Scepticism and public health: On the problem of disease for the collective

This paper argues that modern society does not meet the problems posed by the experience of disease in a satisfactory way. It attempts to show this by examining the distinction between disease and plague. Disease is formulated as necesssarily involving the self in unforeseeable ways with what is other to itself: the challenge of disease is treated as the challenge of this involvement. On the other hand, plague as an abstract threat is that towards which the collective shows principled indifference. The strength and the limits of this indifference are explored. Subsequent upon this, the paper examines the consequences of the loss of the distinction between disease and plague, particularly with respect to the implications of that loss for the treatment, management, and control of disease in modern society.     

A theoretical analysis of the PAN ambiguous-cue problem

The PAN ambiguous-cue problem consists of three stimuli: P, the positive (consistently rewarded) cue; N, the negative (consistently nonrewarded) cue; and A, the ambiguous cue which is negative (nonrewarded) when paired with P, but positive (rewarded) when paired with N. This paper demonstrates how the finding of superior performance on the NA trials as compared to the PA trials (with stereometric objects) can be rigorously derived from a recent extension of Hull-Spence discrimination learning theory, the Stimulus Interaction Hypothesis. It is also shown how this theory can account for the converse outcome of better performance on PA than on NA trials when planometric plaques are used as stimuli. Finally, alternative explanations of the findings are described and evaluated.     

Teenage pregnancy: a theoretical analysis of a social problem

This paper begins by contrasting the two basic ways of defining a social problem (i.e., as a "problem" in society or of society). The implications of these two definitions are discussed within the context of the various approaches which have emerged from each. A typology is then developed which allows these divergent approaches to be synthesized into three broad categories (Social Disorganizational, Social Definitional, and Social Organizational). This typology helps to further clarify the implications of isolating certain noxious conditions (whether personal or social) and conceptualizing them as social problems. These implications for the emergence, scope, and possible solution to the problem of teenage pregnancy are discussed. The paper concludes with a theoretical critique that leaves little room for optimism about the piecemeal solutions to teenage pregnancy offered by either the social disorganizational or the social definitional approaches, yet it recognizes the unlikely prospects that the holistic solution is likely to be adopted soon. The paper thus concludes that this problem is likely to be with us for some time to come, and the best that we can hope to do is to treat the symptoms.     

On the pathology of blaming

This paper focuses on blaming, which is the commonest of the three major forms of pathogenic relating the writer has observed in family interviews (the other two being silencing and a style of relating in which certain values strictly dominate over others). Case examples of blaming and the harmful consequences that may follow are presented. Not all blaming is pathogenic, but all blaming reflects a polarization of values in which tensions are increased and the threshold of aggression is lowered. Commonplace examples are given in which blaming has led to lethal assault, and in which it is believed to have led to emotional and/or behavioral disturbance in individuals.     

A theoretical solution to the problem of personality-situation interaction

There has been much debate and research on the relative roles and the interaction of personality and situational factors in the determination of behaviour, and more broadly on the relative status of psychology and social science as explanations for human action. Much of this is based on a misconception, to which a branch of applied mathematics called automata theory suggests the answer. If our objective is redefined as the explanation of situation-behaviour relations by reference to psychological processes, rather than the explanation of behaviour by reference to situational and psychological factors, then many of the confusions and inconsistencies disappear. On this view, behaviour varies from situation to situation in a way which varies from person to person. However, the two processes are of different kinds and different orders, and they are only misrepresented as commensurable causes working interactively to produce a common effect. Alternative formulations are presented, and their implications discussed for research in individual and social psychology.     

马克思主义哲学首要的基本观点与哲学基本问题--兼评"‘实践'首要论"

说某一观点是不是马克思主义哲学首要的基本观点,实际上指的是这一观点在整个马克思主义哲学体系中的地位问题即“怎么样”的问题,而马克思主义哲学体系从逻辑上看当然是基于对哲学基本问题的回答而形成的。因此,判定“实践”是否马克思主义哲学之首要的基本观点,根本上不是看“实践”在促成马克思主义哲学过程中的作用即着眼于考察马克思主义哲学“为什么”成为它自己,而是得看马克思主义哲学是如何回答“思维与存在的关系”这个哲学基本问题的即马克思主义哲学是“怎么样”的。就此而言,得出“客观实在”或“物质”的观点是马克思主义哲学首要的基本观点,便是必然的。     

On some fundamental distinctions of computationalism

The following paper presents a characterization of three distinctions fundamental to computationalism, viz., the distinction between analog and digital machines, representation and nonrepresentation-using systems, and direct and indirect perceptual processes. Each distinction is shown to rest on nothing more than the methodological principles which justify the explanatory framework of the special sciences.     

On the indispensability of theoretical terms and entities

Synthese - There is not agreement among moral intuitionists on the nature of moral intuitions: some favor a doxastic interpretation, others a non-doxastic interpretation. This paper argues that...     

On the theoretical foundations of Soviet psychology

Conclusion We are now in a position to examine the claim that Pavlovian physiology and Marxist-Leninist philosophy form two complementary systems.There is certainly a similarity between the Leninist theory of reflection and Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity. Both present so-called psychic phenomena as a reaction of the organism to the stimuli of the outer world and both insist that this reflection is not a passive reception of impressions but is an active response on the part of the organism.Again both systems are monist; they are united in excluding the possibility of having recourse to a non-material substance as the basis for psychic phenomena. But for Pavlov this exclusion is a scientific axiom while for Marxism-Leninism it is founded on philosophical materialism. However, the most important difference between Pavlov's theories and Marxism-Leninism on this point is that Pavlov's approach to psychic is fundamentally mechanistic and reductionist whereas that of Marxism-Leninism is dialectical and consequently anti-reductionist and anti-mechanist. Soviet psychology is, in consequence, founded partly on a mechanist system which is not materialist in the full sense of the word, and partly on a materialist system which is definitely not mechanist. From this point of view there is a definite discrepancy between the two traditions on which Soviet psychology is founded and which goes a long way towards explaining many of the inconsistencies in Soviet psychological theory.     

On the ranking problem

Observed rankings of objects can be treated as arising from a time dependent probability process. Under such circumstances, associations observed are an indication of the character of this underlying process. In the particular example treated in some detail here, a quantity related to Kendall's tau is found to have an important role and its properties are examined.     

On the role of theoretical inquiry in psychology: A double-edged sword

Wachtel's article is as relevant today as it was over a quarter century ago, especially as public support for higher education has declined, and increased pressure to obtain external research funding is needed in order to support universities. Although Wachtel's observation that research and grant funding are more likely to be reinforced then theoretical inquiry, there is a serious question regarding whether theory can be effective in advancing the field of psychology and psychotherapy. Some of problems that typically have been associated with theory in our field are discussed, and the argument is made that theoretical inquiry be directed to the formulation of less abstract and more focal principles of human behavior and the therapy change process.     

On causality, responsibility, and self-blame: a theoretical note

Examples from the literature on "self-blame" for illness (Tennen, Affleck, & Gershman, 1986) and criminal victimization (Janoff-Bulman, 1979) illustrate insufficient attention to construct validity in the measurement of causality, responsibility, and blameworthiness. Distinctions among these terms have been drawn in detail in a recent theory of the attribution of blame (Shaver, 1985), and these are briefly described. We argue that in future research and theory in the attribution of responsibility and blame, especially self-blame, investigators should attend more carefully to such conceptual distinctions.