儒道理想人格分析及其启示

在中国人的人格建构中,儒家和道家思想影响最为深远。儒家思想和道家思想同为轴心时代所生,但其精神进境却大异其趣,儒家讲入世行道,修、齐、治、平;道家循归隐求真,清静、无为,"与天地之精神独往来"。但在现实生活中,儒道互补,相生并济。儒道兼修,道家的境界之道和儒家的伦理之道,共同构成了中国人进退自如、和谐理想的人生境界。本文旨在对比分析儒道两家理想人格的差异及融通互补,并在此基础上略议儒道兼修的理想人格。     

浅析老子的圣人观内涵

老子的圣人观在中国古代占据着重要的地位，与儒家的圣人观有所不同，他以形而上的逻辑思维，从自然无为出发，构建了与众不同的理想人格，从现实生活中寻求理想的社会。老子的圣人观带有理想主义的倾向，以顺应自然为根本的理论学说。     

儒家与道家文艺思想的比较

儒家和道家是中国古代最重要的两大思想学派。文章从文学产生的根源、文学价值的取向、审美观、创作心理等四方面对两家的文艺思想进行了比较。通过比较可以看出儒道两家的文艺思想实际上存在着一种相反却又相通的关系,可以互为补充求得共存。     

关于儒家人伦教育的看法

《孟子·滕文公上》中言：＂人之有道也,饮食暖衣,逸居而无教,则近于禽兽。圣人有忧之,使契为司徒,教以人伦：父子有亲,君臣有义,夫妇有别,长幼有序,朋友有信。＂道是中国古代学者理论体系的代名词。儒家之道即人伦之道,因此,孟子说＂人有道＂,而不是天有道,即人要讲做人的道理,讲伦理道德。儒家所讲的教育,自古以来就是教人知人伦、讲人伦、行人伦。     

见义勇为 在光荣与尴尬中前行

任何社会都是一定伦理约束中的社会,任何道德也是建立在一定社会基础上的道德,简言之,道德的价值判断和行为趋向总是和特定的历史社会联系在一起的。历史上有关道德的理论话题可以大致分为两种:道德至上论和功利主义论,前者强调人性的可塑性,在“道”与“器”的选择困境中要求“道”在自我人格中不断完善和发扬光大,要求人性的持续改造以及君子之风的良好培养,并以此来带动整个社会的改造,这是典型的儒家传统教义;后者则把道德放置在理性人的标尺之下,衡量人们道德与否的基础是市场交易中人的伦理行为的正当程度,它遵循的基本原则是交易平等…     

以福祸转化为例浅谈老子的矛盾转化思想

《道德经》一书中包含大量哲学思想,其思想被广泛应用于社会各个方面,直至今日也仍广为流传。谈到老子,除了我们耳熟能详的"无为""道生万物"思想之外,其他思想也在老子整个思想体系中占有重要地位,缺一不可。这篇论文以《道德经》第五十八章中"祸兮福之所倚,福兮祸之所伏"的福祸转化为切入点,结合生活实际,对老子思想中的矛盾转化观点进行简要探讨,从而进一步加深我们对其思想的理解与把握。     

《老子指归》道家美学思想初探

严君平所著《老子指归》中的美学思想继承和发展了先秦道家关于道和美的观点，在经历了西汉盛世的衰平末年，严君平的这一著作更明显的展示了道家美学的思想。道家关学思想的特点是其理论隐藏于道家哲学之中。这些所隐现的关学思想和审美意识反映了中国人自古以来的爱美之心和美育思想。《老子指归》认为美隐藏于道中，以无为追求“道”，在生命中体验“道”，它以道为关的，强调以虚静无为的审美方式体验生命所展现的最自然、最原始、最本真的生气之美。     

王弼“崇本息末”思想及其现实启示

王弼将老子哲学思想的核心概括为"崇本息末"四字,并在此基础上提出了"以无为本""名教本于自然"等重要思想。探究王弼"崇本息末"的思想有利于深入了解王弼思想之中的"本末"观与"有无"观,能够在分析"崇本息末"思想之实质意蕴和现实价值的基础上,通过"无为"和"举本统末"等途径为道德之"全有"与道德之"实"的实现提供理论与实践上的参考和启迪。     

从儒家文化的精华中汲取养成教育的智慧

本文从儒家养成教育的功能、核心内容以及对当代养成教育的启迪意义三个方面,探究儒家养成教育思想对于当代养成教育的影响。文章认为儒家养成教育的主要目的和基本功能是道德教化．其核心内容可以归结为学“仁”和守“义”。儒家诠释“仁义”的精华,是中华民族最为宝贵的道德传统。儒家养成教育对于社会与家庭的重视以及在强调道德教育的前提下,重视知识教育的理念和实践都为当代养成教育的发展提供了极为宝贵的借鉴和启迪。     

原始儒家的道德本体观——“生”的哲学特性与伦理品格

原始儒家的道德本体观是以天道为形上依据而建构的以“仁”为本的人道本体观。“生”贯通了原始儒家道德本体观的形上依据与形成理路,体现了原始儒家道德本体观的思维根系,即“生”贯通了天之“元”德与人之“仁”德,凸显出强烈的哲学特性和伦理品格,成为儒家文化哲学特性的重要标志。孔孟继续深化了原始儒家的道德本体观,在物质层面,表现为对获取物质利益的手段正当性的道德权衡,即儒家“见利思义”的德性主义观;在精神层面,表现为以情为本的情本体观,即儒家“仁者爱人”的情感主义伦理观。原始儒家道德本体观的理论困境集中表现为人性论的认知困境。原始儒家道德本体观具有一定当代价值。在理论层面,它建构了原始儒家的哲学理论体系,在一定程度上消解了儒家无哲学的质疑之声;在现实层面,它启迪人们对道德理想与人生信念的追求,不忘初心,并且是家庭教育与学校教育可以利用的良好文化资源。     

韦伯关于中国文化论述的再思考

本文针对韦伯的《中国的宗教:儒教和道教》一书中西文化比较研究中的得失提出了个人的一些管见,指出由于时代的局限,韦伯像他那个时代的大多数欧洲思想家一样具有欧洲中心论的思想倾向,这导致他在论述包括中国宗教在内的东方宗教时显露出极高的睿智和洞见,同时也含有许多曲解和误读。譬如,他判定道教是纯粹的非理性,进而把包括儒释道三家学说在内的东方宗教界定为神秘主义类型,并与西方的禁欲主义宗教—文化类型对列成犄角之势,构成了韦伯视野中的东西方文化—历史比较研究的基本格局。文章认为韦伯对中国文化的这些见解既和他的比较研究的理想类型有关,也与他思想深处源于古希腊的理性哲学和中古希伯来的信仰意识所奠定的欧洲文化统一性具有深刻的联系。     

Approaching Reason's Edge: "Nonsense" as the Final Solution to the Problem of Meaning

It has been noted that in order to make sense of the world, members must rely upon their assumption that Reality is noncontradictory in nature. This paper examines cases where members are confronted with what to them are irreconcilable contradictions. It is shown that through the use of concepts such as "nonsense," members allow irreconcilable contradictions to count as evidence of a noncontradictory Reality.     

Negotiating cultural boundaries: Confucianism and trans/national identity in Korea 1

Abstract

This essay looks to the complex intercultural relations of China and Korea to highlight two important issues in political theory and international relations: the transnational nature of world politics and the limits of analytical binaries such as East‐West and tradition‐modernity. Discussions of international politics in East Asia characteristically address issues of security and development studies. More recently, Confucianism has been mobilized as part of the clash of civilizations of Asia with the West. This essay will consider how cultural boundaries are negotiated within the region via an analysis of the workings of the transnational discourse of Confucianism in the construction of Korean identity. While many make truth claims about what ‘Confucianism’ means in Korea, this essay examines the discursive economies of ‘Confucian events’ in three overlapping social spaces: official, mass media, and academic. This essay will show the diversity of Confucianism within East Asia, and underline how rather than being a simple orthodoxy, the shape of Confucianism is an active political issue. While many try to define a core ‘Korean Confucianism’, I argue that we should use Confucianism as an analytical tool to understand something else, citing how some scholars are using Confucianism for the specific project of building democracy in Korea.     

Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of the Vietnamese Dementia Caregiving Experience

This paper focuses on the role of religion and spirituality in dementia caregiving among Vietnamese refugee families. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with nine Vietnamese caregivers of persons with dementia, then tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emergent themes. Caregivers related their spirituality/religion to three aspects of caregiving: (1) their own suffering, (2) their motivations for providing care, and (3) their understanding of the nature of the illness. Key terms or idioms were used to articulate spiritual/religious dimensions of the caregivers' experience, which included sacrifice, compassion, karma, blessings, grace and peace of mind. In their narratives, the caregivers often combined multiple strands of different religions and/or spiritualities: Animism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Catholicism. Case studies are presented to illustrate the relationship between religion/spirituality and the domains of caregiving. These findings have relevance for psychotherapeutic interventions with ethnically diverse populations.     

Self‐interest in Chinese discourse and practice: temporal distinctions of self

A concept of self‐interest, through which different interests relate to distinct temporal phases of selves, is examined by considering the operation of self‐interest in a context in which it is frequently held to be absent. Chinese culture, frequently described as collectivist, developed intellectual traditions in which self‐interest is assumed. Chinese sociologists affirm the centrality of self‐interest for understanding social relationships and practices. Confucian antipathy to selfishness relates to admonishment of satisfaction of the interests of present selves against those of past selves. Variable institutional selection of distinct temporal phases of self is core to understanding major differences between Confucianism and Daoism and their respective conceptions of self‐interest.     

Haley and Hildebrand on the Training of Family Therapypists

Jo Grimwade and Helen Pavlin were asked to conduct a correspondence about two books which both relate to the teaching of family Therapy. There has been recent debate in Victorian family Therapy circles about the relevance of family of origin exploration to family Therapy trainees. Judy Hildebrand and Jay Haley have views on this topic, as Jo and Helen note. The nature of the books they are reading means that they find themselves caught in a parallel process and at times, are distracted from the writers’ message by the way that message is delivered.     

INFORMATION INTERDEPENDENCE: Keohane and Nye's complex interdependence in the information age

A well-known and respected attempt to theorize interdependence in the field of international relations is complex interdependence. In Power and Interdependence , Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Jr define interdependence as reciprocal effects among actors resulting from 'international transactions - flows of money, goods, people and messages across international boundaries'. Though much research has been done on the effects of interdependence on the first three, the flows of messages have been studied less often. Keohane and Nye addressed the issue in a 1998 article in Foreign Affairs , discussing changes in the global environment resulting from the information age which have had an impact on their ideas. This article proposes to go deeper into complex interdependence. The world is becoming increasingly 'information interdependent' and this essay is an attempt to apply the assumptions and concepts presented in complex interdependence to the information age. In the final analysis, complex interdependence complements research from the field of communications, that information flows should be understood as underlying mechanisms and processes that facilitate contextual understanding of issues. It maintains the integrity of the assumptions of complex interdependence, while adding an understanding of the nature of information and information flows.     

Was Freud a Medical Scientist or a Social Theorist? The Mysterious "Development of the Hero"

Rather than viewing Freud as a presumptuous Viennese physician who late in life attempted to "apply" some of his provocative psychological speculations to various social phenomena, this essay argues that from first to last, Freud was a social theorist. Indeed, what drew Freud to the study of biology and medicine was precisely the hope of addressing scientifically the most fundamental cultural problems: the nature of man and his culture; the origins of religion, morality, and tradition and the nature of their extraordinary power; the sources of social order and disorder; the direction of contemporary cultural development; and, finally, the problem of how to live in a disenchanted and psychologically impoverished world. Reading Freud in this manner moves his "cultural" texts from the periphery to the center of his work and makes possible an appreciation of the more complex, coherent, and illuminating social theory that lies at its heart.     

Postmodernism and Sociology: From the Epistemological to the Empirical

This article investigates the place of postmodernism in sociology today by making a distinction between its epistemological and empirical forms. During the 1980s and early 1990s, sociologists exposited, appropriated, and normalized an epistemological postmodernism that thematizes the tentative, reflective, and possibly shifting nature of knowledge. More recently, however, sociologists have recognized the potential of a postmodern theory that turns its attention to empirical concerns. Empirical postmodernists challenge classical modern concepts to develop research programs based on new concepts like time-space reorganization, risk society, consumer capitalism, and postmodern ethics. But they do so with an appreciation for the uncertainty of the social world, ourselves, our concepts, and our commitment to our concepts that results from the encounter with postmodern epistemology. Ultimately, this article suggests that understanding postmodernism as a combination of these two moments can lead to a sociology whose epistemological modesty and empirical sensitivity encourage a deeper and broader approach to the contemporary social world.     

Toward a Sociology of Nature

Although we often believe that nature stands apart from social life, our experience of nature is profoundly social. This paper unpacks this paradox in order to (1) explain sociology's neglect of the environment and (2) introduce the articles in this special issue on “the sociology of nature.” I argue that sociology's disinterest in the biophysical world is a legacy of its classical concern with tracing society's “Great Transformation” from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft: while early anthropologists studied “primitive” societies that allegedly had not yet completed “the passage from nature to culture” (Lévi‐Strauss 1963 : 99), pioneering sociologists presumed that industrialization and urbanization liberated “modern” society from nature and therefore focused their attention on “urbanism as a way of life” (Wirth 1938 ). As exemplified by the articles in this symposium, environmental sociology critiques the nature‐culture and town‐country dualisms. One of environmental sociology's core contributions has been demonstrating that nature is just as much a social construction as race or gender; however, its more profound challenge to the discipline lies in its refutation of the sociological axiom that social facts can be explained purely through reference to other social facts. “Environmental facts” are a constitutive feature of social life, not merely an effect of it.