The Use of a Western Model across Cultures

A pilot project offering a Western-style anxiety-management group to Bangladeshi women in Tower Hamlets is described. The group approach provided an educational component, specific skills training and social support, all in Bangla (Bengali). Issues related to language, expectations, family involvement, therapists' self-disclosure and boundaries, and the choice of outcome measure, are fully described in a transcultural setting. Implications for practice are considered for the service providers, for Western counsellors and for the women themselves.     

Psychological Science within a Three-Dimensional Ontology

The present paper outlines the nature of a three-dimensional ontology and the place of psychological science within this ontology, in a way that is partly similar to and partly different from that of Pérez-Álvarez. The first dimension is the material realities, and involves different levels (physical, chemical, biological, psychological, etc.), where each level builds on a lower level but also involves the development of new emergent properties, in accordance with Bunge’s emergent materialism. Each level involves systems, with components, structures and mechanisms, and an environment. This dimension can be studied with natural scientific methods. The second dimension is the subjective-experiential realities, and refers to our subjective perspective on the world. In accordance with Husserl’s phenomenology, it is argued that this subjectivity does not exist in the world (i.e., should not be reified as an object among other objects), but represents a perspective on the world that we enter in our capacity as conscious human beings. Essential characteristics of this subjectivity (such as intentionality, temporality, embodiment, and intersubjectivity) can be explored by phenomenological methods. The third dimension is the social-constructional realities, and includes social institutions, norms, categories, theories, and techniques. It is argued that psychological science spans over all three dimensions. Although almost all psychological research by necessity starts from a problem formulation where the subjective-experiential dimension plays an essential role (either explicitly or implicitly), most of present-day psychological research clearly emphasizes the material dimension. It is argued that a mature psychological science needs to integrate all three dimensions.     

Theology and Science within a Lakatosian Program

The writings of Ian Barbour and Arthur Peacocke can be construed as initial contributions to a Lakatosian research program on the relation between theology and science, the core theory of which is the thesis that theology belongs at the top of a nonreducible hierarchy of sciences. The positive heuristic of this program involves showing that theology and the sciences have enough in common epistemologically to be so related and arguing for nonreducibility. The author in this essay "rationally reconstructs" some of her philosophical work as a contribution to these tasks.     

责任观的中西文化比较研究

责任是人们社会生活中极其重要且必不可少的要素之一。该文首先比较了中西文化对“责任”的不同界定,提出“责任”的两层主要含义：对过失的归因和承担义务。在此基础上,从责任归因模式、内外归因、成败归因等维度比较了中西文化中责任观的异同,并探讨了责任观差异的社会文化根源。     

Science and Constraint: The Role of Science within Theology

Abstract : The conversation between theology and science has accomplished much, yet the question of how to determine the limits of such dialogue—and whether there are limits at all—remains open. Key questions involve the degree to which science should constrain theology and the manner in which theology can influence science. Arthur Peacocke and Robert J. Russell provide sample methods by which theology can engage science. Peacocke's method emphasizes the influence of science on theology, while Russell's focuses on theology's influence on science. Both emphases will be required for theology's continued engagement with science.     

中日在吸收近代西方文化上的差异

中日两国在19世纪中后期开始向西方学习,吸收近代西方文化,但由于两国文化传统、民族文化心理等不同,对西方近代文化的认识程度、采取的文化政策也不同,本文拟就此作一简单分析比较.     

丁韪良与西学东渐

本文从四个方面对19世纪来华传教士丁韪良在西学东渐中所起的作用作了客观的分析和评价,包括为中国翻译了第一本西方的法学著作——惠顿的《万国公法》,为中国人引进西方自然科学哲学等著作、引进西学改造京师同文馆、为汉字引入罗马字拼音等等。传教士作为一个群体而言是十分复杂的,即使作为个体的传教士也往往有多个层面,对他们的总体评价也应从多方面加以研究和考察。     

2008年以来毛泽东思想研究综述

2008年以来,国内学术界的毛泽东思想研究较为活跃,研究著述颇为丰富,研究范围有新的拓展,研究方法趋向多样。近几年来,毛泽东思想研究的热点问题主要集中于:对毛泽东思想与中国特色社会主义理论体系之间关系的研究;对毛泽东与马克思主义中国化的研究;对毛泽东关于社会主义建设理论与实践的研究;对毛泽东时代中国现代化理论与实践问题研究;对前30年和后30年关系的研究;对毛泽东历史功绩的研究等方面。     

试论西方萨满教研究的变迁

西方萨满教研究大体经历了魔鬼化、骗子化、精神病理学化、普遍化、理想化、多样化等几个发展阶段,文章分析了这几个阶段的主要表现,并对西方萨满教历史研究特点进行了反思。     

Piagetian Studies of Cognitive Development in India

The paper presents a review of studies on cognitive development of children in India inspired by Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget’s theory is briefly introduced before examining its cross-cultural applications. Early studies of cognitive development, which focus on age-related changes in cognition, are described. These are followed by the studies of the last decades in which developmental contexts, such as those provided by ecology, culture, schooling, and various forms of training, are implicated. Studies of spatial cognition are discussed in some detail and points of convergence between findings of Indian studies and those reported by Piaget are critically examined. The issue of “performance” vs. “competence” is addressed and research evidence that considers performance difference as a matter of cognitive style is presented. Possible reasons for decline of research interest in Piagetian studies in recent years is examined and suggestion for future studies in this field are offered.     

Cultures of Exile: Diasporic Identities and the "Imaginations" of Africa and India in the Caribbean

In this article, I explore the similarities and differences in the way Africa and India were constructed, or how the notion of an idealized "home" as part of the diasporic imagination was "imagined" by peoples of African and Indian origins in the Caribbean. How do diaspora discourses construct homes away from homes in the context of cultural dislocation and displacement? How were imagined Africa and imagined India constructed, and who were the constructors of these two imagined communities? I argue that the "ideologies of return" that were articulated in these two movements were fundamentally different. Whereas the attempt to embrace a "lost" Africa was premised on physical repatriation and cultural return, the attempt to reconnect with a lost India was based essentially on symbolic projections, which saw Indian Caribbean peoples taking pride in being part of a great civilization and culture but not wanting to go back to India.     

当代西方民主技术研究综述

随着技术的发展及其对社会影响的日益复杂,在当代西方学术界,技术与社会、技术与政治的关系问题受到了广泛关注.20世纪80年代兴起的民主技术研究既是这种关注的重要方面,也是这种关注所取得的重大成果.本文旨在对当代西方民主技术研究的兴起背景、中心话语、研究视角和当前趋势做一综述,以期展现这一新的研究领域的整体态势.     

In Defence of Bad Science and Irrational Policies: an Alternative Account of the Precautionary Principle

In the first part of the paper, three objections to the precautionary principle are outlined: the principle requires some account of how to balance risks of significant harms; the principle focuses on action and ignores the costs of inaction; and the principle threatens epistemic anarchy. I argue that these objections may overlook two distinctive features of precautionary thought: a suspicion of the value of “full scientific certainty”; and a desire to distinguish environmental doings from allowings. In Section 2, I argue that any simple distinction between environmental doings and allowings is untenable. However, I argue that the appeal of such a distinction can be captured within a relational account of environmental equity. In Section 3 I show how the proposed account of environmental justice can generate a justification for distinctively “precautionary” policy-making.     

关于"复杂性研究"和"复杂性科学"

我赞成“复杂性研究”却不赞成“复杂性科学”。道理很简单 :“复杂性研究”是可能的 ,“复杂性科学”是不可能的。在系统科学中 ,如果我们把“复杂性”定义为“复杂系统的动力学特征” ,那么我们当然并且也应当设法对这种特征加以界定、描述、分析。例如 ,我手边有一本武汉大学哲学系赵凯荣的博士论文《复杂性 :人类认识之迷》。作者指出“复杂性是通过系统而且是复杂系统定义的。它是一个系统概念且是一个复杂系统概念 ,它具有结构 ,也具有层次” ,[1] 但尽管这样 ,作者仍然把复杂性划分为系统复杂性、非线性复杂性、自组织复杂性、内时空…