The article focuses on the brief study of the metaphysical poets,who were men of learning,and to show learning was their whole endeavor. The chief metaphysical poets include John Donne,Richard Crashaw,Andrew Marvell,G...The article focuses on the brief study of the metaphysical poets,who were men of learning,and to show learning was their whole endeavor. The chief metaphysical poets include John Donne,Richard Crashaw,Andrew Marvell,George Herbert,and Henry Vaughan. They preferred wildly original images,puns,similes,and metaphors,which collectively are called metaphysical conceits. The term metaphysical implies the poetry is abstract and highly complicated. The group shares certain traits,but their themes,structures,and assorted tones in their poetry vary widely.展开更多
Exclusion is the very foundation of western metaphysics.Metaphysics as science of being qua being is founded upon concept of exclusion.Thus,to be is to be an excluding and excluded.Thus,being is a mutual exclusionary ...Exclusion is the very foundation of western metaphysics.Metaphysics as science of being qua being is founded upon concept of exclusion.Thus,to be is to be an excluding and excluded.Thus,being is a mutual exclusionary relationship between two opposites.Accordingly,exclusion is the most fundamental principle upon which the western metaphysical and logical system is based.Such exclusion can be traced to the very beginning of a Greek civilization,namely,the Greek creation myth.The author argues in this paper that the dominated western exclusionary culture has led to major conflicts.Currently it comes to an end as representing a major universal crisis at many levels.Additionally,Islamic and Christian cultures do not represent a profound alternative to western culture as they have been reshaped by western intellect.The Buddhist logic,which is founded upon totally different metaphysics,can represent a profound alternative to western exclusionary culture.展开更多
The metaphysical poetry,as a rather influential literary school,plays a momentous andpredominant part in eariy seventeenth century English literature.The marked quality ofmetaphysical poetry,as practiced by Donne and ...The metaphysical poetry,as a rather influential literary school,plays a momentous andpredominant part in eariy seventeenth century English literature.The marked quality ofmetaphysical poetry,as practiced by Donne and his successors,is their philosophical subtlety orintellectual rigor,while the quintessence of which consists in its peculiar blend of thought andpassion of realistic violence and meditative refinements.Doctor Johnson accused the展开更多
The essay brings a summation of human efforts seeking to understand our existence.Plato and Kant&cognitive science complete reduction of philosophy to a neural mechanism,evolved along elementary Darwinian principl...The essay brings a summation of human efforts seeking to understand our existence.Plato and Kant&cognitive science complete reduction of philosophy to a neural mechanism,evolved along elementary Darwinian principles.Plato in his famous Cave Allegory explains that between reality and our experience of it there exists a great chasm,a metaphysical gap,fully confirmed through particle-wave duality of quantum physics.Kant found that we have two kinds of perception,two senses:By the spatial outer sense we perceive phenomena,objects in space.Our temporal inner sense lets us perceive our inner state,noumena.Kant’s two senses are fully confirmed through bilateral brain duality of cognitive science.The bilateral brain serves inner,temporal sense,logic&noumena in the left hemisphere.The right brain half is for the outer,spatial sense,geometry&phenomena.Weform awhole system,a bilateral interior cosmos,a kind of world model,expressing what may lie beyond the metaphysical gap.In the right brain we build a phenomenal cosmos,to resemble the outer environment.In the brain’s left hemisphere a noumenal cosmos,amodel of our private world including Saint Teresa of Avila’s castillo interior.The cosmos is regularly updated with novel sense data integrated into our memory banks.This was recognized early by Helmholtz(1860s).Our lives,health&well-being depend on us keeping our interior cosmos in good order.This used to be seen as saving one’s precious soul from perdition.While we endeavour to keep our phenomenal cosmos neat&orderly by protecting the environment from harm,our noumenal cosmos to be livable requires us to engage in ethical conduct.This bilateral cosmos is responsible for our common sense judgment power,that we depend on for being able to lead a good&benign life.The 200 million neurons of BA10 in the prefrontal lobe have global access to the interior cosmos,&apply massive feedback to identify environmental conditions rapidly.The global access also gives conscious presence of the individual to itself,all that is present in the interior cosmos,for total freedom of action.In the left brain private ego,we are guarded by faith in divine mercy,&guided to choose the best course of action,able to survive under themost adverse conditions.For this,wereceive directions from the Holy Ghost in Saint Teresa’s castillo interior.展开更多
Neuropathy, or nerve injury, is a severe and common impediment of diabetes. Studies evaluate that 50% of people with diabetes will develop neuropathy. Diabetic nerve injury is impairment of a single solitary nerve (al...Neuropathy, or nerve injury, is a severe and common impediment of diabetes. Studies evaluate that 50% of people with diabetes will develop neuropathy. Diabetic nerve injury is impairment of a single solitary nerve (also named mononeuropathy). Com- monly 2 cranial nerves Viz., cranial nerve VII and cranial nerve VI are involved in facial nerve palsies. The former one is called Bell’s palsy and is acute Lower Motor Neuron facial nerve paralysis (>80%) causing an inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. The later one is sixth nerve palsy, (the abducens nerve), which is responsible for triggering contraction of the lateral rectus muscle to abduct (i.e., turn out) the eye resulting in double vision on the affected side. In recent times, we have found to our amazement, rapid restoration of normalcy within a few hours to a few days, of Cranial Nerve palsies in diabetic subjects at our centre. We are presenting a group of cases having Type2DM over different time periods from 6 to 20 years and those who suddenly suffered facial nerve palsy and they came to VHSDRC for treatment. They were started on the new modality called the Dynamic Acupuncture Mediated Meta-physical Energy Therapy (DAMM Therapy), to recover from the facial palsy. The DAMM therapy is a unique novel way of infusing and transferring healing energy from the therapist to the patient. Within 2 - 7 sittings of DAMM therapy patients showed 75% - 100% improvement in their clinical condition.展开更多
This paper provides a perception that all things are connected. Starting with the perception of Metaphysics and how matter exists out of total void, complementary matter, or dark matter, the incompleteness of Einstein...This paper provides a perception that all things are connected. Starting with the perception of Metaphysics and how matter exists out of total void, complementary matter, or dark matter, the incompleteness of Einstein relativistic theory. Multi spacetime universes and the jump drive for jumping within and between spacetime universes. Warp drive for space travel. DNA as sequence of momentary frequencies and how it related to Ezekiel’s dry bones prophecy. The outcome of neural patterns as cords of consciousness, consciousness as the collection of all cords of consciousness and the lack of uniqueness of individual consciousness. Finally, all things are cords of consciousness.展开更多
‘Pursuing the good’ is an old subject in both social history of ancient Greece and Greek philosophy studies. There is hardly anything new when we talk about virtue or morality in the time of Plato and Aristotle. In ...‘Pursuing the good’ is an old subject in both social history of ancient Greece and Greek philosophy studies. There is hardly anything new when we talk about virtue or morality in the time of Plato and Aristotle. In the area of Greek history, many books and articles on or relevant to展开更多
Integrating aesthetic ingenuity and intellectual innovation into the artistic style of poetry,poets of the seventeenth century brought about Metaphysical conceits to the English literature arena.This study aims to rev...Integrating aesthetic ingenuity and intellectual innovation into the artistic style of poetry,poets of the seventeenth century brought about Metaphysical conceits to the English literature arena.This study aims to review the origin of Metaphysical poetry,contrast Metaphysical Conceit with Petrarchan Conceit in their ways of comparison,and probe into the influence it exerted over the modern English poetry.展开更多
The paper is to explore the English Metaphysical ideas reflected in Anne bradstreet's first poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. The whole paper is devided into three parts , the first part is to int...The paper is to explore the English Metaphysical ideas reflected in Anne bradstreet's first poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. The whole paper is devided into three parts , the first part is to introduce English Metaphysical ideas and Anne's first and only published poetry before death,The second one is to analyze the reflection of the English Metaphysical ideas in Anne's first poetry in terms of the themes, the images and the rhetorical devices of the poetry. the last one is the conclusion of the essay .展开更多
There are two approaches to metaphysics that concern language,the logical and the linguistic. Zeno Vendler,who took the linguistic one,distinguished with transformational techniques between two semantic categories,nam...There are two approaches to metaphysics that concern language,the logical and the linguistic. Zeno Vendler,who took the linguistic one,distinguished with transformational techniques between two semantic categories,namely fact and event,and regarded them as corresponding respectively to a metaphysical category of beings. In doing this he presupposed that independent semantic categories could be sorted out,and corresponding categories of beings that are independent of language can be derived. But our analysis of Vendler's case shows that it is not semantic categories but grammar that functions in differentiating event and fact. At least some semantic categories could not be separated from grammar,and this casts doubt on the linguistic approach to metaphysics. If semantic categories are not independent of grammar,we could not derive metaphysics from linguistic study.展开更多
Chinese philosophy in the twentieth century has often been related to some sort of cultural or other particularism or some sort of philosophical universalism. By and large, these still seem to be the terms along which...Chinese philosophy in the twentieth century has often been related to some sort of cultural or other particularism or some sort of philosophical universalism. By and large, these still seem to be the terms along which academic debates are carried out. The tension is particularly manifest in notions such as ＂Chinese philosophy＂ ＂Daoist cosmology,＂ ＂Neo-Confucian idealism,＂ or ＂Chinese metaphysics.＂ For some, ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may be a blatant contradictio in adiecto, while others may find it a most ordinary topic to be discussed at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this article, I set out to examine two major discourses in which talk about ＂metaphysics＂ is frequent and popular and to which talk of ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may wish to contribute： the history of philosophy and analytic philosophy. My contention is that it is usually far from obvious what reasons are behind putting ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ on the academic agenda and to what precise purpose this is done. What my discussion seeks to highlight is the as yet often largely unarticulated dimension of the politics of comparative philosophy--of which talk about ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may but need not be an example.展开更多
This study investigated the extent to which recourse to traditional healers depended on biometric variables;ways of knowing in good time what ailments were more likely to be better handled by traditional healers;ratio...This study investigated the extent to which recourse to traditional healers depended on biometric variables;ways of knowing in good time what ailments were more likely to be better handled by traditional healers;rationale behind traditional healing methodologies.On the whole,four research questions were engaged.The sample for the study included residents in urban（Benin City） and rural（Ehime Mbano） communities in Nigeria.The instruments comprised of two questionnaires.The traditional healers were also interviewed in addition.The findings of the research included the following：in both rural and urban areas,women and more elderly persons had more recourse than other groups to traditional medicine;Christians,less educated persons,self-employed persons and women affirmed most strongly to the efficacy of traditional medicine over Western medicine with respect to certain ailments;ways for averting spiritual illnesses included obeying instructions from ancestors and offering regular sacrifices to the gods;methods used by traditional healers to determine whether an ailment was ＂spiritual＂ or as a result of home problems included diagnosis linked to divination,interpretation of dreams particularly those involving visits by ancestors,interpretation of nightmares and omens such as the appearance of owls;methods for curing patients included use of herbs particularly those believed to have magical powers,offering of sacrifices,use of incantations and wearing of protective medicine.展开更多
Using the opportunity of responding to Wang’s critiques,this short article clarifies a number of important points related to the topic of human dignity.It argues that,only in moving beyond his a priori reasoning by a...Using the opportunity of responding to Wang’s critiques,this short article clarifies a number of important points related to the topic of human dignity.It argues that,only in moving beyond his a priori reasoning by assuming humans to be rational agents can the Kantian theory of dignity be applied to actual humans;only in taking our moral potential as a recommended way of human self-identification can the is-ought dichotomy be resolved;only in respecting human dignity can punishment be justified;and only from its function in shaping our visions and attitudes can a teleological metaphysics be helpful.展开更多
This paper begins with a critique of the uses of the term ＂bentilun 本体论 （ontology）＂ in modem Chinese scholarship by tracing their claim to being theoretical paradigms for understanding Chinese philosophy as a p...This paper begins with a critique of the uses of the term ＂bentilun 本体论 （ontology）＂ in modem Chinese scholarship by tracing their claim to being theoretical paradigms for understanding Chinese philosophy as a philosophical tradition. It is supplemented by a contrastive discussion of bentilun and its original ancient Greek counterpart, i.e. ontology, to show that the object of discourse in bentilun does not match up with that of ontology, namely ＂being qua being.＂ This comparative study also demonstrates that bentilun finds its philosophical significance in connection with the theory of xinxing 心性 （heart-mind）. In the second section of this paper, a comparative study of ＂xingershangxue 形而上学 （metaphysics）＂ and ＂metaphysics＂ highlights the central tenet that the dao essentially transcends language. Daoist philosophy is used as an example that identifies a unique predilection toward philosophical concepts that transcend the realm of nameable thoughts and objects in Chinese philosophy. Textual evidence is provided to show that the conceptual possibility of xingershangxue is based upon a fundamental difference between you 有（being） and wu 无 （not-being）, in a way that is similar to philosophical developments in other early civilizations. Nonetheless, in addition to a philosophical interest in principles and values that transcend the material world, Daoist xingershangxue exhibits an idiosyncratic attention to notions and theories whose object of discourse is essentially unnameable. This characteristic philosophical interest is identified with the aim of locating essential disciplines within Chinese philosophy, including the theory of xinxing, practical wisdom, and the theory of jingjie 境界 （state-of-attainment） in a wider framework of east and west philosophical traditions.展开更多
Among scholars of classical philosophy in the West, it is not uncommon to hesitate about the existence of metaphysics in non-Western philosophical traditions. At times, the dilemma seems due to culture-specific ideas ...Among scholars of classical philosophy in the West, it is not uncommon to hesitate about the existence of metaphysics in non-Western philosophical traditions. At times, the dilemma seems due to culture-specific ideas or standards about what metaphysics is or how it should be done. Other times the problem seems to lie in a general lack of awareness about the methods and approaches of divergent philosophical traditions. This article explores an often ignored Aristotelian notion of metaphysics： That it is wisdom. If we acknowledge wisdom to be a common value or ideal found in different cultures, then characterizing metaphysics as wisdom promises to be more inclusive than prevalent ideas about it, being broad enough to allow for the appreciation of metaphysical insights and achievements in non-Western schools. I first examine Aristotle＇s account of what wisdom consists of. I shall then test the inclusivity of this conception of metaphysics by showing how its characteristic features are manifest in the Neo-Confucian ideal of sagely learning.展开更多
The essay aims to analyze the concept and the paradigm of harmony in the metaphysical system of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhang Zai.It argues that Zhang Zai's concept of Great Harmony not only inherits the tra...The essay aims to analyze the concept and the paradigm of harmony in the metaphysical system of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhang Zai.It argues that Zhang Zai's concept of Great Harmony not only inherits the traditional centrality of this idea within the Confucian tradition,but actually presents the most advanced idea of harmony up to his time.In Zhang Zai's philosophy,harmony becomes the Way itself,which includes the realm of principles and the outward and functional manifestations of reality.This essay will deal with harmony in two ways: first with Zhang Zai's direct use of the concept in the Zhengmeng and second,applying the paradigm of harmony to other of Zhang Zai's key concepts such as qi氣,void (xu虛)and natural dispositions (xing 性).展开更多
Descartes＇ metaphysical doubts in the Third and Fifth Meditations present a scenario like this： it is possible that I （the Meditator） am so imperfect as to be deceived by my author （i.e., an omnipotent God/Decei...Descartes＇ metaphysical doubts in the Third and Fifth Meditations present a scenario like this： it is possible that I （the Meditator） am so imperfect as to be deceived by my author （i.e., an omnipotent God/Deceiver） in the matters which I think I perceive clearly and distinctly. The metaphysical doubts attempt to cast doubt on beliefs based on present or recollected clear and distinct perceptions. This paper clarifies the intension of the metaphysical doubts by answering the question of how an omnipotent God/Deceiver might exercise a deceptive influence on clear and distinct perception. My analysis shows： （1） the memory interpretation and the retrospective interpretation to be implausible; （2） the incoherence interpretation to be ill-founded, though its conclusion is partly right, such that we should accept a weaker version of it; （3） the misrepresentation interpretation, the defective-origin interpretation, the truth-value variation interpretation and the radical interpretation to be plausible; （4） all of these credible interpretations to be compatible with each other as well.展开更多
文摘The article focuses on the brief study of the metaphysical poets,who were men of learning,and to show learning was their whole endeavor. The chief metaphysical poets include John Donne,Richard Crashaw,Andrew Marvell,George Herbert,and Henry Vaughan. They preferred wildly original images,puns,similes,and metaphors,which collectively are called metaphysical conceits. The term metaphysical implies the poetry is abstract and highly complicated. The group shares certain traits,but their themes,structures,and assorted tones in their poetry vary widely.
基金This paper was presented during my contribution in the“Congress of Philosophy the 24th”that took place in Beijing in 2018.
文摘Exclusion is the very foundation of western metaphysics.Metaphysics as science of being qua being is founded upon concept of exclusion.Thus,to be is to be an excluding and excluded.Thus,being is a mutual exclusionary relationship between two opposites.Accordingly,exclusion is the most fundamental principle upon which the western metaphysical and logical system is based.Such exclusion can be traced to the very beginning of a Greek civilization,namely,the Greek creation myth.The author argues in this paper that the dominated western exclusionary culture has led to major conflicts.Currently it comes to an end as representing a major universal crisis at many levels.Additionally,Islamic and Christian cultures do not represent a profound alternative to western culture as they have been reshaped by western intellect.The Buddhist logic,which is founded upon totally different metaphysics,can represent a profound alternative to western exclusionary culture.
文摘The metaphysical poetry,as a rather influential literary school,plays a momentous andpredominant part in eariy seventeenth century English literature.The marked quality ofmetaphysical poetry,as practiced by Donne and his successors,is their philosophical subtlety orintellectual rigor,while the quintessence of which consists in its peculiar blend of thought andpassion of realistic violence and meditative refinements.Doctor Johnson accused the
文摘The essay brings a summation of human efforts seeking to understand our existence.Plato and Kant&cognitive science complete reduction of philosophy to a neural mechanism,evolved along elementary Darwinian principles.Plato in his famous Cave Allegory explains that between reality and our experience of it there exists a great chasm,a metaphysical gap,fully confirmed through particle-wave duality of quantum physics.Kant found that we have two kinds of perception,two senses:By the spatial outer sense we perceive phenomena,objects in space.Our temporal inner sense lets us perceive our inner state,noumena.Kant’s two senses are fully confirmed through bilateral brain duality of cognitive science.The bilateral brain serves inner,temporal sense,logic&noumena in the left hemisphere.The right brain half is for the outer,spatial sense,geometry&phenomena.Weform awhole system,a bilateral interior cosmos,a kind of world model,expressing what may lie beyond the metaphysical gap.In the right brain we build a phenomenal cosmos,to resemble the outer environment.In the brain’s left hemisphere a noumenal cosmos,amodel of our private world including Saint Teresa of Avila’s castillo interior.The cosmos is regularly updated with novel sense data integrated into our memory banks.This was recognized early by Helmholtz(1860s).Our lives,health&well-being depend on us keeping our interior cosmos in good order.This used to be seen as saving one’s precious soul from perdition.While we endeavour to keep our phenomenal cosmos neat&orderly by protecting the environment from harm,our noumenal cosmos to be livable requires us to engage in ethical conduct.This bilateral cosmos is responsible for our common sense judgment power,that we depend on for being able to lead a good&benign life.The 200 million neurons of BA10 in the prefrontal lobe have global access to the interior cosmos,&apply massive feedback to identify environmental conditions rapidly.The global access also gives conscious presence of the individual to itself,all that is present in the interior cosmos,for total freedom of action.In the left brain private ego,we are guarded by faith in divine mercy,&guided to choose the best course of action,able to survive under themost adverse conditions.For this,wereceive directions from the Holy Ghost in Saint Teresa’s castillo interior.
文摘Neuropathy, or nerve injury, is a severe and common impediment of diabetes. Studies evaluate that 50% of people with diabetes will develop neuropathy. Diabetic nerve injury is impairment of a single solitary nerve (also named mononeuropathy). Com- monly 2 cranial nerves Viz., cranial nerve VII and cranial nerve VI are involved in facial nerve palsies. The former one is called Bell’s palsy and is acute Lower Motor Neuron facial nerve paralysis (>80%) causing an inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. The later one is sixth nerve palsy, (the abducens nerve), which is responsible for triggering contraction of the lateral rectus muscle to abduct (i.e., turn out) the eye resulting in double vision on the affected side. In recent times, we have found to our amazement, rapid restoration of normalcy within a few hours to a few days, of Cranial Nerve palsies in diabetic subjects at our centre. We are presenting a group of cases having Type2DM over different time periods from 6 to 20 years and those who suddenly suffered facial nerve palsy and they came to VHSDRC for treatment. They were started on the new modality called the Dynamic Acupuncture Mediated Meta-physical Energy Therapy (DAMM Therapy), to recover from the facial palsy. The DAMM therapy is a unique novel way of infusing and transferring healing energy from the therapist to the patient. Within 2 - 7 sittings of DAMM therapy patients showed 75% - 100% improvement in their clinical condition.
文摘This paper provides a perception that all things are connected. Starting with the perception of Metaphysics and how matter exists out of total void, complementary matter, or dark matter, the incompleteness of Einstein relativistic theory. Multi spacetime universes and the jump drive for jumping within and between spacetime universes. Warp drive for space travel. DNA as sequence of momentary frequencies and how it related to Ezekiel’s dry bones prophecy. The outcome of neural patterns as cords of consciousness, consciousness as the collection of all cords of consciousness and the lack of uniqueness of individual consciousness. Finally, all things are cords of consciousness.
文摘‘Pursuing the good’ is an old subject in both social history of ancient Greece and Greek philosophy studies. There is hardly anything new when we talk about virtue or morality in the time of Plato and Aristotle. In the area of Greek history, many books and articles on or relevant to
文摘Integrating aesthetic ingenuity and intellectual innovation into the artistic style of poetry,poets of the seventeenth century brought about Metaphysical conceits to the English literature arena.This study aims to review the origin of Metaphysical poetry,contrast Metaphysical Conceit with Petrarchan Conceit in their ways of comparison,and probe into the influence it exerted over the modern English poetry.
文摘The paper is to explore the English Metaphysical ideas reflected in Anne bradstreet's first poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. The whole paper is devided into three parts , the first part is to introduce English Metaphysical ideas and Anne's first and only published poetry before death,The second one is to analyze the reflection of the English Metaphysical ideas in Anne's first poetry in terms of the themes, the images and the rhetorical devices of the poetry. the last one is the conclusion of the essay .
文摘There are two approaches to metaphysics that concern language,the logical and the linguistic. Zeno Vendler,who took the linguistic one,distinguished with transformational techniques between two semantic categories,namely fact and event,and regarded them as corresponding respectively to a metaphysical category of beings. In doing this he presupposed that independent semantic categories could be sorted out,and corresponding categories of beings that are independent of language can be derived. But our analysis of Vendler's case shows that it is not semantic categories but grammar that functions in differentiating event and fact. At least some semantic categories could not be separated from grammar,and this casts doubt on the linguistic approach to metaphysics. If semantic categories are not independent of grammar,we could not derive metaphysics from linguistic study.
文摘Chinese philosophy in the twentieth century has often been related to some sort of cultural or other particularism or some sort of philosophical universalism. By and large, these still seem to be the terms along which academic debates are carried out. The tension is particularly manifest in notions such as ＂Chinese philosophy＂ ＂Daoist cosmology,＂ ＂Neo-Confucian idealism,＂ or ＂Chinese metaphysics.＂ For some, ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may be a blatant contradictio in adiecto, while others may find it a most ordinary topic to be discussed at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this article, I set out to examine two major discourses in which talk about ＂metaphysics＂ is frequent and popular and to which talk of ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may wish to contribute： the history of philosophy and analytic philosophy. My contention is that it is usually far from obvious what reasons are behind putting ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ on the academic agenda and to what precise purpose this is done. What my discussion seeks to highlight is the as yet often largely unarticulated dimension of the politics of comparative philosophy--of which talk about ＂Chinese metaphysics＂ may but need not be an example.
文摘This study investigated the extent to which recourse to traditional healers depended on biometric variables;ways of knowing in good time what ailments were more likely to be better handled by traditional healers;rationale behind traditional healing methodologies.On the whole,four research questions were engaged.The sample for the study included residents in urban（Benin City） and rural（Ehime Mbano） communities in Nigeria.The instruments comprised of two questionnaires.The traditional healers were also interviewed in addition.The findings of the research included the following：in both rural and urban areas,women and more elderly persons had more recourse than other groups to traditional medicine;Christians,less educated persons,self-employed persons and women affirmed most strongly to the efficacy of traditional medicine over Western medicine with respect to certain ailments;ways for averting spiritual illnesses included obeying instructions from ancestors and offering regular sacrifices to the gods;methods used by traditional healers to determine whether an ailment was ＂spiritual＂ or as a result of home problems included diagnosis linked to divination,interpretation of dreams particularly those involving visits by ancestors,interpretation of nightmares and omens such as the appearance of owls;methods for curing patients included use of herbs particularly those believed to have magical powers,offering of sacrifices,use of incantations and wearing of protective medicine.
文摘Using the opportunity of responding to Wang’s critiques,this short article clarifies a number of important points related to the topic of human dignity.It argues that,only in moving beyond his a priori reasoning by assuming humans to be rational agents can the Kantian theory of dignity be applied to actual humans;only in taking our moral potential as a recommended way of human self-identification can the is-ought dichotomy be resolved;only in respecting human dignity can punishment be justified;and only from its function in shaping our visions and attitudes can a teleological metaphysics be helpful.
文摘This paper begins with a critique of the uses of the term ＂bentilun 本体论 （ontology）＂ in modem Chinese scholarship by tracing their claim to being theoretical paradigms for understanding Chinese philosophy as a philosophical tradition. It is supplemented by a contrastive discussion of bentilun and its original ancient Greek counterpart, i.e. ontology, to show that the object of discourse in bentilun does not match up with that of ontology, namely ＂being qua being.＂ This comparative study also demonstrates that bentilun finds its philosophical significance in connection with the theory of xinxing 心性 （heart-mind）. In the second section of this paper, a comparative study of ＂xingershangxue 形而上学 （metaphysics）＂ and ＂metaphysics＂ highlights the central tenet that the dao essentially transcends language. Daoist philosophy is used as an example that identifies a unique predilection toward philosophical concepts that transcend the realm of nameable thoughts and objects in Chinese philosophy. Textual evidence is provided to show that the conceptual possibility of xingershangxue is based upon a fundamental difference between you 有（being） and wu 无 （not-being）, in a way that is similar to philosophical developments in other early civilizations. Nonetheless, in addition to a philosophical interest in principles and values that transcend the material world, Daoist xingershangxue exhibits an idiosyncratic attention to notions and theories whose object of discourse is essentially unnameable. This characteristic philosophical interest is identified with the aim of locating essential disciplines within Chinese philosophy, including the theory of xinxing, practical wisdom, and the theory of jingjie 境界 （state-of-attainment） in a wider framework of east and west philosophical traditions.
文摘Among scholars of classical philosophy in the West, it is not uncommon to hesitate about the existence of metaphysics in non-Western philosophical traditions. At times, the dilemma seems due to culture-specific ideas or standards about what metaphysics is or how it should be done. Other times the problem seems to lie in a general lack of awareness about the methods and approaches of divergent philosophical traditions. This article explores an often ignored Aristotelian notion of metaphysics： That it is wisdom. If we acknowledge wisdom to be a common value or ideal found in different cultures, then characterizing metaphysics as wisdom promises to be more inclusive than prevalent ideas about it, being broad enough to allow for the appreciation of metaphysical insights and achievements in non-Western schools. I first examine Aristotle＇s account of what wisdom consists of. I shall then test the inclusivity of this conception of metaphysics by showing how its characteristic features are manifest in the Neo-Confucian ideal of sagely learning.
文摘The essay aims to analyze the concept and the paradigm of harmony in the metaphysical system of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhang Zai.It argues that Zhang Zai's concept of Great Harmony not only inherits the traditional centrality of this idea within the Confucian tradition,but actually presents the most advanced idea of harmony up to his time.In Zhang Zai's philosophy,harmony becomes the Way itself,which includes the realm of principles and the outward and functional manifestations of reality.This essay will deal with harmony in two ways: first with Zhang Zai's direct use of the concept in the Zhengmeng and second,applying the paradigm of harmony to other of Zhang Zai's key concepts such as qi氣,void (xu虛)and natural dispositions (xing 性).
文摘Descartes＇ metaphysical doubts in the Third and Fifth Meditations present a scenario like this： it is possible that I （the Meditator） am so imperfect as to be deceived by my author （i.e., an omnipotent God/Deceiver） in the matters which I think I perceive clearly and distinctly. The metaphysical doubts attempt to cast doubt on beliefs based on present or recollected clear and distinct perceptions. This paper clarifies the intension of the metaphysical doubts by answering the question of how an omnipotent God/Deceiver might exercise a deceptive influence on clear and distinct perception. My analysis shows： （1） the memory interpretation and the retrospective interpretation to be implausible; （2） the incoherence interpretation to be ill-founded, though its conclusion is partly right, such that we should accept a weaker version of it; （3） the misrepresentation interpretation, the defective-origin interpretation, the truth-value variation interpretation and the radical interpretation to be plausible; （4） all of these credible interpretations to be compatible with each other as well.
