Case vignette: cybertherapy

Dr. Neuro Transmitter, a psychotherapist in Paramus, New Jersey, provides services through an online, real-time consultation service known as CyberShrink, Inc., of Dallas, Texas. He is paid by the hour for his consultation services to subscribers who are billed by credit card through CyberShrink. One afternoon he logs on and is connected via private "chat channel" to a new subscriber to the service. She is Ann Hedonia of Simi Valley, California. Ten minutes into the session, Dr Transmitter recognizes that Ms. Hedonia is seriously depressed with suicidal ideation and is feeling on the edge of her ability to cope. He gently suggests that perhaps she ought to think about hospitalization near her home. Ms. Hedonia replies, "Even you don't care about me! That's it. I'm going to do it!" and disconnects. Discussion questions: Is offering psychotherapy services online ethical? What are Dr. Transmitter's obligations in general and at this particular moment to Ms. Hedonia? Suppose Ms. Hedonia has a complaint about Dr. Transmitter. From whom can she seek a remedy? Which state's laws apply regarding professional practice, confidentiality, or licensing qualifications? Must Dr. Transmitter be licensed in any state to offer this service?     

Responding maintained under fixed-interval and fixed-time schedules of electric shock presentation

Following initial histories under a schedule of electric shock postponement, lever pressing in squirrel monkeys was maintained under fixed-interval and fixed-time schedules of electric shock presentation. No difference in either rate or pattern of responding was obtained when these schedules were presented as components of a multiple schedule. When they were presented singly for long periods of time, the fixed-interval schedule consistently maintained a higher response rate than the fixed-time schedule. The pattern of responding under both schedules was similar, typically consisting of a pause at the beginning of each interval followed by either a steady or a positively accelerating rate of responding. The results suggest that the response-shock dependency is of critical importance in the maintenance of high rates of responding under schedules of electric shock presentation, and support the general view that such responding may be conceptualized as operant behavior under control of many of the same variables that control responding under comparable schedules of food or water reinforcement.     

A molar theory of reinforcement schedules

Behavior of subjects exposed to concurrent and individual interval and ratio schedules of reinforcement may be described in terms of a set of expressions relating the value of responses to their durations, a feedback equation relating reinforcement to response duration, and the assumption that subjects allocate their time among various responses so as to maximize value.     

法兰克福哲学-社会学学派基本思想的历史发展

在六十年代,资本主义用以攻击马克思列宁主义的新手法,特别清楚地表现在所谓“新左派”运动这种独特的左倾机会主义思想体系中。这种运动在1968年法国五一六月事件中表现得最为明显。在此之前不久,它也表现在六十年代左翼学生运动中,这个运动开始于美国、后来波及西欧许多资本主义国家,还传播到日本。对六十年代思想斗争所作的分析令人信服地证明,这种左倾机会主义的主要思想根源之一,就是所     

哲学的实践

哲学的功用问题,一经深究,便显得非常困难了。它包括许许多多重要而详尽的课题,需要从意识形态、方法论和历史上去作具体的阐述。“功用”(function)这个词,源于拉丁文“functio”,主要是指活动、作业、任务和位置的意思。因此,它包含很广泛的一类问题,在这篇文章中,只讨论社会意识那些最普遍的形式。正因为如此,我现在至多只能提出我自己     

关于制定唯物辩证法

在当前,世界观科学,尤其是我们世界观的核心——马克思列宁主义哲学的作用正在急剧地增长。马克思列宁主义哲学是工具,党借助于它影响我们的思想意识、引导我们沿着建设共产主义社会的道路前进,引导我们和敌对思潮进行斗争。在马克思列宁主义哲学中辩证唯物主义是主要的,这是列宁多次强调过的。同时,列宁也指出,辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义是不可分割的。因为历史唯物主义是哲学唯物主义的继续,是哲学唯物主义在社会领域的彻底运用。列宁在辩证法是马克思列宁主义的灵魂这一著名原理中表述了这个思想。我们     

鲍波尔其人及其哲学

鲍波尔(Koal Popper)系奥地利自然科学和社会科学哲学家。1902年出生于维也纳,在那里,他研读数学、物理和哲学。尽管他不是逻辑实证主义维也纳学派的成员,而且在许多地方同他们还有着严重的分歧,但是他的哲学志趣却和该学派的主张还是颇为投合的。他同它的一些成员也有着密切的交往,对卡尔纳普的影响尤其明显。他的第一部成名著作《研究的逻辑》出版于1935年,当时就是列为维也纳学派的科学世界观丛书而问世的。1937年,鲍波尔赴新西兰坎特堡大学执教;1945年去伦敦大学伦敦经济学院工作。自1949年他一直是该学院的逻辑学和科学方法论教授。1964年封为爵士。他     

自由与异化

1.黑格尔说:“只有当没有外在于我与我不相干的他物时,方能说是自由。”从表面看,这句话没有什么意义。我们怎样理解“没有外在于我与我不相干的他物”这句话的意思呢?黑格尔好象是说,只有当我们认为我们自己同我们的周围事物没有不同,也就是当自我与他人的差异被克服的时候,那才算实现了自由。但是只要我们有所行动,任何时候只要我们企图进行改变周围事物的活动,就会感到这种差异的存在。我的行动包含了把我自己同我行动所及的周围事物分离开来的过程。因此,从字面上讲,黑格尔的上述名言只能施用于那些无所行动的人,但是自由的概念与这样的人却是毫不相干的。不过我愿指出,黑格尔的名言含有关于自由的重要真理。他的主张是:我之所以能够自由的一个必要条件,就是我必须同我生活于其中的周围事物保持某种协调一致的关系——什么样的协调一致,下面再讲。在黑格尔看来,这个世界既包括我的物质环境,也包括我的社     

评西德 O.霍弗等人主编的《伦理学词典》

词典是知识的宝库。衡量词典的好坏,要看它是否完全反映了研究工作业已达到的水平。因为词典通常有很大的实用范围,所以就迫切需要对它现有的内容作出评价和分析。哲学以及作为哲学的一个分支的、研究一定社会历史阶段的道德行为和相应的道德观念的伦理学,乃是阶级利益在理论上的表现。可是,伦理学词典的编辑者却否定了这个观点。他们忠实于资产阶级伦理学的传统。编者O.霍弗是威尔茨堡大学哲学系教授。他对伦理学问题之所以越来越感兴趣,是因为他想把他的伦理学词典变成为“一个传播知识、同时作出评论的‘建议者”’(第6页)。他认为,当前人们之所以急剧地转向于对个人、社会和政治生活的伦理学问题的讨论,是有各种各样原因的。他认为这些