Trauma and the symbolic function of the mind

The relationship between trauma and the symbolic function of the mind is discussed in three parts. First, a short outline is given of the long‐lasting split within the field of trauma: it consists in a dichotomy between the symbolic and anti‐symbolic reading of the traumatic experience – as I have called it in a previous paper. In the second part, it is maintained that the work of Ferenczi represents an attempt at overcoming this split. In the third and last part, the notion of symbolic adaptation is introduced. The process of adaptation has to ensure the survival of the individual along lines capable to foster the hope that the lost equilibrium between the individual and his environment will one day be restored. This function is performed by symbols: by linking together the lost satisfaction and the hoped‐for wish‐fulfillment, by creating bridges between past and future, symbols enable us to adjust to the new environment without renouncing hope. Symbols are mediators between the pleasure principle and the reality principle. When a person is struck by trauma it is precisely this unifying function which is broken. A typical consequence of this situation is described by Ferenczi as a rupture between feeling and intelligence.     

Scripture,Metaphysics, and Poetry: Austin Farrer's The Glass of Vision with Critical Commentary

This article reviews two books by Robert MacSwain, Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, which present and examine the work of Austin Farrer, perhaps the greatest Anglican theologian of the twentieth century. In Scripture, Metaphysics, and Poetry, MacSwain offers a critical edition of Farrer's 1948 Bampton Lectures, The Glass of Vision, printed with six essays which assess and examine the Lectures. In Solved by Sacrifice, he considers how Farrer's conception of what faith contributes to reasoned reflection on the study of God changed over the course of his lifetime. After drawing on the work of Henri de Lubac, E.B. Pusey, and contemporary critics, to reflect on The Glass of Vision, this article will suggest how Farrer's presentation of the form of divine truth in the human mind can illumine MacSwain's discussion of Farrer's religious epistemology.     

On the construction of thinking

In this study the author attempts to widen our understanding of language and thought construction by using Chinese ideograms as a model. This allows us to understand how concrete internal objects can coalesce to form abstract internal objects, e.g. concepts, ideas, symbols, and metaphors. One can establish a pictorial language that antedates verbal language. This is the case in the dream work that we routinely study. Thus, this study delves into the physiology of the alpha function. To this end the author not only relies on psychoanalytic concepts but also on concepts from philosophy and from language itself. The author presents the ideograms not only for discussion but also for their visual impact. If we really want to understand pictorial images, they must be seen and not just discussed from a theoretical point of view. Based on this understanding the author advances a proposal for the technique used in treating patients who cannot establish mental representations for their affect. And the technical proposal is illustrated in two clinical cases.     

KANT ON RELIGION AND SCIENCE: INDEPENDENCE OR INTEGRATION?

Abstract. Immanuel Kant's theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge tempt conclusion that natural science and religion are two independent discourses of a dualistic system. To be sure, knowledge is anchored in two kinds of causality. Theoretical knowledge is governed by physical causality. Practical knowledge is concerned with the human capacity to initiate a sequence of events that nature could not accomplish on its own—although in conformity with, not independent of, natural causality. Furthermore, the two realms presuppose a common totality of order not of humanity's creation. Without these presuppositions, we could not experience the world as we do, and it would never occur to us to engage in a scientific investigation of the natural world. Hence, we should first exhaust our attempts at explanation on the basis of physical causality before turning to the aid of teleology. The anomalous becomes an occasion to seek a physical law not yet known whereas the miraculous hinders search for a natural law. However, higher than knowledge of “what is” is our capacity to discern “what should be.” This is an inclusive moral capacity that establishes what it means to be human and unites all moral agents in an invisible kingdom of ends that constitutes a moral culture in the physical world uniting religion and science.     

空间信息表征对语义相关判断的影响

探讨空间信息对语义相关判断的影响。实验材料是具有内在纵向空间关系的词对,纵向呈现在计算机屏幕上,呈现顺序与指代物的空间位置次序一致或不一致,要求被试对词对进行语义相关判断。综合2个实验的结果表明,语义相关判断任务中被试会自动激活指代物的空间信息,并且其对空间信息的表征是知觉符号表征,而非表象表征。研究结果进一步支持了知觉符号理论。     

ZYGON'S 1996 EXPEDITION INTO NEUROSCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract. Neuroscience is in a period of explosive growth. To address the implications of the new findings for religion and science, Zyvon in 1996 published fifteen articles in this field. Although the authors'explorations of neuroscience and religion are various, three issues in particular are addressed repeatedly: (1) the nature of human identity, or hallmarks of humanness; (2) the nature and origin of religious consciousness; and (3) our means of discovering or constructing order and integration in the brain/mind, in the environment, and holistically. With these categories as templates, this article correlates the findings of the Zygon neuroscience contributors of 1996.     

The psychosomatic symptom and the self: a sirens' song

This paper examines the symbolic nature of the psychosomatic symptom. It is suggested that the psychosomatic symptom is an informationally rich symbolic derivative of the Self that serves to focus attention on developmental disturbances in the archetypal processes of constructing body image and interpreting dysphoric somatic sensations. Clinical examples are offered to illustrate the changing nature of the psychomatic symptom in society. The therapeutic importance of monitoring affectual transactions in the transference-countertransference field is stressed.     

盲人的时间水平方向隐喻的通道特异性

通过2个实验, 考察了感觉通道对盲人的时间水平方向隐喻的影响。实验1发现, 盲人只在动作水平上存在同阅读方向一致的时间水平方向隐喻, 对表征过去的词或句子按左键反应和对表征将来的词或句子按右键反应时更快, 表明盲人用于隐喻时间的空间信息是知觉性的。实验2比较了明眼人可视组被试和明眼人遮眼组被试的时间空间隐喻, 发现明眼人可视组被试只在动作水平上存在时间水平方向隐喻, 明眼人遮眼组被试只在刺激在右侧时呈现才出现动作水平的时间水平方向隐喻。综合分析表明, 盲人和明眼人可视组被试的反应更为接近, 表明盲人的时间空间隐喻未受听觉信息的影响。盲人通过运动通道获得的空间认知代偿了视觉通道信息的缺失。     

语言理解中主体职业特征与动作表征的激活

运用句-配范式以及句子理解与身体反应相互作用的实验范式,探讨 “做某事的是某人”与“某人做某事”两类句式理解过程中主体职业特征与动作表征的激活。结果发现,在“做某事的是某人”句子理解过程中,主体的职业特征和动作表征得到了激活,但在“某人做某事”句子理解过程中,主体职业特征表征和动作表征只有其中一种表征处于匹配状态时,另一种表征才能得到明显的激活。这表明,句子理解过程中,主体职业特征表征得到了激活,而主体职业特征表征与动作执行器表征的同时激活则受到对方匹配情况的影响,知觉符号理论得到了进一步的证明。     

情绪具身观：情绪研究的新视角

情绪具身性有着广泛的理论假说与研究证据, 从情绪外周理论到面部反馈假说、躯体标记假说再到现在的情绪具身观, 都一致认为情绪是具身的。情绪具身观认为情绪是包括大脑在内的身体的情绪, 身体的解剖学结构、身体的活动方式、身体的感觉和运动体验决定了我们怎样加工情绪。相关的行为和脑机制研究均支持了情绪加工的具身性。目前关于具身情绪的理论解释主要有镜像神经元系统假说、具身模仿论和知觉符号系统理论等。作为一种新兴的理论观点, 情绪具身观为情绪研究提供了新的视角。