Between Athens and Jerusalem: Western otherness in the thought of Leo Strauss and Hannah Arendt

In understanding the meaning of the West, twentieth‐century political philosophers Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss called for a return to “Athens” (classical political philosophy) in order to address the “crisis of the West,” a loss of a sense of legitimate and stable political authority which, in their view, constitutes a nihilistic threat to Western democracy. The only way for the West to escape this nihilistic crisis is to return to Plato and Aristotle. Implicit in this critique is the belief that the other tradition of the West, “Jerusalem” (the Bible) has contributed to this nihilism, by undermining the authority of the Greeks. Is Jerusalem, then, the fatal “Other” for the West? Which tradition—Athens or Jerusalem—is best prepared to alleviate the crisis of the West, especially the survival of democracy? As I address these questions, I shall contend that it is Jerusalem, not Athens, which is the true source of Western democracy.     

The limitation of human knowledge: Faith and the empirical method in John Wesley's medical holism

In his medical and scientific works John Wesley provided an interpretation of the universe that was structured, though not pre-ordained, by God. The empirical method he adopted was measured in terms of efficacy and judged according to rationalistic standards. Its practical success, however, was used by Wesley to underpin his vocation of practical piety, which developed out of a holistic view of nature inspired by the spiritualism of Primitive Christianity. Accordingly, the providential ordering of Man and nature meant that safeguarding physical health became a spiritual act, though Wesley separated the discourse of religion and terminology of medicine. This distinction was essential because it ensured intellectual integrity whilst leaving a protective space for religious faith. He made this move on the one hand but saw no contradiction in bringing the discourses of religion and medicine together to serve his mission. For Wesley, social and personal improvement did not rely exclusively on enlightened thinking or religious faith. Rather it depended on showing how rationalism and faith could display separate strengths within an overall framework of holism.     

Patents and medicines: the relationship between TRIPS and the human right to health

The question of access to drugs in developing countries is at present largely influenced by the TRIPS Agreement. TRIPS compliance in the field of health requires substantial changes to existing patent laws in some countries. These changes must be analysed in the context of the spread of epidemics like HIV/AIDS and in relation to other international obligations that states have, for instance, with regard to the human right to health.
Intellectual property rights treaties today have significant impacts on the realization of some human rights like the right to health. This article examines the extent to which TRIPS encompasses flexibility for developing countries to be able to foster better access to medicines. It also examines these issues from the point of view of human rights and considers, in particular, the ways in which the relationship between human rights and intellectual property can be improved in international law.     

The ages of man. A study in medieval writing and thought

It has often been repeated that Wollstonecraft was not read for a century after her death in 1797 due to the negative impact of her husband William Godwin's Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798) on her posthumous reputation. By providing the first full-scale reception history of Wollstonecraft in continental Europe in the long nineteenth century—drawing on rare book research, translations of understudied primary sources, and Wollstonecraft scholarship from the nineteenth century to the present—this article applies a revised Rezeptionsgeschichte approach to tracing her intellectual influence on the woman question and organised feminism in Europe. Although the Memoirs and post-revolutionary politics everywhere dampened and even drove underground the reception of her persona and ideas in the first decades of the nineteenth century, Wollstonecraft's reception in nineteenth-century continental Europe, like the United States, was more positive and sustained in comparison to the public backlash she faced as a ‘fallen woman’ in her homeland of Britain through the bulk of the Victorian era.     

Aggregation and aggression: The state of war in anthropological thought

Foster, Mary Lecron, and Robert A. Rubinstein, eds. Peace and War: Cross‐Cultural Perspectives. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1986. vii + 369 pp. including chapter references and index. $29.95 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Mann, Michael. The Sources of Social Power: Volume I: A History of Power from the Beginning to A.D. 1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. v + 549 pp. including chapter bibliographies and index. $59.50 cloth, $18.95 paper.

Shamgar‐Handelman, Lea. Israeli War Widows: Beyond the Glory of Heroism. South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin and Garvey, 1986. vii + 219 pp. including index, appendices, chapter notes, and references. $29.95 cloth.     

Innovation in knowledge intensive industries: The nature and geography of knowledge links

Knowledge has become a key source of competitiveness for advanced regions and nations, indicating a transformation of capitalism towards a “knowledge economy”. Knowledge intensive sectors in production and in services have a lead in this respect, they can be considered as role models for the future. The innovation process, the mechanisms of knowledge exchange and the respective linkages in those industries differ quite markedly from those in other sectors. Clustering and local knowledge spillovers are frequently stated phenomena, although it is still unclear as to what the nature and geography of those knowledge links are. The aim of this paper is to examine the character of the innovation process and the type of interactions in those industries, in order to find out how strongly they are related to regional, national and international innovation systems. We will analyse the sources and the mechanisms of knowledge exchange and their relevance for innovation. The paper develops a typology of innovation interactions and provides empirical evidence for Austria based on data from a recent firm survey.     

Crisis in consciousness: The thought of Ernst Troeltsch

This article examines the ‘revolutionary liberal’ outlook expounded by the young Italian journalist and intellectual, Piero Gobetti, immediately following the First World War. It considers the historical evolution of his ‘agonistic’ liberalism according to which conflict rather than consensus serves as the basis of social and political renewal. The article traces the formation of Gobetti's thought from his idealist response to the crisis of the liberal state through to his endorsement of the communist revolutionaries in Turin and his denunciation of fascism as the continuation of Italy's failed tradition of compromise. Whilst Gobetti's views presently resonate with a growing interest in the agonistic dimension of politics, it is argued that his elitism and his understanding of liberalism as a ‘civic religion’ reveal challenging tensions in his thought.     

明末清初西部虎患考述

明末清初 ,我国西部地区自山西、陕西经四川到贵州、广西以及云南等省均发生过程度不等的虎患 ,给人民生命财产造成严重损失。本文认为 ,虎患既与人类过分开垦山地导致自然环境恶化有关 ,又与当时战乱动荡导致社会极度破败有关。康熙中叶以后 ,西部地区虎患日渐减少 ,说明人在改造自然界的过程中征服了老虎 ,但也最终破坏了自然环境。     

从文化起源看中西伦理差异

中西伦理差异早在文明起始阶段就已初现端倪,作为东西方文化渊源的中希神话蕴含的不同思维造成了两种伦理体系,即示范伦理和规范伦理,并在道德哲学上有明显反映,从而导致了中西伦理的不同路径。比较两者的优点及其限度,对于当代伦理建设具有指向意义。     

思维模式与文化传承

一甲:文化可以表现在物质制品之中,也可以表现在思想观念之中.观念形态的文化(也就你过去所说的狭义的文化),之所以能在社会发展中长久传承,是与语言载体的概括性、抽象性、稳定性分不开的.例如民惟邦本,本固邦宁这两句话,虽然是出于《伪古文尚书》,但毕竟来源很古.