Human Dignity and the Ethics and Aesthetics of Pain and Suffering

Inasmuch as unmitigated pain and suffering areoften thought to rob human beings of theirdignity, physicians and other care providersincur a special duty to relieve pain andsuffering when they encounter it. When pain andsuffering cannot be controlled it is sometimesthought that human dignity is compromised.Death, it is sometimes argued, would bepreferred to a life without dignity.Reasoning such as this trades on certainpreconceptions of the nature of pain andsuffering, and of their relationships todignity. The purpose of this paper is to laybare these preconceptions. The duties torelieve pain and suffering are clearly mattersof moral obligation, as is the duty to respondappropriately to the dignity of other persons.However, it is argued that our understanding ofthe phenomena of pain and suffering and theirrelationships to human dignity will be expandedwhen we explore the aesthetic dimensions ofthese various concepts. On the view presentedhere the life worth living is both morally goodand aesthetically beautiful. Appropriate``suffering with' another can help to maintainand restore the dignity of the relationshipsinvolved, even as it preserves and enhances thedignity of patient and caregiver alike.     

The workable here and now and the why of there and then

At an earlier time our work as analysts was easier. We searched for the repressed in order to make constructions that connected the past to the present symptoms. Making these connections conscious, based upon the continuing influence of the Topographic theory, was thought to be the curative factor in psychoanalysis. Freud (1912, 1914) briefly expressed the importance of working in the present but his main focus remained the importance of reconstructing the past. The importance of working in the present started to be fully articulated approximately 30 years ago, and has become a central part of most views on technique. However, it is the contention of this paper that, while there is general agreement on the necessity of working in the here and now, the understanding of what this means or why it is useful runs along parallel lines rather than leading to a central point. Further, it is my impression there is little agreement on the reasons for interpreting the there and then. The idea of a 'workable here and now' is introduced to capture how the here and now might best include the analysand's readiness to synthesize what is offered, while a theory of the necessity for working in the here and now and the there and then is offered.     

When and Why Mimicry is Facilitated and Attenuated

Although people tend to mimic others automatically, mimicry is facilitated or attenuated depending on the specific context. In the current paper, the authors discuss when mimicry is facilitated and attenuated depending on characteristics of situations, targets, and observers. On the basis of the review, the authors propose a new model – the Associated Reactions to Actions in Context model (ARAC) – to explain why and when mimicry is facilitated and attenuated. ARAC proposes that when people observe an action, reaction‐to‐action neurons fire. Which reaction is elicited depends on the (learned or innate) association with an action in that context. Thus, when mimicry is rewarding in a specific context, this response is facilitated. When mimicry is damaging, this response is attenuated, and another reaction may be facilitated instead. The authors discuss the added value of the ARAC model compared to other models explaining the elicitation of behavioral reactions.     

Euthanasia and the Distinction Between Acts and Omissions

ABSTRACT It is commonly assumed that the view that passive euthanasia is morally preferable to active euthanasia is an implication of the view that killing someone is worse than merely letting her die, and that it is held by its proponents on this ground. Accordingly, attempts to discredit the former often take the form of attempted refutations of the latter. In the present paper, it is argued that such attempts are misguided, since the former view is not in fact implied by the latter.     

Religiosity and Secular and Ascetic Deviance

According to the antiascetic hypothesis, religiosity should be strongly related to behaviors that violate ascetic standards (getting drunk and using marijuana), but only weakly related to behaviors that violate social standards (violence and stealing). Using the second wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion, I tested the antiascetic hypothesis using a question about the most important basis for deciding what is morally right or wrong. Contrary to the antiascetic hypothesis, individuals who believe that God's law is the most important for deciding what is morally right or wrong, compared to those who believe that society is the most important, are not less likely to get drunk or use marijuana. Furthermore, for getting drunk and marijuana use, differences in behavior are not the result of different ethical standards (ascetic or social), but rather differences in the willingness to uphold those standards (is it OK to break moral rules).     

Analog and digital,continuous and discrete

Representation is central to contemporary theories regarding the mind/brain. But the nature of representation—both in the mind/brain and more generally—is a source of ongoing controversy. One way of categorizing representational types is to distinguish between the analog and the digital: the received view is that analog representations vary smoothly, while digital representations vary in a step-wise manner. In other words, ‘digital’ is synonymous with ‘discrete’, while ‘analog’ is synonymous with ‘continuous’. I argue that this characterization is inadequate to account for the ways in which representation is (and should be) used in cognitive science; in its place, I suggest an alternative taxonomy. I will defend and extend David Lewis’s account of analog and digital representation, distinguishing analog from continuous representation, as well as digital from discrete representation. I will argue that the distinctions available in this fourfold account better accord with representational features of interest in cognitive science than the received analog/digital dichotomy.     

Gender and power in counselling and supervision

The need to reflect on how the dynamics of gender and power can articulate together and adversely affect counselling and supervision relationships is addressed. It is suggested that automatically incorporating a social analysis into supervision will help the counsellor clarify the political nature of some of the therapeutic issues and result in the addressing of gender stereotypes which otherwise might contaminate the process of counselling. It is further argued that using a feminist approach, in which there is a commitment to facilitating equality and personal power between women and men, is helpful in establishing a constructive and facilitating supervisory style.     

Contrast and size variables and the tilt after-effect

The relationship between the contrast and bar width of adapting and test gratings in the determination of the magnitude of the tilt after-effect was explored. When the contrast of adapting and test gratings is varied concomitantly over four levels, the magnitude of the tilt after-effect does not change. When the contrast of the adapting grating is higher than the test grating, the magnitude of the after-effect is increased and when its contrast is lower than the test grating, the magnitude of the after-effect is decreased. When the bar width of the test grating is narrower or broader than that of the adapting grating, the magnitude of the after-effect does not change. The implications of these results for a neurophysiological explanation of the tilt after-effect are discussed.     

Animal learning and memory and their relation to human learning and memory

For some three decades now, the experimental study of learning and memory has been conducted as two entirely separate endeavors, one using humans as subjects and the other using animals. The separation is placed in historical context, and consideration is given to recent movements by those in the animal camp toward adopting some of the theorizing as well as some of the list memory procedures from those in the human camp. It is argued that exploring list memory in animals should do much to further our understanding of both animal cognition and its relation to human cognition. The trend toward more complex theorizing and more liberal use of hypothetical constructs, on the other hand, is regarded with concern. It is argued that hypothetical constructs have contributed little to an enduring understanding of human learning and memory, and that they are unlikely to be any more helpful with animals.     

Thought suppression and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors

This study proposes and tests a theoretical model suggesting that the propensity to suppress unwanted thoughts is associated with an increased presence and frequency of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB). In the model, propensity to suppress unwanted thoughts is hypothesized to be a cognitive mediator of the relationship between emotional reactivity and SITB, and is expected to be related to the extent to which SITB is initiated to escape from aversive emotions. Results of this cross-sectional study of adolescents (N=87) revealed that the self-reported propensity to suppress unwanted thoughts is associated with the presence and frequency of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Furthermore, thought suppression partially mediates the relationship between emotional reactivity and the frequency of NSSI and suicidal ideation. Finally, adolescents with a higher tendency to suppress unwanted thoughts report engaging in NSSI in order to reduce aversive emotions rather than for social communication. Results are discussed within the framework of the negative reinforcement function of SITB.     

Truth and Tension in Science and Religion

While evolution deserves theological support and inclusion in schools, the consensus views, Darwinian or neo-Darwinian evolution, present problems. Darwin presented two arguments: 1) that evolution, descent with modification, has occurred, and 2) that its “cause” is natural selection, the focus of neo-Darwinism. However, the products of natural selection, adaptations, are often not congruent with the lineages produced by evolution and its demonstrated effects are within species. The difficulty of using natural selection to explain evolution is used by proponents of Intelligent Design (ID) to denigrate evolution and to argue for the inclusion of ID in biology classes. However, the force of the arguments in favor of ID disappear when evolution is viewed as an informational phenomenon. Evolution, like development, is a system of increasing complexity, and emergence the inevitable outcome of the transformation of matter whereby the information in DNA is expressed that accompanies energy dynamics. Evolution is witnessed by studies in comparative biology that reveal groups of related organisms and homologies, both the result of descent with modification.     

Law and Gospel,and Youth and Family Ministry

Abstract : If “faith comes through hearing” the word of God comprised in law and gospel, how do the imperatives that characterize ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ make such hearing possible? Here, literature delineating ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ is analyzed in light of its biblical foundations. The primary lens implemented in this analysis is the law/gospel hermeneutic advocated by Martin Luther and other reformers.     

Social and Emotional Loneliness Among Divorced and Married Men and Women: Comparing the Deficit and Cognitive Perspectives

Data from the 1998 survey “Divorce in the Netherlands” (N = 2,223) are used to analyze differences in loneliness among divorced and married men and women. The results indicate that it makes sense to distinguish social from emotional loneliness. This is consistent with the deficit perspective, which posits that the absence of specific types of relationships is associated with specific forms of loneliness. Whereas social loneliness is largely attributable to support network deficits, emotional loneliness is associated with the absence of a partner. In line with the cognitive perspective, the results show that greater insight into loneliness is obtained when discrepancies in relationships are considered. Divorcees who attach great importance to having a partner and people whose marriages are conflict ridden tend to have the highest levels of emotional loneliness. Our study shows that to explain loneliness, one should take not only characteristics of people's relationships into consideration, but also their relationship preferences. The investment hypothesis, which also follows from the cognitive perspective, is not supported by the data. There is no indication that those who attach greater importance to having a partner invest less in relationships with friends, relatives, and colleagues and therefore show high levels of social loneliness. Consistent gender differences are observed: Men, regardless of partner status, tend to attach greater importance to having a partner than do women, and they tend to have smaller support networks and higher levels of social loneliness. Among the divorced, men are more apt to suffer from emotional loneliness than are women.     

Women and weight: fad and fiction

In this article, I argue that women's concern with body weight is a "fad," when taken in an historical context, and is limited to Western societies. I have presented evidence that the following aspects of weight are myths rather than reality: (a) There are objective definitions of obesity; (b) obesity is prevalent among women; (c) obese people take in more calories than the nonobese; (d) dieting is an effective way to reduce weight; and (e) obesity is related to poor physical health.     

Prior and rennie on times and tenses

One of Arthur Prior’s constructions of the relational calculus for times within tense logic plus propositional quantifiers is considered using Malcolm Rennie’s multimodal semantics and found wanting in two respects: Prior’s use of an independent necessity operator was both incorrect and unnecessary, and his system imported an objectionable metaphysics namely temporal relationism.When these defects are repaired it is shown that temporal relationism is not entailed by the modified system.Finally, there is considered the possibility of describing an inconsistent temporal structure in which distinct, classically incompatible conceptions of time can be unified within an inconsistent framework     

Rhetoric and Dialectic: Some Historical and Legal Perspectives

The thesis is defended that rhetoric is not, as is often said, a discipline which is hierarchically subordinate to dialectic. It is argued that the modalities of the links between rhetoric and dialectic must be seen in a somewhat different light: rhetoric and dialectic should be viewed as two complementary disciplines. On the basis of a historical survey of the views of various authors on the links between rhetoric and dialectic, it is concluded that efforts to establish clear boundaries or unequivocal conceptual or moral hierarchical relationships between the two disciplines have failed and that therefore, they must be conceived as being mutually dependent.     

Realization and Multiple Realization,Chicken and Egg

A common view is that the truth of multiple realization—e.g., about psychological states—entails the truth of functionalism. This is supposed to follow because what is multiply realized is eo ipso realized. I argue that view is mistaken by demonstrating how it misrepresents arguments from multiple realization. In particular, it undermines the empirical component of the arguments, and renders the multiplicity of the realization irrelevant. I suggest an alternative reading of multiple realizability arguments, particularly in philosophy of psychology. And I explain the proper way to understand the relation between realization and multiple realization.     

Bread and Roses: Empathy and Recognition

Empathy and Recognition represent two closely intertwined, crucial elements of human relatedness, and thus of the analytic relationship. Each ushers in a different quality of relatedness in the dyad: Empathy is a response to a basic human need, crucial to psychic safety and coherence, and may be imagined ahead of time as the need for someone to understand one’s experience, to get one’s pain. By contrast, recognition as a longing may be only partially formulated before it is emergent, because it is in the moments when it is realized that the desire for its inherent mutuality may be most keenly felt. It is in such moments, often arising through collision and unpacking between two distinct and suddenly more fully knowable subjectivities, that the experience of desire may be both held and renewed. Recent relational writing has made clear how deeply intersubjective empathy may be, in its fullest realization; however, with recognition, the desire for the other as other, who may now be known as such, arises anew out of the experience of being met in intersubjective encounter. Like bread and roses, both are vital as felt experience, and in potentiating transformation.     

Metaphor and Thinking in Science and Religion

Excerpts from Chapters 1 and 3 of New Maps for Old: Explorations in Science and Religion (Gerhart and Russell 2001) explore the ramifications of metaphoric process for changes in thinking, especially those changes that lead to a new understanding of our world. Examples are provided from science, from religion, and from science and religion together. In excerpts from Chapter 8, a double analogy—theology is to science as science is to mathematics—is proposed for better understanding the contemporary relationship between science and religion. A conservation of epistemological sufficiency is disclosed as one moves from mathematics to empirical science to theology—a move from one discipline to another that involves a sacrifice of one aspect of thought to gain another.