Wissenschaft und Erklärung

Journal for General Philosophy of Science - Wissenschaftstheoretische Analysen gehen nicht von einem festen Wissenschaftsbegriff aus. Vielmehr sollen diese in drei Teilgebiete zerfallenden Analysen...     

How can the church remain in the Truth?∗

Abstract

This article discusses papal infallibility, with reference to the history and meaning of the term, and to the ecumenical possibilities of its interpretation not as signifying the sovereign and absolute power of the papal office but as expressing the Pope's responsibility to the apostolic faith (depositum fidei), an interpretation that is arguably confirmed in the text of Pastor Aeternus. Particular consideration is also given to two recent ecumenical documents: The Gift of Authority (1999) and Communio Sanctorum (2000), both of which raise the question of infallibility. Some questions remain open, but those recently raised represent an important ecumenical step in the direction that Pope John Paul II asked for in the encyclical Ut Unum Sint (1995).     

Panikattacken – mTGT ohne Pharmakotherapie

Only a limited number of medical studies referring to Animal Assisted Therapy have been published worldwide. The specific concept of medically oriented Animal Assisted Therapy (mAAT) was developed by the Austrian Institute for Animal Assisted Therapy & Research (AIAATR), based north of the city of Krems/Donau in Lower Austria, as a nonpharmacological treatment method for patients with mental or psychological overload. This particular case study describes a 30-year-old female academic who had been brought to the institute by her concerned neighbour because of repeated panic attacks. Despite extensive briefing, the patient vehemently refused any pharmacological intervention. Therefore, two-step management starting with an acute phase therapy of two therapeutic units (ThU), 90 min each over 5 days – during this period the patient stayed at the patient appartement of the institute – followed by a regular treatment cycle of 1 ThU/week over 12 weeks was selected. The HAMA-21 was used to evaluate treatment quality, therapy progress, and success. A total score of 30 at the beginning declined to 3 at the end of treatment.     

Die ökologische Dimension der Psychoanalyse und das Konzept der inneren Nachhaltigkeit

Zusammenfassung. Der Autor begründet in seiner Arbeit eine „?kologisch-psychoanalytische” Theorieperspektive, in der er die innere Verwandtschaft zwischen dem modernen ?kologiekritischen Denken und den Menschenbildannahmen der freudianischen Psychoanalyse aufzeigt. Die „kritische ?kologie” befasst sich mit der Frage nach einer sinnvollen, „nachhaltigen” Gestaltung der Kultur-Natur-Beziehung, die Psychoanalyse erforscht und behandelt die innere Selbstbeziehung des Menschen zwischen dem kulturgepr?gt-kulturproduktiven „Ich” und den eigengesetzlichen, natural fundierten motivationalen Seiten der Psyche, die bei Freud als „Es” gefasst werden. Auch die modernen objektbeziehungstheoretischen und selbstpsychologischen Weiterentwicklungen der Psychoanalyse k?nnen vor einem ?kologisch-psychoanalytischen Hintergrund so aufgefasst werden, dass Freuds Fragestellung nach der ge- oder misslingenden Balance bzw. Integration zwischen den motivationalen (Interaktions-) Strebungen der „inneren Natur” einerseits und den Anforderungen der „kulturellen Selbsterzeugung” des Menschen andererseits rahmengebendes Grundthema bleibt. Der Autor macht in seinem Artikel deutlich, dass Psychoanalyse und „kritische ?kologie” gegenseitig voneinander profitieren k?nnen.

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The ecological dimension of psychoanalysis and the concept of inner sustainability

Summary. The author develops an ”ecological-psychoanalytical” perspective of theory that shows the inner relationship between the modern eco-critical thinking and the anthropology of Freudian psychoanalysis. ”Critical ecology” engages in the search for a ”sustainable” organisation of the culture-nature-relationship. Psychoanalysis explores and treats the inner self-relation of man among the culture-imprinted/culture-producing ”Ego” and the nature-founded motivational aspects of psychic, that Freud called the ”Id.” The modern developments of object-relation theory and self psychology can be interpreted as reaffirming Freuds thesis of a well balanced or neurotising integration of motivational (interaction-) drives of ”inner nature” at one hand, and the demands of the ”cultural autogenesis” of man on the other. The author suggests that psychoanalysis and human ecology theory can each profit from the other.

     

Warning: You are being primed! The effect of a warning on the impact of subliminal ads

As it has been demonstrated that subliminal advertising can affect consumers' decisions – if the ad is goal relevant – the question rises whether consumers are able to shield themselves from subliminal influences. In the present research it was examined whether warning people of the presence of subliminal ads could decrease subliminal advertising effects. In Study 1, it was demonstrated that warning people of subliminal ads indeed diminished priming effects on consumer choice, whereas subliminal advertising effects were replicated for people who were not warned (i.e., people for whom the primed brand was goal relevant were more likely to select it when primed). Study 2 extended these findings, revealing that both participants warned before and after the priming manipulation were less influenced by subliminal brand primes than controls. This suggests that the warning does not decrease participants' sensitivity to the prime, but instead affects the influence of the prime at the behavioral level. Several explanations and implications are discussed.     

The good,the bad and the ugly thing to do when sharing information: Revealing,concealing and lying depend on social motivation,distribution and importance of information

Research on information sharing in group decision-making has widely assumed a cooperative context and focused on the exchange of shared or unshared information in the hidden profile paradigm (36 and 37), neglecting the role of information importance. We argue that information sharing is a mixed-motive conflict setting that gives rise to motivated strategic behavior. We introduce a research paradigm that combines aspects of the traditional information sampling paradigm with aspects of a public good dilemma: the information pooling game. In three experiments, we show that information sharing is strategic behavior that depends on people’s pro-social or pro-self motivation, and that people consider information sharedness and information importance when deciding whether to reveal, withhold, or falsify their private or public information. Pro-social individuals were consistently found to honestly reveal their private and important information, while selfish individuals strategically concealed or even lied about their private and important information.     

Inactivation of the ventral tegmental area abolished the general excitatory influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental performance

Pavlovian stimuli can markedly elevate instrumental responding, an effect known as Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT). As the role of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in PIT is yet unknown, we examined the effects of transient VTA inactivation by direct microinjections of a mixture of the GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptor agonists, muscimol and baclofen. Results reveal that PIT, i.e., the increase in instrumental responding during presentation of a Pavlovian stimulus, was abolished by intra-VTA microinjections of muscimol/baclofen. These data provide the first evidence that the VTA mediates Pavlovian influences on instrumental behavior.     

在创造的零点

文章主要探讨了西方艺术创造观的当代转型问题。首先回顾和批判了现代时期盛行的将艺术视为上帝创世的再现与复写的绝对创造观点。随后,从宇宙进化的立场出发,提出了新型的艺术创造理念。其核心意义在于：艺术家的职责,不是以造物主的身份提出所谓的绝对创造宣言,而应以谦卑的态度,将作品视为内在于进化过程本身的东西,由此在艺术与进化特征之间建立特殊的关联。通过上述思考,文章揭示了东西方艺术观念在当代背景下的融合趋势。