral psychology and political morality, these interlocutors take up various strands in the book’s argument and extend them into metaethical, normative, and metadisciplinary domains. The author organizes his response under three rubrics: Metaethics and Personal Relationships; Political Morality; and Multidisciplinary Horizons.     

Working through the Problems of Study Abroad Using the Methodologies of Religious Studies

After illustrating the joys of teaching religious studies abroad with an anecdote from my trip to China, I warn of some of its inherent pedagogical and ethical challenges. I argue that teaching some of the “new directions” in religious studies scholarship might address these challenges. These include a turning away from the abstract (texts, beliefs, theologies) and towards the concrete (bodies, places, rituals); moving away from teaching religions as unchanging, ancient verities and instead emphasizing the impact that colonialism, modernization, and secularism have had; moving from searching for authenticity to questioning it; and emphasizing methodological self‐consciousness. Keeping these new directions in mind will help ensure the study abroad experience is educationally successful. This essay serves as an introduction to a series of six additional essays comprising a special section of the journal (see Teaching Theology and Religion 18:1, January 2015).     

巴蜀易学源流考

巴蜀易学素有渊源,两汉为滥觞期,六朝为续传期.唐代为总结期,两宋为高峰期,元明以下则为流衍期.自两汉迄清末,历代巴蜀易学著作约有180余种;数量虽然不多,然特征却很鲜明,流派众多,“四道”毕备,其“尚辞”者则有苏轼之《苏氏易传》,“尚象”“尚变”者则有李鼎柞之《集解》、来知德之《集注》,其“尚占”者则如汉严遵,而尤以卜筮易、道家易源远流长.至于《易》《老》兼治者,则有严遵、扬雄;发明图书易者,则如陈抟、胡世安;其以佛陀解《易》者,则有苏轼、龙昌期.至于仿圣拟经,由扬雄开其先(撰《太玄》),而王长文(攫《通玄经》)、卫元嵩(《元苞》)诸人继其事,成为巴蜀易学之一大特色.后之治《易》《玄》,谈《图》《书》者,皆以蜀学发其轫.刘成炘曰:“易学在蜀(伊川语),如诗之有唐矣.”(《蜀学论》)信然.     

论《本义》注文与卷首《卦变图》之相合

明末以来,有不少学者批评朱熹<卦变图>,认为<周易本义>注文与卷首<卦变图>不合.实际上,这些学者未能认识到朱熹<卦变图>是用二维图表表达多维内容,从而误读了这张图.而一旦正确解读朱熹<卦变图>,将会发现<周易本义>注文与卷首<卦变图>符合若契,毫无相悖之处.     

Relationship of Inglehart's and Schwartz's value dimensions revisited

This study examines the relationship between Inglehart's and Schwartz's value dimensions—both at the individual and the country levels. By rotating one set of items towards the other, we show that these value dimensions have more in common than previously reported. The ranking of countries (N = 47) based on Schwartz's Embeddedness—Autonomy and the Survival—Self‐Expression dimensions reached a maximum of similarity, r = .82, after rotating Inglehart's factor scores 27 degrees clockwise. The correlation between the other pair of dimensions (Schwartz's Hierarchy‐Mastery—Egalitarianism‐Harmony and Inglehart's Traditional—Secular‐Rational values) was near zero before and after rotation. At the individual level (N = 46,444), positive correlations were found for Schwartz's Conservation—Openness dimension with both of Inglehart's dimensions (Survival—Self‐Expression and Traditional—Secular‐Rational values). The highest correlation with this Schwartz dimension was obtained at the Secular‐Rational/Self‐Expression diagonal, r = .24, after rotating the factor scores 45 degrees clockwise. We conclude that Schwartz's and Inglehart's originally proposed two‐dimensional value structures share one dimension at the country level and some commonality at the individual level, whereas the respective other pair of dimensions seem to be more or less unrelated.     

Identity theft1

Abstract

Psychoanalysis has almost disappeared from the curricula of most American universities, which I illustrate by the case of the department of psychology at my own university, Harvard. Courses on psychoanalysis are very rare there and it is mostly seen as a part of history of psychology and not as a set of ideas that can be useful nowadays. Personality models developed by Freud or Melanie Klein, as well as many more contemporary psychoanalysts, are, however, still very relevant for the humanities. This is particularly the case for Shakespeare studies and I am trying to show that despite the fact that psychoanalysis can enrich this field, less and less students show interest in it or are willing to admit that they themselves may have unconscious reactions. I focus on the usefullness of the concept of projective identification and propose the thesis that is another name for the activities of theater, and indeed for theater itself.