The prostitution of psychotherapy: A feminist critique

Historically, psychotherapy has largely failed women and other marginalised people. Created by the mainstream to serve the mainstream, traditional therapy focuses on the individual and works to bring all individuals into line with the status quo. In contrast, feminist therapy (as one of the radical alternative therapies) emphasises the need for psychotherapy to be based in a socio-political philosophy which names oppression as the cause of most of the emotional and psychological distress experienced by individuals. A major emphasis is on change rather than adjustment. Traditional therapy is charged with: (1) reinforcing society's mystifications/lies/deceit; and (2) allowing itself to be used and degraded in service of the mainstream. The role of demystification, honesty and the pursuit of justice as therapeutic endeavours is discussed.     

Listening to a different voice: A feminist critique of Gilligan

A critical examination of Carol Gilligan's study of psychological theory and women's development, this essay begins by exploring her concerns about malebiased developmental theorizing. I consider in detail Gilligan's criticisms of Sigmund Freud and her own empirical studies of moral development, as they relate to the work of L. Kohlberg. After defending Freud to some degree, I propose various (less theoretical but intuitively plausible) alternative interpretations of her data-interviews with males and females about hypothetical ethical dilemmas and with females about actual abortion decisions. I contend that Gilligan is too willing to concede the adequacy of Kohlberg's categories for fathoming the moral reasoning of males and that she may, in consequence, exaggerate differences between males and females. Noting the ironic similarities between Gilligan's claims and Schopenhauer's misogyny, I suggest that there may be something undesirably self-limiting about the different course of development she sketches. To move toward a morally preferable, feminism-compatible version of an ethic of care, I recommend that it be extended — by the imagination — beyond the here and now and that it not be restricted to existing webs of personal relationships.     

Aging: Setting Limits Within a Christian Vision: A Theology of the Paschal Mystery

ABSTRACT

Daniel Callahan, in his provocative book Setting Limits, Medical Goals in an Aging Society, has affirmed that in a period of declining resources, it should be the function of medicine to help elderly to achieve a natural and fitting life span, and has invited the elderly to set limits to their demands. “To set limits” in a cultural context marked by frenzied consumerism, and a discriminatory attitude toward aging is to demand of the elderly what no one else is willing to do. What is needed for the “setting of limits” is a frame of reference where loss and negativity can be accepted without despair. In the Paschal Mystery Christianity provides us with a model of humanhood where the letting go of power and the acceptance of creatureliness are predominant characteristics. Disengagement is not simply for the end of the life cycle, but on-going from the beginning.     

Setting phenotypes in a mutual help organization: Expanding behavior setting theory

Expands Barker's theory of behavior settings by proposing an additional method of classifying settings based on their functional/behavioral aspects--the setting phenotype. Although behavior setting theory has been widely hailed as a revolutionary contribution to behavioral science, it has had limited impact on general psychology. This may be due in part to a reliance on a purely structural method of classifying behavior settings--the setting genotype. Behavioral data were collected from 510 meetings of 13 self-help groups from a mutual help organization for persons with problems in living. A cluster analysis was performed to uncover meaningful behavioral patterns among the groups. Four phenotypes were identified: personal, impersonal, small talk, and advising. Mutual help group phenotype was found to be related to a set of setting characteristics as well as to overall rated change of group members. The results are discussed in light of the significance of the phenotype construct for making behavior setting theory more relevant for social scientists.     

Negotiating criteria and setting limits: The case of aids

The classification of clinical problems, such as AIDS, requires choices. Choices are made on epistemic (i.e., knowledge-based) and non-epistemic (i.e., action-based) grounds. That is, the ways in which we classify clinical problems, such as AIDS, involve a balancing of different understandings of clinical reality and of clinical values among participants of the clinical community. On this view, the interplay between epistemic and non-epistemic interests occurs within the embrace of particular clinical contexts.The ways in which we classify AIDS is the topic of this paper. We consider the extent to which we construct clinical reality; we examine a suggested classification of AIDS; and we conclude suggesting that the choice regarding how to classify AIDS is the result of negotiation among participants in the clinical community.     

One for all: What representing a group may do to us

Collective bargaining, business alliances, diplomacy between nations — interactions between group representatives include topics that may have some of the greatest impact on our lives. Nevertheless, the nature of such interactions is poorly understood. How do representatives approach such interactions? What goals do they pursue, and what expectations do they have of their counterpart? In the present research, we advance a theoretical framework with which to understand the mindset that is activated by the role of representative. In two studies, we measure what goals (Study 1) and expectations (Study 2) become salient in this role, compared with the related roles of individual or group member. Our findings reveal that representatives may display a more competitive mindset, consisting of more competitive goals and expectations of others. As competition can be harmful, rather than beneficial to the group, care should be taken when relying on representatives, so that we may exploit their strengths while curtailing their weaknesses.     

Seeing What We Know, Knowing What We See: Challenging the Limits of Visual Acuity

Ageism has resulted in overstated expectations regarding the inevitable deterioration in human capabilities, such as visual perception, with age (Rowe and Kahn in Science, 237, 143?C149, 1987; Grant in Health and Social Work, 21, 9?C15, 1996). Human visual perception, however, is of a largely constructive nature, evidenced in the complementary interactions between top-down inputs (e.g., expectations) and bottom-up stimuli (Engel et al. in National Review of Neuroscience, 2(10), 704?C716, 2001; Miller and Cohen in, Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167-202, 2001). Based on this constructive nature, we hypothesized that visual perception may be better than is typically expected. In three experiments, we demonstrated the malleability of visual acuity using a conditioning procedure involving manipulations in bottom-up stimuli. Experimental groups read a book excerpt with one letter in decreased font size, while the control groups read the same book excerpt with all letters in the same font size. Experiment 1 (N?=?112) examined whether visual acuity could be enhanced for a specific letter. Experiment 2 (N?=?70) assessed whether visual acuity could be enhanced for a non-conditioned letter, while Experiment 3 (N?=?108) evaluated whether the visual conditioning effects would transfer to all non-conditioned letters. Visual acuity for experimental groups was significantly better than that in the control groups, speaking to the general malleability of our visual sense.     

Balancing Legitimate Critical-Care Interests: Setting Defensible Care Limits Through Policy Development

Critical-care decision making is highly complex, given the need for health care providers and organizations to consider, and constructively respond to, the diverse interests and perspectives of a variety of legitimate stakeholders. Insights derived from an identified set of ethics-related considerations have the potential to meaningfully inform inclusive and deliberative policy development that aims to optimally balance the competing obligations that arise in this challenging, clinical decision-making domain. A potential, constructive outcome of such policy engagement is the collaborative development of an as-fair-as-possible dispute resolution process that incorporates an appropriated-justified, defensible critical-care obligation threshold.     

Tom Koch,The Limits of Principle: Deciding Who Lives and What Dies

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

What we may do with preembryos: a response to Richard A. McCormick.

If preembryos are not persons, as Professor Richard A. McCormick recently argued in an article in this journal, then a variety of actions with preembryos should be permitted to follow. These actions include discard, freezing, research, and preimplantation genetic analysis.     

“科学没有宗教是跛足的“什么意思?

把某些科学家信仰宗教,当成科学可以容纳有神论而大加渲染,是现今推行鬼神论常用的一种伎俩. 　　爱因斯坦无疑是20世纪科学发展中的一座丰碑,将永远为人们所景仰;他同纳粹的斗争和推动反原子战争的和平运动,至今还有非常现实的意义.他得到崇高的荣誉和普遍的尊敬,是理所当然的.但也正因为如此,他也有了被鬼神论者随意涂抹的特别价值.近来,在宗教研究领域,通行的是引用他的这两句话:“科学没有宗教,是跛足的;宗教没有科学,则是盲目的.“……     

Kohut's method of interpretation: a critique

To cope with the obscure, complexly overdetermined, and unstable nature of unconscious meanings, Freud developed a pluralistic methodology that employs a wide variety of interpretive strategies and procedures. Conversely, Kohut proposed a radically abbreviated interpretive approach based on the single, subjective method of empathy. This report reevaluates Kohut's monistic interpretive methodology: (1) The principal features of Kohut's interpretive method are reviewed and evaluated. (2) Case material and interpretations from Kohut's final book are used to compare his unidimensional approach with the pluralistic methodology of traditional interpretation. (3) The epistemologic liabilities of Kohut's interpretive method are delineated and discussed. (4) Methodologically more appropriate strategies for improving clinical interpretation are presented.