"我靠虚像生活"--媒介环境的影像阐释

大众传媒越来越深度地参与社会生活,我们对客观现实的认识也越来越依赖大众传媒,现实环境逐渐演变为媒介环境。媒介环境呈现出鲜明的影像特征,“我靠虚像生活”已经成为一种生存状态。运用昆德拉的“意象形态”、柏拉图的“洞穴理论”、李普曼的“拟态环境”、藤竹晓的“拟态环境的环境化”、鲍德里亚的“仿真、超真实、内爆”等理论,可以对此进行不同角度的阐述。公众把媒介环境的影像当成客观环境的真实来把握,就会落入“托马斯公理”所预言的圈套之中,可能使错误理解成为现实。     

重思霍布斯的自然权利

霍布斯以自然权利论为核心的政治哲学为现代性的西方秩序提供了坚实的基础，在这个意义上说他无愧于“近代政治哲学创始人”的关誉。列奥·施特劳斯对霍布斯的研究可以说是终身的事业，笔者基于施特劳斯早年的作品《霍布斯的政治哲学》及其将近二十年后的成名作《自然权利与历史》及《什么是政治哲学》中关于霍布斯部分的论述，意图经由施特劳斯独特的的解读视角，全面深刻地理解霍布斯的自然权利论。     

Calling on Jefferson: the ‘custodiary’ as the fourth estate in the Democratic Project

Aimed at reinforcing the democratic values of freedom of speech and increased diversity in civic access to the means of communication, this paper examines the concept of democracy within an information and communication technology-mediated context. Discussion proceeds with an analysis of orthodox views adopted by Jefferson and the architects of the American Constitution. Building on the Jeffersonian tradition, a critique is presented of present-day, non-transparent constraints on the democratic values of freedom of speech, information access and the structural constrains mitigating unfettered public access to critical information and debate on fundamental social and political issues of the day. The proposed ‘custodiary’ model for the new Democratic Project is premised on the development of a constitutional framework which encourages information diversity and freedom of access and expression as a way of bringing back ‘discourse’ into democratic praxis.     

Sir/St. Thomas More on the US Constitution: ‘More Perfect’ is not Utopian

Sir Thomas More was a politician, statesman, visionary humanist, and a friend of Erasmus, Colet, and Henry VIII. His most famous literary work is Utopia, a word coined based on the Greek for ‘no place’. Its influence has been enormous, inspiring social thinkers as diverse as Rousseau and B. F. Skinner. Using the principles More seemed to advocate, this article addresses the question: ‘What would he have thought of the Constitution of the United States had he lived to read it and experience life under its aegis?’ Much of what the Americans have done he would appreciate, much he would deplore. He would appreciate the federal nature of government, the elective nature of the legislature, and the freedom granted to citizens. He would have deplored slavery based on race and applauded the 13th Amendment. He would have looked askance at the role of the president and the necessity for a military. In sum, if we can believe that what he wrote in Utopia reflects his attitudes correctly, Thomas More’s would be a mixed verdict on American republicanism.     

Evaluating Polysemy: An Analysis of The New York Times' Coverage of the End of the Cold War

This study examines The New York Times' definition of the end of the Cold War and its portrayal of the social movements that successfully challenged Communist authority in Eastern Europe. The analysis is located within and draws its significance from two research traditions. The first examines the degree to which media texts have a polysemic character, while the second tradition has explored the influence of Cold War ideology on the American news media's definition of international affairs. The Times' definition of the Cold War, its portrayal of the emerging post-Cold War world, and its depiction of collective action produced a text characterized by limited polysemy. This restricted polysemy was a product of the newspaper employing frames that resonated with American political values, excluding or minimizing frames divorced from mainstream American political beliefs, constructing a selective tradition in its definition of the past, and limiting the polysemic implications of particular frames.     

Synchronization of the acoustic evidence in the assassination of President Kennedy

We have revisited the acoustic evidence in the Kennedy assassination--recordings of the two Dallas police radio channels upon which our original NRC report (Ramsey NF et al., Report of the Committee on Ballistic Acoustics. National Research Council (US). Washington: National Academy Press, 1982. Posted at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10264.html) was based--in response to the assertion by DB Thomas (Echo correlation analysis and the acoustic evidence in the Kennedy assassination revisited. Science and Justice 2001; 41: 21-32) that alleged gunshot sounds (on Channel 1), apparently recorded from a motorcycle officer's stuck-open microphone, occur at the exact time of the assassination (as established by emergency communications on Channel 2). We have critically reviewed these two publications, and have performed additional analyses. In particular we have used recorded 60 Hz hum and correlation methods to obtain accurate speed calibrations for recordings made on both channels, cepstral analysis to seek instances of repeated segments during playback of Channel 2 (which could result from groove jumping), and spectrographic and correlation methods to analyze instances of putative crosstalk used to synchronize the two channels. This paper identifies serious errors in the Thomas paper and corrects errors in the NRC report. We reaffirm the earlier conclusion of the NRC report that the alleged "shot" sounds were recorded approximately one minute after the assassination.     

由因性达超性:明清之际的儒家“超越性”问题

当今学界关于儒家“超越性”的争论,因言说方式缺乏分层,故多有混淆。实际上,该话题肇始于明清之际,是耶儒双方围绕着“因性”与“超性”问题而展开的交流实践。重回明清之际,梳理阿奎那关于“超越”术语的几种用法,比较耶儒双方关于“超越性”的言说方式,可以发现儒家并非以神为中心进行自上而下的言说,而是从现实出发,对“超越性”问题进行自下而上的回溯。     

Sex,lies and rigged returns – the Kerry county parliamentary election of 11 June 1634 and its consequences

The 1634 Kerry county election involved the mis-return by the deputy sheriff of the Protestant father-in-law of the sheriff, rather than the Catholic John FitzGerald, a member of the local gentry. FitzGerald successfully appealed the return and was elected MP; however, the injustice of the original return rankled and, combined with a bitter existing family dispute with FitzGerald’s brother-in-law Patrick FitzMaurice, Lord Kerry and Lixnaw, led to accusations of sexual infidelity and a ruinous case in the Irish equivalent of the English Star Chamber. FitzGerald’s subsequent return in a by-election in 1640 formed part of the downfall of the Irish Lord Deputy, Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. This study of the 1634 Kerry county election also forces a revision of the accepted view of Wentworth’s conduct of all the elections for that Irish parliament, with consequences for an understanding of the early stages of his deputyship.     

As the word turns: Drama,rhetoric, and press coverage of the Hill‐Thomas hearings

Because of the unique character of the Hill‐Thomas hearings, journalists were left without a stock political plot to render the proceedings in familiar terms. Using narrative and rhetorical analyses, the study examines how newspaper journalists turned to so‐called women's entertainment genres such as soap opera and melodrama to dramatize and ultimately depoliticize the hearings. The study identifies four recurring rhetorical themes—melodrama, eroticization, agon, and privatization—that served to frame Hill's allegations of sexual harassment against Thomas not in terms of social and political debate but in terms of drama.