Philosophical Tradition Research Articles

Using (Visual) Humor to Demarcate Social and Symbolic Boundaries

While humor has a long résumé as a “window into the unconscious,” the boundaries it strikes against are understudied. Are people offended in particular, predictable ways? This online survey (N=1,178) that gathers demographic, biographic, and psychological data in combination with responses to 22 wordless cartoons, reveals distinct social patterns in offend ability. With reference to anthropological, psychological, philosophical and neuroscientific traditions, “offend ability” is conceptualized in cultural sociological terms, by which “offense” is read as the “striking against” of a symbolic boundary (separating profane from the too-sacred-to-play-with). As such, offense is proposed as a supremely meaningful metric in defining groups in terms of what they believe most deeply. With attention both to marginal groups and to liminal identities, analysis crystalizes an intriguing trend, namely: the significance of micro (individual) level factors (e.g. age, gender, psychological characteristics) and macro (social) factors (e.g. ethnicity, nationality) in predicting sensitivity to offense, in comparison to the seeming irrelevance of the mesa (interactional). This builds on major sociological work that cites the increasing solitariness of modern life; here, “sacred” boundaries are seen to be individually determined, in combination less with lived experience than with membership in abstract, often innate groups. Regression models explore meaningful variables in greater detail [1, 2]. Of particular note: sexual preferences were the greatest predictor of sensitivity to offense, with women attracted to women reporting the highest sensitivity. Across the board, those who were uncomfortable before disclosing particular information (e.g. sexual, political preferences) were disproportionately members of groups who were more sensitive to offense (e.g. “queer”, right-leaning): identity discomfort manifests as symbolic discomfort.

Conscientious objection to enforcing living wills: A conflict between beneficence and autonomy and a solution from Indian philosophy

Living wills document how patients wish to be treated in the event of becoming incompetent to make their medical decisions. Living wills are legally enforceable in India, nonetheless, doctors can claim conscientious objection to implementing any aspect of such directives; however, the buck stops with the hospital to ensure that the patient’s wishes are carried out. In enforcing advance care directives, beneficence and autonomy usually come into conflict. In a paternalistic model of medicine, beneficence and nonmaleficence take precedence over autonomy, and there is a danger that the patient’s wishes are ignored. Even if a physician is not trained to give equal importance to autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence, they can rationalize the enforcement of an advance care directive under the principle of nonmaleficence rather than under autonomy. The ethical principles of ahimsa—the principle of not being the cause of physical or mental injury of others—and raja dharma—the principle where a person in a position of power puts the wishes of the person whom they have power over ahead of their own wishes—which are derived from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical traditions, can help physicians who practice Indic faiths resolve their moral dilemma when faced with a possibility of enforcing a patient’s wishes that are not in line with their personal views. Such moralizing is especially important during public health emergencies when a patient may not be able to transfer to the care of another doctor who does not have an objection to enforcing their living will.

The Problem of Inclusion: Feminist Critique in Religious Ethics

ABSTRACTReligious ethics was founded on a commitment to inclusion, welcoming projects from and about different religious and philosophical traditions. This paper argues that the increasing welcome of feminist ethics in the JRE also reveals a tension in the field between inclusion and critique: where feminist ethics is included as another tradition of ethical inquiry, its critical claims can be escaped by appeal to difference from the traditions it seeks to engage. The response to feminist critique should not be to applaud its inclusion without responding to its claims. Where this occurs, religious ethicists must renegotiate the terms of inclusion and the borders of difference. Feminist critique thus requires a return to founding questions of this journal, and the field, about the terms on which different traditions can be discussed and engaged in a common, critical conversation of religious ethics.

The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy Tomás McAuley Nanette Nielsen Jerrold Levinson and Associate Editor Ariana Phillips-Hutton

The first major publication to emerge from the Royal Musical Association’s Music & Philosophy Study Group (RMA MPSG), The Oxford Handbook of Western Music and Philosophy represents in some ways the culmination of the Study Group conferences that since 2010 have been held on an annual, latterly biennial, basis at the Strand Campus, King’s College London. The RMA MPSG conferences provide an all-too-rare space for collaboration and dialogue between musicologists, philosophers, and those working in the interstices. That spirit of mutual engagement animates the Handbook, to which music scholars and philosophers have contributed in roughly equal proportion. The volume is organized in six parts: I. ‘Mapping the Field’; II. ‘History’; III. ‘Philosophical Traditions and Practices’; IV. ‘Musical Traditions and Practices’; V. ‘Key Concepts’; and VI. ‘Collisions and Collaborations’. As this review lacks the space to present each chapter let alone critique it, I instead highlight some features about the volume as a whole with selected reference to individual contributions for illustration.

‘Human Rights do not exist’: thinking about and beyond the existence of human rights

ABSTRACT This article examines the critical positions taken by two prominent figures of the twentieth-century philosophical tradition, Panajotis Kondylis and Gilles Deleuze, regarding the existence of human rights. In their ways, both thinkers identify a problem with the (non)existence of human rights, particularly with human rights’ invocation of universal or eternal values. According to Deleuze, this all-encompassing, universalist language of human rights promotes a problematic way of thinking that ‘thinks’ in abstraction. For Kondylis, human rights do not exist, as their universalist claims are a matter of political exploitation and/or conceptual confusion. By focusing on the interplay between non-existence and ‘sham’ or ‘abstract existence’, this article aims to critically examine our ways of thinking, in terms of human rights or beyond them, and how such a problematisation may pave the way for further discussions regarding the (non)place of human rights in our contemporary and future state of affairs.

How to Change Your Mind: The Contemplative Practices of Philosophy

AbstractThe methods of philosophy may be associated with practices such as rational dialogue, logical analysis, argumentation, and intellectual inquiry. However, many philosophical traditions in Asia, as well as in the ancient Greek world, consider an array of embodied contemplative practices as central to the work of philosophy and as philosophical methods in themselves. Here we will survey a few such practices, including those of the ancient Greeks as well as examples from East Asian traditions. Revisiting the contemplative practices of philosophy can help us to rethink the boundaries of the discipline, the nature and scope of scholarly methods, and the role of philosophy in everyday life.

Prosthetic Grand Synthesis

Prosthetic Grand Synthesis

The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe edited by Roger Teichmann, (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2022); pp. 520, £ 97.00, hbk

The Oxford Handbook of Elizabeth Anscombe edited by Roger Teichmann, (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2022); pp. 520, £ 97.00, hbk

Introduction: How Can and Should Philosophy Be Expanding its Horizons?

AbstractThe Royal Institute of Philosophy volume of which this paper is an introduction is on the theme of ‘Expanding Horizons’. But what does it mean for philosophy to fruitfully expand its horizons? The contributions to the volume suggest at least five profitable ways. First, by looking to other philosophical traditions for new perspectives on familiar questions and alternative methods, questions, and ways of understanding. Second, by looking to what has been neglected or overlooked in our own histories of thought. Third, by developing novel methods, in addition to argument, for investigating philosophical issues. Fourth, by embracing different modalities for doing philology, such as the literary. Fifth, by reflecting on the practice of comparative philosophy to better understand the extent to which philosophy can and should be universal. Together, these approaches both increase the range of voices heard in philosophy and the scope and ambition of the discipline.

Engels and the second foundation of Marxism

Since the 1920s Marxism has often been conceptualised, particularly within what has come to be known as the western Marxist philosophical tradition, in terms of a narrow historical materialism, directed exclusively at human-social existence. It was thus severed from the wider realm of dialectical materialism or materialist dialectics, concerned with what Karl Marx referred to as the ‘universal metabolism of nature’. In the process, the materialist conception of history was alienated from the materialist conception of nature. Today, faced with the planetary ecological emergency of the Anthropocene epoch, it is essential to heal this breach within the philosophy of praxis by returning to the second foundation of Marxism associated with Friedrich Engels’s Dialectics of Nature, seeing this as an indispensable key to the ecological and social revolution of the 21st century.

The significance of the Chinese revolution

Analysing the significance of China’s revolution and subsequent development has often been bedevilled by efforts to see the country exclusively through the lens of concepts developed in Europe many years ago. The experience of the Communist Party of China has reflected the integration of Marxism with indigenous philosophical traditions and its practice does not conform to classical ideas of either capitalism or socialism. It needs to be understood through a different lens.

COVID-19 and the View from Africa

In Africa, refusal of COVID-19 and other vaccines is widespread for different reasons, including disbelief in the existence of the virus itself and faith in traditional remedies. In sub-Saharan countries, refusal is often made worse by opposition to vaccines by the religious establishments. This is a pressing problem, as Africa has the highest vaccine-avoidable mortality rate for children under the age of five in the world. Dialogue between those wishing to promote vaccines and those who resist them is essential if the situation is to be improved. This article argues that Western and other aid agencies seeking to promote vaccination programs need to develop a dialogue with resisters, and in this process to embrace and commend the ancient African philosophical tradition of Ubuntu, incorporating it into these programs as a way to overcome such entrenched resistance. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for how to accomplish this goal.

(En)action research: practice transformation through processes of participatory sense-making in educational action research

ABSTRACT Scholars regard educational action research as contributing to change and developing sustainable teaching practices. The theoretical framework revolves around the idea that changes stem from human actions and draws inspiration from several philosophical traditions. However, the dynamo of transformation in the different approaches is generally a systematic self-reflective inquiry. In this study, we examine how changes of practice through educational action research emerge when the process is understood through the enactive theory of participatory sense-making. The point of departure for our methodological examination is an action research project on Movement Integration in Danish primary and secondary schools. Our analysis underscores that the process of dialogue and participation in action research gains impact by embracing joint movement-based actions. The study highlights that pre-reflective and movement-based inquiries may be a significant dynamo in the action research project’s effort to become deeply meaningful for the participants, to empower their participation and to make sustainable practice transformations possible. Applying the enactive framework in action research brings forward a methodological awareness about unnoticed dimensions of how participants make sense of action research processes, and the significance of being attentive to and working actively with 1) relation-making, i.e. how participants participate in each other’s sense-making by how they move in relation to each other; 2) time-making, i.e. how participants’ past experiences and future possibilities interblend with how they grasp a given matter; and 3) space-making, i.e. how sense-making is extended into space through the body’s location and actions in a given environment.

Against the (main) stream: feminist thinkers and the philosophical canon

The philosophical canon has long been criticized for its lack of diversity, particularly in terms of gender. Feminist thinkers have challenged this tradition, arguing that it reflects a narrow and exclusionary view of the world. The present article examines the ways in which feminist philosophers have contributed to expanding the philosophical canon through their critiques of traditional philosophy and the inclusion of previously marginalized perspectives. Drawing on the principles of intersectionality, feminist thinkers have highlighted the ways in which various forms of oppression intersect and reinforce one another. By doing so, they have exposed the limitations of traditional philosophical approaches and expanded the scope of philosophical inquiry. This article argues that the work of feminist philosophers has not only enriched the philosophical canon, but also helped to challenge and transform the dominant cultural narratives that have historically excluded marginalized voices. Ultimately, this article advocates for greater recognition and inclusion of feminist perspectives in the philosophical canon, as a means of promoting a more diverse and inclusive understanding of the world.

What is virtue? Using philosophy to refine psychological definition and operationalization

ABSTRACT We compare the definition of virtue in philosophy with the definition and operationalization of virtue in psychology. We articulate characteristics that virtue is presented as possessing in the perennial western philosophical tradition. Virtues are typically understood as (a) dispositional (b) deep-seated (c) habits (d) that contribute to flourishing and (e) that produce activities with the following three features: they are (f) done well, (g) not done poorly, and (h) in accordance with the right motivation and reason. We form a definition from these characteristics and defend our exclusion of some other characteristics from the definition. Using our definition as a rubric, we evaluate conceptions of virtue in psychology, showing how many fall short at operationalizing at least one component of the philosophical notion of virtue.

Martin Luther and the metaphysics of music

AbstractThis article traces convergences and differences within the classical philosophical tradition of musica and its later Christianisation, exploring Martin Luther's engagement with such metaphysical accounts of music's significance. Recent scholarship on Luther's agreement with a reformulated Boethian account of music is critiqued, distancing Luther from the main currents of this tradition. The article goes on to explore the way Luther subverts Platonic emphases in his theological understanding of music, drawing on a longer tradition of criticism for musical cosmologies. The article concludes with an extended reading of Luther's most substantial hymnal preface, to articulate his alternative, dynamic account of music in creation, which grounds musical realities in the gifted contingencies of human musicianship.

Versatile Training of Taekwondists

This article discusses the pedagogical problems of the versatile training of those involved in taekwondo, one of the types of Korean martial arts, which is an Olympic sport. Despite the fact that taekwondo, being a young type of martial arts, has several principles through which versatile training is carried out, these are: honesty, perseverance, self-control, an indomitable spirit and reverence that make up a certain spiritual and philosophical tradition that was once lost. And based on these principles, the article discusses the versatile training of a taekwondo player. It also takes into account all aspects of training and education, sets the goals of the study on the effectiveness of these processes. The article notes the intellectual training of a taekwondo player, which includes everything that directs to comprehend direct competitive activity, sports phenomena connecting them with it, processes for the worldwide development of mental abilities (qualities and properties). A place is given to self-education and self-education in the comprehensive self-improvement of taekwondo fighters. The article also states that in the process of training an athlete, both psychological preparation for the upcoming competitive activity is brought up, and creative manifestations of self-expression increase, with a peculiar shade of the athlete's individuality in terms of technical, tactical, psychological and other qualities of taekwondo training. The integration of many aspects of the training of taekwondo wrestlers is indicated, taking into account the most complex interrelated aspects of psychological and pedagogical principles and medical and physiological aspects, that at the end conclusions are drawn on the effectiveness of such training, which, through a scientifically constructed systematization of training, lead to the effectiveness of an athlete, taking into account individual abilities.

Naming psychiatry: apropos earliest use of the term by Karl Friedrich Burdach (1800).

The term psychiatry (Psychiatrie) was first used in 1800, in the early work of Leipzig Romantic natural philosopher and later neuroanatomist Karl Friedrich Burdach; it was a recherché reference to medical animism. This little-known instance of neologism by a young ambitious author invites a brief lexicological study of psychiatry as a specialty in search of its place among the medical specialties, methods and applications. The European historical lexicology of psychiatry recalls the philosophical commentary tradition on Aristotle's De Anima, eventually (c. 1525) honoured with the mononym psychologia. The battle for the soul's science was superseded by the increasingly diverse theoretical, empirical, forensic and literary-humanitarian interests in mental medicine during the second half of the eighteenth century.

Incorporating potential environmental impacts in building seismic design decisions

Seismic losses due to earthquakes have been shown to have significant economic, social and environmental consequences. Over recent years, research to predict potential economic and social impact due to seismic risk has been increasing. Recognizing that the traditional philosophy of life safety design can lead to extensive damage and demolition which has a large environmental cost, incorporating environmental impacts associated with the expected seismic damage over a building’s life is a key step as the building industry moves towards both sustainable and seismically resilient design. This paper introduces a framework that uses environmental indicators quantifying losses from seismic response that can then be used to advocate for a change in seismic performance objectives. First, existing literature and previously developed approaches for quantifying potential environmental impact due to seismic damage are summarized. Next, performance based earthquake engineering concepts are used to demonstrate a probabilistic approach to quantify potential environmental impacts using a range of environmental and resource use indicators over the life span of a case study building. In addition, a case study is presented to compare different environmental indicators between a Code Minimum building and the same building redesigned for a higher seismic performance. The majority of the composition of the environmental indicator values are from the inclusion of the non-repairable scenario, and from the repair activities, the majority of the impacts are from damage to drift sensitive components including curtains walls, partitions and elevators. For the Code Minimum building the non-repairable scenario contributes to between 8 to 11% the total seismic cost. For the Stronger Stiffer building, the non-repairable scenario contributes around 3% of the initial impact. Neglecting non-repairable scenarios does significantly reduce the potential environmental impacts when analyzing buildings designed for current code minimum structural standards.

Samorząd w myśli Feliksa Konecznego

The article contains an analysis of Feliks Koneczny’s views on local governments and the necessary conditions for its functioning. According to him, their development is only possible in Latin civilization, as it alone allows the active participation of all members of the state community in social and professional life without discriminating them. Its foundations are based on the Catholic personalist worldview, according to which every person is treated as a full member of the community with all his rights and duties. Non-personalistic civilizations originating from other philosophical traditions and created in other social and historical conditions than Latin civilization limit human freedom. Participation of the individual in social life is limited, and self-government in practically non-existent.