Sociality and solitude

“How can I, who am thinking about the entire, centerless universe, be anything so specific as this: this measly creature existing in a tiny morsel of space and time?” This metaphysically self-deprecating question, posed by Thomas Nagel, holds an insight into the nature of personhood and the ordinary ways we value it, in others and in ourselves. I articulate that insight and apply it to the phenomena of friendship, companionship, sexuality, solitude, and love. Although love comes in many forms, I say, it always involves a sense of wonder at a finite creature thinking infinite thoughts.     

The evolution of domain-general mechanisms in intelligence and learning

For both humans and animals, domain-general mechanisms are fallible but powerful tools for attaining evolutionary goals (e.g., resources) in uncertain, novel environments that were not recurrent features of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Domain-general mechanisms interact in complex ways with domain-specific, information-encapsulated modules, most importantly by manipulating information obtained from various modules in attempting to solve novel problems. Mechanisms of general intelligence, particularly the executive functions of working memory, underlie analogical reasoning as well as the decontextualization processes that are central to human thought. Although there is a variety of evolved, special purpose learning devices, learning is also characterized by domain-general mechanisms that are able to achieve evolutionary goals by making novel and serendipitous associations with environmental cues.     

Sociality and optimal functioning

We propose the existence of corporate constructs (specialized techniques and forms of thought). Corporate constructs are not social constructs, and the idea of a corporate construct does not contradict Kelly's requirement that an individual is a site of decision making. We explore the differences between conceptions of personal and social constructs, highlighting some of their limitations. Corporate constructs are suggested as a way of dealing with these limitations.     

道德的个体性与道德的社会性——麦金太尔对情感主义的批判

麦金太尔在<德性之后>中集中对情感主义进行了现代性批判,即从道德危机的反恩出发,对情感主义造成的道德分歧状况进行批判.麦金太尔认为情感主义体现了西方传统哲学主客二分的思维方式,而解决道德个体性与社会性相分离的途径在于道德实践.     

In Search of Sociality

Abstract

This paper reviews some of the growing body of work in the analytic philosophy of social phenomena, with special reference to the question whether adequate accounts of particular social phenomena can be given in terms that are individualistic in a sense that is specified. The discussion focusses on accounts of what have come to be known as shared intention and action. There is also some consideration of accounts of social convention and collective belief. Particular attention is paid to the need to explain the association of certain rights and obligations with the phenomena at issue.     

Sociality effects on the production of laughter

Certain facial displays (typically the human smile) have been found to vary with a situation's sociality. Because the facial display that accompanies laughter is under less voluntary control, it is a stronger test of sociality effects. Participants (N = 162) were videotaped watching a humorous videoclip in 1 of 3 conditions: alone, in a same-sex dyad with a stranger, or in a same-sex dyad with a friend. The frequency and time spent laughing were significantly greater in one or both dyadic conditions than in the alone condition, although no differences existed for self-reported evaluations of the videoclip's funniness or amusement felt. When the self-report measures were controlled for, the dyads of strangers (compared with the alone condition) were associated with the frequency of laughter. Although the results provide further support for sociality effects, the situational demands faced by participants may be a better predictor of facial displays than level of sociality.     

漫议社会交往中的礼仪

礼仪是人们在共同生活和长期交往中约定俗成的社会规范 ,是调整人际关系的要求。人类在满足自身需求和实现自身价值的过程中 ,不仅要受到自然法则的限制 ,而且要受到社会规范的约束。在这些社会规范中 ,除了法律规范之外 ,一个很重要的方面就是道德规范 ,而礼仪则属于道德规范范畴。没有包括礼仪在内的社会道德规范对社会成员的约束与指导 ,社会的各种关系就会发生混乱。礼仪作为历史发展中逐步形成并积淀下来的一种文化 ,始终以某种精神的约束力支配着个体的行为。礼仪是人类文化在生活中的具体体现 ,同时又是人类文明进步的重要标志之一 ,…     

Norms and Habits: Brandom on the Sociality of Action

In this paper I argue against Brandom's two‐ply theory of action. For Brandom, action is the result of an agent acknowledging a practical commitment and then causally responding to that commitment by acting. Action is social because the content of the commitment upon which one acts is socially conferred in the game of giving and asking for reasons. On my proposal, instead of seeing action as the coupling of a rational capacity to acknowledge commitments and a non‐rational capacity to reliably respond to these commitments, we should see action as the coupling, or potential coupling, of a capacity to reason practically and a capacity to act on habits and bodily skills. In putting forward this alternative model of action, I aim to replace Brandom's rationalist brand of Pragmatism with a more classical kind, one that will let us see action as social not only at the level of reasons but also at the level of bodily habits and skills.     

Heidegger,Sociality, and Human Agency

According to Heidegger's Being and Time, social relations are constitutive of the core features of human agency. On this view, which I call a ‘strong conception’ of sociality, the core features of human agency cannot obtain in an individual subject independently of social relations to others. I explain the strong conception of sociality captured by Heidegger's underdeveloped notion of ‘being‐with’ by reconstructing Heidegger's critique of the ‘weak conception’ of sociality characteristic of Kant's theory of agency. According to a weak conception, sociality is a mere aggregation of individual subjects and the core features of human agency are built into each individual mind. The weak conception of sociality remains today widely taken for granted. I show that Christine Korsgaard, one of the most creative contemporary appropriators of Kant, operates with a weak conception of sociality and that this produces a problematic explanatory deficiency in her view: she is unable to explain the peculiar motivational efficacy of shared social norms. Heidegger's view is tailor made to explain this phenomenon. I end by sketching how Heidegger provides a social explanation of a major systematic concern animating Korsgaard, the concern with the importance of individual autonomy and answerability in human life.     

Mother knows best: Epigenetic inheritance,maternal effects,and the evolution of human intelligence

Contemporary evolution biology has recognized the role of development in evolution. Evolutionarily oriented psychologists have similarly recognized the role that behavioral plasticity, particularly early in development, may have had on the evolution of species, harking back to the ideas of Baldwin (the Baldwin effect). Epigenetic theories of development provide a framework for interpreting the interacting roles of experience and genetics both in ontogeny and phylogeny and the transmission of nongenetic characteristics across generations (epigenetic inheritance). In mammals in particular, differences in maternal behavior may contribute substantially to epigenetic inheritance. Changes in early rearing experiences may have been especially important for humans’ ancestors, leading to the acquisition of symbolic functioning. Such representational changes were most influential in social cognition and led to new selective pressures furthering the evolution of symbolic abilities. Research with great apes is presented to suggest that our last common ancestor with chimpanzees likely had the behavioral plasticity and sociocognitive precursors to modify their behavior and cognition via maternal effects toward a more human-like social intelligence.     

知识的社会性:知识社会学概要

对知识社会学（sociology of knowledge）最一般的解释是:它是对知识与其他社会或文化存在的关系的研究。“知识”这个词必须作非常宽泛的理解,因为这一领域的研究实际上涉及到所有的文化产物（观念、意识形态、宗教、法理及伦理信念、哲学、科学、技术等等）。尽管在该     

实践:从主体性到社会性

一如果把目前的实践解释模式大体上分为主体性模式、混沌未分的生活世界模式以及政治哲学的模式等 ,那么 ,影响最大、最为著名的就是主体性解释模式。这种解释模式自从改革开放以来在我国就备受推崇。反观其中的内在缺陷是当代实践观批判性重建的开始。本文即立意于批判地扼要审查这种解释模式。在近代哲学与社会理论的视域内 ,主体性的内在潜质是理性 ,理性的依存体则是个体化的人 ,理性的威力和成果主要以技术创新和制度创新等方式凝结在生产力之中。在这个意义上 ,实践的主体性观察最重要的两个维度就是个体性维度和生产力维度。一方面 ,…     

Differentiation and Sociality in Terms of Elicited and Provided Constructs

Previously unacquainted undergraduates (15 men, 15 women) interacted briefly in randomly assigned pairs, and subsequently attempted to infer the self-evaluations of their partners in terms of both personal constructs elicited from the latter and a set of supplied constructs. Inferences based on elicited constructs were significantly more accurate (p < .005) than were those based on supplied ones. Also, the self-evaluations of participants with relatively less differentiated personal-construct systems, as assessed by the repertory-grid procedure, were inferred by their partners significantly more accurately (p < .01) in terms of elicited constructs than were those of participants with relatively more differentiated personal-construct systems. These findings are interpreted within the framework of personal-construct theory.     

Sociality, pathogen avoidance, and the neuropeptides oxytocin and arginine vasopressin

Both humans and nonhumans have evolved a variety of mechanisms to recognize pathogen threat and a variety of adaptive behavioral responses to minimize exposure to it. Because social interactions facilitate the spread of infection among individuals, the ability to recognize and avoid infected and potentially infected individuals is crucial. The neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are involved in mediating various facets of social behavior, including social recognition and responses to salient social threats. Results of studies with rodents have revealed that OT and AVP are also associated with the olfactory-mediated recognition and avoidance of actually or potentially infected individuals. The evidence reviewed here suggests that OT and AVP likely play parallel roles in modulating the recognition and avoidance of socially relevant pathogen threat in both humans and rodents.     

Sociality,Expression, and This Thing called Language

Davidson’s well-known language skepticism—the claim that there is no such a thing as a language—has recognizably Gricean underpinnings, some of which also underlie his continuity skepticism—the claim that there can be no philosophically illuminating account of the emergence of language and thought. My first aim in this paper is to highlight aspects of the complicated relationship between central Davidsonian and Gricean ideas concerning language. After a brief review of Davidson’s two skeptical claims and their Gricean underpinnings, I provide my own take on how Davidson’s continuity skepticism can be resisted consistently with his rejection of the Gricean priority claim, yet without giving up some of Grice’s own insights regarding the origins of meaning.     

服务提供者交际活动与顾客忠诚的关系

对Koermer的"服务提供者交际活动量表"(Service Provider Sociality Scale)修订以形成适合中国文化背景的服务提供者交际活动量表,根据顾客忠诚的研究编制了顾客忠诚量表,顾客忠诚包括对服务提供者的个人忠诚及与服务提供者所在组织的组织忠诚。先后对684名被试进行调查,探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析结果表明,服务提供者交际活动有三个因素构成——礼节性交际活动、社会性交际活动、私密性交际活动。回归分析表明,社会性交际活动是顾客忠诚的最重要预测变量。     

Family size and intelligence revisited: the role of emotional intelligence.

Studies examining the link between family size and intelligence have consistently found a negative relationship. Children born into larger families tend to score lower on intelligence tests than children raised in smaller families. One recurrent but unexplained finding is that the relation between intelligence and number of siblings is consistently significant for verbal intelligence but inconsistent for nonverbal intelligence. Here, we conceptualize emotional intelligence as one facet of nonverbal intelligence. The research develops a measure of emotional intelligence and uses it to test the hypothesis that emotional intelligence is positively correlated with family size. The results, based upon a sample of graduate students, support the hypothesized relationship. Implications for the study of family size and intelligence, for refining the conceptualizations and measures of nonverbal intelligence, and for leadership theory, are discussed.