什么是善——奥古斯丁论模仿统一的秩序是善

一般认为,创造世界的上帝是绝对的善,他不可能在世界上创造出恶,那么,世界上存在着恶应该怎么解释呢?奥古斯丁的答案是,恶就是善的匮乏,就是非存在.善是模仿统一的秩序.作者以此为起点,梳理了奥古斯丁的一些思想,包括上帝、绝对真理(Veritas,Truth)、真理(verum,truth)、善、恶、理性、感官、本性、秩序和无序,以及它们之间的关系.通过梳理,作者也澄清了一些学者对奥古斯丁善恶形而上学的误解.     

语言和社会本体论

通过对言语行为的探讨,有可能解释人类实在和非人类的物理实在之间是如何协调一致的。在分析社会的制度性实在时,我们需要四个概念,即集体意向性、功能的施加、身份功能和建构性规则。使用建构性规则创造身份功能的模式非常类似于第五类言语行为,即宣告。正是这种宣告式的言语行为生成并维持身份功能,继而建立起人类所有的制度性实在。此外,身份功能产生"道义权力",正是这种权力才使人类社会统合在一起。     

把结果论丢在后面

本报告挑战了下述陈词滥调——在结果论和义务论之间可以作出真正有效的理论选择,同时它论证了道义论比结果论的基本洞见更加深刻.以费希特的伦理学理论为例,证明它与亚里士多德实践观的一致性,本报告认为,所有行为都因其自身之故才是值得选择的,对结果的评价必须取决于由值得选择的行为所设置的目的.因此,在按照正确行为而选择的行为与按照最佳结果而选择的行为之间,最终不应该有什么分歧.在某些情况下,一种方法比另一种方法可能有启发性的优势,但每种方法也都可能会犯视角错误.结果论应被丢在后面,但不是彻底丢掉,而是像火车车尾的守车,只要被正确的道义论引擎牵引着,它就适得其所.     

伊斯兰教主张“中正”道路北大核心CSSCISSCI

5月14日至15日,中国伊斯兰教协会主办的“伊斯兰教中道思想研讨会”在新疆维吾尔自治区乌鲁木齐市成功召开。与会的近百位伊斯兰教界人士和专家学者,围绕“坚守中道,远离极端”的主题,深刻阐释了伊斯兰教的中道思想,有力批驳了宗教极端思想的歪理邪说,强烈谴责了暴力恐怖活动,通过了《坚守中道,远离极端》倡议书,号召广大穆斯林群众积极行动起来,坚守中道、正信正行,远离极端、反对暴力,为促进我国民族团结、社会稳定和伊斯兰教的健康发展凝心聚力,为实现中华民族的伟大复兴做出新贡献。     

Core systems of number

What representations underlie the ability to think and reason about number? Whereas certain numerical concepts, such as the real numbers, are only ever represented by a subset of human adults, other numerical abilities are widespread and can be observed in adults, infants and other animal species. We review recent behavioral and neuropsychological evidence that these ontogenetically and phylogenetically shared abilities rest on two core systems for representing number. Performance signatures common across development and across species implicate one system for representing large, approximate numerical magnitudes, and a second system for the precise representation of small numbers of individual objects. These systems account for our basic numerical intuitions, and serve as the foundation for the more sophisticated numerical concepts that are uniquely human.     

Mechanisms of theory formation in young children

Research suggests that by the age of five, children have extensive causal knowledge, in the form of intuitive theories. The crucial question for developmental cognitive science is how young children are able to learn causal structure from evidence. Recently, researchers in computer science and statistics have developed representations (causal Bayes nets) and learning algorithms to infer causal structure from evidence. Here we explore evidence suggesting that infants and children have the prerequisites for making causal inferences consistent with causal Bayes net learning algorithms. Specifically, we look at infants and children's ability to learn from evidence in the form of conditional probabilities, interventions and combinations of the two.     

Evolving grounded communication for robots

The computational and robotic synthesis of language evolution is emerging as a new exciting field of research. The objective is to come up with precise operational models of how communities of agents, equipped with a cognitive apparatus, a sensori-motor system, and a body, can arrive at shared grounded communication systems. Such systems may have similar characteristics to animal communication or human language. Apart from its technological interest in building novel applications in the domain of human-robot or robot-robot interaction, this research is of interest to the many disciplines concerned with the origins and evolution of language and communication.     

Behavioral disorganization in schizophrenia during a daily activity: the kitchen behavioral scoring scale

Executive dysfunction has been extensively described in schizophrenia and has been found to correlate with the negative symptoms of the disease. However, executive dysfunction is usually assessed by cognitive tests, and these are not necessarily good predictors of an individual's daily functioning. This study aimed to discover whether executive dysfunction in schizophrenia can be measured by analyzing a daily routine such as cooking a meal. Behavior was scored on the basis of the optimal sequence of macrostructures (order of dishes) and microsteps (order of actions) that must be performed to prepare the meal in a minimum of time and with the smallest delay between the completion of the first and last dishes. The results showed that patients with schizophrenia make macrostructure but not micro-step sequencing errors. The number of repetitions and omissions and the delay between the completion of the first and last dish were all greater in patients than in control subjects. In patients with schizophrenia, but not in normal controls, these behavioral malfunctions were significantly correlated with both negative symptoms and performance on the executive tasks. Poor performance on the memory tests was not correlated with the behavioral malfunction. Therefore, daily functioning in schizophrenia may be specifically influenced by executive dysfunction in schizophrenia, and this can be quantitatively assessed with a behavioral scale of action sequences.     

Time estimation could be impaired in male,but not female adults with attention deficits

The ability to judge the passage of time is critical to behavioral regulation and planning and can be impaired among individuals with attention deficit. Time estimation was tested in young adults screened for attention deficit, based on scores of a self-report questionnaire for attention problems (CAARS), using a prospective reproduction paradigm. Four time intervals (3, 6, 12, and 24 s) were tested in two conditions: (1) reproduction of the duration of a visual stimulus and (2) reproduction of an empty time interval. A significant interaction between gender and group was found suggesting that males, but not females, with attention deficits made larger errors than controls. Males with attention deficits and both groups of females made larger underestimations of time judgement than control males.     

Decision-making deficits in drug addiction

Core aspects of addictive behaviour can be explained in terms of abnormal decision-making. Using recording of autonomic function during performance of two gambling tasks, Bechara et al. have recently identified three distinct neuropsychological subtypes in individuals with substance dependence. These subtypes may reflect dissociable patterns of disruption in limbic brain circuitry.