Conceptual Contingency and Abstract Existence

I discuss the issue of whether the existence or non-existence of mathematical entities is a contingent matter. I focus on the debate between Hartry Field and Bob Hale and Crispin Wright, and I argue that a good reason for accepting that mathematical entities contingently exist or contingently fail to exist has been overlooked by all participants in this debate.     

Team Family Therapy Training: Conceptual and Pragmatic Considerations

This paper presents a family therapy training model that can be used to teach conceptual and executive skills to beginning therapists in community and academic settings. The model is based on the organization and philosophy of family therapy teams and the methods of live supervision. The goals, structure, and leadership of traditional family therapy teams are discussed and contrasted with the proposed team training model. Pragmatic details of the training program are described and advantages and disadvantages explored. Team leadership skills are categorized by context and future directions proposed.     

Lesbianism: Some Developmental and Psychodynamic Considerations

In order to further our understanding of lesbianism the newer ideas of female development and of sexual object choice must be integrated into psychoanalytic theory. This includes such concepts as primary femininity, the girl's primary wish for a baby, and female genital sensations leading to a gradual understanding of female anatomy. Ties to each parent develop in tandem, not sequentially. Boys and girls have different attachment and separation experiences. Genital release, a major organizer of male psychological development, may not be as important as intimacy in the girl's development. Multitudes of environmental influences play a role in establishing gender identity, gender role and sexual object choice. Nature and nurture interact. Homosexuality and psychopathology are not connected and psychodynamics is not the same as etiology. A case presentation focuses on the role of aggression in female development. The importance of ambivalence is considered in its impact on maternal identification and sexual object choice.     

Actions and Events: Some Semantical Considerations

Since the publication of Davidson's influential article 'The Logical Form of Action Sentences', semantical considerations are widely thought to support the doctrine that actions are events. I shall argue that the semantics of action sentences do not imply that actions are events. This will involve defending a negative claim and a positive claim, as well as a proposal for how to formalize action sentences. The negative claim is that the semantics of action sentences do not require that we think of actions as events, even if these sentences are best formalized in the manner that Davidson himself favours . The positive claim is that the simplest way of formalizing actions sentences which captures all and only licit inferences requires quantification only , over the results of actions. If this is right, then the argument from semantics evaporates, and the claim that actions are events needs to be freshly argued for – or against.     

Multicultural Issues in School-Based Consultation Conceptual and Research Considerations

In this article, we review literature relevant to multicultural issues in school-based consultation. Specifically, multicultural literature in the counseling and psychotherapy fields is presented as it relates to consultation. Ways in which culture may affect the consultant, consultee, and client are suggested. Because of the paucity of multicultural research in consultation and lack of major break-throughs in multicultural research as related to consultation, a conceptual framework related to the utility of multicultural issues is presented as a new paradigm for future investigations.     

Counseling the Aging: Some Practical Considerations

Although counseling older individuals requires the use of basic helping skills, other complementary phases of working with this special population must be addressed. This article outlines the multiple-loss aspect of the aging individual's environment and suggests some specific strategies for assisting these persons to realize their ongoing potential and residual personal strength.     

The Rule-Following Considerations and Metaethics: Some False Moves

In a series of influential papers, John McDowell has argued that the rule-following considerations explored in Wittgenstein's later work provide support for a particularist form of moral objectivity. The article distinguishes three such arguments in McDowell's writings, labelled the Anthropocentricism Argument, the Shapelessness Argument, and the Anti-Humean Argument, respectively, and the author disputes the effectiveness of each of them. As far as these metaethical debates are concerned, the article concludes that the rule-following considerations leave everything in their place.     

The Scope and Limitations of Algebras: Some Historical and Philosophical Considerations

An important feature of mathematics, both pure and applied, during the nineteenth century was the widening from its common form to a proliferation, where the “objects” studied were not numbers or geometrical magnitudes but operations such as functions and differentiation and integration, abstract ones (as we now call them), linear algebras of vectors, matrices and determinants, and algebras in logic. In this article the author considers several of them, including the contributions of Hermann Grassmann and Benjamin Peirce. A notable feature of these developments was analogising from one algebra to another by adopting some of the same laws, such as associativity, commutativity and distributivity. In the final section we consider the normally secular character of these algebras.     

Some Metaethical Desiderata and the Conceptual Resources of Theism

In this paper, I argue that theists are extremely well-situated with respect to developing metaethical accounts that qualify as ‘robust’ versions of moral realism. In the first part of the essay, a number of metaethical desiderata are identified. In the second part, theistic strategies for accommodating those desiderata are explained and defended. The upshot is that, contrary to the received philosophical wisdom, there are good theoretical reasons for theistic philosophers to seek to develop metaethical accounts that ground moral facts in facts about God.     

Some Considerations for Enhancing Psychological Assessment

The field of psychological assessment appears to be bogged down in recent decades on refining existing measures and techniques to the detriment of real change. This article attempts to highlight some of the changes that need to take place in psychological assessment in the next few decades if real progress is to be achieved: (a) developing guidelines for psychological tests and measures; (b) establishing explicit criteria for training; (c) establishing guidelines for competencies; (d) recognizing the impact of marketing; (e) embracing electronic technology; and (f) implementing computer adaptive testing.     

关于人类基因组解读计划的某些思考

基因组图谱的完成 ,仅仅是测定了 30亿个核苷酸的排列顺序 ,随后更主要的、更艰巨的工作是解读、破译这些基因的结构与功能 ,以及基因之间的相互关系与调控作用 ,也即是要解读基因编译的蛋白质清单。人类基因组图谱的测序工作 ,仅仅是了解人类基因的共性 ,对于人与人之间的基因差异以及基因变异的研究 ,发现变异的疾病基因 ,通过分析这些特定的变异基因来诊断疾病或预测疾病的发生 ,将是今后更艰巨的任务。1　基因功能问题人类究竟有多少基因 ,开始认为有 10万个基因 ,后来一度估计有 14万个 ,当人们测定了基因组序列后 ,最后认为有 3万多个…     

Causality and Becoming: Scotistic Reflections

Becoming is a process in which a thing moves from one state to another. In Section 1, the study will elaborate on the discussion of the Aristotelian causes taken broadly, primarily focusing on the relation between efficient and final causes. In Section 2, the study discusses the implications of Scotus’s conception of contingency and freedom, as they are reflected in the relation of the future to the past, for the efficient and final causalities. Similarly in Section 3 an examination of Scotus’s conception of matter is conducted. Based on the ideas established in these sections, the study attempts to present an initial Scotistic view of becoming.     

Disordered Eating in Women of Color: Some Counseling Considerations

There is little attention devoted to studying eating disorder symptoms in racially and ethnically diverse groups despite the fact that the prevalence rates among women of color for eating disorder symptoms are similar to those of European American women. This article reviews research related to eating disorders in women of color, including a discussion of sociocultural factors that could influence the manifestation of eating disorders in women of color. Considerations for counseling practice and research are provided.     

Working Together Across Difference: Some Considerations on Emotions and Political Practice

Uma Narayan attempts to clarify what the feminist notion of the ‘epistemic privilege of the oppressed’ does and does not imply. She argues that the fact that oppressed ‘insiders’ have epistemic privilege regarding their oppression creates problems in dialogue with and coalitionary politics involving ‘outsiders’ who do not share the oppression, since the latter fail to come to terms with the epistemic privilege of the insiders. She concretely analyzes different ways in which the emotions of insiders can be inadvertantly hurt by outsiders and suggests ways in which such problems can be minimized.     

Regional Analyses of Alcohol and Suicide in Norway: Some Empirical Considerations

The association between alcohol consumption and suicide was analyzed on aggregate-level data from Norway, applying regional units in the analyses. Thereby two purposes could be served: to validate previous estimates derived from time series analyses, and to assess an empirical indication of alcohol and suicide as alternative solutions. The effect of alcohol consumption on suicide rates tended to be higher for women than for men, which is contrary to results from time series analyses and what might generally be expected. The results are discussed with reference to causal mechanisms and alcohol and suicide as alternative choices of action, and methodological considerations are outlined.