Contemporary Thinking Research Articles

Psicoanálisis y sociologí­a: la perspectiva contrahegemónica de Erich Fromm para el estudio de la salud mental

La reflexión que en este espacio se presenta aborda la contemporaneidad del pensamiento del sociólogo, psicólogo y filósofo alemán Erich Fromm para el estudio de la salud mental. Las crecientes preocupaciones por esta área de la salud, tanto en la agenda de las ciencias médicas como sociales y polí­ticas, dentro y fuera de nuestra región, constituyen una de las principales motivaciones de estas lí­neas. El interés fundamental de la autora ha estado en intentar visualizar la utilidad teórica y metodológica de los estudios de este autor para el análisis empí­rico de dicha problemática, en tanto este favorecerí­a los acercamientos a la misma desde una comprensión que no parcele la totalidad humana y su relación con la naturaleza. Constituye este artí­culo el resultado de los primeros avances de los estudios doctorales de la autora, enfrascados en un análisis de las relaciones que se tejen entre diversos factores sociales y el continuo salud-enfermedad mental en una cohorte de población en edad laboral de la capital cubana. Las dimensiones estadí­sticas de esta problemática en Cuba y los incipientes acercamientos hechos desde la sociologí­a en el contexto cubano a la misma devienen tambiénen razones que han impulsado este inicio.

Autogynephilia: A scientific review, feminist analysis, and alternative ‘embodiment fantasies’ model

It is generally accepted within psychology and among trans health providers that transgender people who transition do so because they have a gender identity that is incongruent with their birth-assigned sex, and distinct from their sexual orientation. In contradiction to this standard model, the theory of autogynephilia posits that transgender women’s female gender identities and transitions are merely a by-product of their sexual orientations. While subsequent research has yielded numerous lines of evidence that, taken together, disprove the theory, autogynephilia is still often touted by anti-transgender groups, including trans-exclusionary feminists. Here, I provide an updated overview of the scientific case against autogynephilia. Following that, I will forward an alternative ‘embodiment fantasies’ model that explains all the available findings better than autogynephilia theory, and which is more consistent with contemporary thinking regarding gender and sexual diversity. I will also demonstrate how autogynephilia theory relies on essentialist, heteronormative, and male-centric presumptions about women and LGBTQ+ people, and as such, it is inconsistent with basic tenets of feminism.

FILOSOFIA AFRICANA E PRÁXIS ANCESTRAIS FEMININAS: A SABEDORIA QUE “RENASCE” COM VESTES DE DIAMANTE

Este artigo tenciona dialogar brevemente sobre os saberes ancestrais femininos nas filosofias africanas. Para isso, apresenta uma crítica à forma como as mulheres são apresentadas no pensamento filosófico ocidental e a sua ausência na construção do pensamento da filosofia africana contemporânea, propondo a descolonização do conhecimento e de todos os sentidos. Assim, privilegiamos as vozes de mulheres negras africanas e da diáspora, falando a partir das enunci(ações) do cosmoencantamento, do ser-tão que nos habita, da escuta sensível e do feminino que nos tece desde memórias ancestrais.

El proyecto de espaciología de Henri Lefebvre

Este artículo parte de la consideración del concepto de “espacio social” como clave constructiva, comprensiva e interpretativa del conjunto de la obra de Henri Lefebvre. Por consiguiente, se expone la genealogía del proyecto lefebvriano de “espaciología” (o análisis de la producción social del espacio social) y su importancia para el pensamiento crítico contemporáneo. A la par, se esclarece el fuerte ascendiente que tienen los planes de la crítica de la economía política, de Marx, en la pregunta lefebvriana por el espacio social y, consecuentemente, en la cuestión del desafío histórico que implica el dominio capitalista del espacio y las posibilidades de su emancipación. Finalmente, se caracteriza el alcance de la determinación nodal del concepto lefebvriano de espacio social: la “reproducción de las relaciones sociales de producción”. Ideas destacadas: artículo de reflexión que presenta avances de una investigación doctoral sobre el concepto de espacio social, de Henri Lefebvre, y el proyecto lefebvriano de una “espaciología” o analítica del espacio social y de su producción.

Postmodern Paper Tiger

For most contemporary theorists, the death of postmodern thought as a theoretical impulse and critical divide has become a given. Yet, since the end of the 1990s a variety of important strands of social and political thought—queer theory, feminism, and postcolonialism to name but a few—have taken up and advanced poststructuralist emphases on language and discourse that are derivative of postmodern theory. In this context, the article considers two of the most central and original postmodern thinkers, Jean-François Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard, to illustrate the political entanglements of postmodern and liberal thought. Through this investigation the article illuminates the way these authors’ works on the political potencies of language raise important questions for the relevancy of poststructuralist political thought for contemporary critical thinking in the context of the global expanse of neoliberal capital. The article initiates an original dialogue between two poststructuralist authors and raises this to a second engagement with current debates over the crises of critical thought and, by extension, carries contemporary relevance as well.

Islamic Economic Redefinition and its Methodology Among Contemporary Thinkers


 
 
 
 
 Abstract: The Islamic economic crisis from an epistemological perspective has been going on in recent years, based on many Islamic economic figures' writings. Monzer Kahf argues about Islamic economics's definition that there is no agreement among Muslim economists about the definition of Islamic economics, its scope, its relation to conventional economics, analytical methods and instruments, and even some of its basic assumptions. They view that the Islamic economy epistemologically still needs to be studied, while this Study, which has been going on for 40 years, seems to be running in place. In this Study, researchers used a library research method. This aims to reveal the redefinition of Islamic economics from contemporary economists, the methodological crisis that has hit Islamic economics, and the urgency of developing Islamic economics methodology among contemporary thinkers. The essence of the urgency of developing methodologies and approaches in Islamic economics is tawhid. The central or core concept that permeates all aspects of the epistemology of Islamic economics is tawhid. Tawhîd is the essence of Islam; tawhîd is considered the unity of knowledge and can be broken down into sources, methods and scientific knowledge. Knowledge comes from Allah's revelations to His Prophet, and reasoning, perception, and empiricism. Because of al-Attas, God's first type of knowledge is through direct revelation. The second is through the speculation of rational investigations based on his experience of the plausible and understandable.
 
 
 
 

RELIGION, WILLIAM E . PADEN DAN KEBERAGAMAAN DI INDONESIA

This paper examines how to view the religion of William E. Paden's perspective in his work entitled "Interpreting The Sacred: Ways Of Viewing Religion". In this discussion, one of the most important contemporary thinkers with a new comparative approach, based on the hermeneutic approach and creating a broad scope for cross-culture, the comparison of the forms of religiosity, is the American philosopher and religious theorist, William E. Paden (1939). He showed that the religion with proper terms such as Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism and Buddhism was very easy, but what was most basic was what was the abstract form of the various religions? In his book Interpreting the Sacred: Ways of Viewing Religion this Paden offers a method of viewing religion through interpretations that are full of frames from interpreters

Posicionar la investigación de borde

Este artículo recupera algunas de las producciones del historiador y educador popular colombiano Alfonso Torres Carrillo realizadas en los últimos diez años, precursor de la denominada propuesta investigación de borde, opción teórico-metodológica y ético-política. Con la pretensión de posicionar esta propuesta, a la vez que vincular su aporte con pensadores contemporáneos de la región, aspiro desde este trabajo a contribuir a la difusión de las metodologías críticas cualitativas, dialógicas y participativas caracterizadas por la centralidad en el sujeto y la subjetividad, el desplazamiento de la objetividad hacia la reflexividad y la solidaridad en los procesos colectivos de construcción del conocimiento.

Hippocratic concepts of acute and urgent respiratory diseases still relevant to contemporary medical thinking and practice: a scoping review

BackgroundThe collected works of Hippocrates were searched for concepts on the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of acute and urgent respiratory diseases, with the objective to trace their origins in the Hippocratic Collection.MethodsA scoping review was performed to map out key concepts of acute and severe respiratory diseases in the entire Hippocratic Collection. The digital library Thesaurus Lingua Graeca (TLG) was researched for references in the entire Hippocratic Collection regarding the epidemiology, pathophysiology, prognosis, diagnosis and treatment of acute respiratory diseases; then, the relevant texts were studied in their English translation by the Loeb Classical Library.ResultsHippocratic physicians followed principles of treatment for pneumonia and pleurisy, still relevant, such as hydration, expectoration, analgesia and prompt mobilisation. Other approaches, including the inhalation of “vapours through tubes” in angina, can be considered as forerunners of modern medical practice. Thoracic empyema was diagnosed by shaking the patient and direct chest auscultation after “applying your ear to his sides”. In case of an emergency from upper airway obstruction, urgent insertion of primitive airway equipment, such as a small pharyngeal tube, was applied.ConclusionsThe main Hippocratic concepts on four still common acute and urgent respiratory diseases −pneumonia, pleurisy, thoracic empyema and upper airway obstruction− were identified and most of them were found to be in agreement with contemporary medical thinking and practice.

Winds of Change: The Later Wittgenstein’s Conception of the Dynamics of Change

The theme of change is one of the most prominent traits of Wittgenstein’s later work, and his writings have inspired many contemporary thinkers’ discussions of changes in e.g. concepts, ‘aspect-seeing’, practices, worldviews, and forms of life. However, Wittgenstein’s conception of the dynamics of change has not been investigated in its own right.
 The aim of this paper is to investigate which understanding of the dynamics of changes can be found in the later Wittgenstein’s work. I will argue that what emerges is a rich and complex picture that has the potential to aid our thinking in politics and elsewhere when developing strategies for creating changes. It can do so both as source of inspiration and by countering tempting, yet ultimately problematic ways of conceptualizing change like the hope for transforming harmful traditions and social practices with the help of a general explanatory theory of the fundamental dynamics of changes.

Textbook of Americanism 2.0

AbstractA New Textbook of Americanism includes Ayn Rand's previously uncompleted question-and-answer Textbook of Americanism, answers to questions she left unanswered written by contemporary Objectivist thinkers, excerpts from Rand's previously unpublished “Workshop on Ethics and Politics,” and new and previously published essays by Objectivist writers. The book's most important section is the excerpt from her Workshop in which Rand discusses topics that were seldom or never addressed in her published works.

Theology of Family Today: Contemporary Struggles and Future Promise

Before, during, and after the Synods on the family and Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Catholics have been engaged in extensive debates on the theology of the family in light of changing practices and norms. This essay argues that contemporary Catholic thinking on the family balances a radical vision of marriage as lifelong love oriented outward with a vision of a church offering welcome, accompaniment, and mercy.

Conservadorismo como diretriz: o que o conteúdo e o léxico do encarte «Nossas Convicções» dizem sobre o jornal ‘Gazeta do povo’

O encarte «Nossas Convicções», da Gazeta do Povo, lançado em 2017, marcou a entrada do jornal brasileiro em uma nova fase e apresentou oficialmente seu posicionamento frente a diversos assuntos de cunho social, moral, religioso e político. A partir de uma discussão teórica sobre o pensamento conservador, pautada principalmente no conceito de Karl Mannheim, e suas aplicações na realidade atual brasileira, passando ainda por uma breve discussão sobre as transformações do jornalismo na era digital, este artigo utiliza uma metodologia dividida em duas partes —a análise de conteúdo combinada à análise léxica— para compreender quais são as características do pensamento conservador contemporâneo presentes no material em questão. A presença de um discurso crítico aos posicionamentos de movimentos progressistas como o feminista e LGBTI+, a recorrência de argumentos contra o direito ao aborto e a defesa da manutenção do conceito da família tradicional são alguns dos resultados encontrados na análise, que identificou ainda a presença de uma preocupação com aspectos ligados ao empreendedorismo. No texto analisado, a família aparece como elemento central e a religião, aspecto recorrente dentro do conteúdo considerado, é associada ao Estado muito mais do que os direitos e a autonomia da mulher.

Hurry up! The role of supervisors’ time urgency and self‐perceived status for autocratic leadership and subordinates’ well‐being

AbstractThis study examines the connections among supervisors’ time urgency, their leadership behavior, and subordinate outcomes. Integrating cognitive perspectives on time urgency with contemporary thinking on the psychological experience of status, we reason that supervisors’ time‐urgent personality relates positively with their autocratic leadership behavior, and we cast supervisors’ self‐perceived status as a moderator of this linkage. Moreover, we enrich this leader‐centric perspective with a complementary, more follower‐centric view, recognizing that the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency likely extend beyond their own behavior to indirectly affect their subordinates’ well‐being at work. We tested our hypotheses using a field sample of 60 supervisors and 277 of their subordinates. Results indicate that (a) supervisors with higher time urgency are more likely to exhibit autocratic leadership behavior when they also perceive themselves as having relatively high status among subordinates, but not when perceiving lower status, and (b) supervisors’ time urgency exhibits a conditional indirect effect (via autocratic leadership) on subordinates’ work stress and time pressure experiences. Hence, this study illustrates an important boundary condition for the consequences of supervisors’ time urgency, and it demonstrates that this personality characteristic not only shapes supervisors’ leadership behavior but also affects the subordinates they are charged with leading.

Covid19 Pandemics, Distance Teaching and development of Critical Thinking through Moodle Platform

Time, when mankind awoke at a time of covid19 pandemics expresses two dramatically different attitudes. People and their interests were divided into two parts; some of them were those, who could not stand isolation, with aggravation of their depressive background and the others – were able to adjust the reality to their interests and capabilities, they became modern and read the universe in a new way. They have discovered the new vision, they went deeper into implications and managed to adequately perceive the reality, they were able to adapt naturally. The education systems made attempts to launch the distance teaching and this turned out to be more or less creative, cognition oriented process. Georgian education system has dealt with this challenge by practical introduction of various programs and platforms. We would like to focus on the features and capacities of education platform Moodle as it can be a tool for development of critical thinking in distance teaching within the scopes of one specific course. This course is “Principles of Contemporary Thinking” and teaching of Georgian language to the foreign students.

Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part II

Abstract In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, ‘it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom’. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller’s theory of aesthetic value serves as the key to understanding not only his view of aesthetic engagement, but also his distinctive account of individual and political freedom. Whereas in Part I, we developed a reconstruction of Schiller's view that aesthetic value is the only path to individual freedom, in Part II we analyze how Schiller connects aesthetic value to political freedom. In the end, we show that Schiller defends a non-hedonic, action-oriented, communitarian theory of aesthetic value and a theory of freedom that makes the aesthetic not just supererogatory but fundamental for any fully autonomous life. Although we have lost touch with this way of thinking about aesthetic value and freedom, we submit that it is illuminating for contemporary thinking about both.

Schiller on Freedom and Aesthetic Value: Part I

Abstract In his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Friedrich Schiller draws a striking connection between aesthetic value and individual and political freedom, claiming that, ‘it is only through beauty that man makes his way to freedom’. However, contemporary ways of thinking about freedom and aesthetic value make it difficult to see what the connection could be. Through a careful reconstruction of the Letters, we argue that Schiller’s theory of aesthetic value serves as the key to understanding not only his view of aesthetic engagement, but also his distinctive account of individual and political freedom. In Part I, we develop a reconstruction of Schiller's view that aesthetic value is the only path to individual freedom and in Part II we analyze how Schiller connects aesthetic value to political freedom. In the end, we show that Schiller defends a non-hedonic, action-oriented, communitarian theory of aesthetic value and a theory of freedom that makes the aesthetic not just supererogatory but fundamental for any fully autonomous life. Although we have lost touch with this way of thinking about aesthetic value and freedom, we submit that it is illuminating for contemporary thinking about both.

El dilema de la lechuza ¿Qué relación debe tener la filosofía con su historia?

La historia parece tener una importancia especial en el campo de la filosofía, en pocas disciplinas encontramos tantas referencias a los autores y problemas del pasado. Sin embargo, esto puede ser una simple cuestión de hecho: hasta ahora hemos creído que enseñar la historia de la filosofía era formativo para los futuros filósofos, pero tal creencia puede cambiar. También podría ser una cuestión de puro interés profesional: algunos estudiamos la historia de la disciplina, y tratamos de justificar esa dedicación alegando que ésta puede ser útil, en cierta medida, para los pensadores contemporáneos. En este artículo, sin embargo, abogaré por una comprensión de nuestra historia como algo central a la hora de hacer filosofía, es decir, que nuestro interés por el pasado disciplinar no es sólo contingente, ni una mera cuestión de supervivencia laboral.Dicho objetivo me llevará a contrastar dos posiciones, la de quienes defienden una reconstrucción racional de las tesis de los autores del pasado y la de los que sostienen un estudio detallado de su contexto. Establecido esto, relacionaré estas perspectivas con la concepción del pasado que comparten y propondré, alternativamente, una interpretación que no deja a la filosofía desconectada de su historia, sino que entiende que dicha historia ya es filosofía.

The political constitution of labour from Donovan to Blair

AbstractThis article looks at changing patterns of labour regulation over the last 50 years ago. We begin with the contribution of the ‘Oxford School’ within industrial relations analysis and its influence on the Donovan Royal Commission. We then discuss the architecture of the British corporate state and the approach of successive Conservative administrations between 1979 and 1997. Next, we consider labour market analysis and interventions under New Labour alongside emerging European influences and rights‐based models of justice. We conclude with some final comments regarding contemporary labour market thinking.

The Revolution of The Qur’anic Interpretation (Criticism of The Jamal Al-Banna’s Methodology in 1920 - 2013)

The study of interpretation methodology is very important, because the activities of the interpretation of the Koran will continue to develop along with the pace of the times. Abdul Mustaqim has mapped the interpretation methodology into three parts. First, the interpretation of the classical period. Second, the interpretation of the middle period. Third, interpretation of the contemporary period. With this mapping, it is expected that the position of the interpretation methodology of Jamal al-Banna can be known making it easier for researchers to recognize the interpretive concepts they offer. In every generation there are always products of interpretation of the Koran that have different features and characteristics. The socio-cultural condition in which the interpreter lives and the background of the disciplines they pursue is a reality that influences their interpretation of the Qur'an. The emergence of contemporary interpretations as the development of a scientific discipline is also much influenced by the development and change of the scientific epistemology itself. In this contemporary era, the name Jamal al-Banna appears which offers a new methodology for interpretation. This Egyptian-born thinker criticizes the scientific tradition of interpretation that has developed over the years (both classical and contemporary). So do not be surprised if the various ideas are always controversial. This article tries to review the methodological and philosophical interpretation of Jamal al-Banna. Starting with the effort to deconstruct the interpretation of the results of all classical commentators, Jamal proposed three stages in the interpretation of the Koran, namely the art approach, psychological approach, and rational approach. All three are hierarchical stages to arrive at an interpretation. Having arrived at the interpretation stage, Jamal al-Banna does not recommend certain methods or limit certain knowledge as methods of interpretation analysis. He refused if one particular method has a guarantee as the only way to find the truth, because the Koran does not have to be limited. Some contemporary thinkers in the study of the Koran, such as Amin al-Khuli, Mohammed Syahrur, Mohammed Arkoun, Nashr Hamid Abu Zayd, and Orientalist views on the Koran also did not escape criticism. To find out more about Jamal's thought, this article uses a descriptive qualitative method and a philosophical-rationalistic approach with hermeneutics as the knife of analysis. Both of these methodologies are used to reveal the construct of Jamal's thought around the interpretation methodology that he built. This study contributes positively in order to broaden the insight of the study around the conceptual interpretation of the Koran. Because the spirit and problems faced by muslims today are growing and complex which demands the discovery of new methods in understanding the Koran more accommodatively and dynamically. Based on the method and approach above, it was found that the interpretation method conceived by Jamal wanted to place the Koran free of the various approaches that limit it. For Jamal, humans are very autonomous and free to interpret as long as it is in line with the humanist and universal principles contained in the Koran. Through the systematic-practical interpretation methodology offered above, it can facilitate the moslem community to comprehend the Koran comprehensively.