Psychology between science and common sense: William James and the problems of psychological language in the Principles

The suspicion that language can become an obstacle to human knowledge is not new in the Western intellectual tradition. Following the empiricist legacy, many authors have suggested the perils and pitfalls of common sense language for science. Applied to psychology, this leads to the issue of the reliability of psychological language for scientific psychology. William James, in his Principles of Psychology, was one of the first psychologists to address this problem explicitly. The goal of this paper is to situate his position and contrast it with contemporary debates over the status of folk psychology. The results indicate that James conceived of common sense psychology in a very complex manner, and pointed to a kind of illusion that remains ignored in the current literature, with negative consequences for psychology. I conclude by suggesting the relevance of James for contemporary debates in theoretical and philosophical psychology.     

In the Vicinity of the Human

Abstract

Beginning with the situated character of the question concerning the human, this paper argues that the problem of the human is itself inextricably bound to the problem of situation or place. Consequently, any genuine philosophical anthropology must take the form of a philosophical topology. This line of argument is developed through the work Abraham Heschel, Martin Heidegger, Martin Buber, and also Helmut Plessner.     

Oikonomia,Incarnation and Immediacy: The Figure of the Jew in St John of Damascus

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of oikonomia in the writings of St John of Damascus and how that role is integral to the construction of the figure of the Jew.     

Between Luxury and Need: The Idea of Distance in Philosophical Anthropology

Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of the use of the idea of distance in philosophical anthropology. Distance is generally presented in works of philosophical anthropology as the ideal coping strategy, which rests in turn on the thesis of the instinct deficiency of the human species. Some of the features of species life, such as its sophisticated use of symbolic forms, come to be seen as necessary parts of this general coping strategy, rather than a merely expressive outlet, incidental to the ultimate goal of life preservation. The paper analyses the arguments used in support of the thesis of instinct deficiency in Hans Blumenberg and considers their implications for the status of symbolic expression in species life. It contrasts the approach this thesis involves with one that proceeds by presenting and arguing from biological evolutionary evidence. The contrast is used to examine the questions: in what sense instinct deficiency is specifically anthropological, and in what precise sense philosophical anthropology is ‘philosophical’.     

The evidential status of philosophical intuition

Philosophers have traditionally held that claims about necessities and possibilities are to be evaluated by consulting our philosophical intuitions; that is, those peculiarly compelling deliverances about possibilities that arise from a serious and reflective attempt to conceive of counterexamples to these claims. But many contemporary philosophers, particularly naturalists, argue that intuitions of this sort are unreliable, citing examples of once-intuitive, but now abandoned, philosophical theses, as well as recent psychological studies that seem to establish the general fallibility of intuition.In the first two sections of this paper, I evaluate these arguments, and also the counter-arguments of contemporary defenders of tradition. In the next two sections, I sketch an alternative account of the role of philosophical intuitions that incorporates elements of traditionalism and naturalism - and defend it against other such views. In the final section, however, I discuss intuitions about conscious experience, and acknowledge that my view may not extend comfortably to this case. This may seem unfortunate, since so much contemporary discussion of the epistemology of modality seems motivated by worries about the mind-body problem, and informed by the position one wishes to endorse. But, as I argue, if conscious experience is indeed an exception to the view I suggest in this paper, it is an exception that proves - and can illuminate - the rule.     

关于全科医学兴起和发展的哲学审视

全科医学的兴起已经成为"必然",当今医学科学的发展应该对这种"必然"做出理性的思考.全科医学的兴起和发展隐含着对现代医疗中失人性化倾向的反动,揭示了人道主义精神在现代医疗中的回归.全科医疗与专科医疗是一种互补关系,共同丰富和完善医疗卫生服务体系.     

临床医生应具有很高的哲学修养

人体的复杂性和人命关天的特殊性决定了临床工作具有持久的挑战性.无论是病因的诊断,治疗方案的选择,还是治疗效果的判断都给临床医生的哲学思维提出很高的要求.因此,临床医生不仅要注重积累自己的专业知识和临床经验,而且要努力提高自己的哲学修养.     

与时偕行趣时变通--《周易》"时"之观念析

本文围绕着<周易>经传中关于"时"的观念问题进行辨析,综合考察了易学史上对"时"之观念进行象数模拟和义理思考的主要形式与内容,并分析了<周易>"时"之观念的现代启示意义.     

由角膜新生血管的治疗引发的思考

探讨角膜新生血管的有效治疗措施。运用现代医学知识,以创造性思维突破常规, 多因素多环节不同水平干扰发病过程。创造性思维可寻找有效的辅助治疗措施。在角膜新生血管的治疗中正确运用哲学观点,充分发挥创造性思维能力,可降低本病的致盲率和后遗症的发生率,促进人类健康生存,提高生活质量。     

缺血性卒中治疗中的若干启示

脑卒中具有高发病率、高病死率、高度致残的临床特点。目前对缺血性卒中的治疗已取得了重大进展,但它仍是内科临床工作中最具挑战性的任务之一。哲学反思对科学的发展具有指导作用,本文从哲学的角度对缺血性卒中的治疗策略和措施进行综合分析,以把握其最新的发展趋势。