The Problem of Evil: A Solution From Science

In this essay, I attempt to solve the problem of the existence of evil in a world created by an omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent God. I conclude that evil exists because God wanted to create moral creatures. Because choice is necessary for morality, God created creatures with enormous capacities for choice—and therefore enormous capacities for evil. Material creatures are subject to pain and death because, for such creatures, moral choices are deeply serious. The laws that underlie the material world and from which material life arises are such that, from their workings out on a planet that can support life, natural evils happen.     

A Euthyphronic Problem for Kitcher's Epistemology of Science

Philip Kitcher has advanced an epistemology of science that purports to be naturalistic. For Kitcher, this entails that his epistemology of science must explain the correctness of belief-regulating norms while endorsing a realist notion of truth. This paper concerns whether or not Kitcher's epistemology of science is naturalistic on these terms. I find that it is not but that by supplementing the account we can secure its naturalistic standing.     

The Transcendence and Non-Discursivity of the Lifeworld

This paper points to two little-discussed interrelated features—among sociologists—about the nature of the lifeworld (Lebenswelt): that the experience of transcendence is an essential component of human actions, and that lived experience (Erlebnis) is founded on the non-discursivity of the lifeworld, i.e., the pre-predicative background expectancies from which the discursive arises. I examine the intellectual route of Alfred Schutz who developed his mundane lifeworld theory from appropriating Edmund Husserl’s notions of appresentation and apperception. Harold Garfinkel later extended Schutz’s concept of lifeworld to the empirical investigations of constitutive social orders. By way of conclusion, I warn against a strain of constructionism in sociology, which tends to ignore the two said features of lived experience and inaccurately conceives social realities as essentially the actor’s discursive accomplishments.

当代心理学文化转向方法论问题

心理学文化转向的魅力在于为学界提供了研究与审视心理学与文化之间关系新视角,但随之而来的难题在于研究思维和方法论现代性二元对立的无法超越性.它所带给心理学界的困惑远大于它自身拥有的魅力.破解这一难题关键在于思维方式的转向,从对心理学向文化寻求外在的支持转向对心理学本身的文化品性的探新,从关注外在于人的文化或外在于文化的人转向对心理学与文化之间的关联和互动层面.这种思维转向就是提出心理学文化品性探新.     

Postphenomenology: Learning Cultural Perception in Science

In this article I propose that a postphenomenological approach to science and technology can open new analytical understandings of how material artifacts, embodiment and social agency co-produce learned perceptions of objects. In particle physics, physicists work in huge groups of scientists from many cultural backgrounds. Communication to some extent depends on material hermeneutics of flowcharts, models and other visual presentations. As it appears in an examination of physicists’ scrutiny of visual renderings of different parts of a detector, perceptions vary in relation to social and bodily experiences. Vision in physics has seemingly allowed an objective perception at a convenient distance of the body. This article challenges this view and proposes that the variations can be analysed as cultural at two echelons with the help of a postphenomenological approach combined with cultural psychological theory of artifacts. A third echelon presumably constitutes the phenomenological limit to culture in science. Even this last resort of subjectivity can be embraced by a postphenomenological approach. The process of culturalization in physics can be defined as a process of situating knowledge in a body whose continuous learning of micro-and macro perceptions makes scientific renderings unstable. Taken together postphenomenology, following the distinctions between body one and body two, and combined with cultural psychological learning theory, enables new insight into what constitutes culture in science.

The Counselor and Change: Counseling for Cultural Transition

Cultural analysts have indicated that American culture is going through a significant transition in values. The views of three of these analysts are reviewed and implications are drawn for counselors.     

Climate Change as a Three-Part Ethical Problem: A Response to Jamieson and Gardiner

Dale Jamieson has claimed that conventional human-directed ethical concepts are an inadequate means for accurately understanding our duty to respond to climate change. Furthermore, he suggests that a responsibility to respect nature can instead provide the appropriate framework with which to understand such a duty. Stephen Gardiner has responded by claiming that climate change is a clear case of ethical responsibility, but the failure of institutions to respond to it creates a (not unprecedented) political problem. In assessing the debate between Gardiner and Jamieson, I develop an analysis which shows a three-part structure to the problem of climate change, in which the problem Gardiner identifies is only one of three sub-problems of climate change. This analysis highlights difficulties with Jamieson’s argument that the duty of respect for nature is necessary for a full understanding of climate ethics, and suggests how a human-directed approach based on the three-part analysis can avoid Jamieson’s charge of inadequacy.     

Cultural Authority in Comparative Context: A Multilevel Analysis of Trust in Science and Religion

Science and religion are among the most influential forces for organizing social life around the world, yet we know little about how national context shapes perceptions of them. Using data from the 2008 International Social Survey Program, we begin to fill this gap by investigating cross‐national differences in public attitudes about science, religion, and society. We find that exposure to science is associated with more trust in science relative to religion whereas religiosity is associated with less trust in science relative to religion. Moreover, these relationships are amplified in secular societies and in those where science is prioritized. We argue that secular and scientific societies provide a context in which personal characteristics are more influential in the formation of social attitudes. These results highlight the importance of macro‐level factors for shaping trust in science and religion and for understanding the sources of their influence in society more broadly.     

Rehabilitation of the Culturally Different: A Model of the Individual in Cultural Change

Services of rehabilitation agencies and facilities tend to be structured to the needs of the larger American culture. It is important, however, to reconsider our social service programs in view of the needs of different cultural groups when providing services that will aid these individuals to move across cultural boundaries. An attempt is made in this paper to develop a model of the individual who undergoes such cultural transition. Such a model should help define problems in service programs, assess the value of current service activities, and identify areas for developing new services that will aid the overall process of cultural transition. A model of behavior development is outlined, followed by a formulation of a model of the individual in cultural change.     

A Cross Cultural Examination of Creative Problem Solving Style: The Dutch Translation of VIEW

Creativity and Creative Problem Solving are globally important. This study examined the cross‐cultural applicability of creative problem solving styles by translating VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style from its native English into Dutch and examining its psychometric properties and preliminary validation evidence. In general, support was found for the Dutch translation of VIEW in that it performed similarly to its original with regard to item performance on factor analysis, had acceptable levels of internal consistency and stability over time, and correlated in a similar manner with two alternative measures of style. Implications for future translations were identified.     

The Psychology of Human Resources Development: A Consequent of Radical Cultural Change in America

The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the principal features of an exciting new field concerned with developing HUMAN resources in organizational settings, i.e., aiming at maximizing employees' pertinent talents, productivity and well-being in the service of organizations. The Psychology of Human Resources Development has arisen of practical necessity from the array of functions and employee services commonly performed by personnel departments since the beginning of this century and their more recent consequents, departments of human resources development. These services and functions in turn were further stimulated by the growing social turbulence subsequent to the early 1960's and the economic prosperity of the 1980's. Upon close examination, however, the sophisticated deployment of these functions and services actually necessitated substantial psychological knowledge and that of allied disciplines. Moreover, in the current, rapidly emerging arena of global competition among businesses, it is clear at present that America's economic fate will turn importantly upon how well business organizations can promote and effectively utilize the intelligence and skill of its workforce. To this end, and those previously stated, it is the mission of the Psychology of Human Resources Development to explore any tactical methods and related subject matters within the purview of ethical decorum that are helpful in promoting the development of employee abilities and general well-being for organizations' strategic ends.     

Attitudes Towards Premarital Sex in India: Traditionalism and Cultural Change

Every society changes with time. With prosperity and improvement in economic conditions, values change. Traditional values that a society carries attenuate and modernity replaces age-old notions. The present article inspects the sixth wave of the World Values Survey examining changing perceptions of Indian respondents towards sex before marriage. It is observed that premarital sex in India is becoming more common but still not widespread. The ordered logit regression analysis reveals that whereas religious minded, single and left-leaning respondents are more traditional, respondents belonging to higher class or lower education level are more permissive about premarital sex. The article concludes that with the increase in permissiveness towards premarital sex and the possibility of unprotected, risky sexual behaviour, suitable policies should be adopted to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections.     

我国科学技术与社会主义意识形态面临的发展性课题

科学技术与社会主义意识形态的关系是一个互动共进的关系。现代科学技术的发展和引进必定推进我国社会主义意识形态的发展,强化其功能,改变其作用方式。社会主义意识形态必须为我国科学技术发展提供价值导向、人文动力并克服消极的思想阻抗。     

Reflections on Change in Science and Religion

Science and the Catholic Church are both conservative, slow-to-change institutions. However, science has institutionalized procedures that ensure that ample amounts of criticism of currently accepted theories and methodologies will always be present. This arrangement of continuous conjectures and refutation in science ensures often slow but steady change. Because supporters often think of religions as trafficking in timeless truths, criticism of church beliefs and practices (even when intended to stimulate reflection and improvement) is frequently seen as being disloyal to the institution. Because of the growing crises caused by world overpopulation, I argue that the Catholic Church's opposition to all artificial methods of birth control now lacks whatever moral force it might have had when originally promulgated. By highlighting theological perspectives that might be appropriate for the ecological realities of the 21st century, I hope the church will see the wisdom of reevaluating many of its positions in the light of rapidly approaching ecological imperatives.