Abortion: identity and loss

The fetus is characterized as a "human organism" which, according to both the "stage" and "process" ontological theories, is a partly but not fully real individual human being. Abortion deprives the fetus of a future full-fledged human life, and this susceptibility to loss entitles it to certain moral rights, though not to the entire range of rights accorded a fully human being. Therefore, as the fetus becomes more fully human, the seriousness of abortion approaches that of infanticide.     

现代社会伦理秩序的发生路径

“自发生成论”和“理性创设论”是传统道德哲学关于社会伦理秩序生成的两种理论模式。“自发生成论”认为,伦理道德不是纯粹人类理性设计的产物,而是人类行为实践的自然结果;“理性创设论”认为,伦理道德是人类自觉建构的结果,是人类理性创设的产物。这两种理论模式都以抽象的人性为其理论基础,无法合理解释个体与类之间的伦理关系。基于现实伦理实体的“创生拓展”应成为现代社会伦理秩序的发生路径。     

Theological issues in genetics

Theological reflection can contribute a distinctive perspective from which to analyze and evaluate moral debates about issues in modern genetics and reproductive medicine. The author appeals to two hermeneutical themes, human beings as "images of God" and the tendency of humans to "play God," in order to discuss various church statements and theological literature on human gene transfer, somatic cell nuclear transplant cloning of human beings, and patenting of human genes.     

Are we born and do we die?

The stranglehold on our imagination by the mind-body dualisms that permeate the culture is such that most people seem to suppose that "body" and "soul" name distinct and separable entities. Resisting such dualisms in favour of an old-fashioned Aristotelean view of the soul as the form of the body, this essay considers two questions: do human parents produce human beings, and do human beings die? The doctrine of the special creation of the individual soul seems to require us to answer the first question in the negative because, according to this doctrine, parents only produce matter for the God-given soul to form. As to the second, many people seem to suppose that human beings do not die, only their bodies do. Arguing against the view that immortality is a natural property of human minds, the essay suggests (with the help of Joseph Ratzinger) that, whether we speak of "immortality" or of "resurrection", life from death is neither nature, nor achievement, but gift.     

The Rational Choice Approach to Human Studies: A Reexamination

This article reexamines the rational choice or economic approach to human studies. Its adherents claim that its extension beyond its original domain to all human behavior can finally lead to integration of the human studies, especially social theory, and thus their elevation from what they see as a chaotic state. Specifically, they propose grounding human studies on the premise that humans are rational egoists or self-interested utility maximizers. Although this premise has been the conceptual foundation of orthodox economic theory, it has been questioned, and even in part discredited in its heterodox versions. This reexamination casts serious doubts on such claims.     

Rethinking Human Rights A Review Essay on Religion, Relativism, and Other Matters

In reviewing five edited collections and one monograph from the 1990s, the article summarizes the present status of the "human rights revolution" that was signaled by the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . It goes on to elaborate and evaluate some of the attempts contained in these books to deal with theoretical and practical controversies surrounding the subject of human rights, particularly the discussion of what to make of "cultural relativism" as far as human rights are concerned. Finally, the article summarizes some recent thinking and research on a neglected area, namely compliance with human rights standards protecting "freedom of religion or belief."     

Religion and the body in medical research

Religious discussion of human organs and tissues has concentrated largely on donation for therapeutic purposes. The retrieval and use of human tissue samples in diagnostic, research, and education contexts have, by contrast, received very little direct theological attention. Initially undertaken at the behest of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, this essay seeks to explore the theological and religious questions embedded in nontherapeutic use of human tissue. It finds that the "donation paradigm" typically invoked in religious discourse to justify uses of the body for therapeutic reasons is inadequate in the context of nontherapeutic research, while the "resource paradigm" implicit in scientific discourse presumes a reductionist account of the body that runs contrary to important religious values about embodiment. The essay proposes a "contribution paradigm" that provides a religious perspective within which research on human tissue can be both justified and limited.     

董仲舒易学哲学思想探析

董仲舒的易学哲学思想是他的整个哲学体系的核心内容.其内涵丰富而深刻,主要表现在董仲舒赋予<易传>中的"元"以逻辑在先和价值根源之意义,表明"元"是一个价值本体范畴;他把<易传>的"继善成性"论改造为"天止人继"说,反映了人类在宇宙万物中之地位与意义的一种自觉精神;又把<易传>"人文化成"的思想观念发展为一种"人文宇宙观",从宇宙观高度审视人类文化,又从人类文化角度看待宇宙,观与文化观合二为一,表明了宇宙是人类文化创造的本源和基础,而人类文化是宇宙的发展和完善.这就从宇宙观的高度肯定、突出了人文价值的崇高意义.     

Sin and bioethics.

The essay starts out with defining the biblical concept of sin in the Old and the New Testaments. The literal knowledge of divine truth is distinguished from its truthful and spiritual interpretation. A further distinction should be made between the Creator of life (God) and the medium or "intermediary creator" (man) of life. I argue for the "single wholeness" of the human race and for the unity of human responsibility in bioethics. In delineating the teaching of the Church on abortion and family planning, I show that the healing of all human diseases, from traditional interventions to genetic ones, is a Christian duty and is in accordance with Christ's mission on earth as long as one has not been directly or indirectly involved in "reproducing" or "designing" one's descendants or destroying or damaging human life even at its very beginnings.     

吉登斯对历史唯物主义的反思与"重建"

在吉登斯看来,历史唯物主义存在“化约论”、“进化论”和“功能论”三大缺陷。“化约论”表现在历史唯物主义把复杂的人类历史和社会关系化约为生产力、经济关系和阶级斗争等方面,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出以“时空伸延水平”作为划分社会类型的新标准;“进化论”表现在历史唯物主义把人类历史看作是一个由低级阶段向高级阶段不断进化的过程,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出从“片断”和“时空边缘”的角度分析世界历史的演化轮廓;“功能论”表现在历史唯物主义从“需要”和“功能”的角度解释社会再生产和社会变迁的过程,作为对它的重建,吉登斯提出了“随机性社会变迁”模式的新观点。吉登斯对历史唯物主义的反思和“重建”具有一定的启发意义,但也存在明显的缺陷。     

人为什么要有道德?(上)

本文从道德哲学的角度提出“人为什么要有道德?”的问题,并尝试给出某种解答。通过“善(好)生活”、“利益(关系)”和“人性(潜能)”三个核心概念,作者力图阐明道德之于人类生活的内在性,并从人类的生活目的、行为方式和人性潜能三个基本方面,揭示人类道德生活所内含的美德一目的论与规范一道义论之双重维度。     

More human than you: attributing humanness to self and others

People typically evaluate their in-groups more favorably than out-groups and themselves more favorably than others. Research on infrahumanization also suggests a preferential attribution of the "human essence" to in-groups, independent of in-group favoritism. The authors propose a corresponding phenomenon in interpersonal comparisons: People attribute greater humanness to themselves than to others, independent of self-enhancement. Study 1 and a pilot study demonstrated 2 distinct understandings of humanness--traits representing human nature and those that are uniquely human--and showed that only the former traits are understood as inhering essences. In Study 2, participants rated themselves higher than their peers on human nature traits but not on uniquely human traits, independent of self-enhancement. Study 3 replicated this "self-humanization" effect and indicated that it is partially mediated by attribution of greater depth to self versus others. Study 4 replicated the effect experimentally. Thus, people perceive themselves to be more essentially human than others.     

Called home: The creation of family life

Engendering family life is a spiritual process (theosis) based on human ethological constants of gender difference and generational turnover. Recent studies on ethnicity suggest that such a process retrieves a primordial sense of the human species as a whole, humankind. Families, especially in this broad sense, link together the living and the dead and, at their best, morally empower individuals who link their destinies to such a vision of creation and human health. Reference is made to work on human strengths and speciation by Erik Erikson and to that on maternal thinking by Sara Ruddick. A political program by which an ideology of familism can be made is offered.He is also Chairman of the Board of Management, Campus Kindergarten Company (Australia), Pty. Ltd.     

当代中国的社会转型

本文以我国社会生活发生的广泛而深刻的变化为背景,深入揭示了这种变化深层的社会转型。这种转型就是：由权力社会走向能力社会;由人治社会走向法治社会;由人情社会走向理性社会;由依附社会走向自立社会;由身份社会走向实力社会;由注重先天给定社会走向注重后天努力社会;由一元化社会走向多样化社会;由人的依赖社会走向物的依赖社会;由静态社会走向流动社会;由“国家”社会走向“市民”社会。     

Protection of Life and Human Dignity: The German Debate between Christian Norms and Secular Expectations

The German debate on bioethics and medical ethics turns on achange in the meaning of human dignity. Such dignity is increasinglyrendered contingent upon a person's empirically assessable qualityof life. In contrast to such dignity-endowed human life, a merelybiological human life is taken to disqualify its bearer fromsuch dignity, depriving his life of the protection "respectfor human dignity" would otherwise guarantee. The idea of a"life not worth living" or "undignified life" evokes categories,which were developed at the beginning of the 20th century, andlater informed the crimes of National Socialist medicine inGermany. Against this secular development, this article analysesthe theological and church-based discussion of basic bioethicalquestions in Germany, especially the controversy among Protestants:once Protestant ethicists abandon an explicitly theologicalbasis for their arguments, their conclusions come to closelyresemble those of the secular participants in the debate. Asa result, such Protestants relativize fundamental ethical norms.They subordinate, along with their secular environment, theprotection of life to respect for autonomy. They thus preparethe ground for a revival of the risky concepts of the past.     

Origins of the cognitive (r)evolution

The well documented cognitive "revolution" was, to a large extent, an evolving return to attitudes and trends that were present prior to the advent of behaviorism and that were alive and well outside of the United States, where behaviorism had not developed any coherent support. The behaviorism of the 1920 to 1950 period was replaced because it was unable to address central issues in human psychology, a failure that was inherent in part in J. B. Watson's founding manifesto with its insistence on the seamless continuity of human and nonhuman animal behavior. The "revolution" was often slow and piecemeal, as illustrated by four conferences held between 1955 and 1966 in the field of memory. With the realization that different approaches and concepts were needed to address a psychology of the human, developments in German, British, and Francophone psychology provided some of the fuel of the "revolution."     

Computer models of cognitive processes

Conclusion From the small sample of achievements that I have had time to mention, we can only conclude that automation is here to stay. Nor is there any doubt that more powerful automata will be built. A great many of the higher human abilities will be given to machines. The great rush to automation is sure to stimulate psychologists to learn more about the human symbolic processes being mimicked by the machines. And the computers, which are the ultimate cause of the feverish scramble toward automation, are providing both the framework for describing complex models of behavior and also the means for testing these models. With both the means and the motivation at hand, psychologists are sure to make rapid progress in understanding complex human behavior.Operated with support from the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force.     

从道德本位到权利本位的转换——梁启超《新民说》审视

梁启超《新民说》是对以《大学》为代表的中国传统“新民”思想的改造和发展。他以民权、独立、自由的资产阶级“公德”代替以伦理道德为核心的封建主义的“私德” ,用中西文化中的优秀道德传统构建新国民 ,实现了从以伦理道德为本位的旧道德向以权利为本位的新道德的转换 ,“旧国民”向“新国民”的转换。     

The Myth of Man the Hunter, Man the Killer and the Evolution of Human Morality

Since the discovery of the first man-ape, many have assumed that the earliest humans were hunters and that this was associated with a "killer instinct." The myth of "man the hunter" was repeated in the 1960s in anthropology texts and popular literature. In the 1970s it was adopted by sociobiologists to explain human nature. "Man the hunter" is used to explain not only human biology but also human morality. The morals described, however, often reflect ancient beliefs and appear to be new ways of justifying old morality codes. The newest version of this myth is presented in a recent book, Demonic Males . I will discuss various accounts of this myth and the evidence used to justify them, and will specifically critique the arguments presented in Demonic Males .