Analytical psychology and Daoist inner alchemy: a response to C.G. Jung's 'Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower'

Abstract :  This paper provides a historical, religious-philosophical context for the study of the Daoist text known as  The Secret of the Golden Flower . An updated study is conducted into the controversy over the source of the text including the editions translated by Richard Wilhelm and Thomas Cleary. The main teachings of the text and the basics of two major denominations of Daoism are introduced to ground later critiques of Jung's commentary. The psychodynamics of analytical psychology, especially those concerned with integration of unconscious contents and the realization of the self (individuation) are compared with the psycho-spiritual dynamics of integration in Eastern spirituality based on the Golden Flower text. The paper concludes that it was amiss for Jung to have equated the Western 'unconscious' with states of higher consciousness in Eastern meditation practices, although his claim that Eastern higher consciousness is characterized by a nebulous state of non-intentionality does raise questions about the appropriateness of calling Eastern meditative states 'consciousness'. A new concept is required to characterize the special qualities of this psychic state shared generally by Eastern spiritual traditions and a more meaningful comparison may be found in Jung's concept of the self.     

道德本能与道德判断

Human beings’ moral life can be divided into two forms, one based on moral instincts and the other on moral judgments. The former is carried on without deliberation, while the latter relies upon valuations and judgments. The two can ultimately be viewed as man’s innate moral nature and acquired moral conventions. Theoretically, preference for the former will lead to naturalism and for the latter to culturalism, but this is the reality of man’s moral life. Moreover, there may be a parallel relation between the moral structure of human life and the grammatical structure of human language. Translated by Yu Xin from Zhexue yanjiu 哲学研究 (Philosophical Researches), 2007, (12): 72–78     

现代语境中的伦理学和伦理学家

Ethics in the modern context is under the dual pressure of scientific-technological rationality and market commercialization, which has led to breakthroughs in the original boundaries of knowledge and academic methodology. The gradual separation of the domain of public life and that of private life in modern society and the former’s increasing pressure on the latter, in addition to the above dual pressure on ethics, is causing a dramatic transformation of the structure of ethical knowledge itself. All of these raise new theoretical problems for ethics and ethicists in the modern context. Answering and solving these problems makes sense for the future development of ethics as one of the classic humanities, and tests modern ethicists’ ability to realize their moral and theoretical duties. Translated by Yan Xin from Daode yu wenming 道德与文明 (Morality and Civilization), 2007, (4): 4–9     

从现代系统科学角度看冠状动脉支架置入术后再狭窄

随着介入治疗技术在临床的广泛应用,目前已成为治疗冠心病(CAD)的主要方法之一.目前国内外指南一致推荐对于CAD的大多数de novo病变常规置入支架,可有效减少单纯球囊扩张的并发症和再狭窄的发生率,但支架内再狭窄的形成又日益突出,成为严重影响介入治疗远期疗效的主要问题.对再狭窄发生机制的研究近十年来取得诸多新进展,对其发生机制的研究和探索为解决这个世纪难题提供了理论基础和依据.本文应用现代系统科学的自组织理论,从哲学角度深入认识和理解这一病理过程.     

《管子》农学思想及其现代意义

《管子》是管仲学派的著作集,是我国古代最早的一部百科全书。其中包含大量独具特色的农学思想：以农为基础、农工商并举的农业经营思想;摸清国家土地家底,实行土地经营制度改革,实行因时因地制宜的土地利用思想;加强田间管理,充分利用劳动生产工具,勤于耕耘,深耕除草,适度灌溉、实行轮栽制度的田间耕作思想;善待自然,防止各种农业灾害的农业哲学思想。这些思想至今仍对我国正确处理农工商的关系,合理解决“三农”问题;确保生态农业建设;正确认识国家土地形势,搞好土地经营权流转制度改革具有十分重要的现实意义。     

我国食管癌进一步研究的思路

为进一步探讨食管癌的发病机制和寻求食管癌的防治新策略,本文回顾了现代科学技术革命和食管癌研究的发展史,借鉴现代科学技术革命的成功经验,提出将整体的有关调节因素与食管癌发病机制相结合,拓宽综合性和多学科合作的研究思路,可能会发现攻克食管癌防治研究的突破点,同时,创新研究技术和加强实验室建设是加速食管癌研究取得新进展的有效途径。     

人文精神是医学科学的旗帜

人文精神是人类文明的精华,是医学科学的旗帜,主导和把握着医学科学的发展方向。在现代社会各种复杂的因素影响下,医学与人文的关系受到严峻挑战,出现了医学脱离人文的倾向。纠正这种倾向,重新建立医学与人文之间和谐互动的关系,实现人文对医学的引领和把握,是现代医学面临的重要课题。     

中国传统思维方式的转换历程

思维形式是深藏于民族文化底层的、具有相对稳定性、并对人们的行为方式起支配作用的文化现象。文化的差异,却又使思维形式存在着一定的相对独立性和相对稳定性。笔者认为,探讨中国传统思维方式,是进一步理解中国传统文化及其如何融入当代社会的关键一环。更重要的是,在对传统文化的扬弃过程中,中国传统思维方式的转换起着至关重要的作用。     

The Significance of the Emergence of Language and Symbol in the Development of the Young Infant

In this paper I have suggested that the mother–child dyad is the foundation for integrity between the psychic self and the physical self, and the capacity of these to relate to the external environment. I have also argued that the development of language and symbol are creative agents in the development of consciousness in the young infant, and that the emergence of language and symbol are an expression of the opening of a potential space which allows differentiation from the mother and facilitates the infant’s ability to distinguish fantasy from fact and self from other. Sharn Waldron is a psychotherapist residing and working in Suffolk, England and is a registered member with the UKCP through the Forum for Independent Psychotherapists. She has contributed numerous papers for international psychotherapeutic journals, is a contributor to Pear’s Cyclopedia and writes freelance for Penguin and the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.     

The normative foundations of research-based education: Philosophical notes on the transformation of the modern university idea

The current reorganisation of universities is part of a European policy aimed at strengthening Europe’s position with regard to the emerging global knowledge economy. The transformations in view of this overall goal are hardly accompanied by a critical discussion about the function or role of universities within and for society. The common assumption that universities offer a specific ‘general education’ by linking teaching to research, goes back to the modern university idea as conceived by Wilhelm von Humboldt. This article intends to show that philosophical attempts to restore the modern university model as a normative standard for criticising actual developments at European universities, have become problematic for contextual reasons that beg the basic assumptions of this model. Instead of answering the question of the ‘public role of universities’, the article rather attempts to clarify the problems with which this question is connected, from a political–philosophical perspective. It is argued that the difficulties in which the contemporary discourse about universities constantly becomes entangled, reflect more fundamental impasses and even contradictions that the modern democratic project is experiencing today.