Critical Notice of Beyond the Analytic-Continental Divide: Pluralist Philosophy in the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Jeffrey A. Bell,Andrew Cutrofello,and Paul M. Livingston (New York: Routledge, 2016. 334 + viii pp)

This collection maintains a dialogue between the analytic and continental traditions, while aspiring to situate itself beyond the analytic-continental divide. It divides into four parts, (1) Methodologies, (2) Truth and Meaning, (3) Metaphysics and Ontology, and (4) Values, Personhood and Agency, though there is considerable overlap among the categories. History and temporality are recurrent themes, but there is a lot of metaphysics generally, with some philosophy of language, philosophy of social science, ethics, political philosophy and epistemology. Less prominent is a pragmatic, deflationary attitude, and at a number of points I argue for the virtues of such an approach.     

The Social Causes and Political Consequences of Group Empathy

Recent scholarship has discovered significant racial/ethnic group variation in response to political threats such as immigration and terrorism. Surprisingly, minority groups often simultaneously perceive themselves to be at greater risk from such threats and yet still prefer more open immigration policies and civil liberties protections. We suggest a group‐level empathy process may explain this puzzle: Due to their higher levels of empathy for other disadvantaged groups, many minority group members support protections for others even when their own interests are threatened. Little is known, however, about the unique properties of group empathy or its role in policy opinion formation. In this study, we examine the reliability and validity of our new measure of group empathy, the Group Empathy Index (GEI), demonstrating that it is distinct from other social and political predispositions such as ethnocentrism, social dominance orientation, authoritarianism, ideology, and partisanship. We then propose a theory about the development of group empathy in reaction to life experiences based on one's race/ethnicity, gender, age, and education. Finally, we examine the power of group empathy to predict policy attitudes and political behavior.     

Differences in Media Preference Mediate the Link Between Personality and Political Orientation

Research has consistently demonstrated that political liberalism is predicted by the personality trait Openness to Experience and conservatism by trait Conscientiousness. Less well studied, however, is how trait personality influences political orientation. The present study investigated whether differences in media preference might mediate the links between personality and political orientation. Participants completed measures of Big Five personality, media preferences, and political orientation. Results revealed that increased preferences for Dark/Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical media genres, as well as decreased preferences for Communal/Popular media genres, mediated the association between Openness to Experience and liberalism. In contrast, greater preferences for Communal/Popular and Thrilling/Action genres, as well as lower preferences for Dark/Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical genres mediated the link between Conscientiousness and conservatism.     

The “Hero‐Protector Narrative”: Manufacturing Emotional Consent for the Use of Force

How do political leaders manufacture collective emotions to justify the use of force? This article introduces the “hero‐protector narrative” as a conceptual model to analyze how political leaders try to manufacture specific collective emotions to encourage their audience to perceive violence as the only morally acceptable course of action. In our model, we formalize a set of distinctive narrative structures (roles and sequences), which are combined to activate compassion and moral anger as well as identification with “heroic” behavior. Furthermore, we argue that the resonance of this narrative draws on values of hyper‐masculinity in patriarchal societies. As such this narrative is to be found across different types of actors (state/nonstate) and culturally diverse settings. To test our model, we use a computer‐assisted QDA approach. We compare systematically discourses produced by political actors legitimizing the use of force versus actors opposing the use of force. We find that discourses supporting the use of force, such as those produced by George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden in the context of the Iraq war, share the structural characteristics of the hero‐protector narrative. In this regard, they differ remarkably from violence‐opposing discourses, regardless of their cultural background.     

Consciousness without Bodies: Rethinking the Power of the Visualised Brain

This article examines the possibility of the futuristic assumption that the human mind will converge with artificial intelligence technology to create an enhancement of consciousness. By studying how a correlation between consciousness and the brain is made through visual tools that are used in neuroscience, this article elaborates on how these findings affect research that is done in philosophy on the concept of consciousness. This article proposes a new approach on studying the brain, by examining it as a theoretical object, which gives every research field the possibility to argue over the truth in the images that are created of the brain.     

The Proud and Productive Life of a Red-Diaper Baby: Judith Herman

ABSTRACT

Judith Herman is a feminist psychiatrist, political activist, intellectual, and writer. Her work in the field of abuse and trauma spans decades. Her work is informed by generations of prolific thinkers, teachers, writers, and social/political activists. Her groundbreaking work, in turn, is informing future generations of feminists, political activists, and clinicians.     

Counselling and well-being: on the road to realities

This article aims to discuss the rationale and some guiding principles for the realm of counselling in the fostering of well-being. After some brief observations of a theoretical nature, the principles analysed are: the revitalisation of counselling; the reflection on the concept of dialogue, including the notion of context; the perspective of counselling as social activity; understanding counselling and how it adjusts on the road to realities. From this perspective, practitioners view counselling as a social activity aimed at self-construction and life designing. In following that view, the idea of counselling as being socially produced is also examined. At the end, some considerations on the future of counselling are discussed.     

规则适应视角下辱虐管理的成因机制

基于规则适应及资源依赖理论的解释视角,本研究考察了下属工作绩效与政治技能对上级辱虐的影响。通过对采集自两家企业的243对领导-下属的配对问卷进行分析,本研究的多项式回归与响应面分析表明,当下属的工作绩效(遵循做事显规则)与政治技能(遵循做人潜规则)在较高水平上保持一致时,其遭受的上级辱虐最少。但这种较高水平的一致只能维持在特定范围内,当两者过高时,反而易遭致上级的辱虐行为。同时,在工作绩效与政治技能存在差异的情境下,相比于"高工作绩效,低政治技能"的下属,"低工作绩效,高政治技能"的下属遭受的上级辱虐要更少。文章分析并证明了遵循不同规则的下属会导致不同程度的上级辱虐。     

KNOWING OURSELVES BY TELLING STORIES TO OURSELVES

Part of the epistemological crisis of the twentieth century was caused by empirically establishing that introspection provides little reliable self‐knowledge. While we all have full actual selves to which our self‐representations do not do full justice, we focus on the formation and existence of a narrative self, and on problematic reliability. We will explore the cognitive neuroscience behind its limitations, including pathological forms of confabulation, the generation of plausible but insufficiently grounded accounts of our actions, and the normal patterns of narrative creation and checking. The evolutionary logic of self‐deception may produce adaptive results, particularly in service of the “commitment strategies” that give our species results otherwise unobtainable. It is largely in our close relationships with other human beings, the relationships so well served by these very strategies, that we may find the powerful counterbalancing feedback which may provide positive change and self‐transcendence. Nevertheless, we will also warn about a shadow side for which religion can provide both acknowledgment and hope.     

To feel is to know relations: James' concept of stream of thought and contemporary studies on procedural knowledge

The theory of William James concerning the temporal and dynamic nature of mind is analyzed as implying that thought is a flow of subjective experience that belongs to the material flow of living beings, and therefore, that knowledge is primarily affective and practical rather than declarative and contemplative. In this context, we will discuss contemporary theory and research relevant to the discussion about declarative and procedural knowledge, with the focus on a literature review in the neurosciences of knowledge. Then we reconstruct James' theory of mind as flow, in terms of relatedness, feeling, and temporality of experience. The Principles suggest that declarative knowledge is not independent, but derived and supported by a more basic knowledge that is both procedural and affective in nature. Finally, we discuss possible lesson for nowadays efforts to develop a dynamic account of the procedural nature of knowledge.