A RECONSIDERATION OF KIERKEGAARD'S UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMAN OTHER: The Hidden Ethics of Soteriology

In this article, I embark on an analysis of Søren Kierkegaard's view of human otherness in strict correlation to his Christian philosophy. More specifically, my aim is to show that Kierkegaard's thought is essentially informed by a decisive appropriation of the soteriological category of sin which has momentous implications for Kierkegaard's views of selfhood and intersubjectivity. The main argument is that both Kierkegaard's negative evaluation of human otherness and his acerbic indictments of any collectivist interference in salvific matters cohere with his appropriation of the doctrine of the Fall. At the same time, I show in what sense Kierkegaard deems human alterity to be indispensable to one's spiritual self‐becoming expressed through the Christian imperative of loving the other as neighbor. Seen thus, agape, while supplementing Kierkegaard's creationistic psychology, actually becomes the necessary restorative opposite of sinfulness in the self's encounters with the distinct uniqueness of the human other.     

THE ANIMAL BODY MULTIPLE: SCIENCE,RELIGION, AND THE INVENTION OF HALAL STUNNING

This article proposes a specific kind of ontological investigation in the field of science and religion. I argue that science and religion can create distinct practices that enact multiple realities, and thus they should be seen as more than different views of the same world. By analyzing the details of scientific experiments crucial for the invention of halal stunning, I demonstrate that religion and science are both permeable to the social, the biological, and to each other, and that seemingly incommensurable realities can co-occur in the body of an animal. Here, animals’ modes of existence are interdependent with the technologies being used, and with the web of interactions that they are drawn into. In the process of inventing halal stunning, it is not so much about the same animal body that is thought about differently as it is about animals spanning across multiple, physiological, realities as they are recruited into different webs of interactions to create a new slaughter method.     

DISPENSER OF THE MERCY OF THE GOVERNMENT: Pardons,Justice, and Felony Disenfranchisement

I argue that the aporetic character of clemency must be understood in terms of its unmerited and merited character to achieve the underlying purposes of justice within criminal justice: justice as fairness (punishment must be deserved and proportionate) and justice as restoration (repair of the harm to victims and society and the reintegration of offenders) are paramount goals. Rather than destabilizing political order, pardons can render productive potential tensions between justice as fairness and justice as restoration. Taking as my conceptual point of departure Paul Ricoeur's claims about the suprajuridical and supraethical character of pardon, I develop the argument through three central sections: an excursus into historical and contemporary practices of clemency in the United States; a critical analysis of the merited and unmerited aspects of clemency with respect to remorse and atonement theories within theological and legal discourse; and a normative engagement with pardons and felony disenfranchisement.     

Unique associations between anxiety,depression and motives for approach and avoidance goal pursuit

This study investigated the shared and distinct associations between depressive and anxious symptoms and motives for pursuing personal goals. One hundred and thirty-six undergraduates generated approach and avoidance goals and rated each on intrinsic, identified, introjected and external motives. Anxious and depressive symptoms showed significant unique associations with distinct motives. Specifically, depressive symptoms predicted significant unique variance in intrinsic motivation for approach goals (but not avoidance goals), whereas anxious symptoms predicted significant unique variance in introjected regulation for approach and avoidance goals. Some of these findings were moderated by gender. The findings broadly support the notion that depression is uniquely characterised by reduced enjoyment of approach goal pursuit whereas anxiety is uniquely characterised by pursuit of goals in order to avoid negative outcomes. We suggest that these findings are compatible with regulatory focus theory and suggest that motives for goal pursuit are important in understanding the relation between goals and specific mood disorder symptoms.     

Towards a unified model of aesthetic pleasure in design

In this study we test the Unified Model of Aesthetics (Hekkert, 2014), which posits that the aesthetic sense has evolved to identify and value prospects for safety and accomplishment. The principles of unity-in-variety, most-advanced-yet-acceptable and autonomous-yet-connected are considered manifestations of these conflicting urges at separate levels of stimulus processing. We empirically integrate these principles to gauge their unique contribution to the aesthetic experience, using two distinct surveys (study 1–300 respondents and 20 stimuli, study 2–60 respondents and 24 stimuli). Both surveys confirm the three principles constituting the Unified Model of Aesthetics. The principles are found to operate independently and jointly, although unity-in-variety has the strongest impact on aesthetic pleasure.     

Believers and Their Disbelief

Several recent Roman Catholics who were known for their devotion have left accounts of their troubled faith. I consider three of these: St. Therese of Lisieux, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Then I tell of the troubled atheism of Jean‐Paul Sartre. Finally, I use texts of Sartre and Teilhard to understand the unsettled nature of belief.     

THE RIGHTS OF MUSLIM WOMEN: A Comment on Irene Oh's The Rights of God

This review of Irene Oh's The Rights of God focuses on women's rights in Islamic theory and practice. Oh suggests that religious establishments, and the texts they disseminate, often press believers to recognize and reject social problems, such as racial and gender discrimination. Islamic scholars and texts have played a more ambiguous role in efforts to recognize women's rights within Muslim states. Modernist intellectuals have used Islamic texts to support the advancement of women's rights, but members of the more conservative religious establishment have typically curbed or rejected these efforts. Muslim women themselves have established various responses to the question of Islam's compatibility with women's rights. While some embrace the value and compatibility of both, others reject the propriety of either Western conceptions of rights, or the Islamic tradition, as harmful for women. Muslim reformers and feminists have much to learn from comparative studies with other faith communities that have undergone similar struggles and transformations.     

Destructiveness, atrocities and healing: epistemological and clinical reflections

In this paper, destructiveness is approached as a multi-dimensional phenomenon where the mental health perspective addresses only one of these dimensions. An attempt is made to locate this phenomenon in the context of epistemological and societal considerations. Critical of mono-dimensional explanations based on causal-reductive epistemology, the paper instead proposes the idea of an 'ecology of destructiveness', according to which mental health professionals cannot possibly continue to assume the role of detached observers. The ordinariness and archetypal fascination of destructiveness are discussed as preventing the psychologizing and pathologizing of it. In addition, it is suggested that 'destructiveness may be a tragic facet of the human condition', without this implying any justification of it. Based on my work with a group of Bosnian ex-camp prisoners, some basic principles of how one can work with survivors of atrocities are derived and discussed. A central feature of this work is the attempt to create an appropriate therapeutic context within which a 'therapeutic presence' and 'therapeutic witnessing' can be developed. Finally, the relevance of Jungian insights to this kind of work is reviewed and the emergence of new types of defences of the self is identified.     

Validity of Stimulus and Response Components in a Video Test of Social Competence

Various stimulus components (video, orally-presented questions) and response components (multiple-choice, written, orally-given replies) of situational judgement tests of occupational social competency were investigated as to their impact upon the validity for a behavior-oriented role playing criterion while keeping test content constant. The stimulus component video alone had no impact upon validity. The response components contributed to validity. Validity increased with improved fidelity of response components. Concerning stimulus-response-combinations, the validity of two video tests (r = 0.17 and r = 0.36) was not higher than the validity of similar oral questioning (r = 0.13 and r = 0.37) but was significantly lower than a situational interview (r = 0.59). Response fidelity proved to be a bottleneck regarding validity of video tests. As a result, it is recommended that, in order to maximize validity of video and multimedia efforts, the developers of video- and multimedia tests focus special attention on response fidelity.     

Book Reviews

Schabracq, Marc J., Winnibst, Jacques A.M. and Cooper, Cary L., Handbook of Work and Health Psychology Bandura, Albert, Self-efficacy: the exercise of control Wiggins, Jerry S. The Five-Factor Model of Personality. Theoretical Perspectives Arredondo, Patricia, Successful diversity management initiatives: a blueprint for planning and implementation