Is religious faith consistent with being an intellectually virtuous thinker? In seeking to answer this question, one quickly finds others, each of which has been the focus of recent renewed attention by epistemologists: What is it to be an intellectually virtuous thinker? Must all reasonable belief be grounded in public evidence? Under what circumstances is a person rationally justified in believing something on trust, on the testimony of another, or because of the conclusions drawn by an intellectual authority? Can it be reasonable to hold a belief on a topic over which there is significant, entrenched disagreement among informed inquirers, or should such disagreement lead all parties to modify or suspend their own judgments? Is there anything about faith that exempts it from measurement against such epistemic norms? And if we would so evaluate it, how exactly should we understand the intellectual commitments faith requires? The volume's introduction provides a roadmap of the central issues and controversies as currently discussed by philosophers. In fourteen new essays written to engage nonspecialists as well as philosophers working in religion and epistemology, a diverse and distinguished group of thinkers then consider the place of intellectual virtue in religious faith, exploring one or more of the specific issues noted above.
George Orwell has been embraced, adopted, and co-opted by everyone from the far left to the neoconservatives. Each succeeding generation of Anglo-American intellectuals has felt compelled to engage the life, work, and cultural afterlife of Orwell, who is considered by many to have been the foremost political writer of the twentieth century. Every Intellectual's Big Brother explores the ways in which numerous disparate groups, Orwell's intellectual "siblings," have adapted their views of Orwell to fit their own agendas and how in doing so they have changed our perceptions of Orwell himself. By examining the politics of literary reception as a dimension of cultural history, John Rodden gives us a better understanding of Orwell's unique and enduring role in Anglo-American intellectual life. In Part One, Rodden opens the book with a section titled "Their Orwell, Left and Right," which focuses on Orwell's reception by several important literary circles of the latter half of the twentieth century. Beginning with Orwell's own contemporaries, Rodden addresses the ways various intellectual groups of the 1950s responded to Orwell. Rodden then moves on in Part Two to what he calls the "Orwell Confraternity Today," those contemporary intellectuals who have, in various ways, identified themselves with or reacted against Orwell. The author concludes by examining how Orwell's status as an object of admiration and detraction has complicated the way in which he has been perceived by readers since his death.
The increasing emphasis on a "practical" education in this technological age has threatened to deprive more and more students of a thorough schooling in the humanities. In this book Edwin E. Aubrey seeks to show how humanistic values and the humanistic spirit may better be served in higher education. Aubrey examines the place of the humanities and ethical and religious teachings in our universities and colleges. His detailed study provides a clear definition of the objectives of humanistic teaching as well as an analysis of the impediments to the full realization of a humanities program, and offers concrete proposals for improving the present situation. Part Two of the book is devoted to the nature and place of ethical and religious values in the university curriculum.
Is religious faith consistent with being an intellectually virtuous thinker? In this volume 14 original essays, written by a diverse and distinguished group of thinkers, offer new approaches to the central issues and controversies surrounding the place of intellectual virtue in religious faith.
This book provides a new perspective on the association between religious beliefs and mental health. The book is divided into five parts, the first of which traces the development of theories of organic evolution in the cultural and religious context before Charles Darwin. Part II describes the major evolutionary theories that Darwin proposed in his three books on evolution, and the religious, sociological, and scientific reactions to his theories. Part III introduces the reader to the concept of evolutionary psychiatry. It discusses how different regions of the brain evolved over time, and explains that certain brain regions evolved to protect us from danger by assessing threats of harm in the environment, including other humans. Specifically, this part describes: how psychiatric symptoms that are commonly experienced by normal individuals during their everyday lives are the product of brain mechanisms that evolved to protect us from harm; the prevalence rate of psychiatric symptoms in the U.S. general population; how religious and other beliefs influence the brain mechanisms that underlie psychiatric symptoms; and the brain regions that are involved in different psychiatric disorders. Part IV presents the findings of U.S. studies demonstrating that positive beliefs about God and life-after-death, and belief in meaning-in-life and divine forgiveness have salutary associations with mental health, whereas negative beliefs about God and life-after-death, belief in the Devil and human evil, and doubts about one’s religious beliefs have pernicious associations with mental health. The last part of the book summarizes each section and recommends research on the brain mechanism underlying psychiatric symptoms, and the relationships among these brain mechanisms, religious beliefs, and mental health in the context of ETAS Theory.
This distinctive text, in its second edition, provides students, teachers, scholars and thinkers with a thorough understanding of various concepts of education in the modern scenario. It deals with important theoretical perspective and new developments in education sector in India. The book will serve highly valuable to the undergraduate students of education (BEd, MEd & MA—Education). Besides, the aspirants of various competitive exams like Civil Services, UGC, JRF, NET, etc., will also find this text as an indispensable resource. Organized in five units, chapters encompass various pedagogical features of education and their contemporary requirements in the emerging society. This book is thoroughly revised and updated as per the needs of latest syllabi of different universities and institutions. KEY FEATURES • Matter is discussed in lucid and easy to understand manner. • Widely covers Indian and Western Philosophers. • Incorporates diverse range of theoretical approaches of education. • Explores key concepts in education and society. • Concepts are illustrated with the help of flowcharts, figures and tables. NEW TO THE EDITION • Chapters are thoroughly revised along with inclusion of 17 new chapters unit-wise : o Unit I Modern Concept of Education (Ch-4, Ch-5, Ch-6) o Unit II Education and Philosophy (Ch-13, Ch-14, Ch-15, Ch-16) o Unit III Indian and Western Philosophers (Ch-22, Ch-23, Ch-30) o Unit V Education and Society (Ch-39, Ch-40, Ch-41, Ch-42, Ch-49, Ch-58, Ch-59) • Current educational and social problems are discussed elaborately with their solutions. • Besides Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghosh, etc., some more educationists like Bertrand Russell and Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan are also introduced in the new edition. • Some common social topics like Awakenism, Humanism, Human Rights, Education for Peace, Education for Social Pollution and Religious Education are included in the current edition. TARGET AUDIENCE • B.Ed. / M.Ed. • MA (Education)