Different religions,diverse gods

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

The origins of our gods and monsters

Beside me, a six-year-old child plays in the sandbox in my psychotherapy office, laughing loudly, engrossed in a fantasy which he is busily unfolding. He exudes the vibrancy and aliveness that is every child's birthright. A sense of self-possession is proclaimed in his stance, his eyes, his voice, and his demeanor.     

On the number of intensity levels discriminated in textures

The number of intensity levels detected in briefly displayed textures was studied as a function of two related spatial parameters: granularity and spatial frequency. A texture-discrimination paradigm was used to determine the discriminability of an original texture and of a version of it reduced (further "quantized') in intensity levels over a range of texture granularities and frequency bandwidths. Results show specific sensitivities to intensity level reductions as a function of the spatial-frequency composition of the textures, with particular loss of sensitivity in the higher spatial-frequency regions.     

On the relationship between ratio of number of variables to number of factors and factorial determinacy

It is shown that an important distinction can be made between determinacy of common-factors and determinacy of unique-factors and that determinacy can be used as a criterion to establish a lower bound for the ratio of number of variables to number of factors necessary if specified levels of common- and unique-factor determinacy are to be attained.The Illinois Department of Mental Health Drug Abuse Program is co-sponsored by the State of Illinois and the Department of Psychiatry, Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago. Send reprint requests to Drug Abuse Programs—Research, East Pavillion, Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street and South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60637.     

On the number of significant findings to be expected by chance

When multiple significance tests are computed, a certain number of significant findings will emerge simply because of chance fluctuations. In the present paper, some factors affecting the number of nominally significant results are elaborated and a general method is suggested which permits unbiased inference as to the significance of a set of findings,as a set. The method advocated employs a high speed computer to generate empirically a sampling distribution tailormade to a particular data matrix. The method is illustrated in the case of dichotomous response to inventory items, where it is found that the statistical model still often used as a basis for estimation is overly conservative. Some problems in the application of the method are discussed.This investigation, part of a larger research project, was supported primarily by research grant M-1078 from the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States Public Health Service. Gratitude is also extended to the National Science Foundation for making available research time on the IBM Model 701 computer. The present paper has benefited greatly from the comments on an earlier version offered by John Tukey and an editor ofPsychometrika.     

Gross gods and icky atheism: Disgust responses to rejected religious beliefs

Disgust is an emotional response that helps to maintain and protect physical and spiritual purity by signaling contamination and motivating the restoration of personal cleanliness. In the present research we predicted that disgust may be elicited by contact with outgroup religious beliefs, as these beliefs pose a threat to spiritual purity. Two experiments tested this prediction using a repeated taste-test paradigm in which participants tasted and rated a drink before and after copying a passage from an outgroup religion. In Experiment 1, Christian participants showed increased disgust after writing a passage from the Qur'an or Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, but not a control text. Experiment 2 replicated this effect, and also showed that contact with an ingroup religious belief (Christians copying from the Bible) did not elicit disgust. Moreover, Experiment 2 showed that disgust to rejected beliefs was eliminated when participants were allowed to wash their hands after copying the passage, symbolically restoring spiritual cleanliness. Together, these results provide evidence that contact with rejected religious beliefs elicits disgust by symbolically violating spiritual purity. Implications for intergroup relations between religious groups is discussed, and the role of disgust in the protection of beliefs that hold moral value.     

On an alleged problem for Frege's account of number

I am grateful to Michael Dummett for his criticism of an earlier draft of this paper.     

唐宋间敦煌的城隍与毗沙门天王

唐宋时期,作为专指敦煌城的城隍在社会生活中占有重要地位,这是因为敦煌城及周边城市不时地遭到外族入侵所致.而敦煌的城隍神信仰并不甚流行,原因是敦煌盛行毗沙门天王信仰,毗沙门天王已经代替了城隍神,担当起了护卫敦煌平安的使命,成为敦煌的保护神.     

试论帛书《衷》的篇名和字数

论文通过对帛书易传三件残片的缀合和考释,认为所谓的帛书《易之义》原篇题当为《衷》,是孔子后学按照阴阳和衷共济的主题所选定的孔子沦《易》言沦的汇编,编者以为这些言沦是最为适当的论《易》之语,故名其为《衷》;而原记字数“二千”当为“四千”之误;同时进一步考定帛书《要》的篇首当为今本《系辞》的第十章。