BEYOND THE INTERNAL REALIST'S CONCEPTUAL SCHEME

Putnam holds that there can be equally coherent but incompatible conceptual schemes which fit our experiential beliefs equally well. On the other hand however, especially when discussing values, he wants to avoid total relativism because, for him, our choice of values can be considered constant even though our notion of truth varies. I argue that the apparent tension between these two views does not show that the internal realist position is self-contradictory. The way internal realists like Putnam can hold on to both claims is to emphasise the fact that all inquirers, by the very fact that they are classified as inquirers, must be assumed to have a common cognitive faculty. There is flexibility when it comes to conceptualization, but a certain minimal amount of sameness as regards the evaluation of beliefs. In basic everyday practice, all inquirers have the same doxastic attitude towards some basic propositions. The set of all such universal doxastic attitudes constitutes the non-plastic aspect of the mind.     

THE LANGUAGE OF RIGHTS AND CONCEPTUAL HISTORY

The historical problem about the origins of the language of rights derives its importance from the conceptual problem: of “two fundamentally different ways of thinking about justice,” which is basic? Is justice unitary or plural? This in turn opens up a problem about the moral status of human nature. A narrative of the origins of “rights” is an account of how and when a plural concept of justice comes to the fore, and will be based on the occurrence of definite speech‐forms—the occurrence of the plural noun in the sense of “legal properties.” The history of this development is currently held to begin with the twelfth‐century canonists. Later significant thresholds may be found in the fourteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth centuries. Wolterstorff's attempt to find the implicit recognition of rights in the Scriptures depends very heavily on what he takes to be implied rather than on what is stated, and at best can establish a pre‐history of rights‐language.     

DISCUSSION OF THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF BIOSEMIOTICS

Kalevi Kull and colleagues recently proposed eight theses as a conceptual basis for the field of biosemiotics. We use these theses as a framework for discussing important current areas of debate in biosemiotics with particular reference to the articles collected in this issue of Zygon.     

WHERE ARE THE LATINAS?

The inclusion of scholarship about Latinas into psychology courses is considered by answering two questions: (1) How do we evaluate the scholarship that should be included? (2) What factors should be considered for inclusion? To answer the first question on the evaluation of scholarship, six criteria are presented. The factors to be considered for the inclusion of scholarship about Latinas are illustrated in a discussion of three topics that are often presented in introductory psychology courses: identity, gender role socialization, and educational achievement and aspirations. Our discussion questions the validity of the conceptualization of these three topics when Latinas and other ethno-racial groups are excluded and offers evidence of the possibilities for clarification and expansion of theory and knowledge when they are included.     

综合智力:对智力概念的整合

对于智力的概念和效果长期以来存在争议和怀疑。研究表明传统的智力概念不良很好解释个体的成就。     

非熟练中——英双语者的第二语言的语义通达机制

使用跨语言启动条件下的真假字判断任务,通过变化启动刺激(英文单词)与目标刺激(汉字)采用4个实验研究了中-英非熟练双语者的第二语言的语义通达机制。被试为北京师范大学的学生63名。结果发现,当启动刺激(英文单词)的中文对译词与目标刺激之间的关系是翻译关系时,得到了显著的启动效应(实验一);当两者之间是语义联想关系时,前者对后者没有显著的影响(实验二);当两者之间是形似关系时,前者对后者产生了显著的抑制作用(实验三)：当两者之间是同音关系时,前者对后者产生了显著的促进作用。这一结果表明,对于中国的英语学习者来说,他们的第二语言只能借助其汉语对译词的词汇表征通达其语义概念表征,实验结果在一定程度上支持了Mroll(1994)的层次模型。     

纳西族亲属词的概念结构——兼与汉族亲属词概念结构比较

运用自然分类和多维标度方法,研究了纳西族亲属词的概念结构。被试是63名纳西族大学生。结果表明,纳西族亲属词概念结构由6个类别构成：（1）父母;（2）与父母同辈的长辈;（3）兄弟姐妹;（4）同辈的姻亲兄弟姐妹;（5）媳妇和女婿;（6）祖父母、子孙、旁系或姻亲子侄。纳西族亲属词的概念结构有两个维度：（1）同辈/异辈;（2）照顾者/被照顾者。纳西族亲属词概念结构与汉族亲属词概念结构具有明显差异,这与两个民族的家庭婚姻制度和文化有关,也与语言有关。