Alfred Schutz in his phenomenological studies on the social world, has systematically analyzed the nature of social relationships between individuals, and has arrived at an originating point involving intersubjectivity. This point is described by what he calls the Pure We-relationship. Comparison of Schutz's analysis of the Pure We relationship with Buber's description of his personal experience of intersubjectivity, i.e., the l-Thou relationship, reveals a remarkable convergence. For instance, fundamental to both Schutz and Buber are the notions that intersubjectivity is tied (...) to the lived presence of the self with the other (i.e., sharing of time in the stream of duration), and that the 'content' of this 'experience' is related to the being of the other. These interesting features in the works of Schutz and Buber are described by showing the similarity between the Pure We and I-Thou relationships. (shrink)

در این نوشتار به دیدگاه اوتو دربارۀ وحدت و کثرت عرفان پرداخته شده است. وی از سویی به کثرت و تنوع عرفان و از سوی دیگری به همگرایی انواع معتقد است. به اعتقاد او گونه‌های عرفان یا تیره‌های معنوی در ساحتی فراتر از فرهنگ‌ها، نژادها و سرزمین‌های مختلف شکل می‌گیرد و می‌توان این واقعیت را بر مبنای ساحت «پیشاتجربی» امر قدسی تبیین کرد. در این نوشتار این موضوع از دیدگاه اوتو به تفصیل بررسی می‌شود. در حقیقت اوتو، که بحث خویش (...) را از یک عزیمتگاه کانتی آغاز می‌کند، در نهایت به لحاظ سنت فلسفی به فیلسوفان افلاطونی، و به لحاظ سنت دینی به الهی‌دانانی چون لوتر نزدیک می‌شود. به علاوه، نشان داده شده است که بر این مبنا می‌توان مقایسه یا حتی تطبیق سازنده‌ای میان این دیدگاه وی با آنچه در سنت اسلامی پیرامون ازلیّت نفس و انتخاب ازلی مطرح است، انجام داد. (shrink)

This article deals with the grounds for accepting or rejecting the insights of mystics. We examine the social-epistemological question of what the non-mystic should make of the mystic's claim, and what she might be able to make of it, given various possible states of the evidence available to her.For clarity, let's reserve the term “mystic” for one who claims to have had an ineffable insight. As such, there are two parts to the mystic's claim: first, a substantive insight into the (...) way the world works; second, a meta-insight that the substantive insight is ineffable. The two parts to the claim are independent: it is possible to accept that the mystic has been struck by an ineffable idea, but refuse to lend credence to the idea itself. Similarly, it is possible to accept the mystic's claim that she has had a veridical insight, whilst denying her claim that it is ineffable, or that she can know that it's ineffable. Thus, we could inquire into the grounds for accepting either part of the mystic's conjunctive claim. In this article, we deal only with the grounds for rejecting or accepting the substantive insight of a mystic, granting the meta-insight that the insight is ineffable. (shrink)

My paper picks up a long ignored suggestion of Sheldon Wolin - that we use Thomas Kuhn''s analysis of scientific revolutions to examine the crisis of "normal" political science. This approach allows us to see the connection between the state of the discipline and the larger crisis of meaning afflicting modernity. I then use Eric Voegelin''s notion of a multicivilizational "truth quest" - or search for meaning - to make a case for institutionalizing "extraordinary" or "revolutionary" political science. I attempt (...) such a discipline by following Voegelin - reflecting on "the full amplitude of human experience." Such a meditation takes place within the "first reality of existence" - Plato''s metaxy or the "in-between" - the experience of human existence between the sacred and the mundane. I bring to Voegelin''s exploration of the metaxy the realm of experience which is most radically "other" for modernity - the primal political order of paleolithic and contemporary hunting gathering societies. I argue that shamanic "Urreligion" and Socratic discussion share a boundary crossing logic which provides a basis for a discipline of "extraordinary political science." Finally I suggest that such a discipline is both the quest for, and, in a sense, a realization of, the Good Life - a source of order for the individual and society. (shrink)