Between east and west: Russian renewal and the future

Two philosophers and prominent public figures explore the spiritual and cultural framework within which Russia's crisis and prospects for social renewal must be understood. Their discussion ranges over several main areas of concern in Russia today: the nature of the person and her capacities as social actor, the forms of sociality Russia has known as seen against the background of Orthodoxy and Communism, and Russia's tragedy during the seventy-five years of Communism. A ‘third path’ is envisaged for Russian renewal based on geopolitical, cultural, and spiritual constants in the history of the nation.     

Social science research in the middle east: The American University in Cairo,Egypt

An examination of the history of the Social Research Center at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, reveals the kinds of changes which social research has undergone in responding to the social and political pressures of developing countries. Founded in 1952, the Center initially relied heavily on foreign researchers, made grants to individual investigators, and concentrated on subjects of academic interest. Through experience with land reclamation projects, an extensive ethnographic survey of Egyptian Nubia, and an analysis of the population problem in Egypt, the Center has come to focus on larger, interdisciplinary studies conducted by its personnel, to use local researchers to the virtual exclusion of foreigners, to select topics of immediate concern to Egypt, and to emphasize in-house reports or local seminars rather than scholarly publications. Support has come from U. S. government grants and the Ford Foundation, neither of which is entirely satisfactory. The experience of the Social Research Center may suggest a model which can be employed in other developing nations.     

Harmonizing global ethics in the future: a proposal to add south and east to west

This article considers how global ethical matters might be approached differently in the English-speaking literature if values salient in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia were taken seriously. Specifically, after pointing out how indigenous values in both of these major parts of the world tend to prescribe honouring harmonious relationships, the article brings out what such an approach to morality entails for political power, foreign relations and criminal justice. For each major issue, it suggests that harmony likely has implications that differ from approaches that currently dominate Western thought, namely those of utility, autonomy and capability. Lacking the space to systematically defend harmony as a fundamental value, it nonetheless urges theorists not to neglect it in future work.     

中国的宗教问题和中国共产党

本文简要论述了中国共产党成立八十年来认识和处理中国宗教问题的理论与实践。作者认为，宗教问题作为中国革命和建设总问题的一部分，历来受到中国共产党的重视。八十年来，中国共产党努力坚持将马克思主义与中国的宗教国情相结合，在认识和处理宗教问题的过程中，虽然走过了曲折的路，但是经过不断的探索，在总结国内外正反两方面历史经验的基础上，终于逐步摸请了宗教问题特别是社会主义时期宗教问题的一般规律，形成了一套比较完整的关于宗教问题的理论，制定了符合中国宗教实际的方针和政策,进行了基本成功的实践。相信在中国共产党未来的征程上，中国的宗教问题会解决得越来越好。     

中国共产党执政伦理理念初探

执政伦理是执政主体的执政行为的规范体系 ,主要包括执政伦理理念、执政制度伦理、执政主体的道德品质三个方面。执政伦理理念是对如何规范执政主体的执政行为的理性认识 ,是指导执政伦理建构和实践的思想价值基础。立党为公、执政为民、以人为本 ,作为中国共产党执政伦理理念的核心。     

Rethinking culture and self-construal: China as a middle land

Amid criticisms of current paper-and-pencil type questionnaires measuring self-construal across cultural groups, the authors used a graphic representation scale to examine whether Anglo Canadians (N = 220) were more independent than Mainland Chinese (N = 196) and Indians (N = 212) in construing their relationships with closest family member, family members, closest friend, friends, (other) relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. Data generated 5 intriguing findings: (a) Chinese were more interdependent than Canadians but less so than Indians, indicating that Chinese culture has become more individualistic. (b) Canadians were more independent than Chinese in 6 relationship dimensions but were as interdependent as Chinese in self-closest-friend connectedness, somewhat contradicting 1 assumption of theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and individualism-collectivism (I-C). (c) Canadians were more independent than Indians in all relationship dimensions, supporting theories of independent-interdependent self-construal and I-C. (d) Chinese were as interdependent as Indians in self-closest-family-member, self-close-family-members, and self-relatives connectedness but more independent than Indians in the other categories of self-other relationships. (e) Participants' age did not have strong correlations with variables measuring self-construal in any sample, indicating that a person's attachment style may not change greatly over a lifespan. The authors discussed theoretical and methodological implications.     

A future for the thin red line

The thin red line (TRL) is a theory about the semantics of future-contingents. The central idea is that there is such a thing as the ??actual future??, even in the presence of indeterminism. It is inspired by a famous solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge associated with William of Ockham, in which the freedom of agents is argued to be compatible with God??s omniscience. In the modern branching time setting, the theory of the TRL is widely regarded to suffer from several fundamental problems. In this paper we propose several new TRL semantics, each with differing degrees of success. This leads up to our final semantics, which is a cross between the TRL and supervaluationism. We discuss the notions of truth, validity and semantic consequence which result from our final semantics, and demonstrate some of its pleasing results. This account, we believe, answers the main objection in the literature, and thus places the TRL on the same level as any other competing semantics for future contingents.     

Self-projection in middle childhood: a study on the relationship between theory of mind and episodic future thinking

Cognitive Processing - Growing evidence suggests that theory of mind (ToM) and episodic future thinking (EFT) are closely related at both brain and functional level. This study explored the...     

中国共产党执政伦理探析

中国共产党的执政伦理在价值取向上是先进伦理,在涉及领域上是公共伦理,在基本内容上是建设伦理,在表现形式上是制度伦理.在基本伦理原则上,党要坚持为民原则、人本原则、公正原则、和谐原则和责任原则.为此,需要提高伦理定向能力、伦理凝聚能力、伦理鉴别能力和伦理制约能力.     

Health psychology in international perspective: A summary and some thoughts for the future

This article reviews the progress made by the field in its short history and attempts to look at developments which seem likely to occur as the field matures.

Recommendations are made for training of health psychologists in the future and a plea is made for international standardisation of health psychology training programmes at the Ph.D. level which incorporate research and clinical training. Health psychologists are further encouraged to take a more active public and political role in order to provide needed visibility for their work.     

Communist Party-Vatican Interplay Over the Training of Church Leaders in China

The Catholic Church could not compromise with Communist states due to ideological incompatibility between atheist Marxism-Leninism and religious beliefs. Christianity, in the perception of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had been closely linked with "foreign cultural imperialism". This study examines the clash of authority between the CCP and Catholic Church over seminary training, elucidating the CCP's desire to retain institutional and ideological control over this particular sector of Chinese society. The findings highlight the ideological conflict between the dialectic materialism of the CCP, combined with the economic materialism (i.e., to get rich is glorious) mentality of the Deng Xiaoping-Jiang Zemin era, and religious idealism.     

Igniting the Flicker of Freedom: Revisiting the Frankfurt Scenario

This paper aims to challenge the view that the sign present in many Frankfurt-style scenarios is insufficiently robust to constitute evidence for the possibility of an alternate decision, and therefore inadequate as a means of determining moral responsibility. I have amended Frankfurt’s original scenario, so as to allow Jones, as well as Black, the opportunity to monitor his (Jones’s) own inclination towards a particular decision (the sign). Different outcome possibilities are presented, to the effect that Jones’s awareness of his own inclinations leads to the conclusion that the sign must be either (a) a prior determinate of the decision about to be made, (b) prior and indeterminate (therefore allowing for a contra-inclination decision to be made), or (c) constitutive of a decision that Jones has made but is not yet aware of. In effect, this means that, prior to the intervention of Black, Jones must have decided to do otherwise or could have so decided. Either way, although Frankfurt’s conclusion, that Jones could not have done other than he did, is upheld, the idea that he could not have decided otherwise must be rejected, and with it the view that the sign is nothing more than a flicker of freedom insufficient for assigning morally responsibility.

落脚点、出发点、生长点 中国共产党宗教工作的理论与实践

中国共产党宗教工作理论与实践的初心使命,就是为中国人民谋幸福,为中华民族谋复兴。2016年4月,习近平总书记在全国宗教工作会议上指出,实践证明,我们党关于宗教问题的理论和方针政策是正确的。正是牢记初心使命,使得党的宗教工作理论与实践能够落脚、出发、再开拓,团结宗教界人士和信教群众,为实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦不懈奋斗。     

Testing models of the structure and development of future time perspective: maintaining a focus on opportunities in middle age

A core construct in socioemotional selectivity theory is future time perspective (FTP), conceptualized as a unidimensional and bipolar construct ranging from expansive to limited. Change in FTP across adulthood has been treated as linear, with older adults showing more limited FTP. Studies 1 and 2 showed that a 2-factor model fit better, with focus on opportunities and focus on limitations as distinct dimensions. These dimensions changed differentially with age. In cross-sectional Study 3, focus on opportunities was higher in young adulthood than in early middle age but did not drop further in late middle age. Focus on limitations was the same in young adulthood and early middle age but was higher in late middle age. In longitudinal Study 4, focus on limitations increased from early to late middle age, and focus on opportunities was again maintained, rather than showing the decrease one would assume from a 1-factor model of FTP.