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Procuring (prostitution) Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female) or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing, and possibly monopolizing, a location where the prostitute may engage clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Examples of procuring include: Pimps and madams are diverse and variegated, depending on the strata in which they work, and they enter and leave the sex industry for a variety of internal and external reasons, such as family pressure, interactions with the police, and in some cases recruitment from peer sex workers. Procuring can take abusive forms. Madams/pimps may punish clients for physical abuse or failure to pay, and enforce exclusive rights to 'turf' where their prostitutes may advertise and operate with less competition | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) In the many places where prostitution is outlawed, sex workers have decreased incentive to report abuse for fear of self-incrimination, and increased motivation to seek any physical protection from clients and law enforcement that a madam/pimp might provide. The madam/pimp–prostitute relationship is often understood to be abusive and possessive, with the pimp/madam using techniques such as psychological intimidation, manipulation, starvation, rape and/or gang rape, beating, confinement, threats of violence toward the victim's family, forced drug use and the shame from these acts | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Recent empirical research of madams/pimps, however, suggest that these assumptions about abusive relationships represent stereotyped oppression narratives that may only represent a small percentage of the relationships between madams/pimps and sex workers. In the U.S., madams/pimps can be arrested and charged with pandering and are legally known as procurers. This, combined with the tendency to identify pimping with African-American masculinity, may provide some of the explanation for why approximately three-fifths of all "confirmed" human traffickers in the United States are African-American men | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) In fact, it has recently been argued that some of the extreme examples of violence cited in the article below come primarily from such stereotyping supported by Hollywood screenwriters, selective and decontextualized trial transcripts, and studies that have only interviewed parties to sex commerce in institutions of rescue, prosecution, and punishment, rather than engaging rigorous study "in situ". Where prostitution is decriminalized or regulated, procuring may or may not be legal. In jurisdictions where procuring is allowed, however, the forms permitted do not involve threats or other forms of non-consensual acts towards the prostitute or other persons; all procuring regulations differ widely from place to place | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Procuring and brothels are legal in the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, and most of Australia and Nevada. In Canada, there was a legal challenge to prostitution laws, which ended in the 2013 ruling of "Bedford v. Canada". In 2010, Ontario Superior Court Judge Susan Himel overturned the national laws banning brothels and procuring, arguing that they violated the constitution guaranteeing "the right to life, liberty and security". In 2012, Ontario Appeal Court reaffirmed the unconstitutionality of the laws. The case was appealed by the Canadian government, and was under trial in the Supreme Court of Canada in June 2013. On 20 December 2013, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down the remaining prostitution laws | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) , the Canadian government began working on replacing those regulations with ones that do not violate the Canadian constitution. The United Nations 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others requires state signatories to ban pimping and brothels, and to abolish regulation of individual prostitutes | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) It states: Whereas prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the family and the community The convention reads: Article 1 The Parties to the present Convention agree to punish any person who, to gratify the passions of another: (1) Procures, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person, even with the consent of that person; (2) Exploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of that person | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Article 2 The Parties to the present Convention further agree to punish any person who: (1) Keeps or manages, or knowingly finances or takes part in the financing of a brothel; (2) Knowingly lets or rents a building or other place or any part thereof for the purpose of the prostitution of others. Various UN commissions however have differing positions on the issue. For example, in 2012, a UNAIDS commission convened by Ban Ki-moon and backed by UNDP and UNAIDS, recommended the decriminalization of brothels and procuring. The term "procurer" derives from the French "procureur". The word "pimp" first appeared in English in 1607 in a Thomas Middleton play entitled "Your Five Gallants | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) " Of unknown origin, but may have stemmed from the French infinitive "pimper" meaning to dress up elegantly and from the present participle "pimpant" meaning alluring in seductive dress. "Pimp" used as a verb, meaning to act as a pimp, first appeared in 1636 in Philip Massinger's play, "The Bashful Lover". In the 18th and 19th centuries, the term was commonly used to refer to informers. A pimp can also mean "a despicable person". The term can also be applied to a person who is considered a ladies' man. The verb "pimping" came up in the early 17th century. Rapper Nelly tried to redefine the word "pimp" by saying that it is an acronym for "positive, intellectual, motivated person." He created a college scholarship with the name "P.I.M.P. Juice Scholarship" | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Dawn Turner Trice of the "Chicago Tribune" argues that there is "something truly unsettling, to say the least, about attaching such a vile word to a scholarship" and expresses concern about the glamorization of the term. In the first years of the 21st century, a new meaning of the word emerged in the form of a transitive verb "pimp", which means "to decorate" or "to gussy up" (compare "primp", especially in Scottish usage). This new definition was made popular by "Pimp My Ride", an MTV television show. Although this new definition paid homage to hip-hop culture and its connection to street culture, it has now entered common, even mainstream commercial, use | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) In medical contexts, the verb means "to ask (a student) a question for the purpose of testing her or his knowledge". The word "pander", meaning to "pimp" is derived from Pandarus, a licentious figure who facilitates the affair between the protagonists in "Troilus and Criseyde", a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. Pandarus appears with a similar role in Shakespeare's interpretation of the story, "Troilus and Cressida". Pimping is sometimes operated like a business. The pimp may have a bottom girl who serves as office manager, keeping the pimp apprised of law-enforcement activity and collecting money from the prostitutes. Pimps recognize a hierarchy among themselves. In certain pimp strata, the least respected, or newer pimps, are the "popcorn pimps" and "wannabes" | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) "Popcorn pimps" was a phenomenon which occurred among adolescent cocaine users of both sexes who utilized children younger than themselves to support their habits. A pimp who uses violence and intimidation to control his prostitutes is called a "gorilla pimp", while those who use psychological trickery to deceive younger prostitutes into becoming hooked into the system are called "finesse pimps". In addition, a prostitute may "bounce" from pimp to pimp without paying the "pimp moving" tax. Some pimps in the United States are also documented gang members, which causes concerns for police agencies in jurisdictions where prostitution is a significant problem. Pimping rivals narcotic sales as a major source of funding for many gangs | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Gangs need money to survive, and money equates to power and respect. While selling drugs may be lucrative for a gang, this activity often carries significant risk as stiff legal penalties and harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws exist. However, with pimping, gang members still make money while the prostitutes themselves bear the majority of the risk. Pimping has several benefits to the gang that the pimp belongs to. These benefits include helping the gang recruit new members because the gang has women available for sex, and the money brought in by prostitution allows gang members to buy cars, clothes and weapons, all of which help to recruit younger members into the gang by increasing the reputation of the gang in the local gang subculture | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) The presence of gangs (and weapons and drugs) is a virtual guarantee when prostitutes are present, which is why many law-enforcement agencies advocate taking an aggressive stance against prostitutes. Many vice units work to ascertain if the prostitute they have arrested has a pimp, and if so, they pressure them to provide information about their pimp and the gang involved. This information can then be used to go after the more serious and violent offenders. Some pimp businesses have an internal structure – built around violence – for dealing with rule breakers. For example, some pimps have been known to employ a "pimp stick", which is two coat hangers wrapped together, in order to subdue unruly prostitutes | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) A variation is a "pimp cane", used for similar purposes. Although prostitutes can move between pimps, this movement sometimes leads to violence. For example, a prostitute could be punished for merely looking at another pimp; this is considered in some pimp milieus to be "reckless eyeballing". Violence can also used on customers, for example if the customer attempts to evade payment or becomes unruly with a prostitute. Some pimps tattoo prostitutes as a mark of "ownership". The tattoo will often be the pimp's street name or even his likeness. The mark might be as discreet as ankle tattoo, or blatant as a neck tattoo or large scale font across the prostitute's lower back, thigh, chest, or buttocks | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) Since the Internet became widely available, prostitutes increasingly use websites to solicit sexual encounters. This has bypassed the need for pimps in some contexts, while some pimps have used these sites to broker their sex workers. Some scholars and sex workers' rights advocates dispute portrayals of third-party agents as violent and extremely committed to a pimp subculture, finding them inaccurate exaggerations used to foster harmful policies. For example, one study found that pimps tend to drift in and out of pimping, with some of their goals and identities classified as predominantly mainstream, some as predominantly outside of that mainstream, and some as a hybrid of conventional and non-conventional. Attempts have been made in the U.S | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) to charge pornographic-film producers with pandering under state law. The case of "California v. Freeman" in 1989 is one of the most prominent examples where a producer/director of pornographic films was charged with pandering under the argument that paying porn actors to perform sex on camera was a form of prostitution covered by a state anti-pandering statute. The State Supreme Court rejected this argument, finding that the California pandering statute was not intended to cover the hiring of actors who would be engaging in sexually-explicit but non-obscene performances | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Procuring (prostitution) It also stated that only in cases where the producer paid the actors for the purpose of sexually gratifying themselves or other actors, could the producer be charged with pandering under state law. This case effectively legalized pornography in the State of California. In 2008, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued a similar ruling (New Hampshire v. Theriault) which declared that producing pornography was not a form of prostitution under state law. | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7833443 | Procuring (prostitution) |
Gun violence Gun-related violence is violence committed with the use of a gun (firearm or small arm). Gun-related violence may or may not be considered criminal. Criminal violence includes homicide (except when and where ruled justifiable), assault with a deadly weapon, and suicide, or attempted suicide, depending on jurisdiction. Non-criminal violence includes accidental or unintentional injury and death (except perhaps in cases of criminal negligence). Also generally included in gun violence statistics are military or para-military activities. According to GunPolicy.org, 75 percent of the world's 875 million guns are civilian controlled. Roughly half of these guns (48 percent) are in the United States, which has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Globally, millions are wounded or killed by the use of guns. Assault by firearm resulted in 180,000 deaths in 2013 up from 128,000 deaths in 1990. There were additionally 47,000 unintentional firearm-related deaths in 2013. Levels of gun-related violence vary greatly among geographical regions, countries, and even subnationally. Rates of violent deaths by firearm range from as low as 0.03 and 0.04 per 100,000 population in Singapore and Japan, to 59 and 67 per 100,000 in Honduras and Venezuela. The highest rates of violent deaths by firearm in the world occur in low-income South and Central American countries such as Honduras, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Jamaica | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The United States has the 11th highest rate of gun violence in the world, and by far the largest of any large or highly developed nation, having a gun homicide rate which is 25 times higher, an unintentional gun death rate which is 6 times higher, a firearm suicide rate which is 8 times higher, and an overall firearm death rate which is 10 times higher than the average respective rates of other high income nations. Compared to similarly wealthy nations with strict gun control laws, such as Japan, the United Kingdom, or South Korea, the United States has an overall rate of firearms death per capita, which is 50–100 times greater than many of its peers | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The high rates of gun violence in the United States, which has the highest rate of gun-related deaths per capita among developed countries, despite having the highest number of police officers, is sometimes thought to be attributable to its extreme rate of gun ownership, as it is the only nation in which guns exceed people. Nearly all studies have found a positive association between gun ownership and gun-related homicide and suicide rates. According to the United Nations, deaths from small firearms exceed that of all other weapons combined, and more die each year from gun-related violence than did in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. The global death toll from use of guns may number as high as 1,000 dead each day | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence A number of ideas have been proposed on how to lessen the incidence of gun-related violence. Some propose keeping a gun at home to keep one safer. Studies show that guns in the home is associated with an increased risk of violent death in the home. According to the FBI, gun-related violence is linked to gun ownership and is not a function or byproduct of crime. Their study indicates that more than 90% of gun-related deaths were not part of a commission of a crime, rather they were directly related to gun ownership. "Mother Jones" reports that "[a] Philadelphia study found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun" and that "[h]is odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater" when armed | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Others propose arming civilians to counter mass shootings. FBI research shows that between 2000 and 2013, "In 5 incidents (3.1%), the shooting ended after armed individuals who were not law enforcement personnel exchanged gunfire with the shooters." Another proposal is to expand self defense laws for cases where a person is being aggressed upon, although "those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides" (that is, shootings where self-defense cannot be claimed). There is a strong relationship between guns in the home, as well as access to guns more generally, and suicide risk, the evidence for which is strongest in the United States. In 2017, almost half of the nation's 47,173 suicides involved a firearm | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence A 1992 case-control study conducted in Tennessee and Washington found that individuals in a firearm owning home are close to five times more likely to commit suicide than those individuals who do not own firearms. A 2002 study found that access to guns in the home was associated with an increased risk of suicide among middle-aged and older adults, even after controlling for psychiatric illness. As of 2008, there were 12 case-control studies that had been conducted in the U.S., all of which had found that guns in the home were associated with an increased risk of suicide. However, a 1996 New Zealand study found no significant relationship between household guns and suicide | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Assessing data from 14 developed countries where gun ownership levels were known, the Harvard Injury Control Research Center found statistically significant correlations between those levels and suicide rates. However, the parallels were lost when data from additional nations was included. A 2006 study found a significant effect of changes in gun ownership rates on gun suicide rates in multiple Western countries. During the 1980s and 1990s, the rate of adolescent suicides with guns caught up with adult rates, and the 75-and-older rate rose above all others. A 2002 study found that 90% of suicide attempts with firearms were successful | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The use of firearms in suicides ranges from less than 10 percent in Australia to 50 percent in the United States, where it is the most common method and where suicides outnumber homicides 2-to-1. Those who purchased a firearm where found to be high risk for suicide within a week of the purchase The United States has both the highest number of Suicides and Gun ownerships for a developed country and firearms are the most popular method to commit suicide. In the United States when Gun ownerships rise so too does suicide by firearm. Suicide can be an impulsive act, 40% of those who survived a suicide attempt said that they only considered suicide up to five minutes before attempting the act | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence This impulsivity can lead to the use of a firearm as it is seen as a quick and lethal method. According to U.S. criminologist Gary Kleck, studies that try to link gun ownership to victimology often fail to account for the presence of guns owned by other people. Research by economists John Lott of the U.S. and John Whitley of Australia indicates that safe-storage laws do not appear to affect juvenile accidental gun-related deaths or suicides. In contrast, a 2004 study led by Daniel Webster found that such laws were associated with slight reductions in suicide rates among children. The same study criticized Lott and Whitley's study on the subject for inappropriately using a Tobit model. A committee of the U.S | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence National Research Council said ecological studies on violence and firearms ownership provide contradictory evidence. The committee wrote: "[Existing] research studies and data include a wealth of descriptive information on homicide, suicide, and firearms, but, because of the limitations of existing data and methods, do not credibly demonstrate a causal relationship between the ownership of firearms and the causes or prevention of criminal violence or suicide." The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines intentional homicide as "acts in which the perpetrator intended to cause death or serious injury by his or her actions | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence " This excludes deaths: related to conflicts (war); caused by recklessness or negligence; or justifiable, such as in self-defense or by law enforcement in the line of duty. A 2009 report by the Geneva Declaration using UNODC data showed that worldwide firearms were used in an average of 60 percent of all homicides. In the U.S. in 2011, 67 percent of homicide victims were killed by a firearm: 66 percent of single-victim homicides and 79 percent of multiple-victim homicides. In 2009, the United States' homicide rate was reported to be 5.0 per 100,000. A 2016 Harvard study claims that in 2010 the homicide rate was about 7 times higher than that of other high-income countries, and that the US gun homicide rate was 25.2 times higher | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Another Harvard study found that higher gun availability was strongly correlated with higher homicide rates across 26 high-income countries. Access to guns is associated with an increased risk of being the victim of homicide. Access to firearms is not the sole contributor to increased homicide rates, however, as one study by the Southern Criminal Justice Association in 2011 found. Equally important seems to be the particular societal conditions in a given area, socio-culturally. These conditions include, but are not limited to societal age structure, economic inequality, cultural symbolism associated with firearms and the cultural value of individual life | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence A 2001 study examing gun ownership amongst 21 high-income countries found that gun ownership by country was correlated with female firearm homicide rates, but not male firearm and overall homicide rates. Some gun control advocates say that the strongest evidence linking availability of guns to death and injury is found in domestic violence studies, often referring to those by public health policy analyst Arthur Kellermann. In response to suggestions by some that homeowners would be wise to acquire firearms for protection from home invasions, Kellermann investigated in-home homicides in three cities over five years. He found that the risk of a homicide was in fact slightly higher in homes where a handgun was present | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The data showed that the risk of a crime of passion or other domestic dispute ending in a fatal injury was higher when a gun was readily available (essentially loaded and unlocked) compared to when no gun was readily available. Kellerman said this increase in mortality overshadowed any protection a gun might have deterring or defending against burglaries or invasions. He also concluded that further research of domestic violence causes and prevention are needed. Critics of Kellermann's study say that it is more directly a study of domestic violence than of gun ownership. Gary Kleck and others dispute the work | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Kleck says that few of the homicides that Kellermann studied were committed with guns belonging to the victim or members of his or her household, and that it was implausible that victim household gun ownership contributed to their homicide. Instead, according to Kleck, the association that Kellermann found between gun ownership and victimization reflected that people who live in more dangerous circumstances are more likely to be murdered, but also were more likely to have acquired guns for self-protection. In studies of nonfatal gun use, it was found that guns can contribute to coercive control, which can then escalate into chronic and more severe violence. Guns can have a negative impact on victims even without being discharged | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Threats of gun use or showing a weapon can create damaging and long-lasting fear and emotional stress in victims because they are aware of the danger of having an abuser who has access to a gun. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines robbery as the theft of property by force or threat of force. Assault is defined as a physical attack against the body of another person resulting in serious bodily injury. In the case of gun-related violence, the definitions become more specific and include only robbery and assault committed with the use of a firearm. Firearms are used in this threatening capacity four to six times more than firearms used as a means of protection in fighting crime | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Hemenway's figures are disputed by other academics, who assert there are many more defensive uses of firearms than criminal uses. See John Lott's "More Guns, Less Crime". In terms of occurrence, developed countries have similar rates of assaults and robberies with firearms, whereas the rates of homicides by firearms vary greatly by country. From 1979 to 1997, almost 30,000 people in the United States alone died from accidental firearm injuries. A disproportionately high number of these deaths occurred in parts of the United States where firearms are more prevalent. Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, accidental firearm deaths increased by about five hundred percent until April 2013 | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Violence committed with guns leads to significant public health, psychological, and economic costs. The economic cost of gun-related violence in the United States is $229 billion a year, meaning a single murder has average direct costs of almost $450,000, from the police and ambulance at the scene, to the hospital, courts, and prison for the murderer. A 2014 study found that from 2006 to 2010, gun-related injuries in the United States cost $88 billion. Assault by firearm resulted in 180,000 deaths worldwide in 2013, up from 128,000 deaths worldwide in 1990. There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013. Emergency medical care is a major contributor to the monetary costs of such violence | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence It was determined in a study that for every firearm death in the United States for the year beginning 1 June 1992, an average of three firearm-related injuries were treated in hospital emergency departments. Children exposed to gun-related violence, whether they are victims, perpetrators, or witnesses, can experience negative psychological effects over the short and long terms. Psychological trauma also is common among children who are exposed to high levels of violence in their communities or through the media. Psychologist James Garbarino, who studies children in the U.S. and internationally, found that individuals who experience violence are prone to mental and other health problems, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep deprivation | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence These problems increase for those who experience violence as children. It is conceivable that over a longer period, physical and emotional sequelae of mass shootings may lead to an array of symptoms and disability among affected individuals and communities who will likely experience lifelong consequences by carrying long-term memories of devastation, violence, injuries, and deaths. The Port Arthur massacre of 1996 horrified the Australian public. The gunman opened fire on shop owners and tourists, killing 35 people and wounding 23. This massacre, kick started Australia's laws against guns | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The Prime Minister at that time, John Howard, proposed a gun law that prevented the public from having all semi-automatic rifles, all semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns, in addition to a tightly restrictive system of licensing and ownership controls. The government also bought back guns from people. In 1996–2003 it was estimated they bought back and destroyed nearly 1 million firearms. By the end of 1996, whilst Australia was still reeling from the Port Arthur massacre, the gun law was fully in place. Since then, the number of deaths related to gun-related violence dwindled almost every year. In 1979 six hundred and eighty-five people died due to gun violence, and in 1996 it was five hundred and sixteen | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The numbers continue to drop, however they were declining also before the gun law was in place. On the Australia's most mediated gun violence-related incident since Port Arthur, was the 2014 Sydney Hostage Crisis. On 15–16 December 2014, a lone gunman, Man Haron Monis, held hostage 17 customers and employees of a Lindt chocolate café. The perpetrator was on bail at the time, and had previously been convicted of a range of offences. The following year in August, the New South Wales Government tightened the laws of bail and illegal firearms, creating a new offence for the possession of a stolen firearm, with a maximum of 14 years imprisonment | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Sweden witnessed a steep increase in gun violence in males aged 15 to 29 in the two decades prior to 2018, in addition to a rising trend in gun violence there was also a high rate of gun violence in Sweden compared to other countries in Western Europe. According to a report published by academic researchers in 2017, shooting incidents with fatal outcomes are about 4 to 5 times as common in Sweden compared to neighbouring countries such as Germany and Norway when taking population size into account. The city with the highest prevalence of shootings was Malmö. The grave violence in the studied period also changed character, from criminal motorcycle gangs to city suburbs | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence According to researcher Amir Rostami at Stockholm University, police statistics for January–November 2018 showed that the number of shootings was at a continued high rate at 274, where up until the end of November 42 people had been shot and killed and 129 wounded compared to 43 in 2017. Rostami also said there had been 100 hand grenade attacks and 1500 shootings in Sweden since 2011, about 40 people are killed annually and 500 had been wounded. Rostami also said that if this violence had been attributed to some form of extremists, this would have considered a form of civil war. Almost half (46%) of all shootings in 2018 happened in public spaces in vulnerable areas. Both victims and perpetrators are becoming younger | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence According to police in 2018, at least nine people who were innocent bystanders had been killed in cross-fire incidents in the last few years and the risk to the law-abiding public was therefore rising. The shootings at the pub Vår Krog & Bar in Gothenburg happened on 18 March 2015. Two unidentified gunmen entered a pub in Gothenburg, Sweden and began firing indiscriminately at people inside the restaurant. This shooting marked the first time an innocent bystander had been killed by criminal gang violence in Sweden. The shooters were part of a gang from North Biskopsgården out for revenge. in the United States results in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries annually. In 2013, there were 73,505 nonfatal firearm injuries (23.2 injuries per 100,000 U.S | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence citizens), and 33,636 deaths due to "injury by firearms" (10.6 deaths per 100,000 U.S. citizens). These deaths consisted of 11,208 homicides, 21,175 suicides, 505 deaths due to accidental or negligent discharge of a firearm, and 281 deaths due to firearms use with "undetermined intent". Of the 2,596,993 total deaths in the US in 2013, 1.3% were related to firearms. The ownership and control of guns are among the most widely debated issues in the country. In 2010, 67% of all homicides in the U.S. were committed using a firearm. In 2012, there were 8,855 total firearm-related homicides in the US, with 6,371 of those attributed to handguns. In 2012, 64% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S. In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm. Firearms were used to kill 13,286 people in the U.S. in 2015, excluding suicide. Approximately 1.4 million people have been killed using firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011, equivalent to a top 10th largest U.S. city in 2016, falling between the populations of San Antonio and Dallas, Texas. Compared to 22 other high-income nations, the U.S. gun-related murder rate is 25 times higher. Although it has half the population of the other 22 nations combined, the U.S | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence had 82 percent of all gun deaths, 90 percent of all women killed with guns, 91 percent of children under 14 and 92 percent of young people between ages 15 and 24 killed with guns. In 2010, gun violence cost U.S. taxpayers approximately $516 million in direct hospital costs. is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males. Although mass shootings have been covered extensively in the media, mass shootings in the US account for a small fraction of gun-related deaths and the frequency of these events steadily declined between 1994 and 2007, rising between 2007 and 2013 | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Legislation at the federal, state, and local levels has attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchases by youths and other "at-risk" populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing gun buyback programs, law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs. Despite widespread concern about the impacts of gun violence on public health, Congress has prohibited the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting research that advocates in favor of gun control | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence The CDC has interpreted this ban to extend to all research on gun violence prevention, and so has not funded any research on this subject since 1996. However the 'Dickey' amendment only restricts the CDC advocating for gun control with government funds. It does not restrict research into gun violence and the causal links between the gun and the violence, however funding has not yet been yet been granted for that purpose, i.e. epidemiology, the CDC requires congressional approval to proceed. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother at her home and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting where he killed 20 children and six adult staff. Adam committed suicide as police arrived at the school | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Gun violence Lanza suffered from severe mental health issues which were not adequately treated. The event reignited a debate regarding access to firearms by people with mental illness and gun laws in the United States. | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7862242 | Gun violence |
Holy actions are when Roman Catholics offer their work, prayers, apostolic undertakings, daily works, hardships of life, relaxations of body and mind, and family and marriage lives to the Lord, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in the Spirit of Love. Usually, the spiritual sacrifices are made with intentions in mind, such as "for the intentions of the Pope" or "for the unity of Christians". In reality, these offerings can be made for whatever good intentions that Christians bear in mind. By their holy actions, Christians share in the priestly office of Jesus Christ, fulfill the call to holiness, consecrate the world to God, and hasten the Second Coming of the Lord | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7869184 | Holy actions |
Holy actions In light of their share in the priestly office of Christ, Christians also share in the prophetic office and the kingly office of Christ. By their holy lives, Christians evangelize in the ordinary circumstances of the world and overcome the reign of sin in themselves. According to Sacred Tradition, Christians unite their offerings to the Liturgy of the Hours, if they do not already pray the Divine Office, because the Liturgy of the Hours is the Prayer of the Catholic Church, by which the night and day are made holy, which is the end of holy actions. One popular example of an offering is that of the Daily Offering of the Apostolate of Prayer | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7869184 | Holy actions |
Holy actions While the Offering has gone through many recent changes, for various reasons, it is the traditional Offering that is the most well-known and prayed. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you all my works, prayers, joys, and sufferings, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated throughout the world, for love of you, for the intentions of your Sacred Heart, in reparation for my sins, for all the intentions of our associations, and, in particular, for the intentions of the Pope. Amen. | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7869184 | Holy actions |
Laments (Kochanowski) The Laments (also "Lamentations" or "Threnodies"; ) are a series of nineteen threnodies (elegies) by Jan Kochanowski. Written in Polish and published in 1580, they are a highlight of Polish Renaissance literature, and one of Kochanowski's signature achievements. Jan Kochanowski was a prominent Polish poet. Kochanowski wrote the "Laments" on the occasion of the 1579 death of his daughter Urszula (in English, "Ursula"). Little is known of Urszula (or "Urszulka"—"little Ursula"), except that at her death she was two and a half years old. Her tender age has caused some critics to question Kochanowski's truthfulness, when he describes her as a budding poetess — a "Slavic Sappho | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Laments (Kochanowski) " There is, however, no doubt as to the unaffected sentiments expressed in the nineteen Roman-numbered "Laments", of varying length, which still speak to readers across the four and a quarter centuries since they were composed. The poems express Kochanowski's boundless grief; and, standing in sharp contrast to his previous works, which had advocated such values as stoicism, can be seen as the poet's own critique of his earlier work. In a wider sense, they show a thinking man of the Renaissance at a moment of crisis when he is forced, through suffering and the stark confrontation of his ideals with reality, to re-evaluate his former humanistic philosophy of life | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Laments (Kochanowski) The "Laments" belong to a Renaissance poetic genre of grief (threnody, or elegy), and the entire work comprises parts characteristic of epicedia: the first poems introduce the tragedy and feature a eulogy of the decedent; then come verses of lamentation, demonstrating the magnitude of the poet's loss and grief; followed at last by verses of consolation and instruction. Kochanowski, while drawing on the achievements of classical poets such as Homer, Cicero, Plutarch, Seneca and Statius, as well as on later works by Petrarch and his own Renaissance contemporaries such as Pierre de Ronsard, stepped outside the borders of known genres, and his "Laments" constitute a mixed form ranging from epigram to elegy to epitaph, not to mention psalmodic song | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Laments (Kochanowski) When the "Treny" were published (1580), Kochanowski was criticized for having taken as the subject of his "Laments" the death of a young child, against the prevailing literary convention that this form should be reserved for "great men" and "great events." The "Laments" are numbered among the greatest attainments of Polish poetry. Their exquisite conceits and artistry made them a model to "literati" of the 16th and especially the 17th century. The "Laments" have also inspired musicians , and painters such as Jan Matejko | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Laments (Kochanowski) All Heraclitus' tears, all threnodies<br> And plaintive dirges of Simonides,<br> All keens and slow airs in the world, all griefs,<br> Wrung hands, wet eyes, laments and epitaphs,<br> All, all assemble, come from every quarter,<br> Help me to mourn my small girl, my dear daughter,<br> Whom cruel Death tore up with such wild force<br> Out of my life, it left me no recourse.<br> So the snake, when he finds a hidden nest<br> Of fledgling nightingales, rears and strikes fast<br> Repeatedly, while the poor mother bird<br> Tries to distract him with a fierce, absurd<br> Fluttering — but in vain! the venomous tongue<br> Darts, and she must retreat on ruffled wing.<br> "You weep in vain," my friends will say | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Laments (Kochanowski) But then,<br> What is not in vain, by God, in lives of men?<br> All is in vain! We play at blindman's buff<br> Until hard edges break into our path.<br> Man's life is error. Where, then, is relief?<br> In shedding tears or wrestling down my grief? | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7895736 | Laments (Kochanowski) |
Tree of virtues and tree of vices A tree of virtues ("arbor virtutum") is a diagram used in medieval Christian tradition to display the relationships between virtues, usually juxtaposed with a tree of vices ("arbor vitiorum") where the vices are treated in a parallel fashion. Together with genealogical trees, these diagrams qualify as among the earliest explicit tree-diagrams in history, emerging in the High Middle Ages. At first appearing as illustrations in certain theological tracts, the concept becomes more popular in the Late Middle Ages and is also seen in courtly manuscripts such as the psalter of Robert de Lisle (c. 1310-1340) | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7911759 | Tree of virtues and tree of vices |
Tree of virtues and tree of vices The nodes of the tree-diagrams are the Cardinal Virtues and the Cardinal Vices, respectively, each with a number of secondary virtues or secondary vices shown as leaves of the respective nodes. While on a tree of virtues, the leaves point upward toward heaven, on a tree of vices the leaves point downward toward hell. At the root of the trees, the virtues of "humilitas" "humility" and the vice of "superbia" "pride" is shown as the origin of all other virtues and vices, respectively. By this time, the concept of showing hierarchical concepts of medieval philosophy in diagrams also becomes more widespread. E.g. ms. Arsenal 1037 (14th century) has a tree of virtue on fol. 4v and a tree of vices on fol | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7911759 | Tree of virtues and tree of vices |
Tree of virtues and tree of vices 5r as part of a collection of diagrams on a variety of topics. In this example, the trees are also further subdivided into a ternary structure, as follows: In the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Bembo developed a similar flow-chart-like "moral schema" of sins punished in Dante's "Inferno" and "Purgatory". | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7911759 | Tree of virtues and tree of vices |
The Art of Loving is a 1956 book by psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm, which was published as part of the "World Perspectives Series" edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen. In this work, Fromm develops his perspective on human nature, from his earlier work, "Escape from Freedom" and "Man for Himself" – principles which he revisits in many of his other major works. Fromm presents love as a skill that can be taught and developed, rejecting the idea of loving as something magical and mysterious that cannot be analyzed and explained. He is therefore skeptical about popular ideas such as "falling in love" or being helpless in the face of love | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
The Art of Loving Because modern humans are alienated from each other and from nature, we seek refuge from our lonesomeness in romantic love and marriage (pp. 79–81). However, Fromm observes that real love "is not a sentiment which can be easily indulged in by anyone." It is only through developing one's total personality to the capacity of loving one's neighbor with "true humility, courage, faith and discipline" that one attains the capacity to experience real love. This should be considered a rare achievement (p. vii). Fromm defended these opinions also in interview with Mike Wallace when he states: "love today is a relatively rare phenomenon, that we have a great deal of sentimentality; we have a great deal of illusion about love, namely as a...as something one falls in | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
The Art of Loving But the question is that one cannot fall in love, really; one has to be in love. And that means that loving becomes, and the ability to love, becomes one of the most important things in life." "The Art of Loving" argues that the active character of true love involves four basic elements: care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge (p. 24). Each of these is difficult to define and can differ markedly depending on the people involved and their circumstances. Seen in these terms, love is hard work, but it is also the most rewarding kind of work. One of the book's concepts is self-love. According to Fromm, loving oneself is quite different from arrogance, conceit or egocentrism | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
The Art of Loving Loving oneself means caring about oneself, taking responsibility for oneself, respecting oneself, and knowing oneself (e.g. being realistic and honest about one's strengths and weaknesses). In order to be able to truly love another person, one needs first to love oneself in this way. Fromm calls the general idea of love in contemporary Western society "" – a relationship in which each person is entirely focused on the other, to the detriment of other people around them. The current belief is that a couple should be a well-assorted team, sexually and functionally, working towards a common aim. This is in contrast with Fromm's description of true love and intimacy, which involves willful commitment directed toward a single unique individual | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
The Art of Loving One cannot truly love another person if one does not love all of mankind including oneself. The book includes explorations of the theories of brotherly love, motherly and fatherly love, erotic love, self-love, and the love of God (pp. 7–76), and an examination into love's disintegration in contemporary Western culture (pp. 77–98). To be able to fully comprehend the ideas illustrated in Fromm's book, one must understand the concept of paradoxical thought, or the ability to reconcile opposing principles in one same instance. Fromm himself explains paradoxical thought in the chapters dedicated to the love of God and erotic love. Fromm begins the last chapter "The Practice of Love" saying: "[.. | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
The Art of Loving ] many readers of this book, expect to be given prescriptions of 'how to do it to yourself' [...]. I am afraid that anyone who approaches this last chapter in this spirit will be gravely disappointed". | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7913958 | The Art of Loving |
Walter Terence Stace (17 November 1886 – 2 August 1967) was a British civil servant, educator, public philosopher and epistemologist, who wrote on Hegel, mysticism, and moral relativism. He worked with the Ceylon Civil Service from 1910-1932, and from 1932-1955 he was employed by Princeton University in the Department of Philosophy. He is most renowned for his work in the philosophy of mysticism, and for books like "Mysticism and Philosophy" (1960) and "Teachings of the Mystics" (1960). These works have been influential in the study of mysticism, but they have also been severely criticised for their lack of methodological rigor and their perennialist pre-assumptions. was born in Hampstead, London into an English military family | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace He was a son of Major Edward Vincent Stace (3 September 1841 – 6 May 1903) (of the Royal Artillery) and Amy Mary Watson (1856 - 29 March 1934), who were married on 21 December 1872 in Poona (Pune), India. In addition to attaining high rank in the Royal Artillery, Walter's father Edward had also served as a British Political Agent (February 1889-August 1893) in British Somaliland. Walter's great-grandfather William Stace (1755 - 31 May 1839) was Chief Commissary (Commissary-General) of the Royal Artillery during the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815). Walter's mother Amy was a daughter of Rev. George Augustus Frederick Watson (1821-1897) and Elizabeth Mary Williams, who were married on 15 June 1852 in St. James' Church, Paddington, London. Rev. G. A. F | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Watson was vicar (1877-1893) of St. Margaret's Church in Abbotsley, Huntingdonshire/Cambridgeshire. Instead of pursuing a military career, Walter decided to follow a religious and philosophical path. He was educated at Bath College (1895-1901), Fettes College (in Edinburgh, Scotland) (1902-1904), and later at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). His original intention was to become a priest in the Anglican Church, having experienced a religious conversion in his teens. However, while at Trinity College, through the influence of Hegel scholar Henry Stewart Macran (1867-1937) (professor of moral philosophy in Trinity College) he developed a deep interest in the systematic philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), and graduated in philosophy in 1908 | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Under family pressure Stace joined the British Civil Service, and between 1910-1932 he served in the Ceylon Civil Service (now Sri Lanka) which was then a part of the British Empire. He held several positions in the Ceylonese government, including District Judge (1919-1920) and Mayor of Colombo (1931-1932), the capitol city of Ceylon. In Colombo a street named after him (Stace Road) still exists. It was during his period in Ceylon that he developed an interest in Hinduism and Buddhism, religions which were to influence his subsequent studies of mysticism. While employed by the Ceylon Civil Service, during the period 1920-1932 Stace published 4 philosophical works (see below) | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Anticipating a change in the Ceylonese government and a possible termination of his employment, in 1929 Stace persuaded Trinity College to grant him an honorary LittD degree after he presented the College with the equivalent of a doctoral thesis he had written titled "The Theory of Knowledge and Existence". In 1932 this thesis was published as a book by Oxford University Press. The LittD degree, and the 4 books he had published while an employee of the Ceylon Civil Service, proved to be the keys to his entry into a new career. After being employed for 22 years (1910-1932) in the Ceylon Civil Service, in 1932 Stace was offered the option of retirement, which he took | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace He then moved to Princeton University (in Princeton, New Jersey, USA) where he was employed by the Department of Philosophy, first as Lecturer in Philosophy (1932-1935) and then as Stuart Professor of Philosophy (1935-1955). In 1949-1950 he was president of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division). Stace retired from Princeton University in 1955. From 1955-1967 he held the title/status of Professor Emeritus. Stace was married twice. His first wife, Adelaide McKechnie (born 1868 in Carlow, Ireland), was 18 years older than him. He married Adelaide in 1910 and divorced her in 1924. His second wife was Blanche Bianca Beven (4 August 1897 – 17 July 1986), whom he married in 1926 | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Blanche was born in Colombo, Ceylon and died in Los Angeles County, California. died on 2 August 1967, of a heart attack at his home in Laguna Beach, California. Stace's first 4 books - "A Critical History of Greek Philosophy" (1920), "The Philosophy of Hegel: A Systematic Exposition" (1924), "The Meaning of Beauty" (1929), and "The Theory of Knowledge and Existence" (1932) - were all published while he was employed by the Ceylon Civil Service. After these early works, his philosophy followed the British empiricist tradition of David Hume, G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and H.H. Price. However, for Stace, empiricism did not need to be confined to propositions which it is possible to demonstrate | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Instead, our common sense beliefs find support in two empirical facts: (1) men's minds are similar (2) men co-operate with each other, with the aim of solving their common problems. Stace is regarded as a pioneer in the philosophical study of mysticism. Many scholars regard "Mysticism and Philosophy" (1960) as his major work. Stace was the dissertation advisor of John Rawls when Rawls was a graduate student at Princeton, though it is not clear that he had a strong influence on Rawls. Richard Marius attributed his loss of faith partly to his intellectual engagement with Stace's essay "Man Against Darkness" | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace His work in the 1930s and 40s bears a strong influence of phenomenalism, a form of radical empiricism (not to be confused with "phenomenology", which examines the structure and content of consciousness). In his first book published while at Princeton, "The Theory of Knowledge and Existence" (1932), Stace proposes an empirical epistemology. He attempts to "trace out the logical steps by which the mind, starting with what is given, arrives at and justifies its belief in an external world". The book can be seen as a criticism of pragmatism. His paper "Refutation of Realism" (1934) acted as a response to G.E. Moore's famous refutation of idealism | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Stace did not argue that realism is false, but that "there is absolutely no reason for asserting" it is true, so it "ought not be believed". Turning from epistemology to ethics, in 1937 he considered whether morals were relative or subject to a general law in "The Concept of Morals". In 1948, Stace wrote an influential essay, "Man Against Darkness", for The Atlantic Review in which he examined religion. He concluded that the spirit of scientific enquiry (rather than scientific discoveries themselves) has furthered religious scepticism by undermining the teleological presumption of an ultimate 'final cause' | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Concern with divine purpose of events had been replaced by investigation into what had caused them; the new imaginative picture of the world was dominated by the idea that life is purposeless and meaningless. The effects of this change included moral relativity, the individualisation of morality, and the loss of belief in free will. Stace wrote: In the spring of 1949, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosted a forum called "The Social Implications of Scientific Progress—an Appraisal at Mid-Century." Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman, Vannevar Bush, Nelson Rockefeller were amongst those in attendance. Stace took part in a discussion called 'Science, Materialism and the Human Spirit' alongside J. Seelye Bixler (1894-1985), Percy W | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Bridgman and Jacques Maritain. He contributed an essay, "The Need for a Secular Ethic", in which he concluded that although supernatural or metaphysical justifications for morality are in decline, this should not lead to a crisis of the moral faith if it is remembered that 'morals have a perfectly firm and objective foundation in the human personality'. In 1954, he gave the annual Howison Lecture in Philosophy at University of California, Berkeley, where he spoke on "Mysticism and Human Reason". In the fall of 1957, two years after retiring from his post at Princeton, Stace was involved in a controversy surrounding Dr | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Joseph Hugh Halton (1913-1979), a member of the Roman Catholic Dominican Order (Order of Preachers) who was the Roman Catholic chaplain at Princeton University and the Director of the Aquinas Institute (located near the Princeton University campus). Halton criticised the university's 'abusive liberalism', and Stace was the first of those singled out for censure. Halton stated that 'Stace is enthroning the devil' and that he was 'professionally incompetent', while his philosophy was described as a 'metaphysical mambo'. The Princeton president Dr. Robert F. Goheen stripped Dr. Halton of his title, an action which was supported by Jacques Maritain, the noted Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian and former Princeton professor | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Stace continued to engage with the public until the end of his career. Two of his final books, "Religion and the Modern Mind" (1952) and "The Teachings of the Mystics" (1960) were written for the general reader. He gave lectures at various university campuses around the United States, many of which were included in "Man Against Darkness and other essays" (1967). It is in the philosophy of mysticism that Stace is both important and influential, and his thought is at its most original. He has been described as "one of the pioneers in the philosophical study of mysticism", as someone who laid out and offered solutions to the major issues in the study of the subject, and created an important phenomenological classification of mystical experience | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Stace is seen as an important representative of the perennial philosophy (also known as the perennialism) that sees a universal core to religious feelings. However, although he is seen by many scholars as an important thinker to acknowledge, he is also one to dispute. Stace's philosophy of mysticism grew out of his earlier empiricist epistemology, although this is something many critics of his position fail to appreciate. The concept of the 'given', commonly used in phenomenalism to understand the nature of experience, is crucial to both his earlier epistemology and his later analysis. For Stace it lies at the basis of our knowledge of the external world and of ourselves | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace The given has an important epistemological function because it possesses the properties of certainty (infallibility, incorrigibility, indubitability), and it provides the ultimate justification for all forms of human knowledge. Stace's "Theory of Knowledge and Existence" (1932) explains that knowledge arises from the process of interpretation of the given, although he writes that it is not easy to distinguish between the given and interpretation of it. For Overall, the 'pure experience' or 'sensation' he refers to in "Mysticism and Philosophy" (1960) is the same as the given that he had been writing about earlier. In 1952 Stace published three books about religion | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Each examined the struggle between the religious worldview and those of science and of naturalism, which he had begun to explore in his essays "Man Against Darkness" and "The Need for a Secular Ethic" in the 1940s. "Religion and the Modern Mind" is divided into three sections, the first of these looks at the medieval "world-picture" which Stace characterises as marked by a religious, moral and purposeful view of existence. The second section looks at the modern world, which is characterised by the rise of science and naturalism (although Stace denies that the latter logically follows from the former), and the Romantic reaction to this. The final section looks specifically at religion and morality in the modern world | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Stace examines religious truth and its expression, and concludes that the latter necessarily takes symbolic form in much the same way as he does in "Time and Eternity". He also roots morality in both utilitarian considerations and in mysticism, which together fuse into "a single homogeneous set of ideal ends". "The Gate of Silence" is a 50-page poetic meditation upon religion and naturalism in which Stace expounds "the doctrine of the flatness of the world", which is a world that is void of meaning, purpose and value, in which "the hogwash of spirituality" will provide no solace | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace In his prefatory note Stace explains that he wrote the book four years previously and that it "records the phase of intellectual and emotional experience through which the writer was passing at the time." Stace called "Time and Eternity" a "defence of religion" that also seeks to investigate how God can be both being and non-being. He roots the book in the ancient religious insight that "all religious thought and speech are through and through symbolic". Addressing the apparent inconsistency between the book and the naturalism of "Man Against Darkness", he maintains that he does not withdraw his naturalism by "a jot or a tittle", but rather seeks "to add to it that other half of the truth which I now think naturalism misses | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace " In addition to the symbolic nature of all religious expression, the book proposes the existence of two realms of being, time and eternity, which intersect but do not contradict each other. According to the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, many consider this to be his most profound work. Stace published his two final books on religion in 1960. "The Teachings of the Mystics"(1960) was written for the general rather than academic reader | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace The book sets out a simplified version of his philosophy of religion found in "Mysticism and Philosophy", and gives examples from writings of mystics (and occasionally from the scriptures of the world's principal religions) that illustrate his idea that mysticism is everywhere "the apprehension of an ultimate nonsensuous unity in all things". "Mysticism and Philosophy" (1960) is generally regarded both as Stace's key work and one that is the "standard point of departure" in the critical study of mysticism. In it Stace explains that he writes as a philosopher, empiricist and analyst rather than mystic, and that mystical experience can and should be distinguished from its interpretation | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace He makes a distinctinction between extrovertive and introvertive mystical experience. In the former, the mystic perceives the unity in "the multiplicity of external material objects", while in the latter the mystic perceives the One within the depths of her consciousness "as the wholly naked One devoid of any plurality whatever". Stace also looks at whether mystical experience can be considered objective or subjective, and considers whether the relationship between God and the world should properly be considered pantheism, dualism or something else | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace He examines mysticism, logic and language, and concludes that the laws of logic do not apply to mysticism and that mystical experience is paradoxical but not ineffable (a development in his thought from "Time and Eternity"). Finally, Stace says he does not wish to be drawn into a battle of prejudices as to whether or not mysticism contributes to the moral good. Stace summarised his thought on mysticism in two lectures given at Mount Holyoke College in 1961, entitled "The Psychology of Mysticism" and "The Philosophy of Mysticism" respectively | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace In the former he states that the psychology of mysticism must rely on introspection, because it is the only method that is available to investigate the phenomenon, despite it being difficult to verify (unlike the inspection of physical events). Like William James, he distinguishes between ordinary and mystical consciousness; the former he describes as sensory-intellectual, while the latter contains neither sensory nor intellectual content. He then proceeds to layout the psychological qualities of mystical experience, which he roots in a passage from the "Mandukya Upanishad": Stace characterised his philosophy of mysticism as the examination of whether mystical experience is subjective or objective, that is whether it is imagined or real | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Again he turns to the "Mandukya Upanishad" for his definition of mysticism, and identifies the realisation the personal self is identical with the infinite Self at the core of the experience. Although there are three causes for this (loss of individuality; transcending space and time; feeling of peace and bliss) these are not logical reasons. Further he holds that the unanimity of mystical experience across cultures is not an argument for its objectivity, as illusions can be found in all peoples and cultures. That mystical experience is found in all cultures indicates that it is a part of human nature. Next Stace asks how we can say if something is objective | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace He defines the most important criteria for determining objectivity as 'orderliness' - or keeping in order with the laws of nature - rather than verifiability. Mystical experience is neither orderly nor disorderly, so cannot be classed as either subjective or objective. Stace terms this "transsubjective" (because the notions of subjective and objective do not apply to the infinite). Stace's schema of mystical experience formed the basis for the most commonly cited scale to measure reports of mystical experience, Ralph W. Hood's Mysticism-scale. Although Stace's work on mysticism received a positive response, it has also been criticised in the 1970s and 1980s, for its lack of methodological rigour and its perennialist pre-assumptions | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Major criticism came from Steven T. Katz in his influential series of publications on mysticism and philosophy, and from Wayne Proudfoot in his "Religious experience" (1985). As early as 1961 the "Times Literary Supplement" was critical of Stace's scholarship: Moore (1973) gives an overview of criticisms of Stace. He notes that the positing of a "phenomenological identity in mystical experiences" is problematic, which leads to either non-descriptive statements, or to value-laden statements on mystical experiences. Moore doubts whether Stace phenomenology of mystical experience is sufficient. Moore notes that Stace's quotations from mystical writings are brief, "often second-hand," and omitting the contexts of these quotations | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Stace's list of characteristics hardly represents the broad variety of mystical experiences described by mystics. His "unitary consciousness" is only one characteristic, and not necessarily connected to illuminating insight. According to Moore, Stace also thinks too lightly about the relation between experience and language, supposing that descriptions are phenomenologically straightforward and reliable. Stace is also normative in his preference for monistic mysticism and his rejection of theistic mysticism. Moore concludes by noting that Stace fails to understand the difference between phenomenology and metaphysics, and that his writings don't provide solutions to the philosophical problems which mystical claims raise | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace Masson & Masson (1976) note that Stace starts with a "buried premise," namely that mysticism can provide truths about the world which cannot be obtained with science or logical thinking. According to Masson & Masson, this premise makes Stace naive in his approach, and which is not accord with his self-presentation as an objective and empirical philosopher. According to Masson & Masson, Stace fails in presenting mystical experiences as an objective source of information. They question Stace's exclusion of trances and other phenomena from his investigations, noting that such phenomena are an essential part of many descriptions of mystical experiences | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace They give the example of Ramakrishna, a 19th-century Indian mystic, who is presented without a critical consideration of the sources. They further note that Ramakrishna had delusions, a fact which they deem problematic for the use of Ramakrishna as a prime example of mystical consciousness. They further note that Stace seems to be unaware of the major relevant scholarly studies on mysticism at the time of his writings. According to Masson & Masson, Stace's criteria for inclusion and exclusion of cases are based on personal preferences, and "his work reads more like a theological text than a philosophical one | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |
Walter Terence Stace " According to Katz (1978), Stace's typology is "too reductive and inflexible," reducing the complexities and varieties of mystical experience into "improper categories." According to Katz, Stace does not notice the difference between experience and interpretation of experience, and Stace fails to notice the epistemological issues involved in "mystical" experiences, especially the fundamental epistemological issue of which conceptual framework precedes and shapes these experiences. Katz further notes that Stace supposes that similarities in descriptive language also implies a similarity in experience, an assumption which Katz rejects. According to Katz, close examination of the descriptions and their contexts reveals that those experiences are not identical | Religion&Philosophy&Ethics | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=7916544 | Walter Terence Stace |