Subject-object Dichotomy Research Articles

Transmaterialism Ending the Psi Wars with a New Meta-Metaphysics

The term 'psi wars' refers to a conflict between those who admit and those who reject the veridicality of psi. Some sort of 'peace' with regard to psi and related topics could be beneficial, particularly as part of a paradigm shift that is arguably already upon us. Here, the area of interest is first conceptualized as a subject–object dichotomy ranging between the poles of the 'supernormal' and 'paranatural'. Parallel to this schema, the domain and its evidential base are sketched through three contemporary investigations exemplifying laboratory types, and some issues are raised concerning liminality, reduction, and proof. Then, on the working assumption that the basic claim for the veridicality of the supernormal-paranatural is at least reasonable, implications for metaphysics are addressed. Taking materialism as the default position, a route through postmaterialisms to a 'transmaterialism' is outlined. The former are to accommodate psi. The latter is introduced as a pluralist approach to metaphysics for a deeper resolution of the conflict.

Neuropsychology of Self-regulation : Attention Control Mechanism for Controlling Thinking and Other Cognitive Processes

This paper presents a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding and consciously controlling the cognitive faculty of attention. It analyzes how language and the subject-object dichotomy fundamentally shape human thought processes. The pivotal role of attention in steering cognitive functions is examined, along with how it is influenced by cognitive biases. The brain is conceptualized as an information processing system, with attention serving as the navigational mechanism guiding cognitive faculties. The framework emphasizes the importance of articulation to effectively regulate attentional allocation. Innovative techniques are given, including a modified self-questioning method that leverages the linguistic basis of cognition to monitor and rectify attentional lapses. Grounded in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary theory, the paper elucidates neurological mechanisms behind conscious attentional control, including how to stop the thinking process. Potential applications range from improving cognitive performance and emotional regulation to facilitating goal attainment and overall well-being across domains.

Why isn’t flow flowing? Metatheoretical issues in explanations of flow

A flow state describes intrinsically rewarding experiences of complete absorption in a task. While descriptive accounts of flow have gained prominence in “popular” psychology, scientific research has reached a crisis point due to perceived limitations of current theoretical explanations for the experience. Here, we evaluate key metatheoretical frameworks underpinning previous explanations of flow and situate the need for reconsidering the ontological status of flow experiences and the causal entailments that might be needed to explain them. We consider the possibility that the subject–object dualism implied, and the organismic asymmetry apparent in prevalent metatheoretical frameworks, may create intractable problems for explanations of flow. Finally, the suitability of the ecological metatheory and eco-physical variables for explaining flow experiences is discussed.

Phenomenal realism and subjective-objective dichotomy

The resolution of subjective-objective dichotomy is not lies in reduction rather grounded on the synthesis of phenomenal aspect and intentional-representational aspect of experience. We have to acknowledge the limits of both physical and mental objectivity and gradually transcend and expand the scope of physical as well as mental objectivity through neutral perspective. The Nagelian version of phenomenal realism has indicated for resolving the subjective-objective dichotomy by observing the interaction of subjective point of view and objective point of view about the reality from neutral perspective.

Rhythmic Vitality: Traditional Aesthetics and the Theoretical Vision of Contemporary Chinese Film Aesthetics

Abstract For Chinese films, the ideal of “rhythmic vitality” (气韵生动, Qiyun Shengdong) pursued by traditional aesthetics is of great significance. Traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy stress the pace of flowing (“similar sounds integrate”) and the rhythm of harmony (“different sounds correspond to each other”). Correspondingly, the aesthetic ideal of rhythmic vitality refers to the awareness of life produced by the cinematic medium during its evolution. However, compared with the aesthetic developments that characterize western cinema, Chinese films should not be content with its current approach, which largely disregards this particular aesthetic ideal. Rhythmic vitality originates from a unique national cosmology and methodology, beginning with the resemblances between appearances and spirit and resulting with the “primordial qi” (元气, Yuanqi) that constitutes all living creatures. It signifies the special aesthetic connection between humans and nature, whereby each are subjects of one another and in complete harmony. Arguably, this aesthetic ideal avoids the subject–object dichotomy of western thought that has prevailed since modern times. Additionally, the unique quality of cinema’s rhythmic vitality involves the use of special footage. Practically, through the use of large (small humans in wider landscape), full (the scene), far (the distance), and long-lens cameras for scenarios depicting intense emotion or conflict, cinema may render the holistic ideal of rhythmic vitality.

Автобиографическое в научном нарративе: история и личный опыт историка (предварительные заметки)

The article is devoted to the analysis of autobiographical information in historian’s academic narrative. The emerging post-non-classical science is transforming the subject-object dichotomy towards dialogue. Characteristic of this process is the more pronounced presence of autobiographical information in the academic’s text. The author shows the development of these trends using the example of foreign and domestic historical writing. A preliminary systematization of the nature of the autobiographical (personal) information presented in the academic-historical narrative is carried out. Attention is drawn to the fact that a story about the experience of a historian can be placed both in a monograph (introduction or main part) and in an article. The academicians are increasingly willing to share information about how their investigation was conceived, how sources were collected, and the research process itself. Among the important trends, the dependence of the historian’s personal information presented on the research subject of studying is highlighted. Thus, the experience of talking about oneself in studies of subjectivity seems characteristic. The author pays special attention to the experience of “lyrical historiography” by I.V. Narsky, who proposed in contemporary Russian historical writing perhaps the most radical version of the knowledge’s subject presence in the academic narrative.

Heidegger and Mindfulness Meditation: Making Peace With the Abyss

In this article, an attempt is made to free mindfulness from its modern psychologically utilitarian interpretation and display its ontological-existential essence. To do that, the essay offers the existential roots of human suffering and the ontological meaning of attachment that is found at the basis of suffering. Heidegger’s philosophy is used to show that due to our anxious rejection of the nothingness that co-constitutes the Being of beings, we exist in a mode in which beings can only be experienced as objects of attachment. This ontological predicament is explicated in terms of radical alienation from the world, which takes the form of the subject–object dualism and founds what we normally take to be our psychological identity. The essay stresses that this predicament cannot be overcome by mindfulness as long as mindfulness is understood as a technique used to utilize one’s psychological resources. This impossibility is tightly related to the paradox that one cannot achieve liberation by intending to do so. Heidegger’s ideas of “letting-be,” “objectless waiting,” and “attention to Beyng” are then applied to show how mindfulness meditation can afford one to become acquainted with a nonintentional dimension of experience wherein liberation from suffering may occur.

The “Tenderness” of the Principle of Least Action: From the Philosophy of Physics to the Paradigm for Sustainable Development

The paper delves into the methodological aspects of how foundational mathematical and physical tenets, most notably the principle of least action, are interpreted and assimilated within humanities discourse. The pursuit of the article’s objectives is driven by the necessity for a philosophical and methodological analysis of the current conceptual status of the principle of least action. This analysis is informed by cognitive-axiological and teleological imperatives of a “synthetic” development program for the principle. Any fundamental principle will not have a definitive explanation, as otherwise it would not be fundamental, but in this case, some justification can be given based on deeper grounds discussed in the article. Drawing on the epistemological frameworks of French philosophers P. Hadot, E. Levinas, J. Bouveresse, and J.-T. Desanti, the article weaves together mathematical abstractions with human experience and philosophical doctrines with physical theories. J.-T. Desanti’s perspective on mathematical objects as an outcome of human activity is examined. Also scrutinized is B. Nicolescu’s concept of transdisciplinarity, which challenges the traditional subject-object dualism in science. The author’s methodological stance emerges from a dialectical viewpoint, one that eschews a simplistic dichotomy between materialism and idealism and is grounded in rigorous scientific inquiry and an exhaustive examination of the subject matter itself. The principle of least action, as a paramount principle in physics, is shown to exemplify a legacy of innovation, positioning it as both methodologically insightful and heuristically valuable. The paper also highlights how this principle diverges from the classical principle of economy. The broader goal – within the context of “sustainable development,” transdisciplinary studies, and creative industries – is to establish the principle of least action as a paradigmatic imperative for interaction within social and economic systems. The conclusions drawn from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the principle’s essence, the nature of transdisciplinarity, and confront the vestiges of scientism in the humanities.

Value Judgments in Criminal Law Interpretation

Criminal law interpretation in China faces two primary challenges in terms of value judgments. Normative interpretations often fall into circular and inadequate reasoning, while judges, the key figures in applying interpretive principles, frequently lack the necessary value judgment engagement and proficiency. Traditional criminal law interpretation is ensnared in a subjective-objective dichotomy, resulting in a misalignment with the aim of “legitimate and rational” interpretation practices in China. To rectify this, a philosophical shift is required to allow intersubjective value judgments while maintaining subjectivity-objectivity as the prerequisite. Criminal law interpretation ensures the completeness of value judgments through a combination of specialized knowledge and public discourse. This involves the creation of systematic criteria for value judgments and adherence to legal principles. The former necessitates defining the internal and external standards of value judgments, formulating rules for the resolution of conflicting standards, and underlining the practical importance of criminalization under law, or “no crime or punishment without law” (the principle that only the law can define a crime and prescribe a penalty) and “Where no law applies, it is permissible to redefine a crime as non-criminal or minor” (decriminalization). The latter involves three perspectives: logical reasoning and theoretical arguments; positive and negative judgments; and formal and substantive rationality. Moreover, it should be approached from four dimensions: normative orientation, individual case promotion, reverse exclusion, and constitutional guidance.

New Subjectness in the Conditions of Sociotechnical Space

The paper investigates the emergence of the phenomenon of new subjectness that arises from the integration of artificial and natural fields in contemporary socio-technical reality. It aims to challenge the subject-object dichotomy established by Modern philosophy tradition. To support this goal, the paper draws on the philosophical views of the proponents of Object-Oriented Ontology (Manuel DeLanda, Graham Harman) and Actor-Network theory (Bruno Latour, John Law). These contemporary philosophers substantiate the idea of distributed hybrid subjectness as the result of multiple network interactions, which can be interpreted using John Law's "method assemblage". This method disregards the attitudes of classical metaphysics and leads to the conclusion that new subjectivity arises from chaotic reality and manifests through the continuous formation and reformation of "bundles of relations". In those relations, it is impossible to differentiate between subject and object, as these roles roles are mobile and volatile.

The problem of epistemological critique in contemporary Decolonial theory

ABSTRACT Decolonial theory argues that the coloniality of rational Western epistemology is the cause of all global crises, including violent patriarchy, racism and ecological destruction. Contemporary decolonial scholars consequently advocate de-linking from the colonial matrix of power which defines the modern world system. They promote a move towards an epistemologically pluriversal world, which they consider to be theoretically superior and a politically radical advance over postructuralism, postcolonialism and Marxism, which are denigrated as complicit iterations of Eurocentric coloniality. In this article, I critically respond to Decolonial theory’s reductive generalisations by demonstrating that its ostensibly constructivist articulation of geopolitics and standpoint theory amounts to a simplistic inversion of colonial stereotypes found in postcolonial analyses of colonial discourse. After establishing that Decolonial theory is unwittingly bound to a colonial, albeit inverted discourse of essentialist racialised morality, I exhibit that its stereotypical reduction of Western epistemology to a subject-object dualism misrepresents developments in Euro-American epistemology and continental philosophy of science, citing the case of French historical epistemology. I conclude by demonstrating that Decolonial theory is contradictory and self-defeating because it replicates metaphysical errors in Western philosophy and supports political values closer to the far right than leftist ideals of universality and a common world.

“Ich Werdend Spreche Ich Du”: Creative Dialogue in the Relational Anthropologies of Martin Luther and Martin Buber

This article compares the relational anthropologies of Martin Luther and Martin Buber and suggests that both thinkers presuppose a notion of creative dialogue. This notion captures the understanding in the Hebrew Bible of the world as created and sustained through God’s utterance and, thus, of reality as spoken and human existence as reliant upon dialogue with God. It argues that this common grounding led Luther and Buber to suggest anthropologies that focus on relation rather than substance, on the role of language, and on creative dialogue as the kernel of sound interpersonal relationships, which articulate the human relationship with God. The perception of reality as constituted through dialogical relationships made them both question the prevailing philosophical ontology of their time: in Luther’s case, Aristotelean substance ontology, and in Buber’s case, Kantian subject–object dualism.

Postulate of Phenomenological Ontology and its Significance for Science and our Worldview

This work offers an interpretation of phenomenological ontology by formulating its fundamental propositions in order to explain their significance for science and our personal worldview. In the paper, phenomenology is understood as the proper method of ontology or the “science of being” as the most general philosophical discipline. This embodies the idea of a “first philosophy” that is free from all prejudice and that rejects or criticizes metaphysics, the subject–object dualism, empiricism, rationalism, realism, idealism, materialism, skepticism and relativism. The paper dismisses ontological objectivism as a methodological fallacy and seeks to reach a clear understanding of science, as well as of ourselves and our relation to the world. As such, it represents an introductory part of the methodology of scientific work, as well as an alternative perspective on the issues of existentialism, religion and spiritualism.

The Dialectical Mandala Model of Self-cultivation.

This study explores the development of a cross-cultural primary ontological model that can help self-cultivation practitioners illuminate their path and help researchers identify the complex implications, context, and progression of self-cultivation in diverse cultures, especially those associated with Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Integrating self-cultivation traditions into social science research from the perspective of subject-object dichotomy is difficult. However, the assimilation of the mutual implication of subject and object in the Avataṃsaka worldview helps resolve this issue. This study employs the Buddhist tetralemmic dialectic (catuṣkoṭi), which goes beyond the limitations of dualistic and reductionist logic, to construct the Dialectical Mandala Model of Self-cultivation as the first of a two-step epistemological strategy. The model provides a universal framework for the multifaceted and systemic analysis of self-cultivation traditions so that future research can further develop additional culturally specific ontologies and psychological models in the second step of the strategy. As in a research map, this model could help researchers make ontological commitments, understand self-cultivation more comprehensively, and determine whether they have overlooked any research domain.

Young returnees' sustainability of return: The case of Bulgaria

<abstract> <p>Return migration flow to Bulgaria is constant but not high, except for the past two years. Here, we argue that subjective and objective reasons should both be considered in line to explain life prospects of young returnees at home. An innovative approach to balancing the subjective-objective dichotomy in return migration phenomena is measuring sustainability of return through re-emigration, captured by and tested through a re-emigration index based on a national representative survey of returning Bulgarian migrants. The main hypothesis is that the sustainability of the return of young people depends on a complex group of factors, including social and emotional motives. The main findings are about the magnitude of the return migration flow and its sustainability: The factors for the return of young Bulgarians in the pre-Covid research show strong non-economic character, which intensifies in times of crisis. There are no significantly different tendencies for re-emigration/return among young people compared with all returnees.</p> </abstract>

Dialogue and Self-Confrontation: A Study of Ahn Byung-Mu’s Minjung Theology of Religions

In the 1970s and 80s, Korean Minjung theology and theology of religions(Inculturation theology) were in a tense relationship due to differences in their theological priorities. However, there was also a complementary relationship between the two theological movements in the Korean situation where the theological domination of the Western church and the political oppression of the military dictatorship were inseparably combined. Especially, Minjung theology, which included the minjung religious traditions of Korea as a theological paradigm, attempted a comparison and dialogue between religions from the beginning. Ahn Byung-mu, one of the founders of Minjung theology, was born and raised in a Confucian culture, and while studying abroad in Germany, he received a doctorate degree with a dissertation that compared the ren of Confucius with agape of Jesus. Also, he was interested in Buddhism and often wrote articles comparing Buddhism with Christianity. Throughout his theological journey, Ahn tried to overcome the subject-object dualism and personified understanding of God in Western theology through theological dialogue with Easter thought. More importantly, in his later years, Ahn applied the Eastern qi philosophy to understand the Holy Spirit. Though Ahn did not systematically theorize a theology of religions, he freely utilized the ideas of other faiths in constructing his theology in general and Minjung theology in particular. In addition, Ahn’s interreligious dialogue was conducted not only externally in his relationship with the religious other but also internally within his faith and theology. Therefore, in this article, I would like to explore the possibility of a Minjung theology of religions which is necessary for today’s religious pluralistic society by examining Ahn’s open, existential, and liberative understandings of other faiths.

Spiritual practices of zen buddhism in the conditions of globalization challenges of modern times

The article studies the specifics of Zen Buddhism spiritual practices that influence the spread of their popularity in the contemporary Western globalised world. Zen Buddhism insists on the need for inner spiritual experience, which is directly opposed to authority and external revelation. Zen Buddhism primarily emphasises individual effort in overcoming the separation of the world into opposites, which is the result of the thinking activity. The difference between the religious system of Zen Buddhism is that Zen Buddhism, with its enlightenment, does not depend on sacred books and texts (as, for example, in Christianity, which formed the Western world system); Zen is also primarily non-verbal. The experience of enlightenment cannot be shared with others. Zen practice is a cultivated path, which at the same time has no ultimate goal or meaning; here the path (life in the inevitable) is already a "satori" here and now, which constantly flows through human existence. The relevance and novelty of the study are due to the highlighting of the features of spiritual practices of Zen Buddhism as a way of self-knowledge of a person, "returning to oneself", which ensures its active spread in modern Western society. It is determined that the essence of Zen Buddhism mysticism is that the most real is the abstract, and vice versa. The whole system of spiritual practices is the product of this essential inner spiritual experience. This mysticism often prevents us from measuring the depth of the Eastern mind in terms of Western rationalism because it denies logical analysis by its very nature. The Eastern mind is synthetic. It does not attach too much importance to insignificant trivialities. Still, it strives for an intuitive understanding of the whole, which reaches the spiritual philosophy of Zen in the daily practical challenges of the globalised world. The features of the influence of the spiritual system of Zen Buddhism on Japanese art are also analysed. The conclusions underline that Zen Buddhism has had a significant impact both directly on the religious and cultural life of the Japanese and world culture in general. The popularity of the spiritual practices of Zen Buddhism in Western society is due to their idea of breaking a person out of the subject-object dichotomy, which leads to the separation of the spiritual essence of man, and causes social conflicts. Zen has unique aesthetics, which include a high appreciation of moderation, asymmetry, imperfection, simplicity, and naturalness. In simple beauty and simplicity (transformation of "poverty" into a kind of minimalism), the Japanese find a unique charm and a source of true beauty.

Enlightenment of Understanding on Music Education from the Perspective of Philosophical Hermeneutics

China's music education system has always followed the western aesthetic pedagogy and the traditional music education system, and its philosophical basis is mainly the traditional subject object dichotomy epistemology. With the continuous development of human society, especially in the context of the great development of China's economy and culture in the 21st century, problems such as the lack of culture, the prevalence of rational logic technology, and the disconnection between music and life have become prominent in China's music education. Starting with the core understanding view of philosophical hermeneutics, this paper studies music education around the three key concepts of situation, vision and dialogue, with the intention of revealing the diversified, open and inclusive development trend of music education in China in the future with a new thinking concept, and providing several practical paradigms of music education.

Chinese Culture and Cognitive Science

In the civilizations of the axial age, Chinese and Western cultures gave birth to different scientific traditions—the image sciences and the natural sciences—within the knowledge frameworks of the union of man and nature and of the subject–object dichotomy respectively. Therefore, there are inevitably insurmountable barriers to explaining the differences between Chinese and Western cultures in terms of a natural science concerned with “things.” However, human nature is universal, and it is possible to make direct comparisons and interpretations of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures in terms of the cognitive sciences dealing with the mind. One important way to compare and interpret Chinese culture and cognitive science is the mutual interpretation of Chinese and Western cultures. In view of this, we have integrated enactive cognition (the frontier of cognitive science) and the free energy principle to propose the predictive mind model of enactive cognition and have used this mutual interpretation to study the two cultures using this model of cognitive science as a truly unified cross-cultural paradigm for cognitive science. First, the theory of enaction embedded in Chinese culture is actually closely related to enactive cognition, the frontier of Western cognitive science. Laozi’s theory of universal enaction (cosmology) shows that Chinese culture has an ancient theory of enaction. He firmly planted in the minds of Chinese people a way of thinking dealing with union of man and nature. Western enactive cognition, as a modern theory, advocates continuity of life and mind and emphasizes that life is both autopoietic and cognitive, which is actually a scientific cognitive expression of the Chinese cultural idea of the harmony of man and nature. This is actually a scientific cognitive expression of Chinese culture’s idea of the harmony of man and nature. Second, the qi in Chinese culture is similar to the free energy in Western cognitive science. In terms of concept definition, qi is a mixture of matter, function and principles (information), while free energy is the synthesis of energy and information. From the point of view of the mode of operation, qi is the contradictory harmony between yin and yang, while free energy is the unity of top-down and bottom-up approaches. In terms of kinetic purpose, the kinetic purpose of qi is the doctrine of benevolence, while the kinetic purpose of free energy has gradually changed from representation of nature to construction of meaning. Through comparison and interpretation, we find that enactive cognition is closely related to Chinese culture on the cognitive science route, in what will be a practical path for the rejuvenation of Chinese culture. In addition, through the association of qi in Chinese culture and free energy in Western cognitive science, Chinese and Western cultures can be expected to be truly connected through cognitive science.

Samuel Beckett and Technology ed. by Galina Kiryushina, Einat Adar, and Mark Nixon

Reviewed by: Samuel Beckett and Technology ed. by Galina Kiryushina, Einat Adar, and Mark Nixon Lois Oppenheim (bio) Samuel Beckett and Technology Edited by Galina Kiryushina, Einat Adar, and Mark Nixon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. Pp. 269. Samuel Beckett … and technology? A surprising topic for an academic conference, an even more surprising subject of a book to follow. Or so it would seem. Samuel Beckett: Minimalism. Avant-garde. Theatre of the Absurd. Such is the terminology on which Beckett's devoted were raised. But "habit is a great deadener," as Vladimir tells us in Waiting for Godot, and, while many moved on to speak of the work of this greatest of twentieth century playwrights/novelists from other aesthetic perspectives and from intradisciplinary points of view as well—the philosophic and psychoanalytic foremost among them—it was not until relatively recently that a predominant but inauspicious dimension of Beckett's work was recognized. It was not until some scholars, Mark Nixon and Dirk Van Hulle the leaders among them, began to investigate the significance of genetic criticism for what it offers Beckett studies that attention was paid to an entirely different facet of what makes Beckett's work Beckettian. Critic Enoch Brater, in his book Beyond Minimalism (Oxford University Press, 1987), raised our awareness of the need to dig deeper, to see how, for example, the mechanical recording of a voice (as in Beckett's plays Krapp's Last Tape and Rockaby) interacted with the image viewed on the stage, or how electronically transformed recorded sounds (as in the radio play All That Fall) allowed for the listener's perception of the actor's internal consciousness. But it was then up to others to take yet another step, and in a somewhat different direction, for the significance of technology to be understood in the creation of the experience that is ours as we read, watch, or listen to Beckett's work. Several have now done so, and it is this that has culminated in the fine collection of studies that comprise this book. "Film is … a movie about the experience of our eyes watching other eyes watching us, the overexposure neatly accomplished by the superhuman eye of the camera," wrote Brater (p. 79). With a focus on Beckett's preoccupation with technologies of various sorts, some of the contributors to this volume [End Page 1225] demonstrate just how vision, actual or metaphorical, becomes superhuman and why. Several are interested in how this and other perceptual modalities are impacted—enforced or diminished—by modes of communication (radio, television), theatrical equipment (lighting, sound), voice recorders, and other kinds of machines. Other contributors are more attuned to the mechanization of human behavior itself or to representations of the interrelation between states of being and the technology of screen and stage. Or even transit: Feargal Whelan considers motion and inertia, with the latter more consistently depicted than the former by Beckett, in relation to train travel and railways. Adding "a temporal dimension" to poetics and hermeneutics, to the making and the interpretation of Beckett's work, Van Hulle offers a clear and concise exposition of the value of genetic criticism—an "enhanced appreciation of the production process" that includes how literary works (in this case Samuel Beckett's) come into being with all the "dead ends" and "forms of undoing that are often necessary to be able to move on" (p. 251)—as opposed to the single focus on a product such as it is, once it is. Each of the chapters contributes in important ways to our understanding of the subject–object dichotomy with which humankind has long grappled, and to Beckett's own heretofore insufficiently recognized preoccupation with the abstraction of subjective experience. Each offers a highly intelligent and exceedingly well-written analysis of the relation between technology, craft, and Beckett's work and, in so doing, aids in our understanding, at once, of the modernist and postmodernist elements of Beckett's writings and what might oddly be thought of as their simultaneity. Each chapter aids in our understanding (in itself increasingly mechanistic) of the "unmaking of the Western humanist tradition" (p. 1). Whether through an emphasis on the "non-narrative almost...