Philosophy Commons^™

Reframing The Conflict In Fiji: Economic And Transpersonal Frameworks For Peace, Harris Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Reframing is presented as a psychological technique applicable to facilitating change leading to conflict resolution and the achievement of peace. The current conflict in Fiji is discussed as a case study of one such application. Fijian problems have been commonly attributed to racial and ethnic divides that are not easily amenable to change. An intervention providing an alternative understanding of these conflicts, namely that they are better seen as due to competing economic models, is described. The scientific transpersonal perspective is presented as another alternative framework, seen as especially applicable to religious conflicts, which potentially provides an inclusive way to …

Integral Psychology And Foreign Policy: Lessons From The Fulbright Scholars Program, Daniel Holland

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Humanistic, transpersonal, and integral psychological principles have many applications for social and foreign policy, but concrete examples are needed to illustrate this connection. The Fulbright Scholars Program represents one concrete example of an effort in U.S. foreign policy that closely reflects the values of humanistic, transpersonal, and integral psychology. The implications that such a program has for the purposeful involvement of humanistic, transpersonal, and integral psychologists in other social policy efforts is discussed. The need for integral psychologists to expand beyond the traditional boundaries of professional psychological practice into such realms as foreign policy is emphasized.

Surfing The Absolute: Comments On Volume 22 Of The Ijts, Don Diespecker

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Cosmic Connectivity: Toward A Scientific Foundation For Transpersonal Consciousness, Ervin Laszlo

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The principal aim of this paper is to overview some of the salient existing empirical data supporting

the possibility of an interconnectivity of consciousness that extends beyond the conventionally

recognized confines of body and mind. Thereafter, the article provides possible explanations

of this apparent interconnectivity drawn from the work of Jung and recent developments in

physics.

“All Mind? No Matter”: The Self-Regulation Paradigm, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this short article, the author discusses the conflict between materialistic and transcendental

paradigms in accounting for the nature of reality. After speculating on the meaning and implications

of an idealist perspective where consciousness is seen as the fundamental ground of all

phenomena, the author reframes the consciousness versus matter debate in terms of complex

systems theory. Such a reframing allows for the mutual coexistence of both matter and consciousness

in a manner which is nonreductive and inclusive of different epistemologies.

A Secret Poem For You, Jorge N. Ferrer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this paper, the author presents a poem entitled “Plenitude.” The poem, originally written by

the author’s father (José Antonio Noguera Gimenez) in Spanish, is offered by the author as a vehicle

for the exploration of self, life, spirit, and nature. Both the Spanish and English versions of the

poem are provided.

Animal Mind As Approached By The Transpersonal: Notion Of Collective Conscious Experience, Axel A. Randrup

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The discussion of animal mind in this paper is based on an idealist philosophy contending that

only conscious experience is real, based on the transpersonal notion of collective conscious experience.

The latter has earlier been explained by the author as experience referred to a group of

humans as the subject, the We. Here it is contended that also a group of humans and animals

can be seen as the subject of collective conscious experiences. The author argues that the notion

of collective conscious experience provides a possibility for studying the problems of animal mind

and the related human problem of …

Metaphysical Tracking: The Oldest Ecopsychology, David Kowalewski

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Ecopsychology—the use of nature for understanding and healing the soul—has become accepted

as a legitimate tool by theorists and practitioners alike. Yet one important dimension of the

field has been ignored: metaphysical tracking. This article brings to light a number of mystical

phenomena that trackers, ancient and modern, have experienced, and suggests their common

root in the so-called energy body. The implications for psychospiritual growth are then

described. Finally, alternative explanations and new avenues for research are discussed.

A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, Jerome J. Tobacyk

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A 26-item Revised Paranormal Belief Scale is introduced which provides a measure of degree of

belief in each of seven dimensions: Traditional Religious Belief, Psi, Witchcraft, Superstition,

Spiritualism, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Precognition. Improvements from the original 25-

item Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk & Milford, 1983) include adoption of a seven-point rating

scale as well as item changes for three subscales: Precognition, Witchcraft, and Extraordinary

Life Forms. These improvements provide greater reliability and validity, less restriction of range,

and greater cross-cultural validity.

Natural Crazy Wisdom, Kidder Smith, Susan Burggraf

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Two Suitors: A Parable, Richard Tarnas

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Images Of The Intrapersonal Organization: Soul Making At Work, Mary A. Hazen, Jo A. Isbey

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this paper, the authors use archetypal theory to explore the relationship between personal and

organizational development and the role of tacit knowledge and active imagination in such development.

The authors claim that organizational change occurs within each person as well as at the

more frequently studied levels of small group and large system; and that individuals and their relationship

with work and the organization as experienced develop concurrently. The authors’ position

is illustrated through a case taken from a larger qualitative study using methods of data collection

and analysis rooted in an interpretive framework.

The Status Of Ethics In Technology Education, Philip A. Reed, Susan Presley, Angela Hughes, Diane Irwin Stephens, Roger B. Hill (Ed.)

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Ethics is not a new concept within technology education. The inclusion of ethics evolved naturally from the progression of technological activity in the latter part of the twentieth century. During this shift to a postindustrial society, people started to look at technology from a more humanistic view than they previously had. To keep pace with these changes, a "new ethic" was suggested to help advance technological literacy by highlighting the relationship between humans, the environment, and technology (DeVore, 1980, 1991).

How far have we come? This chapter reviews the current state of ethics within technology education. In the first two …

Posthumous Harm, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

According to Epicurus (1966a,b), neither death, nor anything that occurs later, can harm those who die, because people who die are not made to suffer as a result of either. In response, many philosophers (e.g., Nagel 1970, Feinberg 1984, and Pitcher 1984) have argued that Epicurus is wrong on both counts. They have defended the mortem thesis: death may harm those who die. They have also defended the post-mortem thesis: posthumous events may harm people who die. Their arguments for this joint view are by now quite familiar, and there is no need to rehearse them here (for …

Hegel's Defense Of The Ontological Argument For The Existence Of God, Kevin Joseph Harrelson

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

The following dissertation is a study of the "ontological proof' for God's existence, specifically of the controversy concerning this proof from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. As the title indicates, the primary theme is Hegel's defense and reformulation of the proof. I argue for a metaphysical interpretation of Hegel's Science of Logic, by showing that one of Hegel's chief goals in the Logic is to provide a demonstration for the thesis that "necessary existence belongs to God's nature." I conclude that while Hegel offers a coherent and informative account of this thesis, his analysis does not overcome one of …

Confronting Pornography: Some Conceptual Basics, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

There can be no doubt, at this moment in history, that pornography is a truly massive industry saturating the human community. According to one set of numbers, the US porn industry's revenue went from $7 million in 1972 to $8 billion in 1996 ... and then to $12 billion in 2000.

Now I'm no economist, and I understand about inflation, but even so, it seems to me that a thousand-fold increase in a particular industry's revenue within 25 years is something that any thinking person has to come to grips with. Something is happening in this culture, and no person's …

Woman Centered: A Feminist Ethic Of Responsibility, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Feminists have been especially concerned, of course, with the particular personal and moral perils that may be associated with the sociopolitical situation( s) of women. In particular, as many have observed, the cultural assignment of women to various forms of "caring labor" can be harmful to women, both individually and collectively, by rendering them dangerously vulnerable to exploitation. Women who fail to rein in their "caring" for others may maintain relationships at all costs (including to themselves), avoid legitimate self-assertion in order to keep the peace, devote their energies to others at the expense of seIf-development, and protect even those …

Not For Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution And Pornography, Christine Stark, Rebecca Whisnant

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Including the latest research on prostitution and pornography, this essay anthology shows how the sex industries harm those within them while undermining the possibilities for gender justice, human equality, and stable sexual relationships. From sex industry survivors to social activists and theorists such as Taylor Lee, Adriene Sere, and Kristen Anderberg, this volume addresses from a feminist perspective the racism, poverty, militarism, and corporate capitalism of selling sex through strip clubs, brothels, mail-order brides, and child pornography.

Africa's Quest For A Philosophy Of Decolonization, Messay Kebede

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This book discovers freedom in the colonial idea of African primitiveness. As human transcendence, freedom escapes the drawbacks of otherness, as defended by ethnophilosophy, while exposing the idiosyncratic inspiration of Eurocentric universalism. Decolonization calls for the reconnection with freedom, that is, with myth-making understood as the inaugural act of cultural pluralism. The cultural condition of modernization emerges when the return to the past deploys the future.

Moral Psychology: Feminist Ethics And Social Theory, Peggy Desautels, Margaret Urban Walker

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Book abstract: Moral psychology studies the features of cognition, judgement, perception, and emotion that make human beings capable of moral action. Perspectives from feminist and race theory immensely enrich moral psychology. Writers who take these perspectives ask questions about mind, feeling, and action in contexts of social difference and unequal power and opportunity. These essays by a distinguished international cast of philosophers explore moral psychology as it connects to social life, scientific studies, and literature.

Chapter abstract: Most of us view ourselves as having moral commitments and expect that when given the opportunity, we will follow through on these commitments. …

Kant And The Logic Of Aristotle, Kurt Mosser

Philosophy Faculty Publications

In the Preface to the second edition of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant offers his best-known—indeed, notorious—remark about Aristotle's logic:

• Since Aristotle . . . logic has not been able to advance a single step, and is thus to all appearance a closed and completed doctrine (Bviii).1

I wish to explore here the following question: is Kant in fact saying that since Aristotle, there need be no more concern about logic as a discipline or a field of study, that Aristotle (with some minor embellishments, in terms of presentation) is the last word in logic? Certainly that is how …

Kierkegaard As An Enlightenment Thinker, Jeremy Bendik-Keymer

Faculty Scholarship

What if Kierkegaard were not a counter-Enlightenment thinker, but were a deeper enlightenment thinker? In this talk, I want to propose an interpretation of S.K.’s work under which he continues the Enlightenment, rather than discontinuing it. I will claim that Kierkegaard deepened and advanced one of the most central aspects of “enlightenment”, at least as Kant and the subsequent tradition has defined it. Kierkegaard was an enlightenment thinker (lower case “e”!), and therefore it is misleading to see him as opposed to the heart of the Enlightenment (upper case “e”).

Jefferson's Wall And The Question Of Religion, Lois M. Eveleth

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

Defining religion as morality, Thomas Jefferson considered religion essential for the unity of the United States. His casual wall metaphor is not representative of his thinking and, therefore, should not be a basis for constitutional interpretation.

Work, Sex, And Sex-Work: Competing Feminist Discourses On The International Sex Trade, Kate Sutherland

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article explores the competing discourses of radical feminism and sex radicalism on the international sex trade. These voices have been dominant in feminist debates on this issue and both have proved significant forces when it comes to legal reform. Radical feminists characterize prostitution as an abuse of human rights, regardless of whether it is forced or voluntary, and have fought for its abolition. They have had a substantial impact on the development and adoption of anti-trafficking legislation and instruments in various countries and at the international level. Sex radicals have offered compelling opposition, shifting the focus from the abolition …

Environmentalism And Zen Buddhism, Shari Jaymes

All Volumes (2001-2008)

It seems as though Buddhism, and further Zen Buddhism, may offer ecology or environmentalism or conservationism (or any other “ism” in relation to the preservation of the natural world) a new perspective upon the problem of implementing a “land ethic.” There are many reasons to believe this, as the following work will show. I hope to determine whether or not Zen can be considered an ecological discipline.
Does it make a contribution (negative or positive) to a land ethic? And further, what does Zen think of the conservation movement? What does environmentalism think of Zen?

Rotating The Axis Of Our Investigation: Wittgenstein's Investigations And Hölderlin's Poetology, Richard Thomas Eldridge

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Julius Rosenberg And The Ethics Of The Old Left, Richard Schuldenfrei

Philosophy Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Reading Lolita In Tehran By Azar Nafisi, Rory J. Conces

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Azar Nafisi, now the Director of the Dialogue Project at John Hopkins University, does a fine job in this book of piecing together her life as an academic, especially the last two years of her residence in Tehran when she embarked on an adventure to supplement the education of a select group of university students. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a multilayered memoir about teaching Western literature in revolutionary Iran in the late 1990s.

Faith-Science Issues: An Epistomological Perspective, E. Edward Zinke

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Discussing The Allegedly Democratic Nature Of Judicial Review, Eddie Sarnowski

All Volumes (2001-2008)

Defined as the function of the court to interpret and apply the constitution to particular circumstances and legal issues, judicial review has become a noteworthy expression of the power of the judiciary. Nearly 200 years old, this seemingly simple doctrine has instigated a substantial amount of political controversy and debate from which three individuals should be recognized for their contributions. Ronald Dworkin, a proponent of judicial activism, believes in “leaving issues to the court’s judgment” and investing our faith in their decisions (Dworkin 526). Supporting Dworkin, John Arthur asserts that judicial review promotes democracy, and more importantly, imposes safeguards against …