The Religion Of The Open Mind

In a free society, it is common to hear the request that one ‘keep an open mind.’ Just what exactly is it, however, to keep an open-mind? How does open-mindedness function? How does it square with important personal commitments? These issues are particularly acute when it comes to matters of religious belief in which open-mindedness can sound to the pious a bit too much like doubt. Certainly, in a discipline whose discourse remains rational dialogue, effort should be spent discerning the contours of this virtue, especially in light of its formal role in establishing responsiveness to new inquiries in matters philosophical and religious. This book provides a collection of essays serving to promote conversation about open-mindedness, its virtue (or lack thereof), and its role and application in problems in the philosophy of religion in particular.

Forbidden Corners is to primarily engage the audience with out-of-the-box thinking with regards to analyzing literature. It's to help students and others understand the analytical process. Majority of the texts are written in a college professional setting, which contemplates and analyzes ideas within texts. It's to help writers understand the steps to take within the writing process while collecting thoughts. Typically, books are written to engage readers. On the other hand, this book is to enhance the academic reading experience with controversial ideas about different texts. Forbidden Corners interests young writers by providing examples of analytical work while also processing personal ideals.

In Marxism and the Open Mind, John Lewis seeks to explain Marxism as a system of thought. In doing so, he addresses the studied neglect or grotesque misrepresentation that he feels characterizes Western attitudes toward Marxism. Lewis also aims to stimulate what he believes to be a long overdue re-evaluation of Marxism in the light of what was contemporary thought in 1957, the year of the book’s original publication and the height of the Cold War era. The essays include chapters on human rights and a discussion on Marxism and liberty. Marxist ethics, a much-neglected theme, is the subject of an essay that deals with some of the most deeply felt criticisms of Marxism in the 1950s. The ethical aspects of Marxism are examined once again in a contribution to the debate on Marxism and religion. The volume concludes with essays on Berdyaev and Sartre, which strike a note on the Marxist estimation of these thinkers, and with an essay on Marxist humanism. The essays cover a wide field of thought, uniting a close and sympathetic study of Marxism with a critical judgment rooted in academic training at three universities and experience in the Christian ministry.

It has been said that the normal English reaction to uncomfortable facts of life, such as Marxism, is an embarrassed but determined silence. That anyone should experience a desire to enquire into ideas as such, and to probe into the motives influencing them, seems extraordinary. Marxism is, however, subjected to a close study in this book, first published in 1957, and the collected essays attempt the task of combining certain elements in the heritage of modern culture with the insights of Marxism. There can be no vital thinking for our age that does not do justice to both traditions.

This study chronicles the rise of psychology as a tool for social analysis during the Cold War Era and the concept of the open mind in American culture. In the years following World War II, a scientific vision of the rational, creative, and autonomous self took hold as an essential way of understanding society. In The Open Mind, science historian Jamie Cohen-Cole demonstrates how this notion of the self became a defining feature of Cold War culture. From 1945 to 1965, policy makers used this new concept of human nature to advance a centrist political agenda and instigate nationwide educational reforms that promoted more open, and indeed more human, minds. The new field of cognitive science was central to this project, helping to overthrow the behaviorist view that the mind either did not exist or could not be studied scientifically. While the concept of the open mind initially unified American culture, this unity started to fracture between 1965 and 1975, as the ties between political centrism and the scientific account of human nature began to unravel. During the late 1960s, feminists and the New Left repurposed psychological tools to redefine open-mindedness as a characteristic of left-wing politics. As a result, once-liberal intellectuals became neoconservative, and in the early 1970s, struggles against open-mindedness gave energy and purpose to the right wing.