An outline of a theory of action systems

It is argued that the traditional psychological construal of the distinction between central ("open loop") and peripheral ("closed loop") neural processes is no longer tenable. A review of the relevant psychobiological research on the control of movement shows that both the central-peripheral dichotomy and the distinction between sensory and motor systems derived from that dichotomy are incompatible with what is known about the processes underlying action. Based on experimental and comparative data, a new theory of action is proposed. The basic concept of this new theory is the action system: Unlike motor systems, action systems involve sensory as well as motor processes; action systems are not organized into response hierarchies, but rather in coalitional structures of adjustable movements and postures. The phylogeny of action systems is discussed, and the eight most important action systems are distinguished in terms of their evolved distinctive functions. The difficulties of developing a taxonomy of actions for functionally specific types of behavior made up of that can be controlled is resolved by showing how kinds of action are differentiated by the kinds of affordances their components help to realize.     

道教可持续发展思想纲要

道教自诞生以来已有1800余年的历史。道教中的生态和可持续发展思想不仅影响着中国人民和中国社会,而且对西方社会也正产生越来越大的影响。可持续发展是伴随着人口、资源、环境问题的产生而出现的新的发展观。论文从道教的自然观、人生观、生育观、社会观、消费观和聚落生态观等方面对道教所蕴藏的可持续发展思想进行了纲领式的论述和阐释,以期为今后这方面的研究打下基础。     

Perverse dreams and dreams of perversion

This paper (1) posits the occurrence of perverse dreams as a type of mental phenomenon in the constellation of perverse processes; (2) considers manifest dreams of frank perversion as a type of perverse dream within the class of perverse dreams as a whole; (3) relates the subtype of perverse dreams without manifest perversions to the occurrence of perverse defenses and the development of a perverse transference; and (4) suggests that consideration to perverse dreams in the psychoanalytic process finds application in identifying and differentiating perverse defenses from neurotic and other characterologic patterns; in identifying and tracing the vicissitudes of difficult perverse transference-countertransference constellations; and in furthering perverse patients' recognition and understanding of particularly troublesome and seemingly intractable issues in their psychic makeup. Clinical material illustrates perverse dreams and their usefulness in the often arduous process of analyzing perverse defenses.     

The serial-parallel dilemma: A case study in a linkage of theory and method

The question as to whether humans perceive, remember, or cognize psychological items simultaneously (i.e., in parallel) or sequentially (i.e., serially) has been of interest to philosophers and psychologists since at least the 19th century. The advent of the information-processing approach to cognition in the 1960s reopened the inquiry, initiating a flood of experiments and models in the literature. Surprisingly for so elemental an issue, persuasive experimental tests have, until recently, proven rather elusive. Several decades of theoretical, methodological, and experimental effort, propelled and shaped by a meta-theoretical perspective, are leading to powerful strategies for assessing this and related cognitive issues. The present article reviews the theoretical and empirical history of these inquiries and details situations in which decisive experimental tests are possible.     

The making of a tragedy: perversion in the perception of truth

A type of wilful blindness can pervert an individual's perception of truth or reality, not because that reality is too much to hold, but because it is distasteful. Undesired. The case of Adam will be used to explore perversion as it twists an analytic process, affecting the transference and countertransference in ways that are difficult to see. Theorists of Freudian, Kleinian, Lacanian, and Jungian traditions are drawn from to explore potential roots to this perverted turn, and the way it can rigidify an individuation process. The anxiety that haunts this case echoes Jung's anxiety as he wondered if the stone saw him or he saw the stone. Object and observer blend when both analyst and patient hide from themselves and one another, knowing the truth of what is being discussed but blind to it.     

"道物无际"--道教生态哲学纲要

道教生态哲学的基础围绕着道教的最高理念"道"及最基本范畴"物"生"神"而展开."道"作为道教信仰的终极理念,具有至高无上的地位,它与其它宗教或思想体系中的最高理念,如上帝、安那、梵(印度教吠檀多派)、绝对精神、自由意志等等范畴一样处于核心的地位,虽然这些范畴在解释一切精神和存在现象的作用上不尽相同.在道教哲学中,"道"是无所不覆、自生自化、永恒存在、派生万物的形而上的宇宙本体,是贯穿于整个自然界、人世间和神仙世界之中的最高理念.除了作为最高理念的"道"外,"物"生"和"神"也是道教生态哲学的最基本范畴."物"是对物质、万物、实物、器物、财物等具体事物的抽象,主要指有形的、变化的、局部的、杂多的现象存在."生"是对生命、身体、人生、生物、生物圈、生态环境的抽象,也包括事物的有机活动和转化的功能,如事物的生成、生长和生化."神"是对精神、神仙、神明的抽象,它是对"物"和"生"的提升、超越.道教将"道"贯穿于"物"生"神"三界,具体演化为自然界(物)、人世间(生)和神仙界(神),或物质世界、生命世界和神仙世界."物"生"神"的相互关系及其与"道"的关系构成了道教生态哲学的基础.     

The case for a dual-process theory of transitive reasoning

Ever since its popularisation by Piaget around 60 years ago, transitive reasoning (deductively-inferring A > C from premises A > B and B > C) has been of psychological interest both as a mental phenomenon and as a tool in areas of psychological discourse. However, the focus of interest in it has shifted periodically first from child development, to learning disability, to non-humans and currently to cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Crucially, such shifts have always been plagued by one core question – the question of which of two competing paradigms (extensive-training paradigm versus non-training paradigm) is valid for assessing transitive reasoning as originally conceived in Piagetian research. The continued avoidance of this question potentially undermines several important findings recently reported: Such as about exactly what is involved in deducing transitive inferences, which brain regions are critical for reaching transitive inference, and what links exist between weakened deductive transitivity and mental illnesses like schizophrenia. Here, we offer the view that both of the competing paradigms are indexing transitivity, but each one tends to tap a different aspect of it. Then, we summarise studies from child and adult cognitive psychology, disabilities research, and from cognitive neuroscience. These, together with studies of non-human reasoning, seem to afford a theory of transitive reasoning that has two major components; one deductive but the other associative. It is proposed that only a dual-process theory of transitivity (having analytic versus intuitive routes approximate to deductive versus associative processing respectively) can account both for the variety of findings and the apparently-disparate paradigms. However, fuzzy-trace theory (“Gist” processes and representations), if not already embodying such a dual-process theory, will need to be incorporated into any complete theory.     

An outline of a unified theory of the relational self: grounding the self in the manifold of interpersonal relations

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - The paper outlines a structuralist unification between two existing relational theories of the self, i.e., Beni's Structural Realist theory of the...