NAMING THE UNNAMEABLE: THE BEING OF THE TAO

The Tao Te Ching begins enigmatically with the following lines:
The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name.     

COMPARING THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE:

Abstract— Recent research suggests that dynamic spatial reasoning tasks show more robust gender differences than static spatial reasoning tasks. These differences have implications for selection procedures based on aptitude test scores. Two experiments were therefore designed to examine the locus of such gender differences. In Experiment 1, 82 males and 82 females performed two separate tasks: judging the relative velocity of moving objects and judging their relative distances from target destinations. Significant gender differences occurred only for relative velocity judgments and were partially related to prior experience. A second experiment therefore tested the effects of practice and feedback on performance judging relative velocity. Male and female performance differences were again found, and performance improved equally as a result of feedback. Consistent with contemporary views of aptitude and assessment, the data suggest that equitable assessment of dynamic spatial abilities requires a determination of experiential history and learning rates as well as absolute performance levels.     

WHEN THE ANTIDOTE IS THE POISON:

Abstract— The theory of ironic processes of mental control holds that both the most and the least desired effects of attempts to control one's own mental states accrue from two processes an intentional operating process (a conscious, effortful search for mental contents that mil produce a desired slate of mind) and an ironic monitoring process (an unconscious, automatic search for mental contents that signal a failure lo produce the desired Mate of mind) Although the monitoring process usually functions just to activate the operating process, during stress distraction, time urgency, or other mental load, the monitor's effects on mind can supersede those of the operator, producing the very state of mind that is least desired An individual's attempts lo gain mental control may thus precipitate the unwanted mental states.     

THE COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM FOR THE RORSCHACH:

The Comprehensive System (Exner, 1993) is widely accepted as a reliable and valid approach to Rorschach interpretation However, the present article calls attention to significant problems with the system First, contrary to common opinion, the interrater reliability of most scores in the system has never been demonstrated adequately Second, important scores and indices in the system are of questionable validity Third, the research base of the system consists mainly of unpublished studies that are often unavailable for examination Recommendations are made regarding research and clinical use of the Comprehensive System     

园中蝶：《石头记》中的理想国和女性

《桃花源记》系公元5世纪中国诗人陶潜（365～427）之作,是中国文学中描绘理想完美境界的最著名的作品。中国人的想象对它如此神驰心往,以至于桃花源的名字几乎已成为理想国本身的代名词。这篇作品由两部分组成：一篇用散文形式写的序和一首诗。二者均讲述了桃花源被发现和消失的故事。不过,或许是由于那篇散文具有更加实实在在的感染力吧,当中国人想到理想国时,更会马上想起它。     

THE REEDUCATION OF APHASICS: THE PROBLEM OF THE REEDUCATION STRATEGIES

Aside from the different schools of therapy in reeducational neuropsychology, an overview of the main strategies used by therapists allows us to distinguish three principal techniques: reestablishing strategies, reorganisation strategies, and the use of mental prothèses. It seems to us less a question of choosing the correct strategy than of carefully considering the different pathological contexts in which they will be applied. The concern with strategies indicates, of course, that there is a certain contradiction in wishing to combine their use in the treatment of the same problem. Reestablishing strategies are undoubtedly adequate in pathological contexts with rapidly evolving semiology and where the qualitative analysis of the recovery seems to indicate that there is in fact a progressive renewal of conditions prior to the cerebral attack. The reorganisation strategies are indicated where it seems possible to circumvent the defective processes in the midst of a functional network with clearly defined contours. Their effectiveness is, it seems, subordinate to the selective nature of the problems. Finally, the strategies involving the use of prothèses should not be attempted except as a last resort where no progress can be expected by direct intervention.     

THE REBIRTH OF THE IDOLS: THE FREUDIAN UNCONSCIOUS AND THE NIETZSCHEAN UNCONSCIOUS3

The author explores how psychoanalysis mutates in its passing from the privacies of the session to the public spaces of academia, shifting away from enquiry into unfolding unconscious psychic processes guided by its method, and from the clinically based notions Freud and his diverse followers constructed, here called the ‘Freudian unconscious’. In postmodern intellectual contexts Freud's work fuels a ‘Nietzschean unconscious’, issuing from public lecterns in the protagonistic, self‐creating feats of a ‘psychoanalytic discourse’. The ideology of such mutation ishere traced from Nietzsche on to Heidegger and Kojave, and then to Lacan and Laplanche. It reflects the might of the ‘death of evidences’ and the Romantic penchant for the limit‐experience and the primacy accorded to the creative imagination. Discourse as revelation rests on a ‘paradox of the enunciation’ whereby the subject (author) of the statement is taken to be identical to the subject (matter) of the statement. Banishing the boundaries of illusion and evidence, and of self‐overcoming and insight, academic ‘psychoanalytic discourse’creates a ‘return of the idols’ in ‘theoretical’ narcissistic identification.     

THE SEDUCTIVE SUPEREGO: THE TRAUMA OF SELF-BETRAYAL

The author describes a pathological manifestation of the approving superego that functions as a perversely seductive superego. In this process, the seductive superego rationalises and makes ego-syntonic a gratification of forbidden wishes that will result in unconscious punishment. The author argues that the seductive superego torments the self by teasing it with the presence of a tantalising but forbidden object of desire and then by inflicting shame on the self for its timidity, which prevents it from pursuing the object in spite of the dangers. He suggests that the seductive superego inflicts a betrayal trauma upon the self by unconsciously actualising a sado-masochistic fantasy of seduction, surrender and betrayal, along with a humiliating punishment for surrendering.     

THE VIEW OF THE SYSTEMICIST: A CONVERSATION

In this reflective dialogue, Humberto Maturana speaks about his understanding of living systems and its implications for psychotherapy. Dismissing the myth of "instructive interaction," Maturana argues that a simple causal conceptualization of therapeutic procedures producing precise and predictable effects in clients is incoherent with a theory of structure-determined systems. Instead, he contends that every therapeutic action is embedded in a network of relationships, whose dynamics must be appreciated by therapists in order for them to participate in the client's system and at the same time maintain the distance necessary to relate reflectively and in a noncontrolling fashion. Maturana contends that the profound and un­biased understanding that can follow from this stance fosters an awareness of the observer-dependent nature of "pathology," and provides grounds for a critique of larger cultural systems in shaping the distress or liberation of their members.