Law,Ethics, and the Needs of History: Mendelssohn,Krochmal, and Moral Philosophy

Although the role of ethics in modern Jewish thought has been widely explored, major works by foundational philosophers remain largely absent from such discussions. This essay contributes to the recovery of these voices, focusing on the Hebrew writings of Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) and Nachman Krochmal (1785–1840). I argue that these texts reveal the existence of a shared ethical project animating these founding philosophical voices of Jewish modernity, and that reconstructing their claims contributes to broader conversations about the relationship between ethics and law. Mendelssohn and Krochmal present Jewish law as addressing needs emerging from the history of moral philosophy—from the modern histories of Platonic and Aristotelian ethics. Moreover, my reading highlights these thinkers’ ongoing relevance, suggesting that their work illuminates the role of law in ethical cultivation.     

Free viewing perceptual asymmetries for judgment of brightness and quantity: dependence on stimulus orientation

Previous research has indicated that normals exhibit strong leftward biases during free-viewing perceptual judgments of brightness and quantity. When participants view two symmetrical objects and they are forced to choose which object appears darker or more numerous, participants usually select the stimulus with the relevant feature on the left side. The present study investigated the possibility that these perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning a stimulus horizontally across the midline by administering a task with two rectangular reversed stimuli presented either horizontally or vertically. When the stimuli were presented horizontally (crossing the midline), participants exhibited leftward biases, but these biases disappeared when the stimuli were presented vertically. This result supports the position that free-viewing perceptual asymmetries are dependent on scanning the stimuli across the midline.     

How forgiveness,purpose, and religiosity are related to the mental health and well-being of youth: A review of the literature

Youth today often face challenges that can undermine important opportunities to achieve their full potential in school, in the workplace, in relationships, and within themselves. This article reviews the literature addressing certain personal qualities that have shown promise in the promotion of youth resilience against such threats. More specifically, the values of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity are considered. The purpose of this literature review is to bring attention to the promise that this body of research has shown and to encourage the continued empirical study of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity, particularly within the realm of youth mental health and well-being. First, operational definitions of these constructs are discussed. This is followed by discussion of theoretical, clinical, and empirical support for the benefits of strongly upholding values related to forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity during youth. Finally, practical implications and directions for future research are offered.     

Adolescents' experience with and response to suicidal peers.

The present study investigated a sample of 325 suburban high school students' knowledge of suicidal peers, whether they had ever talked to a suicidal peer, and, if so, what they actually did in that situation. Sixty-eight percent of the females and 42.5% of the males reported knowing a teen who had committed or attempted suicide. Ninety-seven students reported having talked to a peer who was definitely considering suicide; of these, 63% talked to their peer about his or her concerns, 24.7% told an adult, and 12% did nothing in response to the encounter. Ninth graders were significantly more likely to do nothing as compared to eleventh graders. A mixed pattern of results was found as to the relationship of the response of youth to suicidal peers and their general experience with suicidal peers. The results confirm the importance of adolescents themselves for the prevention of youth suicide, and the need to convince adolescents to report at-risk peers to an adult.     

Juggling with bubbles in cylindrical ferrofluid foams

Monodisperse foams in long cylinders exhibit ordered spiral structures. We have made ferrofluid foams of this kind and find that they can be manipulated in a variety of ways by an external magnetic field. Effects include morphological changes, twisting of structures and size control in the bubble formation process. This offers a promising technique for the efficient transport, switching and combining of samples in fluidic networks, possibly on the microfluidic scale.     

Logical reasoning in schizotypal personality

It was examined whether psychotic-like personality traits in a sample of 205 college students could predict logical reasoning deficits, akin to those seen in schizophrenia. The participants were tested on their ability to assess the logical validity of premises (Logical Reasoning Task), and completed a multi-dimensional schizotypy inventory (O-LIFE). Low accuracy was associated with increased levels of disorganized schizotypy (‘Cognitive Disorganization’), while elevated errors were associated with increased levels of positive (‘Unusual Experiences’), negative (‘Introvertive Anhedonia’) and impulsive (‘Impulsivity Non-conformity’) schizotypy. Nevertheless, multiple regression analyses revealed that negative schizotypy was retained as the only significant predictor after performance was corrected for random guessing, and the contribution of the average amount of time spent on each premise was controlled. The results suggest that, although most schizotypy dimensions have a detrimental effect on reasoning performance, possibly due to disadvantageous test-taking strategies, negative schizotypy is the most reliable predictor of logical reasoning deficits. It is proposed that social/interpersonal schizotypal traits, like negative symptoms of schizophrenia, are accompanied by deficient executive functions of working memory, which appear to undermine, inter alia, logical reasoning processing.