政治文明与宪政的关系

政治文明是一个从物质文明和精神文明之中抽象出来的且相对独立的概念。从内涵上说 ,政治文明的核心是政治民主 ;从外延上说 ,政治文明包括政治观念的文明、政治规范的文明和政治秩序的文明。政治文明同宪政的关系表现为 :政治文明是宪政的前提和基础 ;宪政是政治文明的支柱和灵魂 ;现代政治文明发展的主流、本质和终极趋向是政治文明的宪法化和宪政文明。文章最后还讨论了政治文明与中国宪政的建构问题 :即建构“民主”与“宪政”的协调并用模式 ,重塑“权力”与“权利”的互动关系模式及完善“国家”和“社会”的二元结构模式     

政治文明的宪政维度

政治文明是个历史的范畴 ,不能无指向、无语境地空谈。如果以近现代意义上的宪法诞生为界限 ,那么 ,在此之前的“政治文明”即古典政治文明 ,与宪政似无太大联系 ;但宪法诞生后 ,政治文明就与宪政形成了不可分割的结构性关联。从历史理性的角度看 ,宪政是近现代政治文明的必然选择 ,是近现代政治文明的基础与标志 ;从功能分析的角度看 ,宪政比民主更契合近现代政治文明的核心内容 ,更适合充当近现代政治文明之“核心”这一角色 ;从价值理性的角度看 ,宪政的“真”、“善”、“美”内质使其鹤立于一般的政治要素群 ,宪政乃近现代政治文明之灵魂。     

孙中山对西方近代宪政文化之扬弃

两种宪政文化 宪政文化,是以宪法为基础的民主的政治状态。就实质言之,宪政文化指的是一种民主的政治状态,区别于独裁、专制的政治状态;从法律特征言之,宪政文化指的是建立于宪法的基础上的政治状态,指明了宪法在政治生活中的地位与作用(将宪法作为民主政治的集中体现的共识正是反映了这一点)。 宪政文化包含了二个方面的属性:价值属性和操作属性。以大多数人的利益为政治的目标是宪政文化的价值属性即根本属性,政治的过程由大多数人参与其中则是宪政文化的操作     

中国宪法的宪政取向与缺失--基于中国现行宪法的文本分析

在人类政治智慧的发明中,宪政是最有可能实现民主、自由、人权、法治和公正,最有利于保证社会秩序和国家稳定的制度设计和价值理念,现代宪政蕴含的逻辑至少包括人民主权、宪法法律至上、尊重和保障人权、权力机关优位、依法行政、公正司法、监督和制约公权力等方面.我国现行宪法虽在很大程度上体现了现代宪政文明的价值取向,但仍存在着宪法价值取向上国家主义至上和过于理想化倾向、宪法基本原则表述不明确、公民基本权利与自由保障乏力、国家权力分配体制不明确、秩序缺位和面临宪法实施困境等宪政缺失.对此在宪政建设过程中必须予以正视,以弥合宪法与宪政的差距.     

宪法价值论

宪法在目的和手段两方面体现其基本价值。作为宪法的实体价值，人民主权植根于一定的物质利益关系，并成为近现代立宪社会发展的根本导向，在宪政实践的不同层次上得以实现；作为宪法的形式价值，权利——权力秩序的任务在于调整和理顺宪政社会中权利与权力这一政治矛盾的关系，是人民主权得以实现的基本形式。这两重价值相互依存、相互促进，必然要求现代社会保证宪法的至上权威，完善宪政制度和组织结构，实现宪法主治     

宪政正当性论略

宪政是按宪法运作的政治和政治体制,是颁布宪法的必然目标和实践归属。我国一些学者却明确提出了“不能把‘宪政’作为我国的基本政治概念”的主张,这种“宪政否定论”不仅在一定程度上淡化新中国对宪政建设的贡献,也削弱我国公民本来就很淡薄的宪法意识,应予纠正。宪政是一个比民主、法治和人权抽象程度更高的概念,可以涵括我国现行政治理念,客观地对待现代政治文明,确立宪政的目标,加强宪法实施,把宪法规定的东西切实落实下去,是一种积极、稳妥、务实的民主政治发展道路。     

西方宪政文化浅议

<正> “宪法”一词出现于中国,由来已久。《尚书》有“监于先王成宪,其永无愆”,《国语·晋书》则有“赏善罚奸,国之宪法”之说。这里所提及的“宪”、“宪法”并无现代意蕴,与“刑”、“法”同义,不过是祖先语汇丰富的又一例证而已。就制度而言,立宪政体确立于近代。近代革命将权利、自由、平等的理念熔铸于宪法之中,宪政取代专制政体成为近现代国家共同的追求和现实,宪政与民主政治同义。伴随着西方近代文明巨浪对     

伦理的宪法价值初探

伦理与宪法的交融在德法并治的现代社会显得尤为重要和突出。本文重点讨论了伦理的宪法价值,即在以人为本的逻辑起点下尊重人性尊严,这为伦理的宪法价值的基础价值;实现不朽的自由、平等、博爱的应然价值,即实现伦理的宪法价值的具体价值体现;最终建立起正义的宪政文明,这方面就是终极价值的归属。本文旨在宏观方面寻求各个国家和民族可以对话的理想平台,找到符合正义原则的宪政制度;在微观层面探析伦理之于宪法的作用,推动宪法不断向良、善方向发展。     

宪政中的程序论纲

宪政中的程序即宪法程序 ,是其外在价值与内在价值的统一 ,其构建模式有两种 ,即严格规则模式和正当程序模式。结合我国宪政建设的实践 ,当前的宪政建设应在选择正当程序模式基础上优先发展宪法程序。     

宪法泛政治化的逻辑归谬与历史反思

马伯里诉麦迪逊案创立的“政治问题不审查”之宪法惯例及与美国宪法传统相契合的政治观,将对宪法正当性的逻辑判断转读为对于主体的道德依赖,其生成的逻辑结构未免带有强迫性,导致宪法的泛政治化。近代旧中国立宪的逻辑怪圈亦然:宪法“移植”使得“应然宪法”性状无法获得“实然宪法”有效地证明,则悖论产生;“自上而下”的立宪路径和权力本位,使得宪法缺少正当性基础;明显的“工具性”特征,造成“政治”与“宪法”的“目标冲突”,形成“体”和“用”的二律背反。事实就是:宪法的泛政治化是一个世界现象,防止宪法泛政治化,宪法司法化具有价值上的合理性,但以司法化为导向的中国宪政目标之实现尚需经历一个长期的准备阶段,要防止两种极端倾向:悲观主义和冒进主义。     

Immigration,intermarriage and the changing face of Europe in the post war period

In this article we compare the propensity to intermarry of various migrant groups and their children who settled in Germany, France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands in the post-war period, using a wide range of available statistical data. We try to explain different intermarriage patterns within the framework of Alba and Nee's assimilation theory and pay special attention to the role of religion, colour and colonial background. We therefore compare colonial with non colonial migrants and within these categories between groups with ‘European’ (Christian) and non-European (Islam, Hinduism) religions. First of all, religion appears to be an important variable. Migrants whose faith has no tradition in Western Europe intermarry at a much lower rate than those whose religious backgrounds correspond with those that are common in the country of settlement. The rate of ethnic endogamous marriages in Western Europe are highest in Hindu and Muslim communities, often regardless if they came as guest workers or colonial migrants. Whereas differences in religion diminish the propensity to intermarry, colour or ‘racial’ differences on the other hand seem to be less important. This is largely explained by the pre-migration socialisation. Furthermore, the paper argues that the attention to institutions, as rightly advocated by Richard Alba and Victor Nee, needs a more refined and layered elaboration. Institutions, often as barriers to intermarriage, do not only emanate from the receiving society, but also—be it less formalized—within migrant communities. Especially religions and family systems, but also organized nationalist feelings, can have a profound influence on how migrants think about endogamy. Finally, strong pressures to assimilate, often through institutionalized forms of discrimination and stigmatization, not only produce isolation and frustrate assimilation (with resulting low intermarriage rates), but can also stimulate assimilation by 'passing' mechanisms. These factors, together with a more comparative perspective, are not completely ignored in the new assimilation theory, but—as this study of Western European intermarriage patterns stresses—deserve to be included more systematically in historical and social scientist analyses.     

Best practices for structuring a family court parenting plan evaluation under the 2022 AFCC Guidelines

Evaluation appointment orders provide enforceable scaffolding for conduct of family court parenting plan evaluations, and use of the evaluator's reports, feedback, file, and testimony. Unlike a contract, a stipulated or adjudicated appointment order is directly enforceable by the family court. It unambiguously positions the evaluator as the family court's appointee – answerable directly to the court and, in some jurisdictions, protected by quasi-judicial immunity from damages claims. A well-crafted appointment order governs the roles and expectations of the court, the evaluator, the parties, the lawyers, and the collateral witnesses. An appointment order mandates the legal duties, rights, powers, and responsibilities of the professionals, the parties, and the collateral witnesses. At minimum, an appointment order articulates the legal basis for the appointment, the purpose and scope of the evaluation, compensation of evaluator, and the duty of the parties to participate in the process. A written evaluation protocol or procedures statement discloses in advance the methods of investigation and assessment that the evaluator intends to use. Together, the appointment order and written protocol help the evaluator, lawyers, parents, and judge manage the complexity of the evaluation process.     

Illumination,Imagination, Creativity: Rājaśekhara,Kuntaka, and Jagannātha on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pratibhā</Emphasis>

Sanskrit poeticians make the visionary faculty of pratibhā a necessary part of the professional poet’s make-up. The term has a pre-history in Bhartṛhari’s linguistic metaphysics, where it is used to explain the unitary perception of meaning. This essay examines the relation between pratibhā and possible theories of the imagination, with a focus on three unusual theoreticians—Rājaśekhara, Kuntaka, and Jagannātha Paṇḍita. Rājaśekhara offers an analysis of pratibhā that is heavily interactive, requiring the discerning presence of the bhāvaka listener or critic; he also positions pratibhā in relation to Bildung (vyutpatti) and practice. For Kuntaka, pratibhā, never an ex nihilo creation by a poet, serves as the basis for the peculiar forms of intensified insight and experience that constitute poetry; these may also involve the creative scrambling and re-articulation of the object in terms of its systemic composition. At times, Kuntaka’s pratibhā comes close to a strong notion of imaginative process. But the full-fledged thematization of the imagination, and of pratibhā as its support and mechanism, is best seen in the seventeenth-century debates preserved for us by Jagannātha. A link is suggested between the discourse of poetic imagination in Jagannātha and similar themes that turn up in Indo-Persian poets such as Bedil.     

Preventing Homelessness for System‐Involved Youth

Too many youth and young adults find themselves on the streets, couch‐surfing with friends, in emergency shelters or worse, after exiting the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. In some circumstances, youth have had court hearings until their exit from the legal system, but those hearings have not focused on long‐range plans of youth and emergencies youth may encounter. In other circumstances, there has been little or no planning prior to discharge, especially for young people who leave the juvenile justice system. Courts can and should prevent, alleviate or end youth homelessness for youth who appear before them through strategies that are enumerated in the recently‐passed NCJFCJ resolution. This article expounds on three of these strategies – coordinating transition and re‐entry plans, insisting on effective legal representation of youth, and utilizing sound judicial leadership. It also describes the concurrent efforts of the Coalition for Juvenile Justice and the American Bar Association's Homeless Youth Legal Network to remove legal barriers and improve outcomes for youth and young adults experiencing homelessness.     

What similes in Sāṃkhya do: a comparison of the similes in the Sāṃkhya texts in the Mahābhārata, the Sāṃkhyakārikā and the Sāṃkhyasūtra

In Sāṃkhya similes are an important means to communicate basic philosophical teachings. In the texts similes are frequently used, especially in the Sāṃkhya passages in the Mahābhārata, in the Sāṃkhyakārikā and in the Sāṃkhyasūtra. This paper compares the similes in these three texts and analyses changes in the philosophy as revealed in the similes. A comparison of the similes of Sāṃkhya texts produced over more than one thousand years reveals changes in the emphasis in this philosophical system. The purpose of the similes in the Sāṃkhya passages of the Mahābhārata is to produce an intuitive understanding of the separateness of puruṣa and prakṛti. The similes are designed to lead the listener to understand this basic dualism. In the Sāṃkhyakārikā the most difficult issues are the relationship between prakṛti and puruṣa and the idea of prakṛti working for the salvation of puruṣa. One whole chapter of the Sāṃkhyasūtra is devoted to similes.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Anyathākhyāti</Emphasis>: A Critique by Appaya Dīkṣita in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Parimala</Emphasis>

In this paper, the problem of illusory perception, as approached by the Nyāya and Advaita Vedānta schools of philosophy, is discussed from the standpoint of the Parimala. This seminal work belonging to the Bhāmatī tradition of Advaita Vedānta was composed in the sixteenth century by the polymath Appaya Dīk?ita. In the context of discussing various theories of illusion, Dīk?ita dwells upon the Nyāya theory of anyathākhyāti, and its connection with jñānalak?a?apratyāsatti as a causal factor for perception, and closely examines if such an extraordinary (alaukika) perception is tenable to explain illusory perception. He then proceeds to point out the deficiencies of this model and thereby brings to the fore the anirvacanīyakhyāti of Advaitins as the only theory which stands scrutiny.     

The Brahman and the Word Principle (Śabda)

The literature of Bhartṛhari and Maṇḍana attention in contemporary times. The writings of the prominent linguistic philosopher and grammarian Bhartṛhari and of Manḍana, an encyclopedic scholar of later seventh century and most likely a senior contemporary of Śaṅkara, shape Indian philosophical thinking to a great extent. On this premise, this study of the influence of Bhartṛhari on Maṇḍana’s literature, the scope of this essay, allows us to explore the significance of Bhartṛhari’s writings, not only to comprehend the philosophy of language, but also to understand the contribution of linguistic philosophy in shaping Advaita philosophy in subsequent times. This comparison is not to question originality on the part of Maṇḍana, but rather to explore the interrelationship between linguistic philosophy and the monistic philosophy of the Upaniṣadic tradition. Besides excavating the role of Bhartṛhari writings on the texts of Maṇḍana, analysis this will reveal the interrelatedness of the Advaita school of Śaṅkara often addressed as ‘pure non-dualism’ (Kevalādvaita) and the Advaita of Bhartṛhari, identified as ‘non-dualism of the word-principle’ (Śabdādvaita).     

Technology transfer perspectives in globalising India (drugs and pharmaceuticals and biotechnology)

The paper briefly outlines the status of technology transfer related issues in drugs & pharma and biotechnology sectors in India. The paper also outlines the contemporary business strategies including R&D and technology transfer models. The study indicates that present technology transfer policies and mechanisms are weak and need to be restructured. The current fiscal incentives and tax concessions etc. available for R&D in industry seem to have outlived and are no longer attractive because of continuous lowering of tariff rates and tax rates in the context of WTO and liberalization of policies. Moreover, the issue of R&D support to industry is not covered in the WTO as in case of subsidies. Therefore, it is advisable for the government to revisit the existing promotional measures for R&D. FDI policies also need to be tailored to encourage Technology transfers and capability building. Recommendations are made for making Technology Transfer more effective for the growth and competitiveness of the industry. A technology transfer management model is suggested.      

The Realism of Universals in Plato and Nyāya

It has become commonplace in introductions to Indian philosophy to construe Plato’s discussion of forms (εἶδος/ἰδέα) and the treatment in Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika of universals (sāmānya/jāti) as addressing the same philosophical issue, albeit in somewhat different ways. While such a comparison of the similarities and differences has interest and value as an initial reconnaissance of what each says about common properties, an examination of the roles that universals play in the rest of their philosophical enquiries vitiates this commonplace. This paper draws upon the primary texts to identify the following metaphysical, epistemological, semantic and soteriological roles that universals play in the philosophy of Plato and of Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika:

Metaphysical: causal of the existence of x Metaphysical: constitutive of the identity/essence of x Epistemological: cognitively causal (i.e. of the cognition of one over many) Epistemological: epistemically causal (i.e. of knowledge of x) Semantic: necessary condition of speech and reason Epistemological: vindicatory of induction (Nyāya only) Metaphysical: explanatory of causation (Nyāya only) Soteriological: cathartic contemplation (Plato only)

These roles provide us with motivations or reasons to believe that universals exist. As we examine these motivations, we find pressures mounting against our assimilating Platonic forms and the universals of Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika in the discourse about common properties. It is especially when we appreciate the utterly different contribution that universals make in securing our highest welfare that we realize how Plato and the two sister schools are not so much talking somewhat differently about the same thing, but talking somewhat similarly about different things. This better understanding of this difference in these philosophies opens a route for our better understanding of their unique contributions in the ongoing dialogue of philosophy.     

The Descent of Power: Possession,Mysticism, and Initiation in the Śaiva Theology of Abhinavagupta

This paper surveys the key terms śaktipāta and samāveśa (both of which refer to religious experience) in the primary sources of Tantric Śaivism over several centuries of textual development, building up a theory as to their range of meanings. It specifically focuses on their usage by Abhinavagupta (Kāshmīr, 10th century) by presenting a complete translation of chapter 11 of his Tantrasāra. The paper thus serves to (a) illuminate the nature of spiritual experience and the qualifcations for religious praxis in Śaivism, (b) give insight into the worldview of the Tantric Śaivas, and (c) help in pinpointing a specific and significant issue in the phenomenological study of religion generally. An earlier version of this paper has been published in a somewhat different form in Evam: Forum on Indian Representations vol. 4, published by Samvad India, New Delhi, India. This paper could not have been written without two years of intensive study with Professor Alexis Sanderson of All Souls College, Oxford, whose scholarship has proved essential in advancing my understanding of Śaivism. Also very helpful was Dr. Somadeva Vasudeva, now of Columbia University, whose database and encyclopedic knowledge have been invaluable. The germ of the idea for this article was suggested to me when Professor Paul Muller-Ortega (University of Rochester) first pointed out to me the passage beginning at MVT 2.14.