Poverty and the Peril of Particulars

Moral extremists argue for a demanding duty of poverty relief by leveraging powerful intuitions about our duties to rescue those close at hand. I clear the way for a less demanding duty by arguing that this argumentative strategy commits the extremist to a conception of our duty in the face of global poverty that is deeply at odds with our convictions about how we may discharge that duty. These convictions reveal that global poverty and easy rescue cases give rise to duties of different kinds: whereas duties of rescue are ultimately explicable by appeal to moral claims to assistance, duties of poverty relief are not. The extremist’s most compelling argumentative strategy is therefore not viable—he may not straightforwardly appeal to facts about the demandingness of duties of rescue in arguing for demanding duties of poverty relief.     

Educating For and Through Nature: A Merleau-Pontian Approach

This paper aims to explore the relationship between humans and nature and the implied intimacy, so-call ‘ecophilia,’ in light of the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is revealed from the Merleau-Pontian view of body and nature that there may be a more harmonious relationship between humankind and nature than the commonly assumed, and an alternative understanding of education may thus arise. Following an introduction, this paper falls into three parts: an exploration of the meaning of nature, the corporeality of the body as central to our encounter with nature and the educational implications. The introduction argues that central to one’s understanding of nature is one’s understanding of oneself and the world. To some extent, our current environmental problems are related to a negative understanding of nature. The meaning of nature and our relationship with it will be elaborated by the exploration of the key significance of body to be found in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. It will be argued that overall, our understanding of the body may be central to reconnecting humankind and nature. Such a re-conceiving of the part played by the body in our relationship with nature may re-orient education towards a love of nature: ecophilia.

Justice to Nature and to the Disadvantaged

This article argues against using the practice of discounting and shows that both the time preference and the opportunity cost of capital arguments, put forward to justify discounting, are in conflict when we take the holistic approach to the environment. Both the time preference and the opportunity cost concepts are the tools to support the institution of interest. Using a hierarchical systems approach it is argued that in order to save the super hierarchical system (biosphere as a whole in our case) the contemporary economic system has to renew so that the humanity and global ecosystem may persist.     

Deliberative Democracy and "Human Nature": An Empirical Approach

The idea of deliberative democracy is based upon an implicit and questionable assumption that the ability for a meaningful participation in deliberation is a common characteristic of citizens of democratic countries. This paper discusses that assumption and describes the results of empirical research aimed at finding out (1) whether ordinary people are able to solve important ideological and moral controversies by means of deliberation, (2) what factors may facilitate this process, and (3) what are the effects of the deliberation. The research consisted in studying 20 small groups of parents of school-aged children who were asked to participate in a debate about sex education in Polish schools (N  =  195). The debates were conducted by a facilitator. Before and after the debate participants filled out questionnaires testing their attitudes and some psychological variables. The debates were recorded on videotapes. We found that it is possible to conduct a debate on ideologically contentious issues that meets some criteria of the deliberative functioning and such a debate may have some of the effects postulated by deliberative theorists.     

Theories of Individuation: A Reconsideration of Bare Particulars

The metaphysical problem of individuation requires an answer to two different but intimately related questions: 1) How are we to characterize individuality ontologically? To what ontological category or logical type does individuality belong? 2) What sort of distinction is there between the individuality and nature of an individual, e.g., a real distinction, a modal distinction, a distinction of reason, or some other distinction My purpose in this article is to clarify a bare particular account of individuation and respond to objections that have been raised against bare particulars as individuators.     

应用自然辩证法原理指导唇腭裂畸形的序列治疗

唇腭裂畸形是人类最常见的先天发育性缺陷之一.序列治疗的方法是治疗唇腭裂畸形的有效方法.但是由于其中存在着许多矛盾,使得序列治疗变得很复杂.使用自然辩证法的基本原理来为患者设计治疗计划,有助于简化治疗方案,选择最优方案,从而实现无论在形态与功能,还是心理上,均能使患者达到与正常人一样或接近一致的治疗目的.     

论人对自然的权利和义务

人对自然的权利和义务是相辅相成、紧密联系的。人类在享有对自然的权利的同时,应该也必须履行对自然的相应义务。人对自然的权利和义务主要包括三方面的内容:其一,人类享有在适宜的自然环境中生存的权利,同时负有保护和改善自然环境的义务;其二,人类享有在适宜的自然环境中发展的权利,同时负有可持续发展的义务;其三,人类享有利用自然资源的权利,同时负有保障自然资源合理开发利用的义务。人对自然的权利和义务问题的实质是利益问题。     

论数据的本质及其与信息的关系

大数据技术的进步,给传统科学哲学带来了诸多挑战。科学哲学家们需要重新思考数据的本质,进而深入思考数据的特性以及与信息的内在关联。对数据本质的理解主要有两种:一是关系论,二是表征论。以大数据技术的发展为依据,可知关系论更加合理,同时可将信息解释为数据加意义。数据和现象的区分,可以进一步为我们提供理解数据之本质的途径。从大数据的发展看数据和现象的区分,可以得知在不同语境中对数据的定义是不同的,因此数据的两种定义其实并没有冲突。通过对香农的信息定义的解读,可知信息和数据之间有着内在的关联,二者是关系实体的不同表述方式。解决问题的关键在于该定义所使用的语境,以及是否赋予意义在此关系之上,因此数据就是信息,万物皆可信息化或数据化。     

宗教本质新论

本文对现代意义上的宗教学诞生以来的各种宗教本质观作了回顾,着重探讨了对我国学界影响较大的几种宗教本质观之间的分歧及其各自的理论缺陷,提出了＂宗教是一种特殊形态的精神货币,宗教起源于人类为满足自己物质和精神需要所进行的人与异己力量之间的特殊的交换活动＂的宗教本质观与宗教起源说。并对宗教的核心─－信仰问题发表了独到的见解,认为,宗教的本质是中性的,无褒贬之分,宗教的积极意义与消极意义是宗教与政治挂钩的产物。     

Nature Gives Us Strength: Exposure to Nature Counteracts Ego-Depletion

Previous research rarely investigated the role of physical environment in counteracting ego-depletion. In the present research, we hypothesized that exposure to natural environment counteracts ego-depletion. Three experiments were conducted to test this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, initially depleted participants who viewed pictures of nature scenes showed greater persistence on a subsequent anagram task than those who were given a rest period. Experiment 2 expanded upon this finding by showing that natural environment enhanced logical reasoning performance after ego-depleting task. Experiment 3 adopted a two- (depletion vs. no-depletion) -by-two (nature exposure vs. urban exposure) factorial design. We found that nature exposure moderated the effect of depletion on anagram task performance. Taken together, the present studies offer a viable and novel strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of ego-depletion.     

辨明科学本质,进行科学教育

坦率的讲,作为一名受过高等教育、从事教育工作的共产党员,我对于科学与迷信的本质区别并没有深刻的认识,一切从想当然出发.鬼神之说自然不相信,但对一些诸如特异功能之类则并没有完全排斥.我想,和我有着同样思想的人并不少见,同事中赶在羊年之前生孩子的不在少数.刚接触<科学与无神论>杂志,我颇有些不以为然:科学与迷信,明摆着的事,有必要专门出一本杂志吗?看了几篇文章后,受到很大的震动."科学要尊重实践"、"科学是能够实践的"……这些并不陌生的话现在听来却如醍醐灌顶,原来科学与迷信的区别就在这里.带着浓厚的兴趣,我趁兴翻阅了一些相关的文章,终于对科学与迷信的本质区别有了清醒的认识.