Qualia: They’re Not What They Seem

Whether or not qualia are ways things seem, the view that qualia have the properties typically attributed to them is unjustified. Ways things seem do not have many of the properties commonly attributed to them. For example, inverted ways things seem are impossible. If ways things seem do not have the features commonly attributed to them, and qualia do have those same features, this looks like good reason to distinguish the two. But if your reasons for believing that qualia have the features are epistemically on a par with reasons for believing that ways things seem have the features, and you know that ways things seem do not have the features, then those reasons cannot justify your belief that qualia have the features. I argue that the reasons are epistemically on a par in this way.     

Character: a concept in search of an identity

I have attempted to clarify the clinical usage of the concept of character. I have examined such terms as character trait, character, and character disorder. I have described various schemes of classification, and have proposed key definitions for the above terms. I have described the unique aspect of character, that is, its capacity to establish a relation between a superficial attribute and a deep structure. Finally, I have suggested that character represents the core of the individual from a particular point of view--a precipitate of a person's relations to the outside world.     

灾后中小学生创伤后应激障碍和抑郁症状的共存模式

为揭示灾后中小学生创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)和抑郁在症状层面的共存模式, 本研究分别在汶川地震和雅安地震1年后, 对灾区的中小学生进行问卷调查, 并基于高斯图形模型和贝叶斯爬山算法构建了二者的共存症状网络。结果发现, 在DSM-IV的框架下, PTSD和抑郁的重叠症状以及情绪麻木症状在二者的共存网络中起到了桥接作用; 子网络探测结果与DSM-IV划分的症状边界不同, PTSD中的闯入性症状和回避性症状是其区别于抑郁的特异性症状, 且多为闯入性症状激发回避性症状; 在二者的共存模式中, 多为抑郁症状激发PTSD症状。上述结果在汶川和雅安两个样本中均得到了交叉验证, 具有一定的可推广性。     

The pastoral care movement: A product of many contributions

Summary The preceding statements make it clear that all denominations have been concerned. Some began earlier than others; some have made it more of a major emphasis than others, but all have been concerned, and those that came in later are showing an increasing interest. These statements also point out the fact that this is an historic tradition. The names of Luther and Wesley are mentioned, as well as men who are still active in their leadership. Some have stressed a theological orientation more than others; some have concentrated on training; others have developed a ministry in institutions and the founding of institutions, hospitals, and home.All have stressed the influence of certain key individuals who have helped shape the thinking of a denomination. Again we see the ecumenical aspect of the movement, for the names that are mentioned as being influential in a denomination have also been influential in other denominations as well. This is true from Luther and Wesley down to Westberg and Hiltner.The major impression from reading these statements is not their diversity but their common concerns. Differences are obvious, but they are not divisive. We have much to learn from each other in sharing experiences, fostering experimentation and research, and a continuing dialogue for increased effectiveness in the service of the people and the advancement of the church.     

病理性网络使用者对情绪信息的注意偏向研究

探究病理性网络使用者在注意偏向上是否存在情绪干扰。采用情绪图-词Stroop范式对病理性网络使用者与正常网络使用者进行比较研究。结果表明(1)病理性网络使用者与正常网络使用者相比,有对情绪词语有更加突出的反应延迟特点,表现出了明显的情绪干扰。(2)病理性网络使用者与正常网络使用者相比,具有更多的负性认知偏向。(3)病理性网络使用者与正常网络使用者相比,在图词不一致的情况下有更多的反应延迟存在。     

On disagreement about perception

In this article I have tried to rebut certain types of arguments which purport to show not merely that God does not exist but that the notion of necessary existence is itself either self‐contradictory or senseless. In showing that it is not self‐contradictory I have allowed myself the luxury of a negative and a positive approach. Negatively, I have had to show that when the accusation of self‐contradiction is made, it is often accompanied, not by an argument but by a sheer assertion. On the rare occasions when an argument is forthcoming, the arguments, I have tried to show, have been invalid, not even, inconclusive. And to the extent that Kant may be said to have argued not simply the impossibility of a genuine proof of the existence of God, but indeed the impossibility of the concept of necessary existence, I have argued out the weakness of Kant's arguments, the most notable of which I have discussed in some detail. Finally, to establish the genuineness of the concept of necessary existence, positively, I have paradoxically made use of a notion from Russell's logic.     

The Protean Therapist

SUMMARY

The subject of the following article is the protean journey therapists make as they adapt to changing situations and challenges in their own lives and the ultimate impact it has on their clinical work with patients. I have used the example of my own life, in which certain critical events have transformed me from a person with a rather ordinary perspective to someone who has come to appreciate the fragile nature of life with its rich tapestry of complicated ties and patterns. I have tried to demonstrate that significant events in my life and my personal development over the past thirty years have furthered my appreciation and treatment of my patients. I have also come to recognize that my patients' particular journeys, on which I have accompanied them, have similarly contributed to and enriched my life in myriad ways.     

Opposing views on animal experimentation: do animals have rights?

Animals have moral standing; that is, they have properties (including the ability to feel pain) that qualify them for the protections of morality. It follows from this that humans have moral obligations toward animals, and because rights are logically correlative to obligations, animals have rights.     

Successful treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders

Behavioral therapy and drugs have significantly improved obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. A variety of behavioral therapy methods have been employed, but exposure and prevention of response, particularly, have reduced ritualistic actions of many OCD patients. Many psychoactive drugs have been tried; the tricyclic antidepressant drugs (clomipramine or Anafranel), especially in research outside the United States, have alleviated OCD symptoms as well as depression. Compulsive rituals have responded more often than obsessive actions to both behavioral and psychopharmacological therapy. Recent research has suggested that psychophysiological as well as traditional psychogenic factors may contribute to the etiology, course, and alleviation of OCD.     

Are Transgender Persons at Higher Risk for HIV Than Other Sexual Minorities? A Comparison of HIV Prevalence and Risks

SUMMARY

Recent studies have shown that transgender people are at high risk for HIV. Few studies, however, have directly compared the HIV risks and sexual health of transgender persons with that of other sexual minority populations. This study used baseline data of intervention studies targeting transgender persons, men who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women and men to compare their HIV risk behavior and sexual health. No significant differences were found between transgender persons and nontransgender men or women in consistent condom use or attitudes toward condom use. Transgender persons were less likely to have multiple partners and more likely to be monogamous than men who have sex with men; no differences were found between transgender persons and the women in this respect. When combining data on condom use, monogamy, and multiple partners, transgender persons did not differ from either nontransgender group in their overall risk for HIV. Transgender persons were less likely than the men or the women to have been tested for HIV. With regard to HIV prevalence, 17% of the men compared to only one transgender person and none of the women reported being HIV-positive. Transgender persons were also less likely than men who have sex with men to use drugs; no differences were found in the use of alcohol. However, with regard to mental health, transgender persons were more likely than the men to have experienced depression and more likely than men or women to have considered or attempted suicide. Finally, transgender persons reported the lowest levels of support from family and peers. Thus, in our sample, transgender persons appear to be at lower risk for HIV but at higher risk for mental health concerns than men who have sex with men. Remarkably few differences were found between transgender persons and women who have sex with women and men-a finding which might reflect the impact of social stigma on sexual health and have implications for the design of future HIV/STI prevention efforts.     

Ubuntu and the law in South Africa: Exploring and understanding the substantive content of ubuntu

Supposing some legal solutions lay in exploring and understanding the substantive content of ubuntu, what then? Is there no ground for suspecting that some legal scholars and courts, in so far as they have been dogmatists, have failed to understand ubuntu? That the terrible, seriousness and clumsy importunity with which they have usually paid their addresses to ubuntu have been unskilled and unseemly methods of solving some legal problems? Certainly, some legal problems have not rendered themselves to proper solutions through such methods.     

Non-reductivism and the metaphilosophy of mind

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the metaphilosophical assumptions that have dominated analytic philosophy of mind, and how they gave rise to the central question that the best-known forms of non-reductivism available have sought to answer, namely: how can mind fit within nature? Its goal is to make room for forms of non-reductivism that have challenged the fruitfulness of this question, and which have taken a different approach to the so-called “placement” problem. Rather than trying to solve the placement problem, the forms of non-reductivism discussed in this paper have put pressure on the metaphilosophical assumptions that have given rise to the question of the place of mind in nature in the first instance.     

A TALE OF TWO ABRAHAMS: KAFKA,KIERKEGAARD, AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FAITH IN THE MODERN WORLD

I have vigorously absorbed the negative element of the age in which I live, an age that is, of course, very close to me, which I have no right ever to fight against, but as it were a right to represent. The slight amount of the positive, and also of the extreme negative, which capsizes into the positive, are something in which I have had no hereditary share. I have not been guided into life by the hand of Christianity – admittedly now slack and failing – as Kierkegaard was, and have not caught the hem of the Jewish prayer shawl – now flying away from us – as the Zionists have. I am an end or a beginning. 1     

DISPOSITIONAL COMPATIBILISM AND FRANKFURT-TYPE EXAMPLES

Abstract: This article critically examines Kadri Vihvelin's proposal that to have free will is to have the ability to make choices on the basis of reasons, and to have this ability is to have a bundle of dispositions that can be exercised in more than one way. It is argued that partisans of Frankfurt examples can still make a powerful case for the view that being able to do otherwise, even on Vihvelin's compatibilist explication of 'could have done otherwise,' is not required for moral responsibility.     

Immigrant-Friendly and Unfriendly Cities: Impacts on the Presence of a Foreign-Born Population and City Crime

Immigration continues to be an issue in the USA. In the absence of substantive Federal law, some local governments have passed ordinances related to immigrants living in their community. Some of these have had pro-immigrant orientations and some have had anti-immigrant orientations. In the literature, these types of policies have been found to have mixed effects on immigrant decisions to live in those communities. These cities have passed these ordinances in order to attract or repel them because of perceived impacts on city crime among other reasons. This study is the first assessment on whether these policies have attracted or repelled the foreign-born population in these cities, and it contributes to the ongoing literature on whether that foreign-born population is having an effect on city crime. It was found that these policies are not having a significant effect on attracting or repelling immigrants while the impact of this population on city crime is significantly negative. Further research is recommended on this important topic.     

Neuroscientific Evidence About the Distinction Between Short- and Long-Term Memory

ABSTRACT— What have neuroscientific techniques contributed to the development of psychological theory about short- and long-term memory? We argue that the contributions have been varied: In some cases, data about brain mechanisms have been vital to the advancement of psychological theory; in other cases, neuroscientific data and behavioral data from normal participants have made equal contributions; and in yet other cases, the data from neuroscientific approaches have actually led psychological theory astray. We illustrate these various contributions by focusing on the relationship of short- to long-term memory.     

Ministry with the aging: A cross-cultural perspective

Older persons have the same basic needs as other persons. Different cultures have different ways of responding to these needs. Studies of the experience of aging in various ethnic groups in the greater Boston area have identified patterns of mutual care which are often lacking in our individualistic society. Interactions of family, church, and community which have been observed have important implications for the development of more effective programs of ministry with the aging.He is a Faculty Affiliate of the Boston University Gerontology Center and has done cross-cultural research in Singapore.     

Sieges, Shipwrecks, andSensible Knaves: Justice and Utility in Butler and Hume

By examining the theories of justice developed by Joseph Butler and David Hume, the author discloses the conceptual limits of their moral naturalism. Butler was unable to accommodate the possibility that justice is, at least to some extent, a social convention. Hume, who more presciently tried to spell out the conventional character of justice, was unable to carry through that project within the framework of his moral naturalism. These limits have gone unnoticed,largely because Butler and Hume have been misinterpreted, their relation misconstrued. Exegetes have persistently misunderstood the differences that divide them, have misconceived the notion of "public utility" in Hume's account of justice, have wrongly interpreted Butler as a forerunner of Immanuel Kant, and have altogether missed the degree to which Hume stands in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas.     

Treatment of acute mania

Mood stabilizers have evolved considerably over the past decade. Lithium, divalproex, and olanzapine are currently Food and Drug Administration-approved for the treatment of acute mania. A number of new and traditional medications have also been tested and are commonly used in clinical practice. Several strategies for managing treatment-resistant mania have been suggested, but few have been rigorously tested. Emphases on rapid stabilization and fewer side effects have raised the bar for what is expected from mood stabilizers and the successful treatment of mania involves a delicate balance between swiftness, short-term tolerability, and long-term safety.     

The Problem of Ethical Vagueness for Expressivism

Ethical vagueness has garnered little attention. This is rather surprising since many philosophers have remarked that the science of ethics lacks the precision that other fields of inquiry have. Of the few philosophers who have discussed ethical vagueness the majority have focused on the implications of vagueness for moral realism. Because the relevance of ethical vagueness for other metaethical positions has been underexplored, my aim in this paper is to investigate the ramifications of ethical vagueness for expressivism. Ultimately, I shall argue that expressivism does not have the resources to adequately account for ethical vagueness, while cognitivism does. This demonstrates an advantage that cognitivism holds over expressivism.