J. S. Mill's concept of liberty and the principle of utility

Conclusion Looked at on these three levels — the definitional, the justificatory, the dimensional — Mill's concept of liberty does not appear to be rooted in the principle of utility in any meaningful sense of this principle. It appears rather to be based on a consideration of the social benefits liberty would conduce to combined with an implicit and at times explicit theory of natural rights. Liberty is neither defined nor justified relative to any felicific, sensory pleasure-pain calculus or Greatest Happiness estimate. The limits of individual or collective interference in individual action are not prescribed with the utility principle as the guide.If strict adherence to the utility principle is the criterion for membership in the school of political philosophers known as the Utilitarians, then John Stuart Mill's name must be struck from the roster. Those who want to insist that Mill remain a member must either ignore the textual evidence to the contrary in his essays or abandon or drastically revise the principle of utility to allow for J. S. Mill's substantial deviations. Ignoring the contrary textual evidence is not intellectually respectable. Broadening the definition of utility and/or pleasure ruins the theoretical coherence of the original Utilitarian doctrine. Either of these two ways of keeping Mill in the fold do not do justice to the richness of Mill's theory.     

True Identities: From Performativity to Festival

Some feminists have criticized Judith Butler's theory of performativity for providing an insufficient account of agency. In this article I first defend her against such charges by appealing to two themes central to Hans‐Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics. I compare her emphasis on the sociohistorical nature of agency with Gadamer's insistence on the historical nature of knowledge, and I examine the significance Butler assigns to repetition and note its affinities with Gadamer's conception of play. In the final part of the article I argue that in spite of providing an adequate account of agency, Butler's theory of performativity provides no way to allow us to evaluate performances. I show how Gadamer's account of festival, which builds on his concept of play, is useful in helping us make sense of how we might delineate true from false performances, and thus identities.     

In Search of True Causes:

The present investigation sought to obtain empirical data that either directly supports or refutes the popular assumption that communication is an essential element of effective decision making. Specifically, it reports three phases of study that attempt to determine whether the variance in group decision making is best accounted for by noninteraction or interaction sources. Phase 1 examines the relationship among group member ability, communication opportunity, and decision performance. Phase 2 examines the relationship among group member ability, qualities of group communication, and decision performance. Phase 3 examines the relationship among fulfillment of communication functions requisite to decision-making efficacy, group member ability, and decision performance. In Phase 1, a strong independent main effect for communication opportunity was found; whereas in Phase 2 we discovered classification and explanatory effects for three facets of interaction quality—“evaluation of task-relevant issues,”“goal-directed communication,” and “idea development”—and in Phase 3 no classification or explanatory effects for either of the communication functions examined was found. Open channels of communication and high quality task-oriented discussion that focused on issue evaluation and task accomplishment facilitated group performance in light of the effects of group potential.     

From Sincerity to Authenticity: Adolescents'' Views of the "True Self"

This study examined age-related trends in adolescents' view of sincerity and of honesty towards oneself. Subjects were 84 high school students in grades 8 to 12 (age range 12-18). Semistructured interviews with preplanned probes were used and analyzed using content categories reflecting different emphases on disclosing "facts" versus internal events (for sincerity) and on recognizing conflicts with others versus recognizing internal divisions (for honesty towards oneself). Results indicate clear age trends on these two dimensions and a close association between them. The age trends suggest that for the younger adolescent, being "genuine" consists mainly in disclosing facts that are in principle accessible to others. For the older adolescent, being genuine more frequently implies recognizing and expressing one's "true" nature. The findings are discussed both in light of recent research on the development of self-understanding and as challenging traditional paradigms of studying the self.     

From Atheism to Theodicy to Intelligent Design: Responding to the Work of Francisco J. Ayala

This article responds to a few of the major themes found in the work of Francisco Ayala. The author praises Ayala for strongly challenging the assumptions of many contemporary atheists, like Richard Dawkins, who believe that the scientific method can be used in service of scientistic conclusions. The author then goes on to examine Ayala's understanding of the relationship between science and religion. Finally, the author asks critical questions about Ayala's contributions to the theodicy problem and the critique of Intelligent Design.     

From Maternal Impressions to Eugenics: Pregnancy and Inheritance in the Nineteenth-Century U.S.

This essay examines the theory of maternal impressions, the belief that a woman’s experiences or emotions during pregnancy could explain congenital disability or emotional/ behavior differences in her child and asks why this theory circulated as an explanation for disability seen at birth by both medical doctors and in literature for far longer than it did across the Atlantic. By presenting examples from nineteenth-century medical literature, popular fiction, maternal handbooks, and two canonical works of literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave, I argue that maternal impressions worked to maintain anxiety for women, and particular white women, to ensure they felt responsible if anything was “wrong” with their child. Ultimately, I show how maternal impressions was both an ableist and racialized understanding of inheritance that wouldn’t be discarded until the emergence of eugenics in the early twentieth century.

     

美国卷入越战的原因论析

越南战争是二战后美国直接介入时间最长、损失最大、影响最深远的一场战争。在很大程度上 ,对共产主义的恐惧奠定了美国介入越战的思想基础 ;维持美国的威望和在世界的荣誉、特别是美国力量的可信性 ,是美国在越南问题上的重大考虑。美国在越南的干涉植根于它对中国的长期敌视政策。从美国国内来看 ,悠久的自由主义传统和浓厚的反共主义是影响美国外交政策的不可忽视的因素 ;同时 ,战后历届政府在越南问题上都做过一些重大决定 ,他们对于美国卷入越战都负有不可推卸的责任。     

Neurology--psychiatry in Dresden from E. Kraepelin through S. Ganser to J. Suckow

The broad outline of the psychiatric-neurological care of hospitalised patients in Dresden from 1885 to 1963 is sketched, with special reference to the work and achievements of E. Kraepelin (1885), S. Ganser (1886-1913), E. Reiss (1925-1933), H. Krisch (1933-1945), and J. Suckow (1955-1963).     

从理想原则到现实关怀--罗尔斯理性主义解析

罗尔斯的哲学属于道德哲学和政治哲学,涉及伦理、政治、法律、经济诸社会领域.但是他的道德哲学与政治哲学在以<正义论>(1971)为代表作的早期思想中是浑然一体的,而在以<政治自由主义>(1993)、<万民法>(1999)和<作为公平的正义--正义新论>(2001)等为代表作的晚期思想中则判然分明.理性主义是贯穿于罗尔斯前后期哲学思想中的基本立场.罗尔斯前后期理论体系的转变同样反映在理性主义基本特征的改变上.然而,学界在评述罗尔斯的理性主义时,大多没有注意这一变化,他们比较关切其后期思想中的理性主义,如"理性的"与"合理的"以及"重叠共识"、"权利的优先性与善"、"公共理性"等以"理性多元论的事实"为背景的政治自由主义的理性主义理念,而对于罗尔斯前期思想中的理性主义则比较忽略.其实,罗尔斯思想的理性主义特色,在他的早年,跟在他的晚年一样,是非常鲜明的.何况,罗尔斯早期思想中的理性主义有跟其晚期思想中的理性主义并不一致的特点,不可混为一谈.本文试图探讨表现于<正义论>中的从原则、方法到对待现实的态度上的罗尔斯理性主义立场及其基本特征,以补阙疑.