Emotion has a substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans, including perception, attention, learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. Emotion has a particularly strong influence on attention, especially modulating the selectivity of attention as well as motivating action and behavior. This attentional and executive control is intimately linked to learning processes, as intrinsically limited attentional capacities are better focused on relevant information. Emotion also facilitates encoding and helps retrieval of information efficiently. However, the effects of emotion on learning and (...) memory are not always univalent, as studies have reported that emotion either enhances or impairs learning and long-term memory retention, depending on a range of factors. Recent neuroimaging findings have indicated that the amygdala and prefrontal cortex cooperate with the medial temporal lobe in an integrated manner that affords (i) the amygdala modulating memory consolidation; (ii) the prefrontal cortex mediating memory encoding and formation; and (iii) the hippocampus for successful learning and long-term memory retention. We also review the nested hierarchies of circular emotional control and cognitive regulation (bottom-up and top-down influences) within the brain to achieve optimal integration of emotional and cognitive processing. This review highlights a basic evolutionary approach to emotion to understand the effects of emotion on learning and memory and the functional roles played by various brain regions and their mutual interactions in relation to emotional processing. We also summarize the current state of knowledge on the impact of emotion on memory and map implications for educational settings. In addition to elucidating the memory-enhancing effects of emotion, neuroimaging findings extend our understanding of emotional influences on learning and memory processes; this knowledge may be useful for the design of effective educational curricula to provide a conducive learning environment for both traditional “live” learning in classrooms and “virtual” learning through online-based educational technologies. (shrink)

Explores the cosmological and metaphysical thought in the Zhuangzi from the perspective of nothingness. Zhuangzi and the Becoming of Nothingness offers a radical rereading of the Daoist classic Zhuangzi by bringing to light the role of nothingness in grounding the cosmological and metaphysical aspects of its thought. Through a careful analysis of the text and its appended commentaries, David Chai reveals not only how nothingness physically enriches the myriad things of the world, but also why the Zhuangzi prefers nothingness (...) over being as a means to expound the authentic way of Dao. Chai weaves together Dao, nothingness, and being in order to reassess the nature and significance of Daoist philosophy, both within its own historical milieu and for modern readers interested in applying the principles of Daoism to their own lived experiences. Chai concludes that nothingness is neither a nihilistic force nor an existential threat; instead, it is a vital component of Dao’s creative power and the life-praxis of the sage. “Chai provides an elaborate philosophical meontological interpretation of the ontology/cosmology found in the Zhuangzi and the implications for existential practice. It’s a close, careful, but in many respects quite original reading of the classic that contributes significantly to the field of philosophical Daoist studies.” — Geir Sigurðsson, author of Confucian Propriety and Ritual Learning: A Philosophical Interpretation. (shrink)

Recent years have seen an increased turning to the “wisdom of the East” when addressing issues on the environment. The risk of misappropriating its tenets in order to make them conform to the Western system is extremely high however. This paper will lay bare the early texts of Daoism so as to disprove claims that Nature is mystical, antithetical to technology, and subservient to human consciousness. It shall argue that Nature not only arises from a non-anthropocentric source in Dao but (...) that this arising takes place across three levels of reality: Dao’s mystery, the cosmogony of the One-and-Many, and the fourfold comprised of Dao, Heaven, Earth, and man. The result is a vision of Nature no longer bound to a singular actuality but one whose presence is felt across an endless range of possibilities as the substantive realization of Dao. (shrink)

What are the neural correlates of conscious visual awareness? Tackling this question requires contrasting neural correlates of stimulus processing culminating in visual awareness with neural correlates of stimulus processing unaccompanied by awareness. To contrast these two neural states, one must be able to erase an otherwise visible stimulus from awareness. This paper describes and critiques visual phenomena involving dissociation of physical stimulation and conscious awareness: degraded stimulation, visual masking, visual crowding, bistable figures, binocular rivalry, motion-induced blindness, inattentional blindness, change blindness (...) and attentional blink. While no single strategy stands above the others, those producing changing visual awareness despite invariant physical stimulation are clearly preferable. (shrink)

"In 'Justice', the result of many years' thoughtful exploration of that subject, Professor Perelman explains the conceptual origins of justice (both social and historical) and discusses the relationships between justice and justification, between justice and reason, and between reason and values. He considers the matter of a core of meaning, common to all, concerning the concept of justice, and raises essential questions such as why do people disagree about the problems of justice and whether a difference exists between a political (...) conception and a philosophical conception of justice."--Cover. (shrink)

Colour synaesthesia is the mental experience involving a strong association between specific colours and specific auditory stimuli, such as words, or achromatic visual stimuli, such as numerals or letters. In the contemporary literature on colour synaesthesia, the majority view treats the phenomenon as one arising from some of the same neural events mediating colour perception triggered by genuinely coloured objects; this view that synaesthesia is perceptually based, however, is not universally endorsed. What strategies have been utilized to evaluate the perceptual (...) reality of colour synaesthesia, and what is the evidence produced by those strategies? This chapter tackles those questions within the context of colour graphemic synaesthesia, the most widely studied form of synaesthesia. We divide the research strategies into those employing behavioral measures to assess whether synaesthetia influences performance on tasks known to be sensitive stimulus colour and those employing indirect measures that use physiological responses as proxies for colour perception. Our chapter concludes that there is sufficient justification for the belief in the perceptual reality of colour grapheme synaesthesia. At the same time, we applaud those who remain disbelievers, for their skepticism has underscored the logical issues surrounding research on this question. (shrink)

This paper relocates the philosophical discourse on the Thing (das Ding) to the world of classical Daoism. In doing so, it explores the bond between the One, the Thing and its signifier before discussing how the Thing unveils itself to the world while receiving the gift of nothingness from Dao. It furthermore contends that the two most prominent discussions of the Thing in the Western tradition--those by Heidegger and Lacan--while philosophically valuable in their own right, fail to provide the degree (...) of profundity seen via a Daoist reading. What will become apparent is that the Thing qua the One serves to delineate the cosmological and human realms of reality, negating any inclination one might have of it as being anything but mystical. (shrink)

Volume 46, Issue 6, November 2020, Page 658-675.

Whitehead acknowledged that 'the philosophy of organism seems to approximate more to some strains of.Chinese thought.' Some scholars have attempted to explore this relationship and its implications. The Beijing Conference provided a good forum for interested and engaged scholars to address each other directly, in an atmosphere of mutual regard and respect. The ongoing scholarly work on process thinking in China is impressive. It is the editors' conviction that the publication of this book in English will promote international discussion of (...) the themes and issues herein set forth. This should contribute significantly to the broader discussion between West and East, so important in this age of cultural globalization. Contributors: John B Cobb, Jr, David R Griffin, Catherine Keller, Meijun Fan, Ronald Phipps, Joseph Grange, George Derfer, Wang Shik Jiang, Brook Ziporyn, Michel Weber, Wenyu Xie, HUAN Huogui, Zhihe Wang, HAN Zhen LI Shiyan, ZHANG Nini. (shrink)

La rhetorique n'est pas la discipline qui s'occupe essentiellement des figures de rhetorique: celles-ci ne sont plus qu'un outil parmi d'autres pour persuader et convaincre un auditoire. Dans toute sa generalite, elle constitue une theorie de l'argumentation, qui se sert de raisonnements qu'Aristote qualifiait de dialectiques. En ce sens la rhetorique, qui englobe la dialectique des Anciens, est le pendant de la logique formelle, car c'est l'instrument indispensable de toute pensee qui ne se reduit pas a un calcul. Toute deliberation, (...) toute discussion, toute controverse, toute presentation d'idees nouvelles qui fait appel a la raison, est obligee d'y recourir. La rhetorique est ainsi l'instrument indispensable de toute pensee et de toute philosophie critique. L'etude des techniques d'argumentation, et de leurs presupposes, longtemps negligee par le rationalisme classique, d'inspiration mathematique, est presentee dans ses perspectives historiques et philosophiques. (shrink)

This comprehensive volume surveys an important but neglected period of Chinese intellectual history: Xuanxue (Neo-Daoism). It provides a holistic approach to the philosophical and religious traits of this movement via the concepts of non-being, being, and oneness. Thinkers and texts on the periphery of Xuanxue are also examined to show readers that Xuanxue did not arise in a vacuum but is the result of a long and continuous evolution of ideas from pre-Qin Daoism. The 25 chapters of this work survey (...) the major philosophical figures and arguments of Xuanxue, a movement from the Wei-Jin dynastic period (220-420 CE) of early-medieval China. It also examines texts and figures from the late-Han dynasty whose influence on Xuanxue has yet to be made explicitly clear. In order to fully capture the multifaceted nature of this movement, the contributors brilliantly highlight its more socially-oriented characteristics. Overall, this volume presents an unrivaled picture of this exciting period. It details a portrait of intellectual and cultural vitality that rivals, if not surpasses, what was achieved during the Warring States period. Readers of the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi will feel right at home with the themes and arguments presented herein, while students and those coming to Xuanxue for the first time will acquire a wealth of knowledge. (shrink)

I distinguish two types of ethical efforts. One of them can be called ideological efforts in morality, which begins with the quest for truth. Once in possession of the truth, people can make moral laws and apply them to a society, demanding that all members of the society abide by them. The other may be called sentimental education, which depicts the formation of morality as being based on sentiments in this way: people live in an intimate relationship to foster a (...) sentiment of trust, develop their propriety sense in regard to a certain relationship, and formulate it as a moral law. In the context of global ethics, I hold that the fundamental momentum in morality is driven by sentimental education, while ideological efforts in morality can only play a complementary role. (shrink)

Modem neo-Confucianism is studied at two levels, one is at the historical level and the other at the academic level. Modern neo-Confucianism at the historical level was developed in the modern context, but its basic content belongs to the traditional Confucianism or the study of Confucian classics. Modem neo-Confucianism at the academic level recognizes both the deficiencies of the traditional Confucianism and rationality of western learning, and dedicates itself to the modernization of Confucianism. Though Ma Yifu's moral philosophy is developed (...) in the context of modem Chinese culture, it fails to deal with the problem of modern transformation of Confucian ethical values and its content still belongs to the traditional Confucianism. So it should be labeled as the modern neo-Confucianism in the historical sense. In this paper, the author makes a systematic exploration and an evaluation of Ma Yifu's ethical thought. (shrink)

This collection is intercultural philosophy at its best. It contextualizes the global significance of the leading figures of Western phenomenology, including Husserl, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Buber and Levinas, enters them into intercultural dialogue with the Daoism of Laozi and Zhuangzi and in doing so, breaks new ground. By presenting the first sustained analysis of the Daoist worldview by way of phenomenological experience, this book not only furthers our understanding of Daoism and phenomenology, but delves deeper into the roots of human (...) thinking, aesthetic expression, and its impact on the modern social world. The international team of philosophers approach the phenomenological tradition in the broadest sense possible, looking beyond the phenomenological language of Husserl. With chapters on art, ethics, death and the metaphor of dream and hermeneutics, this collection encourages scholars and students in both Asian and Western traditions to rethink their philosophical bearings and engage in meaningful intercultural dialogue. (shrink)

This essay attempts to compare Kant’s better man and the Confucian junzi in the Zhongyong, and argues that Kant’s idea of the better man, which expresses human self-improvement in ultimate freedom, is in fact a conception very similar to that of the Confucian junzi, which denotes an ideal human being in cheng. Kant attributes the lack of emphasis on self-improvement in Western culture to the Christian conception of grace, and demonstrates the possibility of self-improvement on the ground of ultimate freedom. (...) We may call this treatment “the Confucian solution” in Kant’s thought. My intention is to explicate the conceptual commonality between the better man and the junzi and demonstrate the Confucian element in Kant’s religious thought. (shrink)

The concept of junzi is the central issue in the Zhongyong , one of the most important Confucian books. A junzi leads a life starting with the original disposition of cheng 诚(being truthful to the real self). This paper analyzes the disposition of cheng to reveal two kinds of good in human existence, that is, the natural good, which is present in cheng ; and the idea of good, which is a conceptualization of the natural good. The natural good is (...) actually equal to the nature endowed by the Tian , and so it is primary and absolute. Meanwhile, the idea of good is secondary and can be improved by self-cultivation. The distinction and interaction between these two kinds of good are crucial in conceiving the concept of junzi . Yet, the distinction is so subtle that it often confuses people in self-cultivation. In fact, people in their actual lives may mix them up and perceive only the idea of good. We call this the junzi impasse. The Zhongyong does not offer enough discussion about this impasse. Since this confusion may cause the termination of self-cultivation, this paper offers a comparative discussion in the light of Christian guilty consciousness, and attempts to propose a solution to the junzi impasse. (shrink)

Macek (2004) highlighted a typology of current concepts of cyberculture. Four different concepts were identified, which are spans utopian, information, anthropological and epistemological concepts of cyberculture. Macek (2004) also highlighted four different periods of the cyberculture and its impacts on netizen. The very first foundations of cyberculture originate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) at the turn of the 1950s and the 1960s. Early cyberculture reached its peak in the late 1970s and in the 1980s. Early cyberculture originates in (...) the American hackers’ subcultures. The second period of cyberculture can be broadly set to the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. The beginning of the third period was characterised by a significant transformation at all the levels of early cyberculture, a shift that was related to the accelerated spread of microcomputers and to the development of public computer networks. This fourth period begins at the end of the 1980s and ends in about the middle of the 1990s. (shrink)

The main objective of this article is to analyse the dark side of customer analytics and the ethics issues in the retailing industry. Ethics-related issues in retailing began to be discussed and studied primarily in the 1960s. The rising interest in ethical issues in retailing is in line with social concerns and consumer awareness, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. The use of big data in customer analytics is one of the most strategic weapons in the competitive retail environment, especially (...) in terms of systematic examination of customers’ buying behaviour, trend, and pattern will be used to help make business decisions via market segmentation and predictive analytics. The dark side of customer analytics in retailing is mainly related to security and privacy, incentives, risks, data sharing management, and data vulnerabilities that ultimately erode customer confidence and satisfaction level. (shrink)

The theme of this dissertation is to trace a development of defining freedom in the western tradition. It projects to have Luther and Kierkegaard as the central figures to delineate an understanding of freedom, called the Platonic-Augustinean-Lutheran-Kierkegaadian concept of freedom. The author penetrates into these two fundamental elements in this tradition: man by nature pursues good and good must be attributed to God's grace . Logically, these two elements by appearance are not compatible. However, historically, in Augustine's thought, they entered (...) into and then are able to coexist in one system. Their incompatibility and coexistence created a dynamic underlying the development of defining freedom. Influenced by Augustine, Luther followed this dynamic and found that he must deny human freedom . He then resorted to God's grace in promise and claimed that faith endorses righteousness and that a Christian is possessed of freedom in grace. Propelled by this same dynamic, Kierkegaard challenged the modern concept of freedom as self-determination in rationality and provided a profound analysis of human existence in the light of redemption. Kierkegaard's analysis reveals an existential paradox in which man freely chooses unfreedom. Logically, his existential analysis starts with the concept of eternal possibility and infers that freedom is to hold fast to possibility through possibility's giving out itself . The dynamic constituted of the Platonic principle and the concept of redemption allows Kierkegaard to define a powerful concept of freedom and to deconstruct the modern concept of freedom. ;There are two tasks in this dissertation. The first one is to offer a historical and philosophical demonstration of the dynamic, in which the Platonic principle and the concept of redemption proceed from the confrontation, through the combination and the separation, and at last to the unification. The other task is to defend a position that freedom understood in terms of possibility requires possibility's giving out itself In this defense, the essay treats the concept of redemption as a philosophical meditation, rather than a theological reflection. (shrink)

The rearrangement inequality states that the sum of products of permutations of 2 sequences of real numbers are maximized when the terms are similarly ordered and minimized when the terms are ordered in opposite order. We show that similar inequalities exist in algebras of multi-valued logic when the multiplication and addition operations are replaced with various T-norms and T-conorms respectively. For instance, we show that the rearrangement inequality holds when the T-norms and T-conorms are derived from Archimedean copulas.

This study investigated the internal mechanism of the relationship between primary school students’ peer relationships and their performance in the Chinese language and literature. We constructed a chain mediation model, focused on the mediation effects of parental involvement and the sense of autonomy, on the correlation between peer relationships and performance in Chinese language scores. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1,503 students in grades 4–6, and their parents, in three cities in Jiangsu Province. The result indicated the following: there (...) was a significant positive correlation between primary school students’ peer relationships, parental involvement, sense of autonomy, and the level of Chinese language scores; parental involvement and the sense of autonomy, respectively, mediate the relationship between peer relationships and Chinese language scores; primary school students’ parental involvement and sense of autonomy play a chain-like mediating role in the relationship between their peer relationships and Chinese language scores. The research results provide a reference for exploring the educational strategies of primary school students’ Chinese literacy. (shrink)

East Asian imagery resonates throughout Martin Heidegger's writings. In this exploration of the connections between Daoism and his thought, an international team of scholars consider why the Daodejing and Zhuangzi were texts he returned to repeatedly and the extent Heidegger adhered to Daoism's core doctrines. They discuss how Daoist thought provided him with a new perspective, equipping him with images, concepts, and meanings that enabled him to continue his questioning of the nature of being. Exploring the environment, language, death, temporality, (...) aesthetics, and race from the groundlessness of non-being, oneness, and the Way, they illustrate how these themes reverberate with ontological, spiritual, and epistemological potential. A lesson in the art of Daoist and cross-cultural ways of thinking, this collection marks the first sustained analysis of the influence of classical Daoism on a major 20th-century German philosopher. (shrink)

Given wuwei 無為 describes the life praxis of the sage and statecraft of the enlightened ruler while also denoting the comportment of the Dao 道—an alternating state of quiet dormancy and creative activity—are the standard translations of wuwei as “nonaction” or “effortless action” up to the task? They are not, it will be argued, in that they fail to convey the true profundity of wuwei. The objective of this essay is twofold: to show that wuwei is better understood as “abiding (...) harmony” than nonaction, and to demonstrate this via a close reading of the Lüshi Chunqiu 呂氏春秋 (Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals) which makes wuwei the epicenter of its doctrine of “the Dao of the ruler.” Indeed, the Lüshi Chunqiu’s unique application of wuwei lies not only in its borrowing of Daoist and Legalist norms, but in having the ruler meet the following prerequisites: be without knowledge, keep the senses and heart-mind pure, be reliant on others, follow Yin 陰 and Yang 陽, and study the course of heaven and earth to know the ways of humanity. There is, therefore, more to wuwei than meets the eye. (shrink)