A Legacy of Silence: Bioethics and the Culture of Pain

For over 20 years the medical literature has carefully documented the undertreatment of all types of pain by physicians. During this same period, as the field of bioethics came of age, the phenomenon of undertreated pain received almost no attention from the bioethics literature. This article takes bioethicists to task for failing to recognize the undertreatment of pain as a major ethical, and not merely a clinical, failing of the medical profession. The nature and extent of the problem of undertreated pain is examined, as well as possible reasons for its disregard by bioethicists. The factors contributing to undertreated pain in the clinical setting are considered, as well as the hazards posed by recent failures to address ethically questionable clinical practices. Finally, suggestions are offered for refocusing the attention of bioethicists to this significant problem.     

Cosmopsychism: A Holistic Approach to the Metaphysics of Experience

Abstract

This paper introduces cosmopsychism as a holistic alternative to atomistic panpsychism, and as a general perspective on the metaphysics of consciousness. I begin with some necessary background details concerning contemporary panpsychism and the problems it faces, and then proceed to the theory itself. The starting point of the theory is the assumption that an all pervading cosmic consciousness is the single ontological ultimate. From this assumption, a panpsychist ontology of mind with distinct holistic overtones is developed. In particular, I argue that such universal consciousness serves as the ground for the emergence of individual conscious creatures. The result is a theory with significant conceptual resources which presents novel means for confronting some of the most recalcitrant problems facing contemporary panpsychism: in particular, the subject combination problem, and the problem of entailment associated with it. In so doing, cosmopsychism places itself as an viable alternative to atomistic varieties of panpsychism as well as to orthodox physicalist accounts of consciousness.     

Perceiving Potentiality: A Metaphysics for Affordances

Topoi - According to ecological psychology, animals perceive not just the qualities of things in their environment, but their affordances: in James Gibson’s words, ’what things furnish,...     

A Legacy of Weakness

No abstract available for this article.     

一种对存在不惑的形而上学

从理解世界到理解意识,再到理解语言,形而上学的线索走的是一条唯心论道路。胡塞尔试图论证的不仅是主观性能够构造出客观性,而且只有在主观性之中才能够构造出客观性;于是,存在的客     

Nicholas A. Vacc: A Legacy of Professional Leadership and Mentoring

For more than 20 years, Dr. Nicholas A. Vacc helped shape the counseling profession through his extensive involvement in accreditation, certification, and testing, as well as his research and scholarship. This article, based on a review of documents and interviews with his colleagues, former students, and family members, provides the only summary of Vacc's numerous accomplishments and describes his characteristics as a leader, a mentor, and a person.     

可知与不可知之间——康德与笛卡尔的形而上学之比较

近代批判哲学发端于"笛卡尔式怀疑",著称于康德的先验哲学体系.笛卡尔从彻底的怀疑论入手却得出可知论的结论,而康德从不那么彻底的怀疑论入手却得出不可知论的结论.康德不问"具有客观必然性的经验知识是否可能?",而只问"具有客观必然性的经验知识如何可能?".笛卡尔却首先关注前一个问题,为此他为哲学找到一个阿基米德点即"我思故我在".事实上,康德对前一个问题是回避不了的,以致他后来承认对于"先验统觉如何可能"的问题无法解答.笛卡尔理论的缺陷已由康德指出,即在一些方面让理智越过了界限,犯了超验的错误.笔者认为,如果把康德的先验范畴体系同笛卡尔确立的阿基米德点结合起来,那将可望成为一个更加完善的形而上学体系.     

The Metaphysics of Thought: A Response to Fish and Macdonald

Abstract

John McDowell’s position on the metaphysics of thought combines an identity conception of truth, the view that if one thinks truly that p, then what one thinks is the fact that p, with a Tractarian conception of the world as the totality of facts. In response to the charge that it is incoherent, William Fish and Cynthia Macdonald have recently (2007, 2009, 2011) defended a novel way of developing McDowell’s position. I argue that their interesting proposal doesn't work, owing to the fact that it can accommodate neither false thought nor, it seems, certain cases of true thought.     

The Study of Interpersonal Problems: A Leary Legacy

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) is an instrument based on Leary's original theory that has been used to identify dysfunctional patterns in a person's interpersonal interactions. Interpersonal problems can be organized. in 2 dimensions, and the 2-dimensional space can be divided into 8 equal sector's (octants). Subscale of the IIP describe problems in each of these octants. The instrument has been used to identify interpersonal problems that are discussed most often in a brief dynamic psychotherapy and problems that are treated most easily. The results show that problems in the exploitable octant improve most frequently, whereas problems in the dominating, vindictive, and cold octants do not improve as readily. We have also examined people's attachment styles in adulthood (following a model proposed by Bowlby) ,and found that different attachment styles correspond to different types of interpersonal problems.