Introduction to The Philosopher as Public Intellectual

This introductory essay offers a general survey of some of the conceptual and normative issues that arise with respect to the philosopher as a public intellectual, arguing that philosophers should be public intellectuals. It also briefly introduces the themes of the essays that follow.     

The Geometry of Gendered Conflict in Popular Film: 1986–2000

In this qualitative content analysis of 150 popular films, the meaning of gendered conflict in contemporary popular culture is addressed from a systems theoretical perspective. Gendered conflict occupies a central position in these films and is normatively structured in terms of networks of romantic/sexual conflict based upon the geometric foundation of the triangle. Triangles are found to invoke dualistic pairs of stereotypes among characters who are competing for the attention of a common focus of attraction. When men occupy the center of triangles, dualism involves the Madonna/Whore archetype. When women occupy the center, dualism alternates between Hero/Villain and Prince/Scoundrel archetypes. Norms, values, and expectations regarding gendered conflict are found to foster male privilege in each archetype.     

Rethinking Affective Experience and Popular Emotion: World War I and the Construction of Group Emotion in International Relations

Research in International Relations (IR) frequently confronts claims about the emotions shared by members of a group. While much attention has been devoted to the potential for affective and emotional experience beyond the individual level, IR scholars have said less about the politics of invoking popular emotion. This article addresses that gap. Specifically, we argue that between individual—and even shared—affective experience on the one hand and group‐based “popular emotion” on the other exists not mechanisms of aggregation but rather processes of framing, projection, and propagation that are deeply political. We distinguish between two tropes that commonly structure references to popular emotion: communal emotion, the idealized attribution of an authentic, unifying emotional response of “the people,” and mass emotion, a volatile and potentially dangerous mob‐like reaction, but one also susceptible to manipulation. Using the outbreak of World War I as a showcase, we demonstrate the political significance of popular emotion, including its enduring relevance for understanding contemporary populism.     

Baby you can Drive my Bed: Technology and Old Age in Japanese Animated Film

Narratives of Japan's maturation as a postindustrial society raise critical interest in narratives of personal and collective maturation within the most rapidly aging population in the world. Japanese popular culture is a rich source of representations of tensions between institutional projects of modernization and significant cultural and social changes that these projects have unintentionally engendered. The animated movie Rjin-Z represents the tensions between the experience of old age and high technology and draws attention to how technologies of care are not always socially and culturally attuned to personal biographies. This article proposes linkages between representations of old age, postmodernization of the life course, and structural changes shaped by information technologies in contemporary Japan.     

Religion and Science in America: Populism versus Elitism

Historian James Gilbert argues that the dialogue between science and religion is an important dynamic in the creation of contemporary American culture. He traces the dialogue not only in the confines of the academic world but also in popular culture. The science-religion dialogue reveals a basic tension between the material and the spiritual that helps define the core of the American psyche: fascination with material progress yet commitment to traditional religious beliefs. Gilbert's cultural narrative traces the dialogue in a unique way because of the attention given to popular renditions of science and religion in evangelical films used by the military, in televised science programs, in science-fiction literature, and at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Gilbert suggests that the discussion between science and religion is significant because it is part of the process of creating new cultural structures necessitated by social, scientific, and technological developments. The tensions between religiously informed commonsense science and professional science work to create new cultural forms in a democratic society. Religion and science in dialogue are part of the process of cultural creation. Dogmatism on the part of either scientists or religionists is countered by the democratic process itself.     

Batman in the Classroom: Academic Philosophy and “… and Philosophy”

Though the interaction of philosophy with pop culture has so far mostly taken the form of books for nonphilosophers that use various shows and movies as sources of examples to illustrate “traditional” philosophical issues, this article contends that serious engagement with the informal philosophical discussions expressed in popular entertainments constitutes a kind of “ethnophilosophy” and should be considered an important part of the discipline. Our disciplinary responsibility for maintaining and considering the history of philosophy ought to include even the philosophical conversations that occur outside the academy; however unlike “proper” philosophy this material may be, it nonetheless represents engagement—sometimes substantial engagement—with the same issues that concern those of us who are considered “professional” philosophers, and thus is legitimately of interest to us.     

墨西哥的医疗保险制度

墨西哥卫生改革之前,卫生系统存在严重的问题。为了应对这些问题,墨西哥卫生改革实行了新的医疗保险制度,以全民医保为主要目标。通过分析墨西哥实施新的医疗保险制度的背景,介绍新的医疗保险计划———大众医疗保险制度及所取得成果,从中得到对我们有益的启示。     

Going Public: Science-and-Religion at a Crossroads

A survey of recent news events involving science and religion is conducted with an aim toward analyzing the current state of the science and religion dialogue. Recent events suggest that the dialogue has come to a crossroads, achieving an unprecedented level of popular attention. At the same time, this attention reveals what still needs to be done. More attention needs to be given to the nature of religion, to the history of religion and science, and to the increasing plurality of the dialogue.