Liberty beyond neo-liberalism: a republican critique of liberal governance in a globalising age

Steven Slaughter examines whether liberals can govern in a way that promotes liberty and moderates the significant social dislocation associated with neo-liberalism and economic globalisation. This book critically evaluates the potential of various liberal arguments to adequately address the harmful social aspects of economic globalisation in three distinct stages. First, it examines the configuration of contemporary economic globalisation and the consequences of this process for liberal thought and governance. Second, it examines contemporary liberal approaches by critically examining a series of liberal texts that provide practical alternative schemes of governance. Third, in finding these contemporary liberal arguments insufficient to the task of a socially responsible regulation of economic globalisation, the book concludes with an innovative scheme that stems from neo-Roman republican political theory.
This alternate approach is termed global civic republicanism and seeks to retrieve the public and civic character of the state in order to provide its citizens protection from economic vulnerability and thereby constitute a resilient form of individual liberty. As such, the philosophical and practical resources that support the idea of republican states are outlined and contrasted with cosmopolitan modes of thought. The legacy of republican ideas in respect to political economy, world politics and global governance are also examined.

The relationship between religion, spirituality, psychological adjustment, and quality of life among people with multiple sclerosis

The present research was comprised of two studies that aimed to explore the role of religious and spiritual variables in the psychological adjustment and quality of life of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In study 1, religious behavior and objective levels of spirituality and religiosity were not significantly related to psychological adjustment or quality of life among people with MS. Positive religious coping was negatively related to psychological adjustment and quality of life. In study 2, Intrinsic religious orientation and Quest religious orientation were related to poor psychological adjustment. Implications of the present research for people with MS and other chronic illnesses are discussed.

What is the subaltern of the comparative philosophy of religion?

It is claimed that Comparative Philosophy of Religion (CPR) mistakenly builds on the dogmas of comparative religion (or history of religions) and philosophy of religion. Thus, the belief that there are things common and therefore comparable between two or more traditions and that these objects of comparison are of philosophical or theological significance are questions that continue to trouble the field. Just what does one compare, how does one choose what to compare or why, through what methodological and epistemic tools, and who is it that carries out the tasks? But what has remained unasked and unanalyzed are the larger meta-questions concerning the motivation, civilizational presuppositions, cultural parochialism, or legacies of orientalism, modernity, and (post-)colonialism that together affect the boundedness of certain key categories and thematic issues in the comparative enterprise such as God or the Transcendent, Creation, the Problem of Evil, the Afterlife, Sin, Redemption, Purpose, and the End. Is difference with respect to alterity and altarity permissible? If so, what a postcolonial, differently gendered, cross-cultural critique would look like and what is left of CPR are two such questions explored here.

Reviewing public reason: a critique of rawls' political liberalism and the idea of public reason

This article provides a critical review of Rawls' effort in Political Liberalism to construct apolitical theory of justice compatible with the fact of reasonable pluralism. Particular attention is given to the 'idea of public reason' and political liberalism's liberal neutrality. It is argued that because of its liberal neutrality, political liberalism would preclude people from endorsing at least some reasonable comprehensive views and, therefore, as a theory it lacks the necessary stability required to be as successful as Rawls claims.

Freud, civilization, religion and stoicism

Freud's debt to stoicism has been seldom discussed. His attitude toward science had a distinct ethical slant taken from the ancient world, via Freud's humanistic education. Freud's method involved detachment but did not imply moral coldness and indifference any more than stoicism did. The stoics wanted to be therapists of the mind just as physicians cared for the body. For both Freud and the stoics, reason was in battle with the passions and required clear sight to have a chance of prevailing over them. In contrasting religious worldviews with the scientific approach, Freud failed to see his own approach as ethical. Freud made extensive forays at individual and collective levels but in the years since Freud's death, the psychoanalytic vision has narrowed. At 150 years after his birth, the authors can still admire Freud's exceptional ethical courage and recognize that if psychoanalysis is to survive, it needs to regain his cultural range and spirit of critical inquiry