Newtonian time and psychological explanation.B. D. Slife -1995 -Journal of Mind and Behavior 16 (1):45-62.detailsNewton's conception of time has had a profound influence upon science, particularly psychology. Five characteristics of explanation have devolved from Newton's temporal framework: objectivity, continuity, linearity, universality, and reductivity. These characteristics are outlined in the present essay and shown to be central to psychological theories and methods. Indeed, Newton's temporal framework is so central that it often goes unexamined in psychology. Examination is important, however, because recent critics of Newton's framework - including both scientists and philosophers - have questioned its (...) validity and usefulness. (shrink)
The Athenian Alliances with Rhegion and Leontinoi.B. D. Meritt -1946 -Classical Quarterly 40 (3-4):85-.detailsThe two epigraphical monuments which have preserved parts of the treaties of alliance between Athens, on the one hand, and Rhegion and Leontinoi, respectively, on the other, must be studied together, for both treaties had their old preambles erased in 433/2 and their validity reaffirmed as of that year. The new preambles, both dating from the same day, were inscribed in the erasures and juxtaposed, somewhat awkwardly, before the body of the old texts thatstill remained.
Le Visible et l'Invisible. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (1):180-180.detailsMerleau-Ponty had projected a work of considerable dimensions, according to Lefort, which was to have borne the title now given to this posthumous volume. Though the chapters he had actually written out and the notes de travail selected by Lefort for this edition seem to be only introductory parts and suggestions of the larger work, they are already considerable in richness, depth and difficulty. Here we find Merleau-Ponty returning to the problems of his earlier works, showing why the problems posed (...) in the Phenomenology of Perception were "insoluble"; examining in ever greater depth the thought of Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre; uncovering the naiveté of scientific thinking and the false sophistication of reflective, dialectical and intuitionistic philosophies. He has moved well beyond phenomenology in the strict sense, toward his own interrogation ontologique and a theory of logic. Lefort has done an extraordinary and exemplary job of organizing, editing and annotating the manuscripts. —A. B. D. and C. D. (shrink)
Introduction to'newton's legacy for psychology'.B. D. Slife -1995 -Journal of Mind and Behavior 16 (1):1-7.detailsThis first article is intended as a brief introduction to the general philosophical assumptions of Newton: namely, his mathematicism, empiricism, positivism, reductionism, and dualism. These five "isms" provide an important background to the main articles that are also briefly described.
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On the Problem of Empathy. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (1):185-185.detailsEdith Stein was Husserl's student and private secretary. This study of empathy was originally her doctoral dissertation. After a reduction to pure consciousness, she describes the essence of empathy as a kind of perception sui generis, both like and unlike other acts of consciousness. Different theories of experiencing the other are briefly evaluated. The second part of the book is devoted to the role of empathy in the constitution of the psycho-physical individual and, ultimately, of the person. Written in short, (...) numbered paragraphs, the analysis tends to be jerky and without direction. But there is a sustained description of the living body, antedating Merleau-Ponty's corps vécu by thirty years. The translation seems too literal, and typographical errors abound.—A. B. D. (shrink)
Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (2):382-382.detailsFirst published in 1898 in Année Sociologique, this remarkable essay has long deserved English publication. Mauss and Hubert shun the myriad forms of sacrifice to concentrate on the structure or eidos uniting them all. This structure appears in certain procedures which are systematically followed, in certain relationships which are established between the sacrifier, priest and victim, and finally in the sequence of events from entrance into and exit from the sacrificial place. As an eidetic description of the form of sacrifice (...) the essay is clearly a forerunner of later structural anthropology.—A. B. D. (shrink)
Approche contemporaine d'une affirmation de Dieu. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 17 (4):633-633.detailsScience naively presupposes the intelligibility of the universe, necessary laws, and a universal truth. The author reflects on these presuppositions to arrive at a demonstration of God's existence. In a vigorous and exclamatory style, he condemns the alternative views of idealism, phenomenology, and philosophies of science which cannot rationally justify their faith in a universal truth. The only rational basis for these presuppositions is a theistic God--the "Vérité mesurante" and "Pensée fondatrice" of scientific reason.--A. B. D.
Pueblo Gods and Myths. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1965 -Review of Metaphysics 19 (1):159-159.detailsNot an anthropologist by training, Tyler succeeds where the trained anthropologist has often failed: he manages to understand a style of life not his own. He relates and interprets the stories of the gods of the Zunis, Keres, and Hopi Indians, comparing them to some of the Greek myths. The Pueblos are "realists"; they believe in a world of rough harmony, of "normalcy," and their animistic religion is devoted to preserving the natural order of things. Their sophisticated outlook cannot be (...) explained by theories of primitive or infantile animism; in fact, Tyler uses Pueblo animism to debunk the Freudian and other theories of animism. A map, a geographical table, and an extensive bibliography help fill out the picture of the Pueblo.—A. B. D. (shrink)
Aristotle and the Problem of Value. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1965 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (3):589-589.detailsAristotle's rejection of the Platonic ideas robbed him of Plato's unity of Being and Value as well. By an extensive, clear interpretation and analysis of the whole Aristotelian corpus, Oates shows that Aristotle lacks a coherent theory of value. While considerations of value unavoidably occur in the Metaphysics, just as ontological ones do in the Ethics, nowhere in Aristotle is there a unification of axiology and ontology. For this reason, Oates argues, the Nicomachean Ethics fails to be a theory of (...) moral good. The book is a temperate, perhaps non-controversial critique of Aristotle, and its polished, easy style makes it a pleasure to read.—A. B. D. (shrink)
The Reformation. [REVIEW]D. J. B. -1966 -Review of Metaphysics 19 (3):582-583.detailsThis, the third volume in The Pelican History of the Church, offers an extremely perspicacious view of the entire period. While there were nationalistic, economic, and political interests responsible for the Reformation and while there was no one, simple religious motivation, underlying all of these causes was a profound dissatisfaction with the moral and religious tone of late medieval society. However haltingly and destructively the Reformation proceeded, it is evident that the result was a general strengthening of authentic religious life (...) in both Protestant and Catholic countries. And where the state assumed some of the secular functions of the medieval Church this seemed to eventually benefit both Church and State. However, Chadwick does not gloss over grosser aspects of the period: the so-called wars of religion, the endless and destructive polemics between churches, and the ruthless confiscation of ecclesiastical property. If greedy lords helped free the Church from the mammon of iniquity, this was accompanied by cultural and artistic losses with no improvement in the lot of the poor country cleric despite the reduced status of the wealthy bishop or abbot. Chadwick is particularly good in his descriptions of the relationship of the political to the religious. But what is of special interest are the sometimes bewildered and reactionary responses of the little Christian to the dramatic events of the time.—D. J. B. (shrink)
Ethics. [REVIEW]D. B. -1956 -Review of Metaphysics 9 (4):701-701.detailsA set of essays in which reason, moral fanaticism, conscience, duty, free responsibility and silent virtue are all shown to be insufficient to counteract the spiritual collapse of modern Europe. Only a concrete ethics based on and in the Christ will succeed where abstract principles or emancipated reason have failed. Some confusion arises concerning the notions of a "real" man, and of "nature" or "natural rights," but matters of definition or "analysis" are perhaps rightly subordinated to the "living truth" with (...) which this work is concerned.--D. B. (shrink)
Metaphysics. [REVIEW]D. J. B. -1966 -Review of Metaphysics 19 (3):585-585.detailsFather Dougherty's textbook is relatively indistinguishable from a host of similar Thomistic manuals. There are the invariable definitions of being, substances, causality, etc., followed by the usual refutations of alien philosophies plus the inevitable series of pedagogical questions at the end of each chapter. It is curious that despite the continual fulminations of certain neo-Thomists against textbook Thomism, there appears a new harvest of such textbooks every year.—D. J. B.
La Main et l'Esprit. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1965 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (3):582-582.detailsIn the French unclassifiable genre, Brun explores biological evolution, poetry, philosophy, mythology, dance movements and palm-reading to unearth the significance and function of the human hand. Man does not have a hand; part of his being is being-a-hand. He is differentiated from animals not only because he is a tool-user, but because he can make tools to make other tools. Brun shows that the sense of touch overcomes the separation between man and the world in a second section dealing with (...) the erotic, cognitive and existential meanings of le toucher. A difficult, sometimes insightful study but mainly overstated.—A. B. D. (shrink)
Overtures to Biology. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 18 (2):385-385.detailsTheories of immanence and botanical analogy dominated the work of the eighteenth-century naturalists. They believed, with little factual support, that electricity was the immanent principle of the universe and that plants and animals had truly analogical functions. When a science of biology finally came into being in the nineteenth century, the romantic poets decried the positivistic approach to nature; but it was often overlooked that their poetry voiced anew the concepts of the eighteenth-century speculation. The super-abundance of quotations makes for (...) laborious reading, although the author deftly threads his narrative through them.—A. B. D. (shrink)
Le Dialogue Psychoanalytique. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 17 (3):472-473.detailsDaniel Lagache has said that the psychoanalytical experience is a moral one. It is, in Mme. Amado's words, "the drama of a subject, discovering his radical truth." The task of psychoanalysis is the demystification of the narcissistic, alienated subject who lives in a primary or primitive moment of subjectivity. The moment of cure is the recognition of the other, and simultaneously, a discovery of oneself--intersubjectivity. Mme. Amado gives an excellent phenomenology of alienation, seeing its presence both in mental disorders and (...) normal behavior.--A. B. D. (shrink)
Personne Humaine et Nature. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1964 -Review of Metaphysics 17 (3):480-480.detailsA reprint of the book published in 1942, with the addition of an appendix and a new preface. Beginning with the concrete and conceptual aspects of the person and showing how the principles of logic are embodied in human experience, the author describes the ontological and logical connections between the world, man and God.--A. B. D.
The House, the City, and the Judge. [REVIEW]B. D. A. -1963 -Review of Metaphysics 17 (2):305-306.detailsA scholarly, clearly written interpretation of the Oresteia, interweaving the aesthetic, moral, political and cosmic elements in the drama. The author gives a valuable assessment of Aeschylus' reaction to the then current ideas of Plato and Aristotle. In an excellent chapter on the meanings of catharsis, he shows how Aeschylus interpreted Aristotle's theory of tragedy.--A. B. D.
Science, Culture and Man. [REVIEW]D. J. B. -1965 -Review of Metaphysics 19 (2):390-390.detailsA series of amorphous essays, including one by S. Radhakrishnan, so general in content as to be of dubious value. For those who have a developed sense of whimsey, there are a few striking aphorisms to be garnered here and there in the volume.—D. J. B.