伦理学教学与道德选择

在历史上,伦理学以什么途径和渠道对人们的道德产生过影响?在当今条件下,它还可能继续产生影响吗? 提出这个问题的本身就为在伦理学与其研究对象的相互作用上区分“现存的东西”和“应有的东西”的必要性奠定了基础。由于这种区分具有具体历史的制约性,所以它不仅取决于伦理或道德方面的可能和需要,而且更加取决于理论的完备,即不是简单地追随着精神生活,而是要“超前反映”人类的精神生活,从而使伦理道德理论成了“宁静日常生活的干涉者”,积极参与着对道德生活进程的指导。     

理解拉丁美洲哲学的途径——关于文化同一性形成的反思

对那些不清楚拉丁美洲思想特殊发展的人来说,拉丁美洲哲学是否存在是他们要提出的第一个问题:“存在拉美哲学这种东西吗?”或者“所指的拉美哲学是什么意思?”产生这些问题,是因为哲学一般地讲并不限定是属于哪种民族和文化的。即使用这样限定的话,一般也不是我们在这里所说的,即“拉丁美洲”,这种限定。哲学一般认为是仅     

人道主义伦理学与理性

1.问题在最近几个世纪中,一种自豪和乐观的精神使西方文化闻名于世:对作为人理解和驾驭自然界的手段的理性的自豪;对实现人类最渴求的希望即为最大多数人取得最大幸福的乐观。人的自豪是有道理的。他凭借着理性创造出一个物质世界,其现实甚至胜过了各种神话故事和乌托邦的梦想与幻想。他利用了各种物质能力,它们将使人类能保证获得有尊严和生产性的存在所必不可少的物质条件,尽管他的许多目的还未达到,但几乎毫无问题,这些目的是能够达到的。生产的问题(这是个老问题)原则上解决了。现在,人在他的历史上第一次能够感觉到,人类统一和为人而征服自然的思想不再是一种梦幻,而是一种现实的可能性。难道他没有理由感到自豪,自信并对人类的将来充满信心吗?     

“人”的概念

“人”的概念是西方哲学中的最中心概念之一,但是毫无疑问,它并不是一个人们具有统一意见并且得到明确定义的对象。这个概念的出现乃是由于人(不论是个人还是人类这一物种)的一种需要:把他们自己理解为一种特殊的和与众不同的东西。并且,这种不同的性质既是形而上学的又是伦理学的。关于人格(personhood)的形而上学的问题乃是何种特质和属性从本质上把人同所有其他类型的实体区分开来的问题;伦理学的问题乃是人的何种东西使得他们既具有道德价值(因此不应该以某些方式对待他们)又具有道德责任(因此对他们的行动能合理地进行褒、贬、奖、罚)的问题。人的形而上学的概念同伦理学概念之间的关系并不总是清楚的:它们是否是相同的概念、相同的实体概念、抑或一个是另一个的充分必要     

Fixed-ratio pausing: Joint effects of past reinforcer magnitude and stimuli correlated with upcoming magnitude

Pigeons responded on fixed-ratio schedules ending in small or large reinforcers (grain presentations of different duration) interspersed within each session. In mixed-schedule conditions, the response key was lit with a single color throughout the session, and pausing was directly related to the past reinforcer (longer pauses after large reinforcers than after small ones). In multiple-schedule conditions, different colors accompanied the ratios ending in small and large reinforcers, and pausing was affected by the upcoming reinforcer as well as the past one. Pauses were shorter before large reinforcers than before small ones, but they continued to be longer after large reinforcers than after small ones. The influence of the past reinforcer was modulated by the magnitude of the upcoming reinforcer; in the presence of the stimulus before the small reinforcer, the effect of the past reinforcer was enhanced relative to its effect in the stimulus before the large reinforcer. These results show that pausing between ratios is jointly determined by two competing factors: past conditions of reinforcement and stimuli correlated with upcoming conditions.     

Markets in women's reproductive labor

Much of the evolution of social policy in the twentieth century has occurred around conflicts over the scope of markets. To what extent, under what conditions, and for what reasons should we limit the use of markets? Recently, American society has begun to experiment with markets in women's reproductive labor. Many people believe that markets in women's reproductive labor, as exemplified by contract pregnancy, are more problematic than other currently accepted labor markets. I will call this the asymmetry thesis because its proponents believe that there ought to be an asymmetry between our treatment of reproductive labor and our treatment of other forms of labor. Advocates of the asymmetry thesis hold that treating reproductive labor as a commodity, as something subject to the supply-and-demand principles that govern economic markets, is worse than treating other types of human labor as commodities. Is the asymmetry thesis true? And, if so, what are the reasons for thinking that it is true? My aims in this article are to criticize several popular ways of defending the asymmetry thesis and to offer an alternative defense....I focus my discussion on those arguments against contract pregnancy that depend on the asymmetry thesis. I believe that the asymmetry thesis both captures strong intuitions that exist in our society and provides a plausible argument against contract pregnancy.     

Beliefs about condoms and accessibility of condom intentions in Hispanic and African American youth

The construct accessibility model (CAM) holds that constructs are most likely to influence behavior when they are accessible in memory. While the theory of reasoned action sees intention as an important determinant of behavior, the CAM predicts that the intention to act upon a given health behavior is not likely to be acted upon unless the intention is in an accessible state. Therefore, people who frequently talk about or think about using condoms are likely to have condom related constructs available and use them when needed. This paper reports findings from the pilot phase of a project to identify beliefs which influence condom use in Hispanic and African-American youth living in Detroit. 15 male and 15 female Hispanics and 17 male and 17 female African-Americans aged 15-21 years of mean and median age 18.5, were interviewed face-to-face in 1989 with the goal of identifying condom beliefs which may influence their condom use. 80-82% of male participants, 53% of Hispanic females, and 100% of Black females had experienced sexual intercourse, with age at first intercourse ranging between 13.1 and 16.5 years. 88% of Black women and 7% of Hispanic women were pregnant at the interview. Regarding participants' level of preventive knowledge, all but 1 recently immigrated Hispanic female knew HIV was transmitted by needles and sexual intercourse. 87% of Hispanics and 94% of African-Americans responded that condoms protect against AIDS, but only 13% of Hispanics and 47% of African-Americans knew that nonlatex condoms do not. Some participants expressed concern that condoms reduce sensitivity and/or break during intercourse. Controlling for sexual activity, 25% of Hispanic females, 83% of Hispanic males, 71% of African-American females, and 80% of African-American males had ever used a condom; no Hispanic and 14% of Blacks reported using them consistently in the 12 month period preceding the interview. With 100% of African-American males and 97% of Black females reporting thinking about using condoms compared to 80% of Hispanics, the study findings suggest that condom intentions are more accessible in African-Americans than among Hispanics.     

Cultural practices of Hispanics: implications for the prevention of AIDS

Hispanic Americans have one of the highest rates of HIV seroprevalence among all ethnics groups in the US, with high rates being especially noticeable among women and children. Were it known which cultural factors have the most influence on whether Hispanics engage in high-risk behavior for HIV transmission, prevention interventions could be targeted accordingly. To that end, this study was mounted to identify which Hispanic cultural factors relate to condom use. 117 males and 73 females aged 17-56 years of mean age 25.67 were surveyed in Washoe county, Nevada. These mostly young adults had recently immigrated to the western US. It was initially posited that fate orientation, male- female relationships, family relationships, machismo behavior, and religion would have equal influence with respect to condom use. Analysis found that condom use was largely associated with and determined by men who are the principal buyers of condoms. A machismo attitude toward protecting women by using condoms was also associated with condom use. Neither fate orientation with respect to AIDS, nor religion were important determinants of condom use, even though 86.5% of the respondents were Catholic. The degree to which respondents adhered to traditional Hispanic cultural values was influenced by the degree of education and acculturation. On the basis of these findings, the authors suggest targeting AIDS prevention messages to males, while emphasizing the protection of women through condom use. They also suggest that both education and acculturation levels be assessed before implementing prevention programs.     

The autonomy of adult women should be paramount, not the exam

The respect shown by clinic personnel for the adult status of their patients, and the right of people with mental retardation to good routine gynecologic care are not at issue. What is at issue is the right of a mentally retarded woman to refuse the intrusion of a pelvic examination. To accept an accommodated decisional capacity to say yes or indicate assent but to deny the reverse might be in the patients' medical best interest, but it is neither consistent nor respectful of their autonomy.     

心身问题与心灵哲学

第9届维特根斯坦国际专题讨论会的主题是心灵哲学(philosophy of mind,或译心智哲学)和心理学哲学。详细地讨论过的问题包括:心身问题、心灵哲学的传统问题和心理学哲学。 1.心身问题什么是心身问题?“心灵”(mind)一词有多种非常不同的用法,这一事实导致了现代讨论中的某种混乱。对这个词,我们至少可以区分出五种不同的用法,因此心身问题至少有五种意义。 (1)我们可以象笛卡儿使用“mens”一词那样使用“心灵”一词,让它指称具有心理属性的东西,亦即指称那种能思想,能感知,能相信和能欲求的东西。在这种情况下,我们通常是用“心灵”这个词意指“人”这个词所意指的东西,因而该词表示的就是你和我这样一些实