What is Classical and Non-Classical Knowledge?

Mamardašvili’s ‘classical’ paradigm of knowledge is seen to be minimally based on extrapolations from Descartes’ classical philosophy to which Mamardašvili attributes features that rather anticipate his own post-classical ontology. The latter is oriented towards the primacy of perception as a subjective process, in which the self-conscious subject constructs the world, not as illusion, but as a ‘picture’ or ‘model’ (Wittgenstein’s Bild). By examining Mamardašvili’s definition of the ‘phenomenon’ against the␣background of Husserl’s ‘reduction’, Wittgenstein’s ‘object’ and the Freudian and post-structuralist psychoanalytic model of subjectivity, the paper arrives at the inference that Mamardašvili is essentially a post-Structuralist thinker who appropriates concepts from various critical and philosophical disciplines to construct his own multi-disciplinary theory of consciousness and perception.     

子宫内膜异位症的诊断和治疗进展

子宫内膜异位症(endometriosis,EMT)是妇科最常见的疾病之一,是引起痛经、月经不调、不孕等证状的重要原因,发病率呈逐年上升趋势,严重危害妇女的身心健康,影响患者的生活质量。其发病机制不清,疗效差,易复发,一直是妇科研究的热点和难点。多年来随着对EMT发病机制的不断认识,使EMT的诊治得到了进一步的完善和发展。从哲学的角度以认识和发展的观点对子宫内膜异位症的诊断和治疗进展进行综述,以有助于临床上的诊治。     

Working memory of highly self‐critical men is impaired by failure

Previous studies have shown self‐criticism to be negatively associated with goal progress. In order to investigate factors that may influence this association, the present study examined the interactive impact of performance (failure vs. success) and self‐criticism on working memory (WM). Goal‐directed behavior in the achievement domain was operationalized as comparative performance on two strongly correlated WM span tasks. The effect of negative or positive performance feedback was assessed by presenting a success or a failure experience between the two WM span tasks in order to examine the influence of failure and success on the second WM span task compared with the first/baseline. A male‐only sample was used as a follow‐up to a previous study that has utilized a female‐only sample. Findings revealed self‐criticism to serve as an individual difference factor that influences men's WM functioning in the context of failure. This interactive effect may contribute to diminished goal progress in men.     

Permanent Contributions in Philosophy

Has any school or movement in all of Western philosophy made a permanent contribution, permanent in the sense that it will last as long as philosophy does? More narrowly, has there ever been put forward a thesis that has achieved lasting consensus? After carefully defining “philosophical thesis” and “consensus,” so as to forestall uninteresting answers, this paper argues that the ancient Greeks made one or two such contributions, and the Analytic philosophers (ca. 1890–1960) made a few, but there have been no others. Moreover (a) the Analytic contributions were more empirical than philosophical, and (b) they were almost entirely negative. So, the basic short answer to our question is “no.” The paper concludes by asking in what way(s) there has been progress in philosophy.     

Ruse's Darwin and Design: Does It Go Far Enough?

Michael Ruse's forthcoming book gives an enjoyable history of teleology in biology, philosophy, and theology. It argues that concepts of cause, final cause, purpose, teleology, function, design, adaptation, contrivance, progress, ends, and value have all been telescoped by most writers in those three disciplines but that these concepts (and especially the concept of design) are nonetheless valid, provided only that we recognize their metaphorical nature. I agree with this basic argument, and Ruse's critiques and historical summaries of these concepts are both useful and delightful. However, I also explore one major and three minor reservations. The minor reservations are that Ruse overdoes the allegation of telescoping, does not adequately explore ways to express teleology more accurately, and erroneously denies the existence of biology–based theologians who make the same point he is making. The major reservation is that, despite all the groundwork he lays, Ruse comes to a conclusion other than the one clearly suggested by his first fourteen chapters. If he followed the evolutionary story just a bit further, to include the evolution of the human brain, he would be in a position to articulate a theologically sophisticated understanding of teleology and avoid an ending that is uncharacteristically tame.     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
Alister E. McGrath, Science and Religion: An Introduction
K. Helmut Reich, Fritz K. Oser, and W. George Scarlett, Being Human: The Case of Religion
Colin E. Gunton, The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study
V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee, Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
Van A. Harvey, Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religions     

Verisimilitude and the Dynamicsof Scientific Research Programmes

Some peculiarities of the evaluation of theories within scientific research programmes (SRPs) and of the assessing of rival SRPs are described assuming that scientists try to maximise an ‘epistemic utility function’ under economic and institutional constraints. Special attention is given to Lakatos' concepts of ‘empirical progress’ and ‘theoretical progress’. A notion of ‘empirical verisimilitude’ is defended as an appropriate utility function. The neologism ‘methodonomics’ is applied to this kind of studies. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mill's Liberalism and Liberalism's Posterity

It is argued that the moral theory undergirding J.S. Mill's argumentin On Liberty is a species of perfectionism rather than any kind of utilitarianism. The conception of human flourishing that itinvokes is one in which the goods of personal autonomy and individualityare central. If this conception is to be more than the expression ofa particular cultural ideal it needs the support of an empiricallyplausible view of human nature and a defensible interpretation ofhistory. Neither of these can be found in Mill. Six traditionalcriticisms of Mill's argument are assessed. It is concluded thatin addition to depending on implausible claims about human natureand history Mill's conception of the good contains disablingincommensurabilities. It is argued that these difficulties andincommensurabilities plague later liberal thinkers such as IsaiahBerlin and Joseph Raz who have sought to ground liberalism in avalue-pluralist ethical theory. No thinker in Mill's liberal posterity has been able to demonstrate the universal authority of liberal ideals.     

组织心理学的新进展

本文在大量的国内外文献的基础上 ,从六个方面系统地介绍了近十年来组织管理心理学的新进展 :激励问题研究、团队研究研究、领导行为研究、管理决策研究、组织文化研究、管理的跨文化研究。从中我们可以看到以下几个特点 :1从个体理论向整体组织理论扩展。 2在理论发展上 ,重视吸收认知心理学的研究成果。3在学科体系方面 ,更强调组织的动力学和人力资源的系统开发。4在研究领域方面 ,组织心理学也突破了传统的框架。工作业绩评估、管理决策、组织气氛和组织文化以及跨文化的比较研究 ,已成为组织心理学中的热门领域 ,共获得了有价值的研究成果。     

Personality change and personality as predictor of change in psychotherapy: A longitudinal study in a community mental health clinic

Research suggests that personality may change due to important life events, such as psychotherapy, and that personality and attitudes may predict treatment progress. Longitudinal data in a community mental health clinic showed positive changes in Emotional Stability, Hope, Gratitude, and Motivation during the course of psychotherapy. The static approach relating baseline personality and attitudes to treatment progress did not yield fruitful results. The dynamic approach was more effective, in which we treated personality and attitudes as malleable and used changes in these variables as predictors of progress. Treatment progress correlated with an increase in Emotional Stability. Positive changes in general life attitudes (Hope, Gratitude, Quality of Life) more so than therapy-specific attitudes (Motivation, Working Alliance) predicted symptom reduction.