Die Perestrojka in der heutigen sowjetischen Philosophie

The situation in Soviet philosophy has changed radically in the course of the last 4 years. Gone is the attitude according to which philosophers fall into two camps; genuine developments are discernible in the direction of alternative thinking. Signs of the latter include the growing number of round-table discussions published in the main philosophical journals, the conversations among philosophers broadcast on television, the new textbook, with its stress on the history of philosophy, including a new look at the classics, especially Marx. In general, Marxist-Leninist doctrine is now relativized to the status of a moment in the history of philosophy, and is no longer regarded as the culmination of philosophical truth.The main questions occupying philosophers today cluster around the nature of the person: individual freedom, democracy, universal values, as well as the central importance of law in civil society and a legally sanctioned State. The revival of interest in Russian religious philosophy has to be approached with care as it involves several dimensions: the question of Russia's spiritual character as compared with the West, the confrontation with the heretofore reigning materialist view of the world in relation to the vexed question of human creativity, as well as the religious affirmation of the unity of humanity in opposition to the Marxist conception of difference and struggle. The situation in Soviet philosophy is still ambiguous so long as ideological attitudes persist which could hinder the development of autonomous philosophical thought.     

Spatial ecology: Its effects on the choice of friends and enemies

The present research examined relationships between physical distance, frequency of face-to-face contacts, and the probability that individuals would be chosen as friends or enemies. Consistent with previous research, the probability of being chosen as a friend increased as the distance between people decreased. There was also a positive linear relationship between the frequency of contact and the strength of linking. In contrast, the probability of being chosen as a disliked individual was even more dependent upon physical distance (more disliked than liked individuals lived close to the subjects), but the strength of disliking was unrelated to the frequency of face-to-face contact. Friends also tended to live farther away from the subjects the longer the latter had lived in their residences, but the distance that disliked individuals lived from the subjects did not depend upon time. The overall pattern of results was consistent with an “environment-spoiling” hypothesis which proposed that many negative interpersonal relationships primarily occur because the actions of specific others spoil one's living environment, whereas most positive interpersonal relationships result from frequent face-to-face contacts.     

Arousal,positive and negative affect,and preference for Renaissance and 20th-century paintings

Treatments expected to raise the level of arousal and induce different degrees of positive and negative affect were paired on some trials with Renaissance or 20th-century paintings, whereas no paintings were shown on other trials. The design was within-subjects (24 females); the dependent measures were skin conductance (SC) and the preference for paintings. All treatments, including the paintings/no paintings factor, raised SC over the base-line, and the pattern was essentially additive. The perceived failure to attain control over aversive auditory stimulation (resulting in negative affect) raised SC to a higher level than did the unavoidable aversive stimulation (minimal affect) or monetary gains (positive affect). Paintings paired with affect (positiveor negative) were rated as more pleasing than were those paired with no affect. The Renaissance works were preferred to the 20th-century works when negative affect was induced, whereas the opposite was true in the case of positive affect. The collative-motivation model could not account for the fact that pleasingness of paintings was not related to SC by an inverted-U function. The contiguity model could not explain the considerable rated pleasingness of paintings paired with negative affect. In contrast, there was considerable support for a more comprehensive hypothesis (distraction/soothingness) based on attentional and affective considerations, and the differential cognitive labeling of fluctuations of arousal.This research was supported by Grant GS-42802 from the National Science Foundation to VJK. Some of the findings were presented at the 6th International Colloquium of Empirical Aesthetics, and the 21st International Congress of Psychology, both held during July 1976 in Paris, France.     

Evaluative and skin-conductance responses to Renaissance and 20th-century paintings

Normative data on paintings from two periods are reported. Subjects rated the pleasingness and interestingness of 60 Renaissance and 60 20th-century (abstract) works, and indicated how much they wished to own a reproduction of each painting. Skin-conductance changes elicited by the paintings were also assessed. The data may facilitate the inclusion of real works of art in future experiments involving visual aesthetic materials (on either the independent- or the dependent-variable side) and are relevant for the research on some motivational and cognitive issues of current interest in the psychology of art.     

A cut-free gentzen-type system for the logic of the weak law of excluded middle

The logic of the weak law of excluded middleKC _p is obtained by adding the formula A A as an axiom scheme to Heyting's intuitionistic logicH _p . A cut-free sequent calculus for this logic is given. As the consequences of the cut-elimination theorem, we get the decidability of the propositional part of this calculus, its separability, equality of the negationless fragments ofKC _p andH _p , interpolation theorems and so on. From the proof-theoretical point of view, the formulation presented in this paper makes clearer the relations betweenKC _p ,H _p , and the classical logic. In the end, an interpretation of classical propositional logic in the propositional part ofKC _p is given.     

Identification of partially presented meaningless patterns: effect of completeness and distinctiveness

The role of parts versus that of wholes in a visual perception has been debated for a century as two opposite approaches, namely, an analytic and holistic. In two psychophysical experiments we investigated whether the stimulus completeness or distinctiveness is essential for identification of the partially presented patterns under brief presentation conditions. For this purpose, a special class of stimuli was constructed in such a way that the patterns could be divided into informative and redundant parts. The first experiment clearly demonstrated the importance of the redundant part for effective pattern identification for the majority of subjects. The second experiment revealed the direct dependence of identification accuracy of the patterns on their completeness (2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 elements). Familiarisation of subjects with the test stimuli influenced the strength of this dependence.     

The understanding of spirituality in French and German culture. By Emmanuel Levinas,translated by Andrius Valevičius.

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Connections Between BCK-algebras and Difference Posetse

We discuss the interrelations between BCK-algebras and posets with difference. Applications are given to bounded commutative BCK-algebras, difference posets, MV-algebras, quantum MV-algebras and orthoalgebras.     

Gender and well-being in the Czech Republic

American women are stressed by network events and men by economic events outside the home, with women internalizing distress symptoms and men externalizing them. This gender pattern of stress-distress in the United States was tested in the 1990–1991 Czech Republic with a two-wave panel based on 294 households, 90% of which are Czech. This analysis is restricted to the 192 respondents who completed questionnaires in the second wave, 1991. The country was in the shock phase of its transition from state socialism to democracy and a market economy, and people were experiencing economic hardship and uncertainty. Czech women and men reported similar exposure to economic and network stress and were similar in their vulnerability to stress (mastery and social support) as well. Women reported higher levels of internalized distress symptoms (depression, anxiety, and somatization) than men, but there were no significant gender differences in externalized symptoms (hostility). The effects of economic and network stress on the distress symptoms were the same for women and men. Mastery buffered the relationship between economic stress and somatization and hostility, but social support was not a buffer between the stressors and distress, and these were true for both men and women. Interpretations of the results rest on the convergence of gender roles in the Czech Republic since 1948, which exposed Czech women and men equally to the shock phase of the post-communist transformation.Research for this paper was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health (MH50369), NATO, and IREX, with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Department of State. Partial support was provided by Iowa State University and the Agriculture University of Prague as well. Lorenz was also funded by the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experimentation Station. None of these organizations is responsible for the views expressed.