WALKER PERCY,LANGUAGE, AND HOMO SINGULARIS

The novelist Walker Percy argued that modern science has a tremendous blind spot in its view of human nature. Unlike purely physical phenomena, which can be explained by the interaction of dyadic relationships, human beings must also be understood in terms of triadic relationships brought into being by symbolic language. The self brought into being by symbolic language is nonmaterial but real, and operates by different “laws” than those that govern dyadic relations. In making this case, Percy drew a sharp line between human and nonhuman language, a line that more recent developments in science has challenged. However, Percy's central point, that the agent of symbolic language cannot be understood within a materialist framework, remains valid.     

Eighteenth-century French materialism clockwise and anticlockwise

ABSTRACT

Because of their reliance on mechanistic metaphors and analogies referring to machines, the eighteenth-century materialists La Mettrie and Diderot have sometimes been described as ‘mechanistic materialists’. However, if one pays close attention to the ways in which mechanical analogies and metaphors were used in eighteenth-century French materialism, one sees that the recourse to these metaphors and comparisons in no way implies mechanism in the sense of physicalist reductionism. Instead, early instances of these comparisons appear in arguments pointing out that technological artefacts have functional properties which are not reducible to their physical properties. When La Mettrie compares man to a machine in his L'homme machine, he insists at the same time on the fact that, just like a machine, man is a cultural artefact. According to La Mettrie, man's very existence depends on language and culture, and it is precisely this dependence on culture which distinguishes him from other animals. However, La Mettrie's sceptical stance renders his position towards physicalistic reductionism ambiguous. Diderot, who by contrast was interested in the distinction between the living and non-living, distances himself from the ambiguous use of mechanistic metaphors and insists on the irreducibility of physiological and biological phenomena to the physical.     

向死而生,以财解忧?存在不安全感对物质主义的影响

以大学生为被试,通过情境实验考察存在不安全感对内隐物质主义态度及外显物质主义倾向的影响,并探索潜在的动机机制:控制感寻求的中介作用。结果表明,高存在不安全感组的内隐物质主义态度显著高于低存在不安全感组,控制感寻求在其中起中介作用;但存在不安全感对外显物质主义倾向的影响并不显著。该结果为死亡心理防御的动机机制提供了新的实证依据:对中国被试而言,物质主义也是个体应对存在不安全感的一种策略,该策略可以满足个体寻求确认和控制的需要。     

Causality and Subjectivity in the Religious Quest

The dynamics of seeking causation and the dynamics of subjectivity are presented and then brought together in a consideration of the three core components of the religious quest: the search for and experience of ultimate explanations, the interiority of religious experience ("spirituality"), and the empathic experience of religious fellowship.     

Religion Generalized and Naturalized

Much of contemporary scholarly opinion rejects the attempt to construct a general theory of religion (that is, its origin, structure, and functions). This view says that particular religious traditions are unique, sui generis , incommensurable, and cannot therefore be generalized. Much of contemporary opinion also rejects the attempt to explain religious phenomena using the categories and concepts of the natural and social sciences. This view says that the phenomena of religion cannot be understood apart from a recognition of "the sacred," or some element of transcendence, implying that religion cannot be naturalized. This article begins to show how the phenomena of religion can be both generalized and naturalized.     

物质主义者自我概念的特点和相关理论

物质主义的经典研究分别从人格、价值观、目标和需要的角度界定和理解物质主义的相关现象。自我概念一直是贯穿物质主义研究的线索, 但直到最近研究者才试图以它为理论基点统摄与整合已有研究。相关研究表明, 物质主义者对自我的评价较低, 表现为低自尊、权变性自尊; 对自我的认识具有不一致性, 表现为自我概念不清晰、外显-内隐自尊分离、以及自我差距(理想自我与现实自我的差距)。最近出现的两个综合理论——物质主义的自我逃离理论与物质主义的认同目标追求理论提出, 物质主义是个体将物质拥有作为逃避自我的方式或满足自我认同动机的手段。这两个理论弥补了现有物质主义研究缺乏整合性理论的不足。未来研究可以通过借鉴有关自我概念的理论, 超越单纯的物质主义者自我匮乏的思路, 从而做出更大的理论贡献。     

Theology After the Scientific Revolution: The Significance of Nancey Murphy’s Contribution to Philosophy of Religion

This paper evaluates Nancey Murphy’s contribution to philosophy of religion paying special attention to epistemology and ethics. I argue that Murphy’s intellectual moves are motivated by a reflective and constructive engagement—around particular loci such as human knowledge, divine action, and the moral nature of the universe—with reductive materialism as a rival tradition of inquiry. At paper’s end, I suggest an amendment in Murphy’s contribution to ethics.     

物质主义都是有害的吗?——来自实证和概念的挑战

物质主义指的是一种强调拥有物质财富对于个人生活重要性的价值观念。过往研究多强调其消极效应,但此观点日益面临挑战。实证研究表明物质主义在某些条件下能提升幸福感,也可以作为不安全感的补偿策略。在概念层面,有研究者基于动机的视角指出工具性物质主义是无害的,并且物质主义作为一种身份目标追求,能够建构和维持自我身份。未来研究需进一步为动机取向的物质主义概念提供实证研究的支持、评估物质主义补偿不安全感和提升幸福感的效果、基于认知和动机的整合视角考察物质主义对幸福感的积极影响。     

Is gratitude an alternative to materialism?

Materialistic strivings have been implicated as a cause of unhappiness. Gratitude, on the other hand – both in its manifestations as a chronic affective trait and as a more temporary emotional experience – may be a cause of happiness. In the present paper we review the empirical research on the relationships among materialism, gratitude, and well-being. We present new correlational data on the gratitude–materialism relationship and propose that gratitude may have the potential to reduce materialistic strivings and consequently diminish the negative effects of materialistic strivings on psychological well-being. We conclude with some recommendations for future research on the relationships among gratitude, materialism, and well-being.