集体良知：个人与社会自然的联结纽带——涂尔干的核心问题及其研究进路之二

埃米尔.涂尔干在其研究生涯中,构筑了以人性和社会自然的心物二重性为基础与核心的社会学思想,并进一步阐述了社会与人性自然之间的联结纽带——社会良知、知识分子是社会良知的担当者与表达者以及社会良知应该以神圣化的仪式和仪轨表达出来才能成为真正的集体规范、社会事实。由此,涂尔干通过＂心物二元＂的研究路径构建了＂精神＂与＂躯体＂、＂个人＂与＂社会＂二者都不偏废的二元研究范式,其目的就是要解决社会发展最为核心的问题——人性与社会的自然及社会秩序何以可能的问题。     

The Relations Bwetween Geography and History Reconsidered

The ideas of Sauer, Darby, Clark, and Meinig have had a formative influence on the making of modern Anglo–American historical geography. These scholars emphasized the spatial– and place–;focused orientation of geography, contrasting it with history’s concern with time, the past, and change. Historical geography was conceived as combining the spatial interests of geography with the temporal interest of history, creating a field concerned with changing spatial patterns and landscapes. This idea of historical geography avoided issues in the philosophy of history by making the historical geographer a kind of spectator to external changes in the ways things were ordered and arranged on the face of the earth. This “natural history” view of historical geography failed to deal with history conceived as an autonomous mode of understanding in which the scholar’s task is to understand human activity as an embodiment of thought. Historical geography is more adequately conceived as a Collingwoodian–type historical discipline, in which the task of the historical geographer is aimed at rethinking and displaying the thought of historical agents as their actions relate to the physical environment. The traditional subject matter of historical geography is not thereby redefined, but a change in the way geography is seen in its relation to history is necessitated.     

From Political Friendship to Befriending the World

Political friendship is typically portrayed as a dyadic relationship. In this traditional model, friendship is conceived as a positive intersubjective experience of relation-to-self and relation-to-other, assuming the reciprocity and equality characteristic of symmetrical relations of recognition. This essay explores an alternative, triadic model of political friendship, suggested by the work of Hannah Arendt. Arendt makes the claim, at odds with most modern accounts, that “politics is not so much about human beings as it is about the world that comes into being between them and endures beyond them.” I suggest that the dyadic model of political friendship is incomplete; a more adequate paradigm would foreground triadic relations of interest, concern and care for the phenomenal world itself, conceived as the quasi-objective intermediary of human artifice. As a “public thing,” a shared world is a necessary condition for intersubjective friendship and therefore is deserving of a properly political mode of acknowledgement and friendship in its own right.     

María Zambrano’s theory of subjectivity and modal ontology

ABSTRACT

Zambrano is well-known for her critique of the ideal subject, as well as of philosophy and ‘Western’ reason. Despite this critique, notions like the individual and reason in her works has not been thoroughly analysed. Enquist Källgren argues that Zambrano’s texts contains a comprehensive theory of subjectivity. It is shown that Zambrano’s notion of subjectivity presupposes a structure that positions the human being in a modal relation to her surroundings. The human being can be conceived of as a structure of transcendent and transcendental positions in which the individual is the product of an expressive performativity. Zambrano’s theory of subjectivity can be read as an engagement with the thinking of both Aristotle and Kant, placing subjectivity in the tension between embodiment and transcendental capacities. It is concluded that Zambrano’s theory of subjectivity is in fact a modal ontology describing the condition of possibility of human existence. In addition, it is concluded that this modal ontology has important ethical implications since it presupposes the presence of an ‘other’ towards which expressive performativity is directed.     

Understanding Rituals: A Critique of Representationalism

The explanations of ritual practices observed in archaeological contexts often proceed on the representationalist basis that the human mind contains the social constituted ideas or representations that underpin the practice of rituals. Such a view remains widespread and, despite the often proclaimed rejection in contemporary theory of the Cartesian mind-body and other dualisms, it perpetuates the Enlightenment representationalist heritage according to which mental contents represent social reality and, as such, drive ritual practices and human action more generally. This article illustrates the meaning and value of rejecting such a representationalist view of human (ritual) action in favour of what we call an institutional view. In such a view, a ritual can be conceived as a form of recurring activity involving temporally and geographically dispersed actors active in differing roles and hence also with differing interests and levels of knowledge of the ritual and the associated belief system.     

The forgiveness dilemma: emotions and justice at the Khmer Rouge tribunal

In post-conflict politics, forgiveness is as controversial as it is popular. Generally conceived as the overcoming of negative moral emotions such as resentment and anger, forgiveness is, on the one hand, credited with bestowing significant psychological benefits on its practitioners, contributing to processes of interpersonal and societal reconciliation, and avoiding revenge. On the other hand, however, critics warn that rather than helping to address the negative emotions, forgiveness actually helps to provoke resentments and grievances by heaping injustice upon injustice. Herein lies the dilemma with which this article is concerned. By examining the nature of the negative emotions and their relationship to the pursuit of justice, as well as the nature and consequences of forgiveness, it considers the role that victim participation in human rights trials plays in helping post-conflict societies to overcome the forgiveness dilemma. To do so, it focuses on Case 001, heard before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.     

Further Forms of Faithfulness

Abstract

In light of recent rehabilitations of the theological doctrine of creation ex nihilo by Jean-Luc Nancy, Slavoj Zizek and others, the present essay examines whether that doctrine can or cannot be a resource for the critique of capitalism. Agreeing with Nancy and Zizek that the doctrine can be of use in the critique of capitalism, the essay takes up their discussions and adds to them by analyzing the relationship between the doctrine and Marx's treatment of human agency and capitalism. By situating Marx's philosophy in relation to Aristotle's and Hegel's discussion of the infinite, I contend that, despite Marx's overt rejection of creation ex nihilo, human activity is conceived by him according to it, and that capitalism, as he presents it and as supplemented with Nancy and Zizek, can be understood to be a "decreation" of the worldhood of the world.     

Traces of a computational mind

The image of writing is singularly frequent in cognitivistic explanations of the functioning of mind, not only as a metaphor but also as a conceptual paradigm: the Turing machine, particularly, displays a complete structural isomorphism with the use of alphabetical writing. The Turing machine performs exactly the same operations carried out by a man writing with pen and paper and this depends on two reasons: 1. it has been conceived in image and likeness of the human concrete practice of writing; 2. it is the typical product of the western rationality, whose development has been made possible only by the specific features of the alphabetical treatment of information. This is useful to understand why the mind started being depicted as a writing machine just when the alphabet began spreading: a genealogical investigation will show how in mnemotechnics treatises and in Plato's and Aristotle's metaphysics we can find the very first foundation of every logico-symbolical model of mind.     

Beyond Consumption: Functionality, Artifact Biography, and Early Modernity in a European Periphery

This paper considers the functionality and biographies of artifacts in the context of historical archaeology. It is argued that in order to understand how human life in the recent past unfolded in relation with material culture, artifacts must be recognized to perform various unobvious functions and also be conceived as processes rather than bounded physical objects. The paper begins with a theoretical discussion and then focuses on the post-acquisition life of artifacts and human-artifact relations in the seventeenth-century town of Tornio, northern Finland.     

Feminism in eighteenth-century England

Nietzsche's early work is located in the context of the various nineteenth century attempts to found a secular religion. His own attempt, it is argued, was particularly influenced by the work of Richard Wagner and F.A. Lange. It is premised on the claim that the ordinary rational capacities of most human beings are not sufficient for them to arrive at true beliefs. Philosophers do have the required expertise, but in the absence of widespread recognition of this expertise, it can have little effect on popular belief. Nietzsche therefore seeks a means of making philosophical insight popularly effective by harnessing the non-rational, persuasive power of art. However, the project does not turn out to be well-founded; its failure seems to demonstrate that a ‘secular religion’ thus conceived cannot provide us with a coherent conception of intellectual authority.     

The population ecology of hunter-gatherers and their prey

In this paper we combine foraging theory and population biology models to simulate dynamic relationships between hunter-gatherers and their prey resources. Hunter-gatherer population growth responds to the net marginal rate of foraging; prey population growth responds logistically to exploitation. Thus conceived, the relationship between forager and prey biomass is time-dependent and nonlinear. It changes from stable equilibrium to damped and stable cycles with modest adjustments of input parameters. And, it produces the largest sustainable human population at intermediate levels of individual work effort. At equilibrium the forager takes all prey types with a pursuit and handling rate greater than or equal to its maintenance foraging rate. The structural properties of the model compel us to reject standard anthropological interpretations of the carrying capacity concept; they provide new insights on old issues such as original affluence and intensification. Analysis of the interaction of human population, diet selection, and resource depletion requires microecological models in part because the relevant processes occur on time scales largely invisible to both ethnography and archaeology.     

What Sort of Geographical Education for the Anthropocene?

As the Anthropocene concept gains in prominence, there is opportunity to explore it as a social and cultural process, not merely as a matter of scientific definition and debate. This paper seeks to sketch some of the social dimensions of the Anthropocene, in terms of anxiety about the human future, about risk, and about environmental limits. It considers how the term encapsulates a prophetic sense of concern and unease about people's place in nature, the very thing that the embrace of industrial capitalism was supposed to remove. It then explores four open‐ended attributes of a geographical education for the Anthropocene. These are: first, engaging critically with digital technologies; second, countering grand narratives with local encounters; third, setting hope alongside gloom; and fourth, remembering the past as well as the future. The purpose of such attributes is to prepare students for creative encounters with the uncertainties of the Anthropocene. The implications for educational practice are then considered, including the role of active and community‐based learning strategies within a university conceived of as a place of classrooms without borders.     

Rousseau’s Antidote to Egoism

ABSTRACT

Our contemporary culture has been labelled as one of “greed.” Our challenge, it is argued, is even more formidable if we recall Rousseau’s argument that it is the desire for esteem and fame that is the driving force of modern societies. This striving for recognition is the direct offspring of l’amour-propre, here translated as egoism. Contemporary economic systems thrive on this corrupted form of self-love, which is often sugarcoated as ambition, or even courage and vision. The development of l’amour-propre can be partly prevented and checked through the cultivation of l’amour-de-soi, conceived by Rousseau as being the source of the humane passions, a clear-sighted reason, and a mature conscience. At the cultural and institutional level, Rousseau’s thought implies a radical transformation that consists in the detachment of self-fulfillment from economic achievements, and the subordination of economic life and interests to other human ends, such as the good and virtuous human life. The corrupting effects of luxury and the loss of liberty caused by the multiplication of needs are therefore especially highlighted. Conversely, the alternative, non-military and non-materialist ethos in Rousseau’s works is emphasized.     

Spatial Choice in Location-Allocation Problems: The Role of Endogenous Attraction

Spatial choice, a voluntary form of allocation of consumers to central services, is usually conceived as affected by two factors, distance and attraction. Although usually regarded as exogenous, attraction is in turn affected by the level of use a service receives, and thus by spatial choice. This paper explores the system defined by these relationships, largely by simulation. Proposals are made concerning the initiation and perturbation of the system, and attempts are made to generalize the results. Although it is difficult to connect form with process in such a system, it is possible to identify the factors responsible for system stability.     

Le crépuscule des Dieux: Regards sur le polythéisme hindou et l'athéisme bouddhique (XVIIe‐XIXe siècle)

From the Age of Classicism to the Age of the Enlightenment. Indian heathendom (that is to say, Hinduism as it was perceived in those times) provided Europe with the spectacle of an incomparable profusion of polytheism. But if India appeared as the living sanctuary of countless divinities, it had also been the cradle of Buddhism which disappeared from its native land to spread over an immense part of Asia. Buddhism was conceived of as an “absolute atheism”; whose fundamental doctrine — the famous nirvana — was considered to be a form of nihilism which had no equivalent in the history of the human mind. Thus, the historiographical discourse on religious matters in India fits into a triad‐like structure in which atheism plays a pivotal role between monotheism and polytheism. A long time after the scholarly discovery of Hinduism and Buddhism, the archaic aspect of this discourse constantly reveals itself in the residual nature of the myth of the double doctrine and the persistence of the theme of the Monster. For philologists and historians of religions until the beginning of the twentieth century, Indian excesses in the religious domain continue to constitute a violation of Reason and Nature.     

Henry Longueville Mansel and the origins of agnosticism

Abstract

The central theme of John Locke's Of the Conduct of the Understanding is human error. The Conduct was conceived as an additional chapter to An Essay concerning Understanding, but it was never finished and published posthumously in 1706 as a separate work. Modern authors have regarded the Conduct as an educational treatise. Indeed, the analysis in this work of the nature and causes of error and the ways to prevent and remedy error gives rise to numerous educational reflections. However, the aim of the present article is to show that these views should be understood within the specific epistemological context of a two-stage analysis of ideas, the first stage consisting of individual ideas that should all be clear and distinct, and the second stage consisting of reasonings based on combinations of these ideas. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.     

Looking through The Two Eyes of the Earth: A Reassessment of Sasanian Rock Reliefs

Matthew Canepa's recent study of the cultural and political interactions between Rome and Sasanian Iran, has provided an opportunity to reassess Sasanian rock reliefs in light of the claims and counter claims between these two empires. Since victory over Romans meant a victory over an-Erān, and generated the most potent of all farrs, i.e. the Aryan farr, many rock reliefs were conceived to show its reflection on the king. What is most interesting, though, is the array of nuances that are incorporated in them to account for the differences that were particular to each situation.     

Surviving Between the Trenches: Planning Research,Methodology and Theory of Science

Planning research-understood as research aiming to improve the body of knowledge on which spatial planning is based-includes issues rooted both in the social sciences, natural science and the humanities. Spatial planners need knowledge about the likely consequences of different alternatives of action, as well as understanding of the role of plans and planning processes in the development of society. This is reflected in the two-fold focus of planning research on both substantive and procedural issues. Whereas research on the role of plans and planning processes takes place mainly within a non-positivist social science paradigm, the research aiming to provide planners with the knowledge needed in order to make good plans is often situated in the battlefield between opposing positions within theory of science. Because planning research has both society and the physical as its subject of inquiry, a reflective opinion about the interaction between the physical environment and human actions is crucial. Traditionally, many spatial planners have conceived of this in a quite näive way, assuming that human behaviour can to a high extent be shaped or controlled by manipulating the physical environment. During recent decades, this view has been sharply criticized by anti-positivist scholars, and some theorists point out the great uncertainty, close to impossibility, in predicting human actions, even at an aggregate scale. The latter position has dramatic implications to spatial planning, as it would then be impossible to assess whether a certain physical solution is likely to have positive or negative social and related environmental consequences, e.g. in terms of travelling distances and modal split. Our own position is that the physical environment, along with a number of individual and non-physical structural factors, influences human activities and quality of life. To some extent, this influence can be predicted at an aggregate scale, but not for a particular individual (except those actions rendered impossible by the laws of physics). How strong influence the physical environment exerts, is a question requiring empirical research in order to be answered.     

Topomystica: Investigation into the Concept of Mystic Place

Human experience of place can be conceived of as both an "objective reality" and a "lived experience." A more spiritual view of the earth has been advocated by some geographers, but relatively little attention has been given to mystic place per se. This paper begins with a discussion of place, mysticism, and genius loci, or the spirit of place, in an attempt to define mystic place within a cultural context. The term "topomystica" is proposed to differentiate this concept from the traditional discourse on sacred space. A typology is then developed in an attempt to classify the major characteristics of topomystica: topos, morphology, dialecticism, chronology, syncretism, naturopathy, and gestalt are each identified. Finally, a case study of Mystic Spring, in Victoria, British Columbia, is undertaken to explore topomystica more closely. Evidence suggests that although supernatural power is superimposed on certain places in the landscape by human beings in a variety of cultures, the research thus far into sacred space does not adequately address this idea, because it fails to fully explore mysticism in a geographical context.