Smashing the Mirror of Yamato: Sakaguchi Ango, Decadence & a Postmetaphysical Buddhist Critique of Culture

This article focuses on several key philosophical themes in the criticism of Sakaguchi Ango (1906–1955), one of postwar Japan’s most influential and controversial writers. Associated with the underground Kasutori culture as well as the Burai-ha of Tamura Taijirō (1911–1983), Oda Sakunosuke (1913–1947) and Dazai Osamu (1909–1948), Ango gained fame for two provocative essays on the theme of daraku or “decadence”—Darakuron and Zoku darakuron—pubished in 1946, in the wake of Japan’s traumatic defeat and the beginnings of the Allied Occupation. Less well-known is the fact that Ango spent his student years studying classical Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan, and that he at at one time aspired to the priesthood. The article analyses the concept of daraku in the two essays noted above, particularly as it relates to Ango’s vision of a refashioned morality based on an interpretation of human subjectivity vis-à-vis the themes of illusion and disillusion. It argues that, despite the radical and modernist flavor of Ango’s essays, his “decadence” is best understood in terms of Mahāyāna and Zen Buddhist concepts. Moreover, when the two essays on decadence are read in tandem with Ango’s wartime essay on Japanese culture (Nihon bunka shikan, 1942), they form the foundation for a “postmetaphysical Buddhist critique of culture,” one that is pragmatic, humanistic, and non-reductively physicalist.

La Kabbale juive : histoire et doctrine ; essay critique

par Paul Vulliaud

Da la Circoncision : etude critique du procédé traditional israélite et manuel opératoire

par [Naftali Theodor] Klein

De la Condition politique et civile des juifs dans le Royaume de Pologne : examen critique d'un rapport adressé en l'année 1858 à l'Empereur Alexandre II, par le départememt de l'intérieur et des cultes du Royaume de Pologne ; texte précédé et suivi d'observations historiques, politiques et législatives

par Louis Lubliner

Lettres juives, ou correspondance philosophique, historique et critique entre un juif voyageur en differens Etats de L'Europe, et ses correspondans en divers endroits

[Jean Baptiste d'Argens]

La civilisation africaine 1876 - 1888 : étude historique et critique de l'œuvre africaine, l'organisation intérieure et de l'économie politique de l'État indépendant du Congo

par Pierre Kassai͏̈

Ueber einen Brief des Herrn Pfarrers Mäder von Straßburg an den Verfasser der franz. Monatsschrift: Mélanges de Réligion, de Morale et de Critique sacrée

von A. Bost

Wendell Berry's Critique of E. O. Wilson on Science

Drawing on the work of Wendell Berry, among others, allows us to see through claims that science has on limits (scientism). Berry shows what follies scientism generates and provides his own guidelines to what the limits of science are or ought to be.

Speech recognition technology: a critique.

This paper introduces the session on advanced speech recognition technology. The two papers comprising this session argue that current technology yields a performance that is only an order of magnitude in error rate away from human performance and that incremental improvements will bring us to that desired level. I argue that, to the contrary, present performance is far removed from human performance and a revolution in our thinking is required to achieve the goal. It is further asserted that to bring about the revolution more effort should be expended on basic research and less on trying to prematurely commercialize a deficient technology.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Symptom Reduction: A Critique and Guide for Future Investigation.

Over the past decade, mindfulness practices have been used with increasing frequency as therapeutic components within cognitive behavioral treatment regimens. As is standard practice, prescriptive uses of mindfulness intervention are incorporated to improve end-state functioning by ameliorating problematic symptoms and conditions. Common change-targets include the control of cognitive and emotional content for purposes of enhancing psychological self-regulation and physical well-being. The term mindfulness applies to a heterogeneous range of practices, methods, and techniques. While there is no singular agreed upon definition for mindfulness, as a process concept, the term connotes an immediate, non-thetic access to events, wherein each occasioning event is experienced in toto within the broader contextual event-field, and distinct from intervening conceptual themes being noticed. Training in mindfulness practices may be conducted using individual, group, or small class formats. The current paper provides a meta-analytic review of 44 treatment outcome studies (extracted 1982 through 2006), which examines the clinical utility of mindfulness as the primary therapeutic approach. Results indicated that average effect sizes for mindfulness based interventions fell within the medium range for construct category variables examined (d = .56). These findings suggest that mindfulness training is a cost-effective treatment for a wide array of contemporary psychological problems and diagnoses, in addition to fostering positive psychology attributes such as quality and satisfaction with life. A critique of the research and recommendations for future research, including a need to examine the role of mindfulness as a tool for cultivating increased psychological acceptance and life satisfaction, is presented.

Pollock is…Crouching in My Pants” : Claes Oldenburg’s Ray Gun as Feminist Critique of the Abstract Expressionist Ego

The “seminal” piece of Claes Oldenburg’s Ray Gun art is Empire (Papa) Ray Gun (1959), a paper maché sculpted gun resembling an erect phallus and swollen testicles. After Empire (Papa) Ray Gun, Oldenburg defined Ray Gun art as anything with a right angle—a form representing the angle at which a handgun’s barrel and handle meet and/or where the erect penis and hanging testicles meet. The forms and tenants of Ray Gun continued into Oldenburg’s later installations, performances, and soft and monumental sculptures.