THE PARADOX OF INQUIRY IN AUGUSTINE'S CONFESSIONS

Abstract: The Confessions recounts Augustine's successful search for God. But Augustine worries that one cannot search for God if one does not already know God. That version of the paradox of inquiry dominates and structures Confessions 1–10. I draw connections between the dramatic opening lines of book 1 and the climactic discussion in book 10.26–38 and argue that the latter discussion contains Augustine's resolution of the paradox of inquiry as it applies to the special case of searching for God. I claim that he develops a model, relying on the universal human experience of joy and truth, that identifies a starting point that (1) is common to all human beings, (2) is sufficient for guiding a successful search for God, and (3) avoids commitment to recollection of experiences prior to birth. The model is crucial to Augustine's rejection of traditional Platonist views about recollection.     

The New Biology and its Impact in Biomedical Strategies Against HIV/AIDS

Abstract. The sequencing of the human genome and the initiation of the structural genomics projects have ushered in a new age of biology that involves multi‐lab, high‐cost projects with broad task‐oriented goals rather than the more conventional hypothesis‐driven approach of the past. The new biology has led to the development of new sets of tools for the scientist to use in the quest to solve mysteries of human disease, biomolecular structure‐function relationships, and other burning biological questions. Nevertheless, the impact of the new biology on the field of AIDS investigation has been minimal, predominantly because many of the tools in the HIV field of study were developed before the full advance of the new biology was felt in the biomedical community. Many of the high‐cost megaprojects that involve large technological advances and are marketed as projects of promise to the biomedical community are not likely to significantly impact the field of HIV/AIDS research and cannot serve as a substitute for direct funding to the HIV/AIDS scientists working for vaccine development, an understanding of mechanisms of disease causation, and new tools for therapeutic intervention.     

Certainty,reasonableness and argumentation in law

This paper defends a position that parts ways with the positivist view of legal certainty and reasonableness. I start out with a reconstruction of this view and move on to argue that an adequate analysis of certainty and reasonableness calls for an alternative approach, one based on the acknowledgement that argumentation is key to determining the contents, structure, and boundaries of a legal system. Here I claim that by endorsing a dialectical notion of rationality this alternative account espouses an ambitious approach to reasoning in law and conceives of the theory of legal argumentation as the vantage point from which to analyze legal systems and tackle the main problems connected with their existence. Next, I look at what this alternative approach does for the way we should go about treating certainty and reasonableness, considered singularly as well as in their reciprocal relationship. I conclude on this basis that when argumentation receives its due emphasis in law we have to redefine certainty and reasonableness and recast their connection as non-conflictive.     

Spiritual emergency and counselling: An exploratory study

Growing up in a multicultural community in England brought me into close personal contact with the beliefs and perceptions about healing held by people of many different cultures. In many cases, no strong boundary was seen between physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of an illness, and experiences of hearing voices or seeing visions were accepted as normal everyday occurrences. During my training as a counsellor, I came into contact with the work of Stanislav Grof on the concept of spiritual emergency, which, together with the work of African and European authors who were exploring transpersonal aspects of psychology, provided a theoretical framework for researching how counsellors respond to clients wishing to explore experiences of spiritual crisis. This paper describes an exploratory study into the phenomenon of spiritual emergency within counselling. Questionnaires were distributed by post to people known to have been in counselling relationships, and interviews were conducted with three informants reporting different types of spiritual experience. All respondents who completed questionnaires reported having at least one of the ‘non‐ordinary’ experiences classified by Stanislav Grof as characteristics of a ‘spiritual emergency’. Several participants felt unable to explore this experience with their counsellors, some for fear of being labelled as mentally ill, while others found their counsellors helpful and sympathetic. Differences in dealing with spiritual phenomena were apparent between European and non‐European participants. These findings are discussed in relation to theory and practice.     

The intelligent career framework as a basis for interdisciplinary inquiry

This paper examines how separate behavioral science disciplines can be brought together to more fully understand the dynamics of contemporary careers. We adopt one interdisciplinary framework – that of the “intelligent career” – and use it to examine how separate disciplinary approaches relate to one another. The intelligent career framework suggests careers unfold through three interdependent “ways of knowing” reflecting why, how and with whom people work. Breaking this framework down into six unidirectional links, we examine the contributions made by a variety of behavioral science approaches. Our review suggests that separate bodies of career-relevant theory reflect separate links from one way of knowing to another. We offer several lessons concerned with (a) the intelligent career framework; (b) evidence underlying separate theories; (c) differing definitions of career; (d) research methodologies; (e) time; and (f) interdependence among variables. We conclude with some ideas on how to better promote future interdisciplinary careers research.     

Efficacy of dialectical behaviour therapy for adolescents

The current review provides a qualitative assessment of the efficacy of dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) as adapted for adolescents. The aim was to assess the efficacy of DBT compared to usual methods in the treatment of adolescent mental health symptoms, inclusive of suicidal ideation and self‐harm. Computerised databases including Medline and PsycINFO were accessed and knowledgeable informants in the area of DBT were contacted. Inclusion criteria required the studies to be clinical trials on DBT provided to adolescents. Due to the requirements on research design only three studies were appropriate for review. The review focused on quality assessment of the current data, including investigation into the effects of selection bias, confounding variables, outcome measures and measurement errors. The data suggest that there is some evidence for DBT being effective in reducing symptoms of mental health, especially those consistent with borderline personality disorder. The resultant data, however, are of very poor quality, and as such the review addresses ways to improve the quality of research and offers suggestions for future research.     

Giving Science a Bad Name: Politically and Commercially Motivated Fallacies in BSE Inquiry

It is a feature of scientific inquiry that it proceeds alongside a multitude of non-scientific interests. This statement is as true of the scientific inquiries of previous centuries, many of which brought scientists into conflict with institutionalised religious thinking, as it is true of the scientific inquiries of today, which are conducted increasingly within commercial and political contexts. However, while the fact of the coexistence of scientific and non-scientific interests has changed little over time, what has changed with time is the effect of this coexistence on scientific inquiry itself. While scientists may no longer construct their theories with various religious dictates in mind, growing commercial and political interests in science have served to distort the interpretation of science. Using the U.K.’s recent crisis with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) as my context, I examine two ways in which this distortion has occurred – the interpretation of the science of BSE by politicians and by commercial parties for the purposes of justifying policy decisions and informing the public of risk, respectively. Fallacious reasoning, I contend, is the manifestation of this distortion in these contexts. In demonstration of this claim, I examine how politicians and commercial parties alike have employed two fallacies in their assessments of the science of BSE. These fallacies extend in novel ways the set of so-called traditional informal fallacies. The interpretation of science, I conclude, is a rich context in which to conduct a study of fallacious reasoning; moreover, such a study can contribute in significant ways, I argue, to the public understanding of science.     

The Vicious Circle Theorem – a Graph-Theoretical Analysis of Dialectical Structures

This article sets up a graph-theoretical framework for argumentation-analysis (dialectical analysis) which expands classical argument-analysis. Within this framework, a main theorem on the existence of inconsistencies in debates is stated and proved: the vicious circle theorem. Subsequently, two corollaries which generalize the main theorem are derived. Finally, a brief outlook is given on further expansions and possible applications of the developed framework.     

Inquiry and Analysis: Dewey and Russell on Philosophy

In an environment characterized by the emergence of new and diverse (and often opposed) philosophical efforts, there is a need for a conception of philosophy that will promote the exchange and critical consideration of divergent insights. Depending upon the operative conception, philosophical efforts can be viewed as significant, insightful and instructive, or unimportant, misguided and not real philosophy. This paper develops John Dewey's conception of philosophy as a mode of inquiry in contrast with Bertrand Russell's conception of philosophy as a mode of analysis. I argue that while Russell's analytic conception of philosophy justifies the dismissal of non-analytic philosophies, Dewey's conception of philosophy provides a theoretical framework for the comparison, evaluation and interaction of alternatives.