Examines the changes during the twentieth century in the views of mathematics, physics, and the scientific method and discusses the role of the mind in science.

My essay argues that neoliberal forms of government emerged through the shifting political trajectory of the therapeutic ethos in the postwar period in Anglo-American societies. In the postwar era, the therapeutic ethos attracted the attention of conservative cultural critics who described it as a destructive force on communal obligation. Initially, the therapeutic ethos appeared to align naturally with New Left ideas of democratization in the workplace and private sphere. However, I argue that the New Right was subsequently able to sever (...) the therapeutic ethos from its alignment with social democratization by imbuing it with an alternative set of meanings centered on the ideas of market freedom and the entrepreneur. The result was the construction of the new, neoliberal forms of power, which, I argue, take the form of the management of subjectivity. Finally, I outline the two major social pathologies of the neoliberal era, namely, the consequences of its contractualized notion of citizenship and the explosion of social inequality, both of which are traceable to the influence of therapeutic notions of the self. (shrink)

Based on ethnographic evidence collected over the last two decades in Gunayala Comarca (autonomous territory), Panama, this article explores understandings of human consciousness from the perspective of the Guna people. After a brief account of the linguistic, historical, and political context, it continues with a presentation of the notions of burba, niga, and gurgin, which are used to refer to notions of soul, spirit, and consciousness. After translating these words and describing their particularities, I show the extent to which (...) these notions, with roots in knowledge passed down from generation to generation, or revealed through dreams or visions, make it possible to understand the conception of the human being in relation with other non-human beings. Finally, the article seeks to open up a discussion with works produced over the last few decades by philosophers, psychologists, and neurologists, and to respond from the Guna standpoint to some of the questions that have recently been raised in these fields. (shrink)

There has been a heated debate within psychotherapeutic counseling of the role that can be afforded to spirituality within the counseling setting. If one single factor can be accorded primacy, then it might be reckoned the late Carl Rogers turned to spirituality in the last decade of his life. The following examines this debate in relation to the supposed, and, it might be argued, demonstrated, ineffable nature of alterity in relation to intersubjectivity in general. Many of the protagonists in this (...) debate have highlighted the inadequacy of discursive language in conveying the essential moment of connectedness in Rogerian therapy between two individuals. This gap, perceived or real, has been filled by rendering the relationship between therapist and client as spiritual. It is argued that this move has already been rehearsed in at least two classical texts, G. W. F. Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Both authors at quite crucial junctures in these texts turn to spirituality within the context of a very specific self—other relation. There is very little discernible difference between these described relationships, in either substance or form, and those described by Rogers and others as being their most successful therapeutic encounters. All of them can be regarded as a therapeutic relationship between two specific individuals that derives benefits for both irreducible to, and irreplaceable by, the psycho-social benefits of wider group membership. (shrink)

Most commentators who consider Hegel's treatment of the female principle (Weiblichkeit) in the Phenomenology of Spirit only believe that it refers to "True Spirit" and is limited to a brief discussion of Sophocles's character Antigone. This is not actually true. The paper deals with both with the broader question of who represents the female principle and also goes into detail on the first appearance of Antigone in chapter five and on her final appearance in chapter seven, Reason. The (...) female principle returns in Religion as an aspect of Absolute Being. The female goddesses, especially the mother goddess and the Erinyes, embody this principle. Antigone reappears as offering prophetic wisdom for their mission, which is Divine Law and justice. (shrink)

Alfred North Whitehead's master work, Process and Reality, is intended to extend the cosmological vision of Whitehead in a new direction. By interpreting societies within Whitehead's scheme as structured fields of activity, the author projects a universe of hierarchically ordered fields of activity, up to and including the all-compassing field of activity constituted by the Christian Trinity.

Eric Gregory's Politics and the Order of Love takes up an audacious project: enlisting Saint Augustine in order to "help imagine a better liberalism." This article first provides a summary of Gregory's argument, focusing on his emphasis on love as a "motivation" for neighborly care, and hence democratic participation. This involves tracing the theme of motivation in the book, which is tied to his articulation of liberal perfectionism and an emphasis on civic virtue. In conclusion I raise the question of (...) whether his project has ignored a key aspect of Augustine's account of love, namely, the role of the Holy Spirit, thereby demarcating the limits of Gregory's "rational reconstruction" of Augustine. (shrink)

Journey to the Spiritual Lands. By Wallace W. Zane. 1999. New York: Oxford University Press.

The purpose of this important series of Gifford lectures is to give an account of science; to show its method, its aims, its metaphysical presuppositions, and in what social context it may best flourish.

A unique treasury contains more than 1,000 quotations by spiritual masters, writers, artists, poets and wise men and women from throughout history on such topics as joy and despair, enlightenment, love and nature, in a book that includes contributions from more than 500 people, including Lao Tzu, William Shakespeare and more. Original.