What is analysis?

This paper attempts to discern a ground for doing depth psychological work in times of disappearance, loss and the absence of the gods. Through the poetry of Friedrich Hölderlin, and to a lesser extent, Rainer Maria Rilke, it seeks to discover the significance of fragmentation and conflagration in the manifestations of both psyche and the post-industrial landscape we inhabit. What does the ‘death of god’ mean for our notions of symbol and self and for the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis? How do we understand our daily clinical work in the context of ruin, holocaust and despair?     

Frontal-Lobe Involvement in Spatial Memory: Evidence from PET,fMRI, and Lesion Studies

Many studies have identified the prefrontal cortex as the brain area that is critical for spatial memory, both in humans and in other primates. Other studies, however, have failed to establish this relation. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to review the literature regarding the role of the human prefrontal lobe in spatial memory. This was done by examining the evidence obtained from neuropsychological patients and from studies using brain-imaging techniques (PET and fMRI). Evidence supporting the notion that the prefrontal cortex is extensively involved in spatial working memory was found. The majority of these studies, however, suggests that frontal-lobe involvement is not related to the type of material that is being processed (e.g., spatial vs. nonspatial), but to process-specific functions, such as encoding and retrieval. Theoretically, these functions could be linked to the central executive within Baddeley's working-memory model, or to recent theories that emphasize the various processes that play a role in working memory. Also, methodological issues were discussed. Further research is needed to enhance our understanding of the precise interaction of domain-specific and general processes.     

Development Towards Wisdom and Maturity: Sufi Conception of Self

By applying results from in-depth interviews with older Iranian Sufis residing in Sweden, this article describes the benefits of the value system of Sufism prizing mystical union above self-realization. As persons conceive of themselves as all forming parts of other-than-self rather than as separate selves, the result is tolerance towards other people's opinions and the vanishing of hostile feelings and competition. Compassion and identification with the whole of creation allows Sufis to avoid the sense of loneliness and exclusion felt by so many immigrants.     

Der “dritte Weg” der “neo-eurasischen” Zeitschrift “Elementy” -- zurück ins Dritte Reich?

Studies in East European Thought - Articulated in the twenties, the doctrines of the exiled Russian ‘Evrazijstvo’ movement are undergoing a renaissance in Russia today. As the...     

Studies of Work: Achieving Hybrid Disciplines in IT Design and Management Studies

We explore the relationship between ethnomethodology (EM), ethnography and the needs of managers and designers in industry, considering both ethnomethodological and industrial criteria of adequacy and explicating their relationship through the concept of “audience.” We examine a range of studies in this light, with a view to their possible candidacy as hybrid studies and identify three types of application of EM studies of work: market research, design, and business improvement. Application in the first of these fields we dub “anthropological,” in that it consists in studying and reporting back on the ways of exotic people (customers). This is the application most commonly found in studies of computer supported co-operative work (CSCW). A second CSCW application, “technomethodology,” involves the introduction of EM concepts into the design process. A further application, dubbed “holding-up-a-mirror,” involves reporting back to members of a setting upon their own activities. We argue that technomethodology and holding-up-a-mirror both offer the possibility of creating hybrid disciplines. We consider the objection that improvement and design involve the introduction of value judgements that threaten the practice of EM indifference, arguing that action research can serve as a guarantee of unique adequacy (UA) by testing the researcher’s understanding as analysis in action in the setting. Furthermore, the standard of reporting required by the UA criterion contributes to the effectiveness of proposed solutions.     

易、道相关"舆"象索隐

物象、象喻在<易经>和道家文献中的大量运用,不仅表现为一种修辞手段,而更表现为一种思维方式.破解其中的象喻是探得这些经典文献的理蕴以及相互之间的内在联系所必须的.道家文献与 <易经>在相关于"舆"象的象征意义上有很多相互关联之处.本文在道家思想受<易经>影响的认识基础上,对<易经>中的<坤>、<姤>、<剥>、<大壮>、<乾>等卦与道家文献的相关车舆之象的象征意义进行相互阐发,并据以对<易经>与道家文献中涉及到车舆之象的文句进行诠释,以此探讨道家文献与<易经>在内在思想上的异同关联.     

略论《周易》对中国古代历法的影响--兼与李申先生商榷

在古代历法的发展过程中,<周易>起了积极的作用,而且这种作用在不同时期有着不同的特征.早期主要表现为用易数解释历数,这种作用在唐以后逐渐消失;"卦气说"曾在一段时期内被作为历法的内容;而<周易>的"治历明时"思想对于历法研究一直起着积极的作用,成为重要的治历原则之一.无论如何,<周易>对于古代历法发展的作用是不可低估的.     

百般谏诤皆为民--晏婴在《晏子春秋》中的谏诤形象

晏婴以极忠尽谏闻名,而其劝谏的主要内容便是要齐君效法古之贤君爱民、重民,体现出中国传统文化中的民本思想.本文以《晏子春秋》为据,描述晏婴的谏诤形象和高超的进谏艺术与技巧.     

A Meta-Analysis of Cognitive Deficits in Adults with a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

This review identified 1275 studies examining cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia, published between 1990 and 2003. Data from 113 studies (4365 patients and 3429 controls) were combined in a meta-analysis carried out on the five cognitive domains of IQ, memory, language, executive function, and attention. Studies were excluded where they lacked a suitable control group or failed to present complete information. In all five cognitive domains, analysis indicated a consistent trend for patients to perform more poorly than healthy controls, with significant heterogeneity across studies. Sources of heterogeneity were analyzed and a need to ensure more appropriate composition of patient and control groups and to adopt a more refined and methodologically correct, hypothesis-driven approach was identified.     

Care of the Self and Patient Participation in Genetic Discourse: A Foucauldian Reading of the Surgeon General's “My Family Health Portrait” Program

Critics of genetic discourse are concerned that deterministic and discriminatory views of genetics are increasingly becoming adopted. These views argue that current genetic discourse becomes a source of power whereby powerful institutions harm people with so-called “bad” genes. This essay argues that current analyses of the power of genetics discourse are grounded in an improper reading that disempowers patients. Deploying Michel Foucault's concept “care of the self,” this essay claims that genetics discourse is better understood as a way that patients take on power through rhetoric rather than a force that has power over patients. Through a close reading of the “My Family Health Portrait” program, this paper argues that patients experience a process of “subjection” wherein they become agents of and objects of genetics discourse both. This alternative mode of analyzing the power of genetics discourse has implications for our collective understanding of the operations of the care of the self and the uses of genetic information that we propose.