My Colleague,That Other

The author uses Janine Puget's ideas about the social dimension of the building of subjectivity to reflect about relationships among analysts and among psychoanalytic institutions. Extending Puget's notions of difference, and of representation versus presentation, the author highlights the anxiety and disturbance generated in tolerating the otherness of the other and the impact of the new. Tracing the development of our awareness of the effects of our subjectivity beyond narcissism, the author points out the distress caused by otherness, often resulting in a need to pathologize that which cannot be made coherent. Following this line, the paper attempts to clarify the difficulties analyst face in accepting ideas different from those in which they were trained. The emergence of really new ideas and of analytic creativity can only occur in the tolerance of the space of the Two.     

That Many of Us Should Not Parent

In liberal societies (where birth control is generally accepted and available), many people decide whether or not they wish to become parents. One key question in making this decision is, What kind of parent will I be? Parenting competence can be ranked from excellent to competent to poor. Cassidy argues that those who can foresee being poor parents, or even merely competent ones, should opt not to parent.     

Perceiving the Lengths of Rods That are Held But Not Wielded

The ambiguity inherent in the act of experimental abstraction is discussed particularly with respect to experiments that seem to prove the superfluity of active exploration in perception. For example, in the case of haptic perception of the extent of hand-held rods, the variable of the second moment of mass distribution-the moment of inertia-has been shown to predict perceived length; this variable is inherently active, identifying a system's resistance to rotational acceleration. Other sources have reported that the length of an unseen rod could be perceived even when the rods were not rotated (rendering second moment theoretically inaccessible). The first experiment of this article confirms this ability in the extreme case in which observers are instructed not to move the rod at all. Four more experiments are reported in which the relative roles of the second moment and of the first moment-the other plausible mechanical candidate-are evaluated. The first moment was a better predictor of perceived length in cases in which exploration was restricted, and the second moment was a better predictor in conditions in which exploration was not restricted, although each played some role in all conditions. These results are discussed in terms of the possibility of more than one kind of information specifying the same property.     

Why Even a Believer Should Not Believe That God Answers Prayers

Recent studies provide some support for the idea that prayer has curative powers. It is argued that even if prayers are effective in these kinds of cases it cannot be because God is answering them. While many have challenged theological explanations for the efficacy of prayer on epistemic grounds, the argument presented here concludes that the theological explanation conflicts with the standard conception of God. In particular, if God answers prayers in these kinds of cases then God is immoral.

中医学在多元文化碰撞背景下的分化与发展

中医学在传统与现代、东方与西方等多重复杂关系交织而成的文化巨网中,几经波澜,出现了明显的分化与发展并存的局面,这是历史的必然.代表性学派有三个,分别从不同角度为中医学的生存与进步积累了资源,现在应该综合集成,创建能够满足时代诉求的新中医.     

To Conceal and Carry or Not to Conceal and Carry on Higher Education Campuses, That is the Question

This article addresses conceal and carry laws on higher education campuses as ethical and social dilemmas. The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (U. S. Const. amend. II 1791). Proponents for conceal and carry laws on college and university campuses often interpret the Second Amendment as an overarching right to have weapons, regardless of location. Opponents of such legislation argue that allowing guns on campuses would be a mistake and student safety can be addressed in other ways. Throughout the 2010–2011 legislative sessions Arizona and Texas have been on the cusp of passing pro conceal and carry laws which would allow higher education students to carry weapons on campus. Over two decades states have increased access to weapons, while most in the U.S. have sentiments against their neighbors carrying arms (Kranz 2006). While the Second Amendment provides the right for individual to carry arms, higher education campuses are regarded as a subset of the population, a space for maturing adults and not a place for concealed weapons.     

Relational Mobility Increases Social (but Not Other) Risk Propensity

In recent years, we have witnessed a resurgent focus on ecological features, especially various forms of mobility that afford social psychological processes. Extending this work, the current research examined whether relational mobility affects risk propensity. We conducted three studies using both correlational (Studies 1 and 3) and experimental (Study 2) methods. Results provide support for the hypothesis that perceptions of relational mobility are associated with risk propensity in the domain of interpersonal behaviors but not other risk domains (health, financial, etc.). Findings in Study 3 suggested that the association between relational mobility and propensity for risky interpersonal behaviors may stem from the effect of relational mobility in lowering subjective risk (but not in increasing expected benefits) of such behaviors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differentiating Diversities: Moral Diversity Is Not Like Other Kinds1

Diversity is widely celebrated in American society. But from a social psychological point of view, diversity ought to cause a number of problems, such as divisiveness and conflict. A resolution of this paradox is proposed: There are several kinds of diversity, with different profiles of costs and benefits. In particular, moral diversity is identified as being problematic and even self‐contradictory. Three studies of attitudes and desires for interaction among college students confirmed that moral diversity reduces desires for interaction more than does demographic diversity, and that both kinds of diversity are valued more in a classroom than in other social settings. These findings have important implications for discussions of diversity, multiculturalism, affirmative action, identity politics, and immigration policy.     

Not Intentional,Not Unintentional

Philosophia - In contemporary philosophy of action, the existence of intentional and unintentional action is relatively uncontroversial. What is controversial is whether there exists a third kind...     

Believe It Or Not: Religious and Other Paranormal Beliefs in the United States

Paranormal beliefs are often divided between those that are central to traditional Christian doctrine, such as the belief in heaven and hell, and those that are commonly associated with the supernatural or occult, such as the belief in ESP and psychic healing. This study employs data from a recent nationwide random sample general population survey to catalog the social correlates of paranormal beliefs and to examine the relationships between religious and other paranormal beliefs. The results indicate that standard social background factors do a poor job of accounting for who believes in paranormal phenomena and that the importance of specific background factors changes dramatically from phenomenon to phenomenon. The results also show that the correlations between belief in religious phenomena and other paranormal phenomena are largely insignificant. These findings call into question many prevailing theories about paranormal beliefs.