ABSTRACTThis paper presents a Kierkegaardian critique of Roy A. Rappaport’s classic treatment of religious rituals. It discusses Rappaport’s claim that public and outward acceptance of a religious ritual is sufficient for successfully enacting it – even where such acceptance is devoid of any personal commitment on the participants’ part. To interrogate Rappaport, the paper develops Jonathan Lear’s reading of Kierkegaard and builds on the Danish theologian’s remarks on the Christian sacraments to argue that, pace Rappaport, personal engagement is necessary (...) to the successful enactment of religious rituals. In this sense, I will show with Kierkegaard how inner belief is a necessary pre-requisite for the performance of any religious ritual whereas in Rappaport’s view it is ritual action itself which creates a posteriori the possibility for personal religious faith. (shrink)

Li (禮) and yi (義) are two central moral concepts in the Analects. Li has a broad semantic range, referring to formal ceremonial rituals on the one hand, and basic rules of personal decorum on the other. What is similar across the range of referents is that the li comprise strictures of correct behavior. The li are a distinguishing characteristic of Confucian approaches to ethics and socio-political thought, a set of rules and protocols that were thought to constitute the wise (...) practices of ancient moral exemplars filtered down through dynasties of the past. However, even while the li were extensive and meant to be followed diligently, they were also understood as incapable of exhausting the whole range of activity that constitutes human life. There were bound to be situations in life where there would be no obvious recourse to the li for guidance. As part of their reflections on the good life, the Confucians maintained another moral concept that seemed to cover morally upright exemplary behavior in these types of situations. This concept is that of yi or rightness. In this chapter, I begin with a brief historical sketch to provide some context, and will then turn to li and yi in turn. In the end, I will suggest how li and yi were both meant to facilitate the supreme value of social harmony that pervades much of the Analects and serves as its ultimate orientation. (shrink)

Ritualized behavior, intuitively recognizable by its stereotypy, rigidity, repetition, and apparent lack of rational motivation, is found in a variety of life conditions, customs, and everyday practices: in cultural rituals, whether religious or non-religious; in many children's complicated routines; in the pathology of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD); in normal adults around certain stages of the life-cycle, birthing in particular. Combining evidence from evolutionary anthropology, neuropsychology and neuroimaging, we propose an explanation of ritualized behavior in terms of an evolved Precaution System geared (...) to the detection of and reaction to inferred threats to fitness. This system, distinct from fear-systems geared to respond to manifest danger, includes a repertoire of clues for potential danger as well as a repertoire of species-typical precautions. In OCD pathology, this system does not supply a negative feedback to the appraisal of potential threats, resulting in doubts about the proper performance of precautions, and repetition of action. Also, anxiety levels focus the attention on low-level gestural units of behavior rather than on the goal-related higher-level units normally used in parsing the action-flow. Normally automatized actions are submitted to cognitive control. This “swamps” working memory, an effect of which is a temporary relief from intrusions but also their long-term strengthening. Normal activation of this Precaution System explains intrusions and ritual behaviors in normal adults. Gradual calibration of the system occurs through childhood rituals. Cultural mimicry of this system's normal input makes cultural rituals attention-grabbing and compelling. A number of empirical predictions follow from this synthetic model. (Published Online February 8 2007) Key Words: childhood ritual; compulsion; event boundaries; evolutionary psychology; obsessive-compulsive disorder; ritual; thought intrusion. (shrink)

비트겐슈타인에 따르면 철학의 역할은 이론이나 설명을 제시하는 것이 아니라 현상을 ‘기술’하는 것이다. 우리가 어떻게 언어를 사용하고 있는지 자연사적 고찰을 통해 기술하면 철학적 질문은 사라진다. 비트겐슈타인은 이러한 자연사적 고찰을 통해 제의적 행위를 살펴본 후 인간이 제의적 존재임을 보여준다. 본 연구는 비트겐슈타인의 고찰 결과를 추적해 가면서 인간에게 제의적 본능이 있으며 이 점에서 다른 동물들과 구별된다고 한 것을 밝힌다. 이를 위해 2절에서는 우리 언어활동이 맹목적 확실성에 기반하고 있다는 것 그리고 제의적 행위도 맹목적으로 그리고 본능적으로 행해진다는 것이 논의된다. 3절에서는 제의(적 행위)의 특성이 다뤄지는데, 첫째 (...) 제의적 행위는 ‘뜻 없는’ 행위라는 것과 둘째 제의(적 행위)에는 신비로운 비밀스러움이 있다는 것, 셋째 제의(적 행위)가 어떻게 형성될 수 있는지를 논의된다. 이 세 번째 논의에서 제의와 인간 정신의 “깨어남”과의 연관관계가 드러난다. 4절에서는 인간의 제의적 행위는 본능적이지만 이 제의적 행위가 인간을 다른 동물들과 구별시켜준다는 것을 논의한다. (shrink)

This article explains how li 禮 or ‘ritual propriety’ is the ‘body language’ of ren 仁 or the authentic expression of our humanity. Li and ren are interdependent aspects of a larger creative human way (rendao 仁道) that can be conceptually distinguished as follows: li refers to the ritualized social form of appropriate conduct and ren to the more general, authentically human spirit this expresses. Li is the social instrument for self-cultivation and the vehicle of harmonious human interaction. More, (...) li must mean something that is effectively communicated to others for an authentic, human (ren) interaction to occur. Li is the body language of ren in being the ritual vehicle for its’ expression; however, li is underdetermined by ren and so must be distinguished from it in on further grounds: authentic human activity must not just be equivocated with social convention because conclusively establishing whether a particular action is li (or is a truly ren action) is impossible. As a result, li is often confused with social power and privilege that is easier to empirically identify than ren conduct is, but this is a mistake since li has to express ren or it is not li at all. The inescapable ambiguity of li – an ambiguity that attaches to any language – can be critiqued by the Western view that sees something ‘essential’ to the ‘self,’ and that makes one a ‘self’ in and of oneself and not in a way that depends on others. I show that such Western individualism – while resting on a fundamentally different way of thinking of being a person and living a good life – does not reduce Confucian ritual to being an instrument for social discrimination and subordination. My argument is indebted to twentieth-century philosophy of language in the West that offered the idea that some words are actions. (shrink)

Digest of Hindu codes for the śrāddha rite.

Bringing Ritual to Mind explores the cognitive and psychological foundations of religious ritual systems. Participants must recall their rituals well enough to ensure a sense of continuity across performances, and those rituals must motivate them to transmit and re-perform them. Most religious rituals the world over exploit either high performance frequency or extraordinary emotional stimulation to enhance their recollection. But why do some rituals exploit the first of these variables while others exploit the second? McCauley and Lawson advance (...) the ritual form hypothesis, arguing that participants' cognitive representations of ritual form explain why. Reviewing evidence from cognitive, developmental and social psychology and from cultural anthropology and the history of religions, they utilize dynamical systems tools to explain the recurrent evolutionary trajectories religions exhibit. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction I Peters on Ritual in Education II R. S. Peters on Ritual and Imitation: An Assessment Future Directions References.

Ayurveda is science of living being. Aim of Ayurveda is mantainance of healthy life and pacification of diseases of diseased ones. Dharma, artha, kama and moksha these four are together called chaturvidha purushartha which is achieved by arogya (health).Ayurveda holds view of its independent darshanika viewthough it has shades of nearly all six astika darshanas. Mimamsa’s first verse implies its motto to explore Dharma. Ayurveda considers dharma as one of basic component to health. Dharma has been described under trieshana by (...) acharya Bhela. Various conducts are described under sadavritta, achararasayana, moksha marga, naishtikichikitsa. Ayurveda describes three types of treatment which are yuktivyapshraya, daivavyapashraya and sattvavajaya. This daivyapashraya includes mantra, ausadhi, mani, mangal, bali, upahaar, homa, niyama,prayashchita, upawaas, swastyayana, pranipata, gamana etc. These type of methods are widely described in karma kanda of mimamsa darshana. This treatment method has been used in curing of diseases like unmada,graharoga. Methods of yagya has been described as well as used in putreshti and punsawansamskara described in charakasamhita. With this paper karma kanda widely used in treatment has been described in Ayurveda. (shrink)