As the title of this paper suggests, I intend to draw attention to what, in my opinion, lies at the core of the shared notion in both Kant and Habermas. This will be the concern of the first part of my paper. My focus...As the title of this paper suggests, I intend to draw attention to what, in my opinion, lies at the core of the shared notion in both Kant and Habermas. This will be the concern of the first part of my paper. My focus will then shift, in the second part, to Habermas＇s views on freedom. In due time, however, as the provocative question mark in the title suggests, the notion of freedom becomes questionable. I will conclude by examining Frankfurt＇s notion of coercion in order to show that Habermas＇s notion of freedom is not only questionable but can, at times, be coercive. Throughout this paper, the reader shall be encouraged to see and possibly appreciate that there is a degree of similarity between the two thinkers. Shall the reader be hard put to gauge this similarity or shall the reader promptly appreciate it and take it into consideration？ I will argue--and demonstrate--that a certain amount of similarity can readily be drawn between the two. I will leave it up to the reader to decide whether this similarity is a forced similarity or whether this is a similarity that one perceives at a first glance and thus ought to consider. This paper could better be appreciated if the reader has reasonable knowledge of the Hegelian critique of Kant＇s Categorical Imperative.展开更多
In this paper, I will discuss Chinese adaptations of A Doll＇s House as a point of departure to see how problems arise when the self and the behaviour of a person is defined in legal terms at the expense of moral moti...In this paper, I will discuss Chinese adaptations of A Doll＇s House as a point of departure to see how problems arise when the self and the behaviour of a person is defined in legal terms at the expense of moral motives and how men and women have different concepts of law and morality. Gender issues in the formation of selfhood and philosophical concepts of behavioural ＂performativity＂ will be examined in the context of China＇s experimentations in projecting new concepts of womanhood and the female self. As a context, I will also outline some of the changes in cultural values and ethical categories in China over the past century, so as to see why the individualist conception of the self has played such a paramount important role in China＇s quest for modernity.展开更多
This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support...This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support them. What underlies Borges＇s narrative complexity is his notion of the inaccessibility of reality or divinity and his understanding of the human intellectual history as epistemological metaphors. While Borges＇s creation of narrative gap coincides with his intention of demonstrating the impossibility of the pursuit of knowledge and order, Ge Fei borrows this narrative technique from Borges to facilitate the inclusion of multiple motives and subject matters in one single story, which denotes various possible directions in which history, as well as story, may go. Borges prefers the Jungian concept of archetypal human actions and deeds, whereas Ge Fei tends to use the Freudian psychoanalysis to explore the laws governing human behaviors. But there is a perceivable connection between Ge Fei＇s rejection of linear history and traditional storyline with Borges＇ explication of epistemological uncertainty, hence the former＇s tremendous debt to the latter. Both writers have found the conventional narrative mode, which emphasizes the telling of a coherent story having a beginning, a middle, and an end, inadequate to convey their respective ideational intents.展开更多
文摘As the title of this paper suggests, I intend to draw attention to what, in my opinion, lies at the core of the shared notion in both Kant and Habermas. This will be the concern of the first part of my paper. My focus will then shift, in the second part, to Habermas＇s views on freedom. In due time, however, as the provocative question mark in the title suggests, the notion of freedom becomes questionable. I will conclude by examining Frankfurt＇s notion of coercion in order to show that Habermas＇s notion of freedom is not only questionable but can, at times, be coercive. Throughout this paper, the reader shall be encouraged to see and possibly appreciate that there is a degree of similarity between the two thinkers. Shall the reader be hard put to gauge this similarity or shall the reader promptly appreciate it and take it into consideration？ I will argue--and demonstrate--that a certain amount of similarity can readily be drawn between the two. I will leave it up to the reader to decide whether this similarity is a forced similarity or whether this is a similarity that one perceives at a first glance and thus ought to consider. This paper could better be appreciated if the reader has reasonable knowledge of the Hegelian critique of Kant＇s Categorical Imperative.
文摘In this paper, I will discuss Chinese adaptations of A Doll＇s House as a point of departure to see how problems arise when the self and the behaviour of a person is defined in legal terms at the expense of moral motives and how men and women have different concepts of law and morality. Gender issues in the formation of selfhood and philosophical concepts of behavioural ＂performativity＂ will be examined in the context of China＇s experimentations in projecting new concepts of womanhood and the female self. As a context, I will also outline some of the changes in cultural values and ethical categories in China over the past century, so as to see why the individualist conception of the self has played such a paramount important role in China＇s quest for modernity.
文摘This paper attempts to trace the influence of Jorge Luis Borges on Ge Fei. It shows that Ge Fei＇s stories share Borges＇s narrative form though they do not have the same philosophical premises as Borges＇s to support them. What underlies Borges＇s narrative complexity is his notion of the inaccessibility of reality or divinity and his understanding of the human intellectual history as epistemological metaphors. While Borges＇s creation of narrative gap coincides with his intention of demonstrating the impossibility of the pursuit of knowledge and order, Ge Fei borrows this narrative technique from Borges to facilitate the inclusion of multiple motives and subject matters in one single story, which denotes various possible directions in which history, as well as story, may go. Borges prefers the Jungian concept of archetypal human actions and deeds, whereas Ge Fei tends to use the Freudian psychoanalysis to explore the laws governing human behaviors. But there is a perceivable connection between Ge Fei＇s rejection of linear history and traditional storyline with Borges＇ explication of epistemological uncertainty, hence the former＇s tremendous debt to the latter. Both writers have found the conventional narrative mode, which emphasizes the telling of a coherent story having a beginning, a middle, and an end, inadequate to convey their respective ideational intents.
