SCIENTISM, INTERPRETATION, AND CRITICISM

Abstract. What is the relationship between natural science, social science, and religion? The dominant paradigm in contemporary social science is scientism, the attempt to apply the methods of natural science to the study of society. However, scientism is problematic: it rests on a conception of natural science that cannot be sustained. Natural scientific understanding emerges from an instrumental and objectifying relation to the world; it is oriented toward control and manipulation of the physical world. Social-scientific understanding, by contrast, must begin with a practical and meaningful relation to the world: it is oriented toward the mediation of values and objective possibilities in the social world. Social science is therefore a form of practical reason based on objective claims. But while social-scientific understanding starts with interpretation, its possibilities by no means end there. In particular, by developing abstract and objectified models of society as a system, social science opens existing social organization to critical reflection. Religion, by contrast, is a form of speculative reason about ultimate values, based on subjective claims of religious experience. Social science nevertheless shares with religion an orientation toward values and concern with the “good life.”     

On the uses of language in working and idealized logic

The interpretation of discourse covers a continuum with two extremes: on the one hand, a text considered as an ideal, distant object, and on the other hand, a conversation regarded as a real, present event. On the basis of a distinction between relatively context-invariant propositions and relatively context-dependent statements, it is argued that statements in conversational discourse are easier to interpret than statements in texts, whereas only propositions in symbolic logic can be interpreted with exactitude. In the same way, the interpretation of dialogical arguments proceeds more easily than the interpretation of arguments in texts. While dialogical argumentation requires a dialectical approach, textual argumentation necessitates an imaginative reconstruction of the argument. From this it can be concluded that for different sorts of argumentative discourse diverse sorts of interpretative activities have to be used.     

CRITICAL REALISM REDUX: A RESPONSE TO JOSH REEVES

This article combines an appreciation of several themes in Josh Reeves's Against Methodology in Science and Religion: Recent Debates on Rationality and Theology while arguing in favor of critical realism. The author holds that critical realism manages to combine the objective truth reached through inference and especially cognitive acts of judgment as well as the various, contingent historical contexts that also define where science is practiced. Reeves advocates a historical perspective, but this article claims that in order for critical realism to be credible, a philosophical perspective must be maintained.     

建构主义教学与元思维的关系:认知压力的解释

本研究采用建构主义教学评估问卷、认知压力问卷、一般元思维量表与情境元思维量表对381名学生进行测量,考察了建构主义教学与元思维之间的关系,以及一级、二级认知压力在其中的中介或解释作用。研究采用结构方程模型分析,结果显示:(1)仅考虑一级认知压力时,建构主义教学能正向预测两种元思维,一级认知压力在建构主义教学与两种元思维间皆起部分中介作用;(2)仅考虑二级认知压力时,其在建构主义教学与两种元思维间皆起完全中介作用;(3)同时加入两种认知压力时,仅二级认知压力的中介作用显著。     

Site visits in interfaith and religious studies pedagogy: Reflections on visiting a Hindu temple in central Pennsylvania

Site visits provide an irreplaceable learning experience to students in both religious studies and the emerging field of interfaith studies. The conceptual core of this thesis is the claim, drawn from feminist epistemology, that an embodied pedagogy – a pedagogy which engages students not only intellectually, but as embodied beings who inhabit a space, engage in physical activities, and undergo various sensory experiences – is ultimately more enriching than a pedagogy centered exclusively in the classroom. Factors that make a site visit a successful instance of embodied pedagogy include the provision of sufficient context to students in advance for them to understand and appreciate the experience, an opportunity afterward to reflect on this experience in an intentional way, ensuring the site and the community whose space it is are treated with proper respect, and ensuring that the religious sensibilities of one's students are also similarly respected.     

儿童早期"心理理论"发展研究中的几个基本问题

儿童"心理理论"的发展研究是当今发展心理学中最活跃的领域之一.近年来,该领域的研究重点已逐渐由一般的发展描述,转向关于"心理理论"的缘起与发展机制的研究.由此,有许多密切相关的关于早期"心理理论"发生发展及其评估的基本问题,横亘于研究者面前,迄今仍悬而未决,并引发诸多争议.如何解决这些问题并理顺它们之间的关系,将极大地影响着该领域今后的研究进展.     

Pragmatism, Critical Realism, and the Cognitive Value of Religion and Science

Pragmatism and critical realism are different vocabularies for talking about the cognitive value of religion and science. Each can be, and has been, used to make the case for cognitive parity between religious and scientific discourse. Critical realism presupposes a particular form of cognitive psychology that entails general skepticism about the external world and forecloses scientific inquiry in the name of a preconceived idea of what the nature of human cognition must be. Thus, of the two, pragmatism is the better vocabulary for fostering mutual understanding between religion and science.     

What Every Teacher of Science and Religion Needs to Know about Pedagogy

This essay provides practical tips for effective teaching in science-and-religion courses. It offers suggestions for dealing with difficult questions and creating a climate of shared learning. Along with pedagogical advice, it covers fundamental principles for teaching broadly integrative religion-and-science courses. Instructors are encouraged to reflect on their purpose(s) in offering their course and to formulate specific objectives using the techniques and resources outlined here.     

On Marx,Hegel, and Critical Theory in Postwar Germany: A Conversation with Iring Fetscher

This paper consists of an introduction to the life and work of Iring Fetscher by the interviewer, followed by a conversation with Fetscher, and notes. In the interview, Fetscher discusses his relationship to Marxism, Hegelianism, Lukács, and the Frankfurt School, as well as his critique of Althusser. The contribution of Fetscher, an extremely well-known German specialist on Soviet and Marxist thought, is here discussed in greater detail than anywhere else to date in the English-language scholarly literature.     

A method for combining occurrence and nonoccurrence interobserver agreement scores

Various statistics have been proposed as standard methods for calculating and reporting interobserver agreement scores. The advantages and disadvantages of each have been discussed in this journal recently but without resolution. A formula is presented that combines separate measures of occurrence and nonoccurrence percentages of agreement, with weight assigned to each measure, varying according to the observed rate of behavior. This formula, which is a modification of a formula proposed by Clement (1976), appears to reduce distortions due to "chance" agreement encountered with very high or low observed rates of behavior while maintaining the mathematical and conceptual simplicity of the conventional method for calculating occurrence and nonoccurrence agreement.