Western Philosophy Research Articles

Interdependency and Change: God in the Chinese Theology of Xie Fuya (1892–1991)

Xie Fuya (1892–1991), a major Chinese Christian thinker, has contributed much to the development of Sino-theology. However, his work has yet to receive the recognition it deserves. As a thinker who is well-versed in both Chinese and Western philosophies while dedicating himself to the exploration of the philosophy of religion, Xie presents a dual feature in his writings. On the one hand, his work engages in a dialogical discourse between Eastern and Western philosophies. On the other hand, his writings represent an ambitious attempt to interpret traditional Chinese philosophical tenets within the context of Christian theology, transverse from the level of human nature to the level of ontological existence, representing an innovative model of contemplation in the field of Sino-theology. This contribution is of immense value to the development of Chinese philosophical thought. For this reason, this article attempts to illustrate, through Xie’s writings in various stages of his life, his relentless effort to promote the integration of Eastern and Western philosophies within the framework of Chinese thought. His most notable accomplishment in this East–West confluence effort is his unique assumption of God’s attributions as both zhonghe (literally “middle harmony”, connoted as interdependency by Xie) and bianyi (change).

Yogalebrities: The postfeminist, fashionable construction of ‘psychic life’ on social media

The appeal and impact of social media influencers within contemporary consumer culture has been a much-explored topic in fashion and media research. However, there are limited studies of yogalebrities – celebrity yoga practitioners who gain global visibility and following through branded product endorsements and modelling contracts – despite their leading role within the culturally and economically significant wellness industry. Furthermore, while the existing scholarship considers the intersections between consumer culture and spirituality, it is yet to grant due recognition to the active production and consumption of fashionable spiritual feminine identities produced on and through prevalent social media. Drawing on the combined insights from media, fashion and feminist studies, we discuss how yogalebrities represent and perpetuate normative ideals about femininity and its spiritual dimensions. We ground the discussion in the analysis of two different cases of yogalebrities: celebrity influencer Sjana Elise and micro-influencer Jessamyn Stanley. We demonstrate how they fold entrepreneurial opportunities into self-actualizing, self-branded intimate narratives to seek legitimacy and commercial success, and how their audience engagement capitalizes on, commodifies and stylizes spiritual values that underpin western yoga philosophy. By documenting these complex tactics, we contribute to fashion studies’ and feminist media studies’ understanding of the mediatized and increasingly fashionable psychic life of women.

Lévinas’s Philosophy of the Face: Anxiety, Responsibility, and Ethical Moments that Arise in Encounters with the Other

Abstract Lévinas’s philosophy emerges from his critique of the traditional sources of Western philosophy and employs phenomenological methods to transcend the conventional theology and ethics of subjectivity. Through a series of inquiries, Lévinas expands the narrow philosophical vision and problem domain related to the philosophy of the Other. This study examines the profound impact of Lévinas’s philosophy on contemporary philosophy and human society, particularly its elucidation of people’s anxiety, confusion, and overwhelm with the ethical dimension of life in postmodern society. In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, characterized by increased reliance on AI, decreased face-to-face communication, and significant shifts in lifestyle, the study of Lévinas’s philosophy gains heightened relevance. As we navigate these changes, Lévinas’s insights into anxiety, responsibility, and ethical encounters with the Other offer reflections on human connection and ethical engagement, urging us to reconsider our relationship with technology and prioritize meaningful interactions amidst societal transformations.

"Political Romanticism" and "Aesthetic Politics": Content, Comparison, Criticism

Relevance. In Western political philosophy and political theory, the judgment that modern democracy does not have a satisfactory general ("synoptic") theory, has the status of (almost) universal significance ‒ the philosophical interpretation of this "situation" is an urgent research task for modern political philosophy.Purpose. The representation of the political in the "concept of the political" and the "economic paradigm of the political" reveals identical characteristic features; the configuration of their unity and the assessment attributed to them differ ‒ the goal is to understand the different meanings attributed to the same "phenomena" and "processes" of modernity in conceptual frameworks defined by opposite paradigms.Objectives. The method of determining the actual policy in the horizon of "metaphysical principles" is demonstrated. The fundamentals of the paradigmatic representation of the political and the principles of constructing the narrative of modern liberal democracy are revealed. The procedure of giving credibility to theoretical judgments about the political is analyzed. Methodology. The paradigmatic representation of the political can be understood, and only as a result explained; understanding refers to the real concept, explanation – to reality; the combination of the "real" and "real" distinguished in the tradition of Western philosophy takes place in a philosophical concept; the formation of the concept presupposes philosophical interest; philosophical hermeneutics and deduction provide tools suitable for understanding the political in unity: from "metaphysical foundations" to practical politics. Results. The statement about the romantic nature of the modern representation of the political in the liberal economic paradigm looks reliable. It is proved that historical and aesthetic representation, more than «mimetic», fulfills the imperatives attributed to the modern form of political – Western representative democracy. The evidence of the necessary replacement of the «center of political ontology» from the sovereign to an «empty place» is demonstrated.Conclusions. Representative democracy, romantic and postmodern, is a necessary and legitimate form of the modern liberal way of representing the political. The main task of aesthetic politics is supposed to ensure security: "keep to the middle and avoid extremes", exclude an event, normalize the political, that is, to banalize politics.

Representation and Evolution of Western Philosophy in English Literature

The manifestation and evolution of Western philosophy in English literature represent a rich and diverse historical process. This article systematically examines the influence of philosophical movements from the classical period to the modern era on English literature. Ancient Greek and Roman philosophies inspired the themes and materials of literary works, while medieval Christian philosophy profoundly influenced the rise and development of religious themes. The humanist movement of the Renaissance integrated philosophy with literature, reflecting humanity's pursuit of the human spirit. The specific manifestations of philosophy in literature include themes such as self-consciousness, rationality, and nature, with different philosophical schools and literary styles also forming close associations. Interdisciplinary research will provide us with a deeper understanding, promoting interaction and exchange between philosophy and literature.

From Mythos to Logos: Pre-Socratic Philosophers and the Birth of Rational Inquiry

This paper examines the important shift from mythological to philosophical thought instigated by pre-Socratic philosophers in ancient Greece by examining influential figures such as Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus in their pioneering efforts at rational analysis. The theories of these philosophers challenged the traditional mythical descriptions of the universe and man's existence, initiating the paradigm shift from mythos (myth) to logos (logic) that reshaped philosophical discourse and laid the foundations for Western philosophical traditions. This paper seeks to reveal the nature of pre-Socratic rational thought and its lasting impact on the history of Western philosophy. It emphasizes the importance of the contributions of pre-Socratic philosophers to the promotion of critical thinking, empiricism, and logical reasoning. Finally, the paper emphasizes the role of the pre-Socratic period in the development of Western philosophy and philosophical approaches to inquiry.

Introduction

Introduction

Environmental ethics and ancient philosophy: A complicated affair

This article provides a comprehensive review of the rather intricate relationship between contemporary environmental ethics, understood as a philosophical branch, and ancient philosophy . While its primary focus is on Western philosophy, it also includes some brief yet crucial considerations about the influence of Eastern traditions of thought on environmental ethics. Aside from the introduction in the first section, the discussion is organised into three main sections. In the Reception: Ancient philosophy in environmental ethics section, I review the initial reception of ancient philosophy in contemporary environmental ethics. Next, in the Reaction: Environmental ethics in ancient philosophy scholarship section, I examine how the scholarship in AP responded to this early reception. I conclude, in the final section, with some constructive suggestions for future research.

Psychologists return to the first question of Western philosophy.

When ancient humans gained the ability to investigate abstract questions, what first question did they pose? This article offers a novel, sweeping, historical analysis with important implications for psychological theory. The story begins with identifying the first question in Ancient Greek philosophy as "Where am I?" with particular interest in the world's overarching basic traits. For example, Pythagoras proposed the world was defined by beauty and Heraclitus suggested change. Though this discourse has traditionally puzzled historians, recent psychological research suggests it might have been largely a debate over primal world beliefs, an emerging research topic that this article introduces and situates historically. Recently, the latent structure of primal world beliefs was mapped statistically, revealing 26 dimensions. Most of these beliefs were new to psychologists, yet already posed by ancient philosophers-including Pythagoras' Beautiful world belief and Heraclitus' Changing world belief. Identifying first questions in early history may have value for psychological theorizing because it hints at something that social psychologists have long suspected: that humans are creatures fundamentally driven to understand their situation and what it calls for. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for Psychologists Return to the First Question of Western Philosophy

Supplemental Material for Psychologists Return to the First Question of Western Philosophy

Restoring Human Dignity: Exploring Restorative Practices to Address Workplace Incivility Among Indian Professionals

Human dignity is an absolute inner value possessed by all humans. In the workplace, due to the prevalence of negative behaviors, human dignity often becomes a target for erosion. Accordingly, the author argues that human dignity is the most profoundly affected aspect amidst all the resulting consequences. Through in-depth interviews with 18 working professionals who have experienced the impact of uncivil behavior from superiors, peers, and subordinates, this paper demonstrates how they have employed the strategy of passive resistance responses as a means to restitute their dignity. The restoration of dignity has, in turn, been shown to significantly enhance their overall wellbeing. On the theoretical front, this paper introduces the concept of 'dignity defense' as a central theme, which has enabled them to adopt a wide range of passive resistance mechanisms – ranging from temporal deflection, delayed responses, reflective pauses, competence building, the use of humour, knowledge gathering, diplomatic inquiry, to evidence-based communication. Overall, this study distinguishes passive resistance responses from active confrontational responses and theoretically anchors passive resistance responses within the context of Eastern and Western philosophies.

On the Triple Connections between Morality and Politics: An Inquiry of Western and Chinese Political Philosophy

Morality determines the stability of political order in three aspects: first, moral theory is the basis for justifying political order. In Chinese and Western political philosophy, scholars of different schools try to justify political order in different ways. In western political philosophy, the most important are social contract theory and utilitarianism. In Chinese political philosophy, the most typical is the Confucian theory of “benevolent government”. Secondly, whether the words and deeds of political leaders conform to the moral principles is a sign of the legitimacy of the relevant political order. It is for this reason that the Chinese political thought emphasized “rule of morality” at the beginning of its birth, especially the Confucian doctrine, which has become the official ideology in two thousand years, and developed the thought of “internal saints and external kings ” after repeated writings of several generations of Confucian scholars. Thirdly, the people within the political regime must have some civic virtues for them to maintain the political order. Of course, morality is not the whole of politics. Politics must be based on the monopoly of force to maintain stable order. Keywords: politics, morality, justification, citizenship

A New Look at the Classical Chinese Dào of the Relation between Word and World

AbstractI argue that the absence of some of the ‘greatest hits’ of Western philosophy in Classical China can be explained by a Wittgensteinian take on the role of language in philosophy. One is the ‘Idea Theory’ of meaning which anchors Western Mind-Body dualism. Its attraction is removed when the writing reminds us that a picture does not by itself ‘give life to’ our language even while it plays a role of cross-linguistic communication. Another is the centrality of a law-command theory of normativity which combines with mind-body dualism to give a natural push toward monotheistic supernaturalism. Western attempts to make the ‘God’ impulse logical (e.g., the Ontological Argument) fail because of differences in Chinese syntax. The upshot is we need not deny Chinese thinkers the status of philosophers for their failure to share our philosophical presuppositions and resultant agenda.

ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAMIC ECONOMIC DOCTRINE IS A PHILOSOPHICAL VISION

The separatism that represents the challenge existing between reason and revelation is a distinctive feature of the Western intellectual heritage. This separatism arose from the concept of conceptualizing existential convergence, which enables philosophers to use standards of judgment to measure the outcomes of both reason and revelation. This existential convergence leads to the equality of fields. Cognitivism, and subjecting judgments to criteria or standards like this is in fact a declaration of the true sovereignty of reason, which led to man becoming the focus of Western philosophy, the dialectic of (Locke) that most knowledge comes from experience, and the hypothesis of (Kent) that knowledge A joint product of the mind and the external world, and the certainty of (Auguste Comte) which focuses on the scientific stage as opposed to the metaphysical and theological stages, and the experimental radicalism of (William James) are all many ideas stemming from the cognitive foundations presented by Aristotle’s empirical doctrine and keeping pace with human-centered knowledge. The approximation of the levels of existentialism stemming from the syncretic atmosphere of the Roman era, which was an essential element in Christianity, was gradually subjected to the two systems. Hume’s interpretation of God as the spirit of the material world, Hobbesian materialism in metaphysics, the theory of thought (the Absolute, the specific deity), and James’s idea of finiteness. Thinking are all exciting stages of formulating the cognitively specific existential theory of the Western heritage, which established a new model (Ihsanoglu, 2000, 122).

Feminist Philosophical Toys: Playful Companions and Live Theorization

Abstract What are the matters of philosophy? How do they shape how philosophy is practiced, what kinds of knowledge it produces, and who counts as a philosopher? The dominant matters of Western philosophy, or its epistemic companions, are books and journal articles even when dialogic and oral traditions are acknowledged or referenced. In this paper, we argue that alternatives would be necessary if philosophy were to be a more capacious and welcoming discipline. We introduce Feminist Philosophical Toys as one such alternative that challenges what counts as serious philosophy by being seriously playful. The toys foreground the oral and the dialogic while reflecting on and committing to engaging materiality, record-keeping, and record-making. In doing so, the toys challenge the dominant form of philosophy and its mechanics of knowledge-making as they offer an alternative way of doing philosophy that can be transformative for the next generation of feminist scholarship. The dialogic, embodied, and communal interaction with paper, with theory, and with others is meant as a practice of live theorization, opening philosophy to a new groundedness and accessibility, centered in the ethos of feminist epistemology, while at the same time pushing against fetishization of matter.

Mini Review] Application of Eastern Philosophical Principles to Ethical Dilemmas in Daily Medical Practice

This mini review highlights the underappreciated influence of Indian philosophical principles on medical ethics. Emphasizing concepts such as ahimsa, dharma, compassion, impermanence, non-attachment, and holistic healing, it explores their profound relevance in guiding healthcare professionals through complex ethical dilemmas. While Western philosophies dominate medical ethics discourse, there is a need to acknowledge and research the application of non-Western philosophies in medical practice. A broader recognition and integration of non-Western ethical principles to medical practice can foster culturally sensitive and ethically sound patient care.

Medicine, emotience, and reason

Medicine is faced with a number of intractable modern challenges that can be understood in terms of hyper-intellectualization; a compassion crisis, burnout, dehumanization, and lost meaning. These challenges have roots in medical philosophy and indeed general Western philosophy by way of the historic exclusion of human emotion from human reason. The resolution of these medical challenges first requires a novel philosophic schema of human knowledge and reason that incorporates the balanced interaction of human intellect and human emotion. This schema of necessity requires a novel extension of dual-process theory into epistemology in terms of both intellect and emotion each generating a distinct natural kind of knowledge independent of the other as well as how these two forms of mental process together construct human reason. Such a novel philosophic schema is here proposed. This scheme is then applied to the practice of medicine with examples of practical applications with the goal of reformulating medical practice in a more knowledgable, balanced, and healthy way. This schema’s expanded epistemology becomes the philosophic foundation for more fully incorporating the humanities in medicine.

THE NATURE OF HUMANISM AND ITS MODERN CRISIS

The essence of the humanistic worldview and the main stages of the evolution of the humanistic thought are analyzed. The emphasis is on the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance, as they constitute the essence of the humanistic worldview. These ideas influenced the subsequent development of philosophical thought — Modern times, Enlightenment and modernity. The authors of the article adhere to the classical approach in understanding the essence of humanism, interpreting humanism as a doctrine that arose in the Renaissance, and subsequently applied to new conditions. In modern philosophy, there has been a desire to correct some ideas of humanism taking into account the realities of modernity, but without changing the fundamental principles of humanism. The article also shows a trend taking place in modern Western philosophy, namely the emasculation of humanistic ideas. In this regard, the features and specifics of the crisis of humanism in the modern era are analyzed. The relevance of this study is due to the fact that it shows the essence and evolution of the ideas of humanism, which is important in the context of modern multidirectional anthropological discourses. The relevance is also explained by the study of the main points of the crisis of humanism taking place in modern Western philosophy. In this regard, the article provides a reasoned criticism of the anti-humanistic ideas of Western philosophers. The aim of the study is to compare the fundamental ideas of humanism and its ideological foundations with anti-humanistic and anti-anthropocentric positions widely represented in modern Western philosophy. In the course of the research, such methods as the method of historical and philosophical analysis and the comparative method were used. The novelty of the research consists in identifying a peculiar tendency of dehumanization, that is, the antihumanistic orientation of a number of concepts of Western philosophy (F. Nietzsche, M. Heidegger, M. Foucault, J. Baudrillard, J. Deleuze).

Hermeneutics before Ontology: How Later Levinas Better Understands Heidegger

Abstract This paper examines Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophical development from Totality and Infinity to Otherwise than Being as a self-critique and revised understanding of Martin Heidegger. It focuses on later Levinas’s analysis of language in terms of the difference between Saying and Said. For Levinas, the Said represents the betrayal of ethical Saying into ontological essence. This echoes Heidegger’s notion of the forgetfulness of Being in beings. However, Levinas critiques Heidegger’s own philosophy as remaining within the Said. The paper explores three strategies of “unsaying” that Levinas discerns in Western philosophy to disrupt ontological Said: ontology itself, skepticism, and philosophical conversation. It argues that Levinas ultimately seeks an alternative “prophetic” mode of language beyond philosophy that enacts difference, which the paper relates to Talmud. The paper claims that the later Levinas no longer simply opposes Greek to Jewish thought, but rather seeks to deploy a specifically Jewish form of language to interrupt Western metaphysics from within.

Perbedaan Epistemologi Bayani, Irfani dan Burhani dalam Pemikiran Islam

Epistemology is the theory of knowledge in the context of Islamic philosophy, which includes three main approaches: Bayani, Irfani, and Burhani. The Bayani approach centers on the sacred text, while Irfani is concerned with direct experience of spiritual reality. On the other hand, the Burhani approach is based on logic. This research aims to analyze the differences in bayani, irfani and burhani epistemology. By using the literature research method, this study shows that there are differences in 1.) Bayani epistemology 2.) Irfani epistemology 3.) Burhani epistemology. In this study, the analysis of Bayani, Irfani, and Burhani epistemology shows significant differences. The Bayani approach tends to produce dogmatic and intolerant religious views, while the Burhani approach offers an open and philosophical framework. The Irfani 2 approach, on the other hand, explores the dimensions of spiritual experience in depth. The results of this study have a positive impact on the development of Islamic science, strengthening the argument that Western philosophers' thoughts can synergize with Islamic philosophy. By understanding the differences and relevance of each approach, space can be opened for dialogue between intellectual traditions, supporting conflict resolution and promoting peace with a more contextual and scientific approach. Keywords: Epistemology, Bayani, Irfani, Burhani.