Philosophy, the “unknown knowns,” and the public use of reason

There are not only true or false solutions, there are also false questions. The task of philosophy is not to provide answers or solutions, but to submit to critical analysis the questions themselves, to make us see how the very way we perceive a problem is an obstacle to its solution. This holds especially for today’s public debates on ecological threats, on lack of faith, on democracy and the “war on terror”, in which the “unknown knowns”, the silent presuppositions we are not aware of, determine our acts.     

The “concept of time” and the “being of the clock”: Bergson, Einstein, Heidegger, and the interrogation of the temporality of modernism

The topic to be addressed in this paper, that is, the distinction between the “concept” of time and the being of the clock, divides into two parts: first, in the debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson, one discovers the ground for the diverging concepts of time characterized by physics in its opposing itself to philosophy. Bergson’s durée or “duration” in opposition to Einstein’s ‘physicist’s time’ as ‘public time,’ one can argue, sets the terms for Martin Heidegger’s extending, his ontological analysis of Da-sein, as human being-in-the-world. Second, in this the ‘concept of time’ gives way to the analysis of the ‘being of the clock.’ What is this being of the clock that makes evident the fundamental temporality of Da-sein? This question is rehearsed in Division Two of Being and Time. My claim is that the fundamental insight into the nature of time revealed by the encounter between Bergson and Einstein is that time extemporizes itself. Temporality “is” not a being but a process that temporalizes itself, precisely because it “is not.”     

Variations in use of the term “or”

Two studies showed that adults' responses to questions involving the term or varied markedly depending upon the type of question presented. When presented with various objects (A's and B's) and asked to circle all things which are A or B subjects tended to circle A's as well as B's, whereas when asked to circle all the A's or B's subjects showed a relatively stronger tendency to circle one or the other. Moreover the nature of the sets of objects (As and Bs) influenced behavior as well. There was also evidence that the effects due to question wording or set type transferred.     

An Explanation of “Emotional” Phenomena without the use of the Concept “Emotion”

This study investigated the joint influence of total presentation time (10, 20, or 30 seconds) and method of reading (paced, normal linguistic breaks, or atypical linguistic breaks) on the learning of a 25 words-in-length passage of connected discourse. The material was presented orally and the recall was written. The finding of major importance was the significant influence of method of reading on total learning time.     

Preschool children's understanding of the coordinators “and” and “or”

The development of the understanding of the words and and or was studied. Children in the age interval 2:0–7:6 received two tests of word understanding, varying in the degree to which the context of the test items contributed in determining the meaning of the connectives, and one test of spontaneous usage. The results from the tests of word understanding showed that the context variable facilitated small children's responding, and that most reponses were correct at the age of four and beyond. The results from the production test indicated that and was used to express enummerations and or to express alternatives. The difference between the linguistic and the logical meaning of the connectives was discussed.     

“Masculinity,” “femininity,” and the complex construct of adjustment

Bem has hypothesized that masculinity (instrumentality) and femininity (expressiveness) contribute interactively to adjustment, whereas others have argued that they contribute additively or that only instrumentality is important. To investigate the issue, 92 male and 92 female undergraduates were given the Short Bem Sex-Role Inventory, the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, and a broad range of self-report adjustment measures. Correlational analyses demonstrated that both instrumentality and expressiveness had important correlates with the adjustment indices, and hierarchical multiple regression revealed that they sometimes combined additively, but never interactively. Expressiveness correlated weakly with traditional adjustment indices (global and social self-esteem, and lack of anxiety), but also weakly to moderately with more socially oriented aspects of adjustment, including lower loneliness, lower social distrust, and lower aggression. Instrumentality correlated moderately to highly with self-esteem, lower anxiety, and lower loneliness (although self-esteem mediated the relationships); it also correlated with lack of adjustment in terms of higher Type A behavior and aggression.     

A Review of “Risk Management: Clinical,Ethical, & Legal Guidelines for Successful Practice”

Abstract

Between Mothers-In-Law and Daughters-In-Law: Achieving a Successful and Caring Relationship, by Helene S. Arnstein. New York: Dodd, Mead&;Company, 1985, 225 pages, $8.95 paperback

When Living Hurts: Directives for Treating Depression, by Michael D. Yapko. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1988, 217 pages, $22.50

The Illustrated Manual of Sex Therapy, 2nd ed., by Helen Singer Kaplan. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1987, 181 pages, $22.50

Reforming the Law: Impact of Child Development Research, edited by Gary B. Melton New York: The Guilford Press, 1987, 307 pages, $30.00.

Doing Things: A Guide to Programming Activities for Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, by Jitka M. Zgola. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 149 pages, $20.00 hardcover, $8.95 paperback

Domestic Revolutions: A Social History of American Family Life, edited by Steven Mintz and Susan Kellogg. New York: The Free Press, 1987, 244 pages, $22.50

Handbook of Measurements for Marriage and Family Therapy, by Norman Fredman&;Robert Sherman. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1987, 218 pages, $27.50     

Disagreement, Error and Two Senses of Incompatibility—The Relational Function of Discursive Updating

In Between Saying and Doing: Towards an Analytic Pragmatism, Robert B. Brandom puts forward a general method of formally representing relations between meaning and use (between vocabularies and practices-or-abilities) and shows how discursive intentionality can be understood as a pragmatically mediated semantic relation. In this context, the activity that pragmatically mediates the semantic relations characteristic of discursive intentionality is specified as a practice of discursive updating—a practice of rectifying commitments and removing incompatibilities. The aim of the paper is to take a closer look at the practice of discursive updating and to show that the role of inconsistencies and disagreements in discursive practice can only be fully understood if the interactional dimension of updating processes is taken into account—i.e. if one looks at the explicitly social, interactional role of discursive updating in cases of disagreements between different subjects.     

First-person thought and the use of ‘I’

The traditional account (TA) of first-person thought draws conclusions about this type of thinking from claims made about the first-person pronoun. In this paper I raise a worry for the traditional account. Certain uses of ‘I’ conflict with its conception of the linguistic data. I argue that once the data is analysed correctly, the traditional approach to first-person thought cannot be maintained.     

Aging,source memory,and the experience of “remembering”

In a previous study, we found source memory for perceptual features to differentiate between younger but not older adults’ reports of recollective (“remember”; R) and “know” (K) experiences. In two experiments with younger (17–30 years) and older (64–81 years) participants, we examined whether memory for meaningful speaker sources would accompany older adults’ recollective experience. Indeed, memory for male and female speakers (but not partial memory for gender; Experiment 1) as well as bound memory for speakers and their facial expressions (Experiment 2) distinguished between both younger and older adults’ RK reports. Thus, memory for some sources forms a common basis for younger and older adults’ retrieval experience. Nonetheless, older adults still showed lower objective source memory and lower subjective source-attribution confidence than younger adults when reporting recollective experiences, suggesting that source memory is less relevant to their retrieval experience than for younger adults.     

The “death of freud”; and the rebirth of free psychoanalytic inquiry

The relevance of Grunbaum's recent critique of psychoanalytic theory is explored as it relates to relational/interpersonal theories. Griinbaum finds no scientific evidence for repression, the cornerstone of psychoanalysis. I argue that studies demonstrating the effects of motivated, unconscious processes are beginning to emerge in psychological research. This research, as well as interpersonal theory, refers to these processes as dissociated, not “repressed.”; I agree with Griinbaum that scientific validation of psychoanalytic theories of the mind, personality, and change cannot be gleaned from case studies alone. In relational theories the analytic situation is admittedly “contaminated”; with the analyst's participation by its very nature. There is beginning to be support for some relational hypotheses, but measures to validate these hypotheses are only now being developed. Grunbaum's criticisms have come at a time when the convergence between relational theories and theories in social/clinical psychology makes it more likely that relational hypotheses will be articulated in a more precise manner by researchers, if not by analysts.

The issues of the difficulty of measuring unconscious processes and the quest for knowledge seemingly beyond human limitations are addressed. Psychoanalysis is not only less than scientific, but more encompassing, in that it is also a creative activity that cannot be understood through science alone.

Science is not enough, nor art: In this work patience plays a part [Goethe].

The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious.... To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is [Albert Einstein, quoted in Pagels, 1985].     

What exists in the environment that motivates the emergence, transmission, and sophistication of tool use?

In his attempt to find cognitive traits that set humans apart from nonhuman primates with respect to tool use, Vaesen overlooks the primacy of the environment toward the use of which behavior evolves. The occurrence of a particular behavior is a result of how that behavior has evolved in a complex and changing environment selected by a unique population.     

Double dissociation between the neural correlates of the general and specific factors of the Life Orientation Test–Revised

In this article, we explore the neural correlates of the general and specific factors assessed by the Life Orientation Test–Revised. These factors have been shown to assess general optimism (GO) and a form of self-enhancement akin to unrealistic optimism (SP). Toward our aim, we used a standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA), which provides electroencephalographic (EEG) localization measures that are independent of recording reference. Resting-EEG and self-report measures of GO and SP were collected from 51 female undergraduates. EEGs were recorded across 29 scalp sites. Anterior and posterior source alpha asymmetries of cortical activation were obtained by using the sLORETA method. On the basis of previous research findings, ten frontal and six parietal regions of interest (ROIs) were derived. Alpha asymmetry in the posterior cingulate (i.e., BA31) was uniquely associated with GO. In contrast, SP was associated with areas of the inferior frontal gyrus (BA44, BA45) and with the left subcentralis area (BA43). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are provided and discussed.     

Relevance differently affects the truth,acceptability, and probability evaluations of “and”, “but”, “therefore”, and “if–then”

In this study, we investigate the influence of reason-relation readings of indicative conditionals and “and”/“but”/“therefore” sentences on various cognitive assessments. According to the Frege–Grice tradition, a dissociation is expected. Specifically, differences in the reason-relation reading of these sentences should affect participants’ evaluations of their acceptability but not of their truth value. In two experiments we tested this assumption by introducing a relevance manipulation into the truth-table task as well as in other tasks assessing the participants’ acceptability and probability evaluations. Across the two experiments, a strong dissociation was found. The reason-relation reading of all four sentences strongly affected their probability and acceptability evaluations, but hardly affected their respective truth evaluations. Implications of this result for recent work on indicative conditionals are discussed.     

Peritraumatic fear, helplessness and horror and peritraumatic dissociation: do physical and cognitive symptoms of panic mediate the relationship between the two?

The goal of this study was to examine whether panic mediates the relationship between fear, helplessness, and horror (PTSD criterion A2) and dissociation at the time of trauma. The study sample included 709 police officers and 317 peer-nominated civilians who had been exposed to a variety of critical incidents. Participants filled out measures of critical incident exposure, PTSD criterion A2, panic, and dissociation. Results indicate that together, physical and cognitive symptoms of panic completely mediate the relationship between criterion A2 and dissociation in civilians, and partially mediate that relationship in police. These results provide support for the idea that panic mediates the relationship between fear, helplessness, and horror (criterion A2) and dissociation at the time of trauma. The results also raise the possibility, however, that the mediational role of panic may be further moderated by additional variables.     

Meadow voles, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Microtus pennsylvanicus</Emphasis>, have the capacity to recall the “what”, “where”, and “when” of a single past event

Some non-human animals may possess the ability to recall the “what”, “where”, and “when” of a single past event. We tested the hypothesis that male meadow voles posses the capacity to recall the “what”, “where”, and “when” of a single past event associated with mate selection in two experiments. Briefly, male voles were allowed to explore an apparatus that contained two chambers. One chamber contained a day-20 pregnant female (24 h prepartum). The other chamber contained a sexually mature female that was neither pregnant nor lactating (REF female). Twenty-four hour after the exposure, the males were placed in the same apparatus, which was empty and clean. At this time, the pregnant female would have entered postpartum estrus (PPE), a period of heightened sexual receptivity. Males initially chose and spent significantly more time investigating the chamber that originally housed the pregnant female (now a PPE female) than the chamber that originally housed the REF female. Male voles also explored an apparatus containing a chamber with a PPE female and one chamber containing a REF female. Twenty-four hour later, males were placed into an empty and clean apparatus. The males did not display an initial choice and they spent similar amounts of time investigating the chamber that originally housed the PPE female (now a lactating female) and the chamber that originally housed the REF female. The results of these and additional experiments suggest that male voles may have the capacity to recall the “what”, “where”, and “when” of a single past event, which may allow males to remember the location of females who would currently be in heightened states of sexual receptivity.     

An investigation of the use of linguistic probes “by” and “in order to” in assessing moral grammar

Proponents of the linguistic analogy suggest that methodologies originally developed for investigating linguistic grammar can also be fruitfully applied to the empirical study of moral grammar: the causal and intentional representations of moral events which – according to the linguistic analogy – drive moral judgements. In the current study, we put this claim to the empirical test. Participants were presented with moral dilemmas which previously have been shown to implement a central principle in moral judgements: the principle of double effect (PDE). Participants responded to by and in order to probes to assess causal and intentional representations of this principle. Results show that these linguistic probes do not relate to moral judgement in the manner predicted by proponents of the linguistic analogy and moral grammar. Although the linguistic analogy is a theoretically rich framework, the procedures posited to give it empirical traction require revision.     

Rationality,self-regard and the “healthiness” of personality disorders

Although irrationality has been consistently correlated with the intensity of acute clinical syndromes that are characterized by emotional or thought disorders, relationships between irrationality and personality disorders have not been investigated carefully. When they enter treatment, clients at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy (IRET) had personality trait scale scores that accounted for substantial variance in rationality scale scores on several well-validated instruments. The eleven scales of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) associated with the DSM-III axis II personality disorders had a pattern of relationships with rationality and irrationality that parallels their somewhat surprising relationships with measures of acute emotional distress. Scales 4, 5, 6, and 7 were almost always associated with hyperrationality on most scales and with enhanced self-esteem, as well as with relatively low distress; scales 1, 2, 3, 8, S, and C were associated with irrationality and low self-esteem, as well as with severe distress. The P scale had inconsistent and weak correlations with rationality and self-esteem, as it had with measures of intake distress.Russell C. Leaf is Associate Professor of Psychology at Rutgers. He also directs a research project at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy, in collaboration with the four other authors of this article, on the relationships between intake personality and mental health. He is an Institute Fellow and Supervisor, and previously served as a staff therapist and as the Institute's Director of Clinical Evaluation.Albert Ellis is President of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Roslyn Mass is Professor of Psychology at Middlesex County College. She is in charge of data processing and analysis for the collaborative research of this authorial team, and is a Fellow of and previously served as Administrative Director of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Raymond DiGiuseppe is Associate Professor of Psychology at St. Johns and Director of Research and Director of Training at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.Diane Alington is Assistant Director and a core member of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers, where she conducts a research program on sex differences in adult development.