“It is not a something,but not a nothing either!”—McDowell on Wittgenstein

This paper corrects a mistake in John McDowell’s influential reading of Wittgenstein’s attack on the idea of private sensations. McDowell rightly identifies a primary target of Wittgenstein’s attack to be the Myth of the Given. But he also suggests that Wittgenstein, in the ferocity of his battles with this myth, sometimes goes into overkill, which manifests itself in seemingly behavioristic denials about sensations. But this criticism of Wittgenstein is a mistake. The mistake is made over two important but notoriously difficult sections in the so-called Private Language Argument, namely §304 and §293 of the Philosophical Investigations. Wittgenstein, maximally charitably read, commits no overkill in these two sections. This correction strengthens McDowell’s overall reading, but it is only a first step toward fully bringing out the deep but obscurely expressed insights in §304 and §293, the full treatment of which must await another occasion.     

Intentionality and partial belief

Suppose we wish to provide a naturalistic account of intentionality. Like several other philosophers, we focus on the intentionality of belief, hoping that we may later supplement our account to accommodate other intentional states like desires and fears. Now suppose that we also take partial beliefs or credences seriously. In cashing out our favoured theory of intentionality, we may for the sake of simplicity talk as if belief is merely binary or all-or-nothing. But we should be able to supplement or modify our account to accommodate credences. I shall argue, however, that it is difficult to do so with respect to certain causal or teleological theories of intentionality-in particular, those advanced by the likes of Stalnaker (Inquiry, 1984) and Millikan (J Philos 86:281–297, 1989). I shall first show that such theories are tailor-made to account for the intentionality of binary beliefs. Then I shall argue that it is hard to extend or supplement such theories to accommodate credences. Finally, I shall offer some natural ways of modifying the theories that involve an appeal to objective probabilities. But unfortunately, such modifications face problems.     

Customer-Initiated Support and Employees’ Proactive Customer Service Performance: A Multilevel Examination of Proactive Motivation as the Mediator

Drawing on the proactive motivation model and theories of motivation, the current study examined customer-initiated support as an antecedent of employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP) and investigated the mediating role of proactive motivations and the moderating role of serving culture. We conducted two multilevel studies to test the proposed hypotheses. In study 1, we collected diary data from 158 nurses across 10 working days, and results showed that the relationship between nurses’ daily experience of customer-initiated support and their PCSP was mediated by self-efficacy, work meaning, and positive affect. In study 2, we collected multilevel multi-source data from 373 nurses nested within 80 units and found that nurses’ experience of customer-initiated support was positively related to their supervisor-rated PCSP via role-breadth self-efficacy and work meaning, but not through positive affect. Further, team-level serving culture strengthened the positive relationship between customer-initiated support and role-breadth self-efficacy. These findings shed light on understanding the effect of customer-initiated support as an external factor on prompting service employees’ proactive behaviors, potential motivational mediators to explain the underlying mechanisms, and potential boundary conditions inside of service organizations to strengthen the positive effects of customer-initiated support.     

人格类型对应激反应影响的实验研究(实验室应激源部分)

本研究以EPQ为依据选择高神经质和低神经质2组共24名被试,以有时间压力的心算和复杂辨别反应操作为紧张性刺激,在进行作业的同时记录被试的呼吸频率、呼吸流量、脉率、指端血管容积和皮肤电反应等五项生理指标,并检测尿内儿茶酚胺分泌量。通过对人格类型、作业成绩、作业难度主观评价、紧张性情绪体验,以及对尿内儿茶酚胺分泌量和五项生理指标的综合分析,以研究人格类型对应激反应影响的程度和途径。结果表明,在两组被试作业成绩无显著差异的情况下,在对作业难度主观评价和情绪体验的程度上,高神经质组高于低神经质组。在平静状态下,高神经质组去甲肾上腺素分泌量高于低神经质组;应激状态下,高神经质组的儿茶酚胺反应强度和变化幅度均明显高于低神经质组。高神经质组的五项生理指标均比低神经质组有较大的变化幅度。儿茶酚胺分泌量与脉率有明显的正相关。另外,通过与自然应激源部分的实验结果比较,发现实验室与现场应激的效果基本一致。     

Are Decisions Made by Group Representatives More Risk Averse? The Effect of Sense of Responsibility

We tested the hypothesis that a sense of responsibility drives group representatives' decisions to be more risk averse compared with decisions made by individuals. The hypothesis was supported when the monetary considerations (i.e., payoff inequality and the magnitude effect) were controlled for in the potential gain domain as well as in the potential loss domain. Evidence showed that this is because the group representatives were concerned about how they would view themselves (e.g., guilt and self‐blame) and also how they would be viewed by others (i.e., to avoid being blamed and looked down upon by others). This study provided new insights into understanding group representatives' decision making under risk. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Problem Clarity as a Moderator between Trait Affect and Self‐Perceived Creativity

Empirical studies on the relationship between affect and creativity often produce conflicting results. This inconsistency has led us to believe that the relationship between affect and creativity may be better understood by looking at potential moderators. Our study looked specifically at trait affect and self‐perceived creativity. Using the Affect Infusion Model (AIM) theory with problem clarity as the potential moderator, we hypothesized that when individuals are faced with problems that lack clarity, trait affect has greater sway over their self‐perceived creativity. Our results provided evidence that problem clarity moderated the relationship between positive trait affect and self‐perceived creativity; the positive relationship between positive trait affect and self‐perceived creativity is stronger when problem clarity is low and weaker when problem clarity is high. No moderating effect was found in the relationship between negative trait affect and self‐perceived creativity.     

家庭支持与朋友支持对不同自理能力老年人抑郁水平的影响

探讨社会支持中的家庭支持和朋友支持对不同自理能力老年人抑郁水平的影响作用。结果发现:(1)社会支持可有效缓解老年人抑郁症状;(2)对个体而言,家庭支持是较稳定的支持来源,受个体年龄和健康水平的影响较小,而朋友支持变动较大,随年龄增长和健康水平的下降,朋友支持逐渐减少;(3)社会支持对不可完全自理老年人抑郁水平的解释率高于对可完全自理老年人抑郁水平的解释率;(4)对于生活可完全自理的老人,朋友支持比家庭支持有更大的预测作用,而对于生活不能完全自理的老人,家庭支持的作用更大。     

A Meeting of the Conceptual and the Natural: Wittgenstein on Learning a Sensation‐Language

Since the rise of modern natural science there has been deep tension between the conceptual and the natural. Wittgenstein's discussion of how we learn a sensation‐language contains important resources that can help us relieve this tension. The key here, I propose, is to focus our attention on animal nature, conceived as partially re‐enchanted (in the sense recommended by John McDowell). To see how nature, so conceived, helps us relieve the tension in question, it is crucial to gain a firm and detailed appreciation of how the primitive‐instinctive, a central part of animal nature, actually serves the conceptual. I offer such an appreciation by closely examining §244 of the Philosophical Investigations and Peter Winch's discussion of it. The general aim is to bring out a certain kind of Wittgensteinian “naturalism” (not as a theory but as a general reminder), a “naturalism” that is fully alive to the rootedness of conceptuality in nature. A concomitant aim is to illustrate the truth of Wittgenstein's saying that in philosophy one often has to pay close attention to details.