Justifying Judgement on Things Past

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-250
Author(s):  
Donald Bloxham
Keyword(s):  
Moral Relativism ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Historical Investigation ◽  
Raison D’État

Part 3 Justifying Judgement on Things Past Part 3 moves from describing features of works of history to underwriting a range of judgements that are currently outlawed not just by advocates of neutralism and moral contextualism, but, finally, by the doctrine of moral relativism. This Part of the book legitimates some of the apparently presentist value judgements that many historians already make and establishes criteria according to which other judgements can be formed or criticized. It is the longest section of the work because it has to dig so deep through layers of occidental thought to trace the growth and flaws of an influential though never uncontested cluster of moral theories. The point of the opening three historical sections is to use historical investigation to undermine some of the prevailing standards of the disciple of History, showing that far from being self-evident for a properly scholarly undertaking, those standards emerge from particular, contestable standpoints in theology, strands of philosophy, and even theories of nationalism and raison d’état. Three concluding sections summarize the major issues at stake and address them from a more purely philosophical perspective.

Modernism, Empiricism, and Rationalism

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Squires
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Poetry ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Irish Poetry ◽  
Dimensional Spectrum ◽  
Culture History ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Rule Out

Modernism is usually defined historically as the composite movement at the beginning of the twentieth century which led to a radical break with what had gone before in literature and the other arts. Given the problems of the continuing use of the concept to cover subsequent writing, this essay proposes an alternative, philosophical perspective which explores the impact of rationalism (what we bring to the world) on the prevailing empiricism (what we take from the world) of modern poetry, which leads to a concern with consciousness rather than experience. This in turn involves a re-conceptualisation of the lyric or narrative I, of language itself as a phenomenon, and of other poetic themes such as nature, culture, history, and art. Against the background of the dominant empiricism of modern Irish poetry as presented in Crotty's anthology, the essay explores these ideas in terms of a small number of poets who may be considered modernist in various ways. This does not rule out modernist elements in some other poets and the initial distinction between a poetics of experience and one of consciousness is better seen as a multi-dimensional spectrum that requires further, more detailed analysis than is possible here.

Who Was the ‘Heroine’ of Freud's First Case History? Problems and Issues in the Identification of Freud's patients

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Skues
Keyword(s):  
Case History ◽  
The Real ◽  
Hypnotic Suggestion ◽  
Social Circle ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Face ◽  
Historical Investigation

In 1892–3 Freud published his first substantial case history, which concerned a patient treated by means of hypnotic suggestion. For some years this has been one of the few remaining of Freud's dedicated cases histories where the patient has not been identified. More recently, however, two publications independently arrived at the conclusion that the patient was none other than Freud's wife, Martha. This paper sets out the reasons why this identification should always have been treated with suspicion, even if the real identity was not known. Nevertheless, the paper goes on to offer a more plausible identification from among Freud's known social circle. The second part of the paper questions the circumstances under which the original misidentification could plausibly have been sustained in the face of such glaring evidence to the contrary. It concludes that, among other reasons, recent tendencies in controversies about Freud's trustworthiness have the hazard of leading to unreliable assumptions about Freud's honesty being taken as a basis for sound historical investigation.

Buffalo Crusaders: The Sacred Struggle for America’s Last Wild and Pure Herd

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Brucella Abortus ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Moral Relativism ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
Field Campaign ◽  
Activist Group ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
Post Hoc

This chapter examines the bitter, long-lasting, and sometimes violent dispute over the Yellowstone bison herd—America's only remaining genetically pure and free-roaming herd, which once numbered more than 30 million but was exterminated down to a mere 23 single animals. This intractable issue hinges on current scientific disagreements about the biology and ecology of the disease brucellosis (Brucella abortus). But in recent years, a more radical, grassroots, and direct action activist group called the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) has found success by shifting the focus of the debate away from science, toward the deeper religious dimensions of the issue. The chapter shows how the infusion of the conflict with moral and spiritual feeling has brought to the fore deeper questions that ultimately needed to be answered, thus making this a public religious conflict as much as a scientific one, sidestepping rabbit holes of intractability. It observes the ways in which BFC activists engaged in a phenomenon called moral and religious “muting.” This has theoretical implications for understanding how certain elements of culture (e.g., individualism and moral relativism) can organize and pattern others—especially in post hoc explanations of religiously motivated activism.

PENDIDIKAN AGAMA ISLAM DALAM PERSPEKTIF FILSAFAT: ANTARA CITA DAN FAKTA

EMPIRISMA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Arif Majid
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Education ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Life Process ◽  
Long Life ◽  
Islamic Values

Islamic education is a long life process in digging and performing Islamic values of (raḥmatan li al-’alamīn). It is also long-life attempts to excavate raḥmatan values amid the challenges of modernity and thoughts. This article discusses Islamic education from a philosophical perspective. This study found that ontologically theessence of Islamic education is on the process, while epestemoligically it requires the interaction between ratio and revelation. Axiologically, Islamic education should bring dignity, prominence, and happiness both in the word and the hereafter. This is what the so-called a ‘two in one’ concept and the key is ‘lillāh.Keywords: Pendidikan Agama Islam, Filsafat, Raḥmatan li al-’Alamīn

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