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Research Article
Normative Reasons for Action: The Situationist Approach
Mario Solis*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, June 2026
Pages:
67-73
Received:
3 March 2026
Accepted:
14 March 2026
Published:
21 April 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijp.20261402.11
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Abstract: To justify one's actions is to provide reasons, specifically, normative reasons that serve as their foundation. This process involves three key elements: facts, beliefs, and desires. However, the relationship between the latter two (often understood as motivating and epistemic reasons) and the former (the facts) remains a matter of ongoing debate. This paper examines one distinctive approach to addressing this interplay: situationism. Distinct from perspectivism, casuistry, or plain contextualism, situationism offers a framework for understanding the proper place of normative reasons. The paper offers a nuanced defense of the reducibility thesis—the claim that the truth of normative propositions cannot be reduced to the truth of non-normative facts about the world. In doing so, it argues that each of the three elements plays an essential role in shaping normative reasons for action. Yet, when isolated or taken "on its own," any one of them can be used to justify morally reprehensible courses of action—whether by individuals or collectives. The situationist perspective, by emphasizing the structure of normative rationality, offers a way to better foresee how and where such distortions occur. Ultimately, this approach may help illuminate the wrongness of certain human endeavors, that is, to counter the potential tyranny of any of the three elements in play.
Abstract: To justify one's actions is to provide reasons, specifically, normative reasons that serve as their foundation. This process involves three key elements: facts, beliefs, and desires. However, the relationship between the latter two (often understood as motivating and epistemic reasons) and the former (the facts) remains a matter of ongoing debate. ...
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Research Article
Zhiyi on “One Thought”: Between Ordinary and Enlightened States
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, June 2026
Pages:
74-78
Received:
10 April 2026
Accepted:
28 April 2026
Published:
11 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijp.20261402.12
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Abstract: This paper examines how Zhiyi (智顗) articulates the path to enlightenment based on his distinctive account of human ontology, as presented in Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight, arguably the most authoritative text of Tiantai (天台, Tendai in Japanese) philosophy. In so doing, this study brings Zhiyi’s metaphysics and soteriology into closer alignment than has been achieved in previous scholarship. Among the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Tiantai tradition occupies a particularly important position in the development of Japanese Buddhism. This is largely because it offers one of the most sophisticated philosophical foundations for the doctrine of sudden enlightenment, in contrast to the gradualist approaches that require a prolonged course of practice. This article focuses on several central concepts in Zhiyi’s philosophy, including “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment,” the “three wisdoms,” and the “four teachings,” through which he articulates a comprehensive vision of reality and practice. In brief, his teaching provides a framework for understanding the true nature of human existence. It presents a path by which enlightenment may be realized through a profound cognitive insight into that very nature. Zhiyi thought that human beings exist only in the immediacy of the present rather than as eternal entities, and that they remain subject to various forms of struggle, even after attaining enlightenment. Yet the very fact that we can recognize the nature of this condition provides the foundation for the possibility of attaining Buddhahood.
Abstract: This paper examines how Zhiyi (智顗) articulates the path to enlightenment based on his distinctive account of human ontology, as presented in Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight, arguably the most authoritative text of Tiantai (天台, Tendai in Japanese) philosophy. In so doing, this study brings Zhiyi’s metaphysics and soteriology into closer alignment than...
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Research Article
The Politics of Communication Reconsidered: Buddhist Relationality, Cārvāka Materialism, and the Question of Critical Theory
Pankaj Srivastava*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, June 2026
Pages:
79-87
Received:
16 April 2026
Accepted:
27 April 2026
Published:
13 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijp.20261402.13
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Abstract: The rapid advancement of information technology and artificial intelligence within contemporary capitalist frameworks has significantly transformed communication practices. This transformation has led to a narrowed focus on communication, predominantly emphasising the exchange of information. Furthermore, content is frequently crafted to be visually appealing and persuasive; however, its accuracy, truthfulness, and reliability are often questionable. Consequently, these factors shape public perceptions and attitudes, diminishing social interactions locally and globally. In this context, this study revisits philosophical discussions on human communication by drawing on Buddhist and Cārvāka traditions while critically engaging with contemporary thinkers such as Habermas, Foucault, and Levinas to examine the politics of communication. This study addresses three primary concerns: First, it explores the evolution of human communication by analysing the interconnections between the self and others, intersubjectivity, relationality, and the embodied self within a historical context. Second, it seeks to establish the philosophical underpinnings of communication by drawing on the foundational tenets of Buddhism and Cārvāka, while also engaging with critical theorists to explore the discursive conflicts inherent in human communication. This study aims to investigate the basis of knowledge claims and the reliability of human communication by integrating Cārvāka materialism with the relational ontology inherent in Buddhism. Additionally, the research seeks to deepen this integration by incorporating critical-theory perspectives. This research study critically examines the social conditions requisite for genuine human communication. It explores the relational interdependence inherent in self-other interactions, the diversity of perspectives, the dynamics of contestation and negotiation, and the mechanisms of consensus-building within sociocultural contexts, where meanings are co-constructed through communicative processes.
Abstract: The rapid advancement of information technology and artificial intelligence within contemporary capitalist frameworks has significantly transformed communication practices. This transformation has led to a narrowed focus on communication, predominantly emphasising the exchange of information. Furthermore, content is frequently crafted to be visuall...
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Research Article
The Concept of Incarnation in Christian Theology and in the Spirituality of Rut Björkman
Imre Koncsik*
Issue:
Volume 14, Issue 2, June 2026
Pages:
88-92
Received:
26 April 2026
Accepted:
8 May 2026
Published:
21 May 2026
DOI:
10.11648/j.ijp.20261402.14
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Abstract: This paper explores and compares the ontological structures of the incarnation as defined in traditional Christian theology versus the mystical spirituality of Rut Björkman. Traditional Christian Christology, rooted in the Council of Chalcedon (451), defines the incarnation as a unique, substantial "hypostatic union". Within this framework, the divine person of the Logos subsists in two distinct natures—divine and human—without mixture or separation, operating from a "top-down" metaphysical trajectory. In contrast, Rut Björkman approaches the incarnation from a "bottom-up" mystical perspective. Rather than a singular historical event restricted to Jesus, Björkman views the incarnation as a universal, transient process accessible to every human being. In her spirituality, the incarnation is realized whenever an individual achieves a successful mystical union. The subject of this union is an apersonal, divine "creative power," which acts immanently within the human person as a tool of grace, rather than forming a substantial or hypostatic bond. Consequently, figures like Buddha, Lao-Tzu, and Paul are similarly regarded as historical expressions of this mystical realization. By analyzing the underlying ontological assumptions of both models, the study highlights several open philosophical challenges. For Christian theology, these include the problematic nature of the substance concept, the potential for volitional conflict between Christ's two wills, and the existential-ontological interpretation of the resurrection—vividly illustrated by the theological debate regarding what a running camera would have recorded in Jesus' tomb. For Björkman’s model, the primary challenge lies in the tendency toward a universal world soul and the depersonalization of the human ego to accommodate the divine force. Ultimately, the paper concludes that while both frameworks diverge significantly in their dogmatic and existential intensity, they share a foundational hylomorphic intersection: both conceive of the incarnation as an informational, ontological reality that establishes a profound union between a formal divine principle and material human reality.
Abstract: This paper explores and compares the ontological structures of the incarnation as defined in traditional Christian theology versus the mystical spirituality of Rut Björkman. Traditional Christian Christology, rooted in the Council of Chalcedon (451), defines the incarnation as a unique, substantial "hypostatic union". Within this framework, the div...
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