The Internal World

Just as some Buddhists deny that the external world is ultimately real, so other Buddhists deny the ultimate reality of consciousness. This chapter examines the debate among different Buddhist schools over the status of cognition. This grows out of a debate over the problem of meta-cognition: if there is no self, then what is it that cognizes cognition? Momentariness and the irreflexivity principle pose obstacles to a satisfactory account. This leads the Yogācāra-Sautrāntika philosophers Dignāga and Dharmakīrti to develop the theory that every cognition is self-cognizing, but that irreflexivity is not violated since noetic and noematic poles of a cognition are non-distinct. Their reflexivity account is challenged by a higher-order thought account developed in the Madhyamaka school. According to this account, cognition is posited as a useful way of explaining bodily and verbal behavior, and so is not to be thought of as ultimately real. There is also some discussion of the difficulty for the reflexivist of explaining the existence of other minds.

Scientific Realism and the Romantic Reaction Against Reason

A so-called Romantic counterpoint to the proclamation of the hegemony of reason by Enlightenment thinkers blossomed in the nineteenth century in the form of philosophies that explicitly challenged the rationalist domination of Western philosophy and the truth claims of modern science. Thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Bergson formulated philosophies in which reason played only a limited role either in understanding human affairs or in apprehending reality. For Kierkegaard, reality transcended reason, while for Schopenhauer, human will was the ultimate reality. For Nietzsche, will was the dominant feature of humanity, which guaranteed that reason could not achieve a synoptic understanding of experience, let alone apprehend reality: reasoning could at best achieve partial perspectives on human experience. Bergson offered the most developed alternative to reason, especially modern science-based reasoning, to penetrate experience to reality.

The potential of a marginal approach in the study of deviations in human behavior

Актуальность статьи обусловлена необходимостью междисциплинарного изучения отклонений в поведении человека. В статье показаны предпосылки раскрытия потенциала предельного подхода в изучении отклоняющегося поведения и делается акцент на философском исследовании данного феномена как элемента субъективной реальности. Это согласуется с построением онтологии знания позволяющего раскрыть новую предельную реальность поведения человека. Выявлена необходимость обозначения границ предельной реальности, проявляющейся в настоящем. Определены условия, в которых проявится потенциал идентификации возможных отклонений в представлении человека, а это существование двух пространств (событийное и не событийное), создающих рассогласование во взаимодействии с миром. Автором делается анализ основных философских тем описания объективной реальности и теоретико-методологическое описание возникновения закономерностей отклонения в поведении с точки зрения предельного подхода. В результате проведённого анализа показано, что предельная реальность заключает в себе эффективность, результативность и нормативность окружающей среды. Выявлено, что при проведении исследований отклоняющегося поведения необходимо учитывать предельную реальность с позиции ее эффективности связанной с соотношением достижений и возможностей и результативности проявляющейся на уровне реализации цели. Статья предназначена для аспирантов, соискателей ученой степени, исследователей, изучающих проблемы межличностного взаимодействия, педагогов и психологов. Limiting approach in the study of deviant behavior and focuses on the philosophical study of this phenomenon as an element of subjective reality. This is consistent with the construction of an ontology of knowledge that allows you to reveal a new ultimate reality of human behavior. Revealed the need to designate the boundaries of the ultimate reality, manifested in the present. The conditions are determined in which the potential of identifying possible deviations in a person's representation will manifest itself, and this is the existence of two spaces (eventual and non-eventual) that create a mismatch in interaction with the world. The author analyzes the main philosophical themes of describing objective reality and a theoretical and methodological description of the emergence of patterns of deviation in behavior from the point of view of the limiting approach. As a result of the conducted reflections, it is shown that the ultimate reality includes the effectiveness, efficiency and normativity of the environment. It was revealed that when conducting research on deviant behavior, it is necessary to take into account the ultimate reality from the standpoint of its effectiveness associated with the ratio of achievements and opportunities and the effectiveness manifested at the level of goal implementation. The article is intended for graduate students, degree seekers, researchers studying the problems of interpersonal interaction, teachers and psychologists.

How to Be a Christian Ultimist? On Three Lessons J. L. Schellenberg and the Christian Theist Can Learn from Each Other

In this text, in discussion with J. L. Schellenberg, I develop a position that I call Christian ultimism. This position lies between Schellenberg’s simple ultimism and traditional Christian theism. Christian ultimism is more apophatic than personalistic, though it more clearly emphasizes the presence of a supra-personal and communicative element in the Ultimate Reality. The proposed position is resistant to a philosophical version of the hiddenness argument, but it must answer to the challenge of the theological problem of the lack of universal access to Christian revelation. Schellenberg’s idea of deep time both magnifies this problem and provides the tools for solving it: the awareness of deep time does not allow us to judge the future, but it does allow us to hope for a revelation accessible to all at the eschatological end of time.

Ultimism, A Philosophy That Wants to Be a Religion

Ultimism is the view that there is a metaphysically and axiologically ultimate reality in relation to which it is possible to achieve the ultimate good. John Schellenberg believes that ultimism is the backbone of every religion, while the differences between religions arise from different views of what the nature of the ultimate is. Schellenberg tries to show that if there is progress in religion, then it is most reasonable to assume that we are only at the beginning of the inquiry into the ultimate. The aim of the paper is to show that epistemological and methodological objections can be raised against ultimism. It will present an epistemological argument, pointing to the cognitive limitations of imagination, and a methodological argument, questioning the feasibility of Schellenberg’s project.

A MÍSTICA NA CONSTRUÇÃO DA REALIDADE ÚLTIMA

O artigo analisa o papel da mística na construção da Realidade Última em duas tradições distintas: hinduísmo e cristianismo. Ao longo do desenvolvimento apresenta a compreensão da mística e seus caminhos apresentados pelos cientistas da religião que levaram a construir as diversas imagens da Realidade Última, a saber, Deus. Duas imagens são escolhidas, Tríade hindu e Santíssima Trindade, apresentando-as como elas foram elaboradas pelos sábios dessas duas tradições, a partir da análise dos contextos existentes daquela época. Nas considerações finais se faz um apelo que o mais importante papel da mística é estabelecer as relações harmônicas dos humanos entre si e também entre os humanos e a Realidade Última. Palavras-chave: Realidade Última. Mística. Tríade. Trindade. Abstract The article analyzes the role of mysticism in the construction of the Ultimate Reality in two distinct traditions: Hinduism and Christianity. All through the elaboration, the article clarifies the understanding of the mysticism and its paths presented by the scientists of religion that led to the building of the various images of the Ultimate Reality, namely, God. Two images are chosen, Hindu Triad and Holy Trinity, presenting them as to how they were elaborated by the mystics of these two traditions, through the analysis of the existing contexts of that time. The final considerations, make an appeal, that the most important role of mysticism is to establish the harmonic human relations with each other and also between humans and the Ultimate Reality. Keywords: Ultimate Reality. Mysticism. Triad. Trinity.

Truth, Identity, Pluralism in Contemporary Society - Gandhi's Response

This paper explores Gandhi’s attitude towards diversity of religions and examines as to how he attempted to bring inter-faith harmony. Religious diversity has been a topic of serious debate in the contemporary philosophical discourse on understanding religion. Religious pluralism is one of the approaches that deal with issues concerning the diversity of religions. It is believed that no single religion can make absolute claims about the nature of divine reality, its relation to man and the world. It stands in direct opposition to exclusivism, inclusivism and also to fundamentalism by denying that any one religion is the sole possession of the whole truth. Different religions seem to put forward different and incompatible interpretations about the nature of ultimate reality, about the modes of divine activity, the nature and destiny of the human race.

Historicism Now: Historiographic Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology Out of Bounds

This article examines historicism as the expansion of historiography beyond its bounds, analogous to Physicalism, Naturalism, Psychologism, and Scientism. Five senses of historicism are distinguished: Ontological Historicism claims ultimate reality is, and only is, historical. Idiographic historicism considers historiography an empirical science that results in observational descriptions of unique singular events. Introspective historicism considers the epistemology of historiography to be founded on self-knowledge. Scientistic historicism considers historiography an applied psychology or social science that can expand to overtake the social sciences. Methodological historicism extends the use of historiographic methodologies to unreliable or dependent evidence. The first four historicisms are inconsistent with historiography within bounds and implode. Methodological historicism describes proper historiographic methodologies that are applied out of their proper bounds, but are used in historiography based on the epistemology of testimony and the tracing of the transmission of information from historical event to historiographic evidence.

Joachim Wach and the Phenomenological Tradition in the Religious Studies

Целью статьи является определение места Иоахима Ваха (1898-1955 гг.) в феноменологической религиоведческой традиции. Для этого проводятся реконструкция концептуальных основ его религиоведческой системы и философский анализ его теории религиозного опыта, анализируются социологические и религиоведческие элементы, наследие Ваха сопоставляется с трудами классиков немецкой феноменологии религии Р. Отто, Ф. Хайлером. В результате исследования доказывается, что теория Иоахима Ваха близка к идее концентрической схемы Ф. Хайлера, но система Хайлера была препарирована и использована им в угоду модной тенденции социологических исследований. Отмечается, что важный момент в учении И. Ваха составляет его представление об отношениях мастера и ученика. Анализируя эту концепцию, можно заключить, что для социологии Ваха важно не то, что общество воздействует на религию, а то, что религия создаёт общество. Описывая центр религии, И. Вах полностью полагался на концепцию нуминозного Р. Отто. Вах убежден, что в самой сути человека заложено нуминозное чувство, которое активизируется при встрече с тем, что он именовал предельной реальностью, Святым или нуминозным. Диалогические отношения человека и предельной реальности - фундамент религиоведческого метода Ваха. В то же время сам процесс религиозного опыта, его характеристики, значение для жизни индивида больше напоминают не Ahndung Я. Фриза, воспринятый Р. Отто, а чувство, описанное У. Джеймсом. The purpose of the article is to determine the place of Joachim Wach (1898-1955) in the tradition of phenomenology of religion. For this purpose, the reconstruction of the conceptual foundations of his religious system and the philosophical analysis of his theory of religious experience are carried out, the sociological and religious elements are analyzed, the legacy of Wach is compared with the works of the classics of the German phenomenology of religion, R. Otto and F. Heiler. The article shows the proximity of this theory to the concentric model, proposed by F. Heiler, but Heiler’s system was dissected and used by Wach in favor of the fashionable trend of sociological research. In his description of the center of religion J. Wach completely relied on the concept of numinous by R. Otto. Wach is convinced that there is a numinous feeling inherent in the very essence of man, which is activated when man faced with Ultimate reality, Holy or Numinous. The dialogical relations of man and Ultimate reality are the foundation of the Wach’s method of religious studies. At the same time, the process of religious experience itself more closely resembles with religious experience in the terms of W. James.