The Role of Perceived Wealth Competence,Wealth Values,and Internal Wealth Locus of Control in Predicting Wealth Creation Behavior1

The aim of this research was to explore the possibility that Wallston's (1992 ) modified social learning theory would apply to wealth creation behavior. We hypothesized that those who have high scores on internal wealth locus of control, perceived wealth competence, and wealth value would be more likely to engage in wealth creation behavior, both currently and in the future. A community sample of 317 adults completed measures of all these constructs. Factor structure and reliability of the scales were established prior to analysis. Two separate hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted: The moderation hypothesis was not supported. Perceived wealth competence was identified as a predictor of wealth creation behavior, current and future, in terms of both statistical and practical significance.     

The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God

Books reviewed: D. Z. Phillips, The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God (London: SCM Press, 2004). xxiii + 280 , price £19.99 pb.
Reviewed by Patrick Sherry, Lancaster University
Religious Studies Department
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YG     

The Problem of Consciousness

This paper attempts to begin to answer four questions. 1. What is consciousness? 2. What is the relation of consciousness to the brain? 3. What are some of the features that an empirical theory of consciousness should try to explain? 4. What are some common mistakes to avoid?     

相对主义的问题

相对主义有多种,并且不同的作者把相对主义与实在论、客观主义、基础主义、理性主义、绝对主义、普遍主义做各种各样的对比。本文区分有关相对主义的语义学概念和认识论概念,考察了跨文化的相对主义和跨理论的相对主义的各种主张,对局部合理性和全局合理性观点做了比较研究,从维特根斯坦的“生活形式”概念出发,为温和的相对主义提供了论证。     

The Donkey Problem

The Donkey Problem (as I am calling it) concerns the relationship between more and less fundamental ontologies. I will claim that the moral to draw from the Donkey Problem is that the less fundamental objects are merely conventional. This conventionalism has consequences for the 3D/4D debate. Four-dimensionalism is motivated by a desire to avoid coinciding objects, but once we accept that the non-fundamental ontology is conventional there is no longer any reason to reject coincidence. I therefore encourage 4Dists to become even more radical—embrace the Donkey Problem’s conventionalism and deflate the debate between 3Dists and 4Dists.

The Exclusion Problem Meets the Problem of Many Causes

In this paper I develop a novel response to the exclusion problem. I argue that the nature of the events in the causally complete physical domain raises the “problem of many causes”: there will typically be countless simultaneous low-level physical events in that domain that are causally sufficient for any given high-level physical event (like a window breaking or an arm raising). This shows that even reductive physicalists must admit that the version of the exclusion principle used to pose the exclusion problem against non-reductive physicalism is too strong. The burden is on proponents of the exclusion problem to provide a reason to think that any qualifications placed on the exclusion principle will solve the problem of many causes while ruling out causation by irreducible mental events.     

The Potentiality Problem

Philosophical Studies -     

Justice,Wealth, Taxes

A story of rabbinic poverty relief serves as the fulcrum of this presentation of a rabbinic perspective on wealth and taxes. The rabbinic move, from biblical to Mishnaic law, places the obligation of poverty relief on the city and suggests that the institutions of the polis are the only way to achieve justice on this scale. However, the city must be aware of the individual Other in making policy. In essence the story suggests that when policies ignore the face of an individual stranger, they do not fulfill the demands of justice. This is the rabbinic attempt at threading the needle by walking in the tension between the obsessive asymmetry of the obligation towards the other person and the need for a larger more equitable system of justice which must (by definition) include others.