scholarly journals Between faith and scepticism: Nicholas Rengger’s reflections on the ‘hybridity’ of modernity

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-633
Author(s):  
Vassilios Paipais

In this essay, I offer a brief assessment of Nicholas Rengger’s engagement with arguments arising from the theological critique of modern politics and of his take on the relationship between faith and philosophy in modernity. Rengger’s scepticism, a peculiar mix of naturalism and philosophical idealism, combining insights from Oakeshott, Santayana and Augustine, did not cordon off faith but sought to work out its tensive relationship with practical forms of reasoning in modernity, a condition he described as a ‘hybrid’. Rengger’s critique of the hybridity of modernity rests on assumptions that expose some of the unresolved tensions of his anti-Pelagian scepticism.


2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Shilling

The sociology of emotions is an established specialism within the discipline and its products have become increasingly visible parts of the sociological landscape since the late 1970s. This specialism has also demonstrated, at least to its own satisfaction, the importance of emotions for social action and order, and for those related moral issues concerned with self-determined and other-oriented action. Paradoxically, however, the relationship between the sociology of emotions and mainstream sociology remains relatively cool. Emotional issues are still portrayed in many general accounts of the discipline as a luxurious curiosity that properly resides on the outer reaches of the sociological imagination. Just as unfortunately, certain sociologists of emotions have accused the foundations of the discipline of neglecting emotional issues, and have sometimes excluded classical theorists from their discussions. This chapter argues that emotional phenomena occupy an important place in sociology's heritage which has yet to be explicated fully by the sub-discipline. The subject of emotions, like the closely related subject of the body, may fade from various classical writings. Nevertheless, the major traditions of sociological theory developed particular orientations towards the social and moral dimensions of emotional phenomena. I begin by examining the relevance of emotions to the context out of which the discipline emerged, and then focus on how the major theorists of order (Comte and Durkheim) and (inter)action (Simmel and Weber) conceptualized emotional phenomena. The chapter concludes with a brief assessment of Parsons's contribution, and suggests that his analysis of the religious foundations of instrumental activism provides a provocative account of the relationship between values, emotions and personality that can usefully be built on.



2021 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 195-222
Author(s):  
Sungjun Yeum


Daedalus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Huskey

A quarter-century after the collapse of the USSR, authoritarian politics dominates seven of the fifteen successor states. Placing the post-communist authoritarian experience in the broader frame of nondemocratic governance, this essay explores the origins and operation of personalist rule in the region; the relationship between time and power; and the role of Soviet legacies in shaping the agenda and tools of leadership. It also examines the efforts of post-communist authoritarians to enhance personal and regime legitimacy by claiming to rule beyond politics. Within the post-communist world, the essay finds significant variation among authoritarian leaders in their approaches to personnel policy and to the use of policies, symbols, and narratives to address the ethnic and religious awakening spawned by the collapse of Soviet rule. The essay concludes with a brief assessment of the trajectories of post-communist authoritarian leadership.





Author(s):  
Bernard Caron

The Chadic family is best known by Hausa and its 45 million speakers, while the other 170 or so languages count between 500,000 and a few thousand. Given their common genetic origin, what does it mean to be a Chadic language, not only in terms of retentions and innovations from their common Afro-Asiatic origin, but also from a typological point of view? The chapter begins by listing and locating the Chadic languages, while making an attempt at estimating their number of speakers. It then characterizes the typical Chadic language, describing its phonology, morphology, sentence structure, and function marking. The next section studies the relationship between Chadic and Afro-Asiatic in terms of retention and innovation. The section after that explores the typology of the Chadic family and its relationship with the Macro-Sudan belt and Africa as a linguistic area. The conclusion presents a brief assessment of the development of Chadic linguistics.



Author(s):  
Scott Hibbard

This chapter examines the relationship between religion, nationalism, and the state and advocates a truly neutral conception of secularism. The point of departure is an analysis of the recurring debate over the proper role of religion in public life. Particular attention is given to the relationship between religion and nationalism, the secularization thesis, and the reasons religion remains an important part of modern politics. The chapter then turns toward the “politics of secularism,” and the tension between liberal (or ecumenical) secularism in theory and its practice. At issue is whether the secular tradition is invariably exclusive, or whether secularism as implemented has simply failed to live up to its ecumenical promise. The closing section examines this question in light of the justpeace tradition, and offers an endorsement for a re-conceptualized vision of secularism that is genuinely defined by neutrality in matters of religion and belief.



2022 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kasumi Yasuda ◽  
Shinichi Yamada ◽  
Shinya Uenishi ◽  
Natsuko Ikeda ◽  
Atsushi Tamaki ◽  
...  

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The hippocampus is relevant to cognitive function in schizophrenia (SCZ) and mood disorder patients. Although not anatomically uniform, it is clearly divided into subfields. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between hippocampal subfield volume and cognitive function in patients with SCZ, bipolar disorder (BP), and major depressive disorder (MDD). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The study included 21 patients with SCZ, 22 with BP, and 21 with MDD and 25 healthy controls (HCs). Neurocognitive function was assessed using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia. We obtained hippocampal subfield volumes using FreeSurfer 6.0. We compared the volumes of the hippocampal subfield between the 4 groups and ascertained correlation between the cognitive composite score and hippocampal subfield volume in each group. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The SCZ group had significantly lower cognitive composite score than the BP, MDD, and HC groups. In the SCZ group, the left and right hippocampus-amygdala transition area and right subiculum and right presubiculum volumes were significantly reduced compared to those in the HC group. The left presubiculum volumes in the SCZ group were significantly reduced compared to those in the MDD group. Subfield volumes did not significantly differ between the BP, MDD, and HC groups. Interestingly, in the SCZ group, volumes of the right CA1, right molecular layer of the hippocampus, and right granule cell and molecular layer of the dentate gyrus were significantly correlated with the cognitive composite score. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Patients with SCZ had poorer cognitive function, which is related to their hippocampal pathology, than those with mood disorders.



2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (190) ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Brigitte Bargetz

What are the contemporary conditions of Western modern democracies that make a politics of fear so successful at this present moment? In this article, the author analyzes the relationship between politics and fear in order to move beyond a simple instrumentalization thesis. Focusing on two perspectives: the view of state sovereignty and the phenomenon of neurosis, the author argues that the contemporary Western modern politics of fear can be understood as an expression of a crisis of state sovereignty, which becomes apparent in the nation state as well as in a new mode of political subjectivation. It is a ghostly sovereignty that finds both a form and an addressee in a neurotic subject.



2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 843-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA BECKER

AbstractIn the history of early modern political thought, gender is not well established as a subject. It seems that early modern politics and its philosophical underpinnings are characterized by an exclusion of women from the political sphere. This article shows that it is indeed possible to write a gendered history of early modern political thought that transcends questions of the structural exclusion of women from political participation. Through a nuanced reading of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century commentaries on Aristotle's practical philosophy, it deconstructs notions on the public/political and private/apolitical divide and reconstructs that early modern thinkers saw the relationship of husband and wife as deeply political. The article argues that it is both necessary and possible to write gender in and into the history of political thought in a historically sound and firmly contextual way that avoids anachronisms, and it shows – as Joan Scott has suggested – that gender is indeed a ‘useful category’ in the history of political thought.



2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Beth Parlier-Ahmad ◽  
Mishka Terplan ◽  
Dace S. Svikis ◽  
Laura Ellis ◽  
Caitlin E. Martin

Abstract Background Recovery is a multidimensional process that includes health, quality of life, and citizenship. Recovery capital is a strengths-based concept representing the sum of an individual’s resources that support recovery. This study (1) describes recovery capital, (2) examines the relationship between recovery capital and treatment duration, and (3) assesses differences by gender in recovery capital among people receiving medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Methods This is a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study, with survey and medical record review components, conducted with patients recruited from an office-based opioid treatment clinic between July and September 2019. Analyses included participants receiving MOUD with buprenorphine who completed the Brief Assessment of Recovery Capital (BARC-10; n = 130). Univariate analyses explored differences by gender. Multivariate linear regression assessed the relationship between BARC-10 total score and length of current treatment episode. Results Participants were 54.6% women and 67.4% Black with mean age of 42.4 years (SD = 12.3). Mean length of current MOUD treatment was 396.1 days (SD = 245.9). Total BARC-10 scores were high, but participants perceived low community-level resources. Women scored higher than men within the health and purpose recovery dimensions. While length of treatment was not associated with BARC-10 score, experiencing recent discrimination was associated with a significantly lower BARC-10 score. Conclusions Recovery capital among individuals receiving MOUD was high suggesting that participants have resources to support recovery, but gender differences and prevalent discrimination highlight areas for improved intervention. More work is needed to investigate recovery capital as an alternative treatment outcome to abstinence in outpatient MOUD populations.



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