Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions

Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions Vol. 9 2013 ISSN 1609-2392 ______________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Theme: Religion, Philosophy, and Culture Theme Editor: Rajesh C. Shukla Introduction 1 Rajesh C. Shukla Philosophy of Religion, Meta-Religion, and the Expressive Dimension of Meta-Religious Discourse 15 Gordon Davis Critical Thinking versus Ideology: Challenging Education, Culture, and Religion 39 Ramón Martínez de Pisón Religion, Philosophy, and Culture: A Christian Theological Perspective 55 Anthony Chinedu Osuji Thomas Aquinas, Amartya Sen, and a Critical Economic Discourse 73 Timothy Harvie Love as Political Concept: A Short Genealogy Elucidating the Background of Anders Breivik’s Manifesto 87 Marc De Kesel Thinking Intervention: From Westphalian Non-Intervention to Military Humanitarian Intervention 105 Richard Feist Ethics, Politics, and Public Life: An Aristotelian Account 123 Rajesh C. Shukla Fonder le vivre-ensemble à travers l’éducation: L’apport du cours d’éthique et de culture religieuse 139 Martin Samson ii Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions Humanisme et pluralité: une pratique du jugement pour les débats publics 155 Sophie Cloutier Référence chrétienne, culture et historicité modernes 171 Louis Perron Non-thematic papers When Confucian Orthodoxy encountered the Papacy: A Contrast in Political Thought between Confucianism and Christianity in the late Ming Dynasty 185 Yun Huang Tu Wei-Ming and Charles Taylor on Embodied Moral Reasoning 199 Andrew Tsz Wan Hung CONTRIBUTORS Sophie Cloutier is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and directrice de l'École d'Éthique publique, at the Université Saint-Paul, Ottawa, Canada. Gordon Davis studied philosophy at McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Oxford, where he finished his doctorate in 2005. His work addresses the history of ethical theory in both Western and Eastern traditions, as well as various issues in contemporary ethics and political philosophy, and tackles metaethical questions such as the viability of moral relativism and related analyses of moral discourse. He is the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Marc De Kesel is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. His fields of research are Public Ethics, Continental Philosophy, Political Theory, Holocaust Studies, Religion Studies, and Freudo-Lacanian Theory. He has published on the ethics of psychoanalysis ( Eros & Ethics , 2009), on the critical core of monotheism (Goden breken [Breaking Gods ], 2010), on the logic of gift-giving ( Niets dan liefde [Nothing but Love ], 2012), on Holocaust reception ( Auschwitz mon amour , 2012), and on Slavoj Zizek ( Zizek , 2012). Ramón Martínez de Pisón is Professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences at Saint Paul University. He holds doctorates in theology and psychology and is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles on Christian anthropology, sin and evil, death and the afterlife, shame and suicide, as well as religion and violence. He is a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the religious congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Richard Feist is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Saint Paul University. He is the author of Inference and Persuasion (2005, with Leslie Armour), has edited Husserl and the Sciences: Selected Perspectives (2004) and Husserl and Stein (2004, with William Sweet), and has published in Études maritainiennes , Science et esprit , Synthese , De Philosophia , and other journals. Timothy Harvie is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at St. Mary’s University, Calgary, Alberta. He is the author of Jürgen Moltmann’s Ethics of Hope: Eschatological Possibilities for Moral Action (2009), and of articles in journals such as The Heythrop Journal , Canadian Theological Review , and the International Journal of Systematic Theology . Andrew T. W. Hung ( 洪子雲博士 ) is a lecturer in the Division of Communication and Social Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic iv Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions University - Hong Kong Community College. His research interests include the philosophy of Charles Taylor, Western and Chinese political philosophy, and Christian moral and political theory. His recent essays “Huntington, Samuel P. (1927–2008)” and “Sandel, Michael (1953 – )” appeared in International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences , 2nd edition. Yun Huang (黄芸 ) holds degrees in Engineering and Chinese Philosophy, and received her doctorate in Ethics from Peking University in 2006. She taught philosophy at Jiangxi Normal University for six years before moving to a postdoctoral fellowship at Nanjing University in 2012. She has published in Studies of Confucian Culture , International Sinology , the Journal for the Study of Christian Culture , and in several of the volumes of the multi-volume Study of Christianity . Her primary research interest is in the area of political philosophy, specifically Confucianism and Christianity; secondary research interests are in comparative philosophy, church history, practical theology, and Sino-western communications. Anthony Chinedu Osuji is a postdoctoral student in Public Ethics at Saint Paul University, in Ottawa. He holds degrees in Philosophy, Education, and Social and Cultural Anthropology, as well as a doctorate in theology from the Université catholique de Louvain, in Belgium. Louis Perron teaches Philosophy at the Université Saint Paul in Ottawa. His research focuses on contemporary continental philosophy, interfaith dialogue, and on the possibility of a role for the transcendent within the context of philosophy. He is the author of L’Eschatologie de la raison selon Jean Ladrière (2005). Martin Samson is a doctoral student in Études de conflits / Conflict Studies at the Université Saint-Paul in Ottawa. He holds a Master's degree in Public Ethics and a B.Ed. from the Université du Québec en Outaouais. Rajesh C. Shukla is Associate Professor in the School of Public Ethics at the Faculty of Philosophy, Saint Paul University. Educated at the University of Allahabad, University of Delhi, and the University of Ottawa, his research areas are Ethics and political philosophy; public policy; environmental ethics; and karma theory. He is co-editor of Technology and the Changing Face of Humanity (2010) and Ethical Leadership and Contemporary Challenges: Philosophical Perspectives (2013), and has published in Philosophy, Culture, and Traditions , Maritain Studies/Etudes Maritainiennes , Journal of East and West Thought , Frontiers of Philosophy in China , Existenz: An International Journal in Philosophy, Religion, Politics and the Arts , and in the Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research . INTRODUCTION: RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY, AND CULTURE: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE Rajesh C. Shukla In recent years we have noticed a growing religious and cultural revival in various parts of the world. The reasons for this revival may be many but for the sake of clarity we can broadly categorize them under two heads. On the one hand, there appears to be a renewed public interest in the understanding and construction of the religious and cultural identity of individuals and the role that such identity plays in social and political discourse of our times (Habermas 2010, 114-118). Millions of people identify themselves on the basis of their religion and culture and find meaning and satisfaction in their spiritual and cultural beliefs. On the other hand, some have also used religious and cultural commitments to justify some of the most heinous crimes in human history, forcing us even harder to consider whether religion and culture can serve a common public good or if they remain an impediment to human progress; this has been argued by many thinkers in the Enlightenment era (Cassirer 2009, 47-49). According to the Enlightenment view, the realization of true human progress and potential is virtually impossible as long as human beings remain constrained by their narrow religious and cultural commitments, together with other pathological emotions. Many have argued that the Enlightenment project, particularly its absolute trust in human reasoning as the fundamental criterion of thought and value, fails to appreciate the role of religion, culture, and tradition in human life, leading to an illusory rational and cosmopolitan ideal unattainable in experience (MacIntyre 2008, 51-61). The difficulty is not that such an ideal cannot be achieved because of a lack of resources – human reasoning, thought and commitment – but because the ideal itself is inherently flawed (MacIntyre 2008, 61). The overzealous insistence on human reason as the ultimate arbitrator of all disputes, conceptualizes reason in a formal sense that robs it of its human character and connotations. In other words, the Enlightenment project sets up an impossible and fictitious ideal and for that very reason alone it must be challenged – or abandoned – if we want to engage in meaningful social discourse (MacIntyre 2008, 59-61). This conclusion, however, has seemed to me to be somewhat rushed and problematic. It was an uneasiness with the above conclusion that made me think about the relation of religion, philosophy and culture – leading to the organization of an international conference on the topic in September 2013, at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada. After some engaging conversations with my colleague, Dr. Sophie Cloutier, it became even more obvious to me that there is some truth

Load more