Rosa Luxemburg, “The Russian Revolution”

The essay concerns the highly controversial pamphlet of Rosa Luxemburg The Russian Revolution (1918/1922), in which Luxemburg criticizes Lenin’s post-revolutionary policies, in particular his dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, an elected body. The essay reviews the history of the text’s publication and the intense debate, which continues to this day, over whether or not Luxemburg changed her mind on its central critique. At stake in the argument is not only Luxemburg’s evaluation of Lenin’s actions but also the correct weighting to be given to the two components in the central Marxist–Leninist dialectic of revolution: spontaneity and consciousness. In elaborating this point the essay brings in examples from the writings of Lukács and Stalin, and also discusses the dialectic’s centrality in socialist realism.     

On Defining ‘Argument’

There is no concept more central to logic and critical thinking than the concept of an argument. I here address the definition of ‘argument’ in the logical sense of the term and defend the claim that many current proposals, once they are interpreted in a way that makes them sufficiently precise, are extensionally inadequate. Definitions found in some contemporary, prominent critical thinking textbooks will serve as a springboard. I claim that each may be interpreted in an absolutist way (i.e., as providing a definition of ‘argument’ simpliciter) or a relativistic way (as providing a definition of ‘argument-for-S’, where S is some agent or group of agents), yet all turn out to be objectionable no matter which route is taken. I finish with a proposal on which the definition of ‘argument’ is an absolutist one, yet one that avoids the problems discussed for the earlier proposals.     

Scientific Writing Between Tabloid Storytelling,Arcane Formulaic Hermetism,and Narrative Knowledge

The present discussion contribution argues that O. Müller not only suppresses Goethe’s declared intentions with regard to the latter’s Theory of Colors and ignores his place in what in any case is a different scientific culture than his (Müller’s) own or Newton’s, namely a premodern culture of “narrative knowledge” in the sense specified by Lyotard. Moreover, Müller entangles himself in the paradox of wanting on the one hand to back up Goethe on the level of fact when the latter opposes the militant selfrighteousness of the Newtonian school, but doing so on the other hand by constructing an epic-heroic narrative of Newtonian militance, not to say eristic belligerence contradictory to Goethe’s own “tolerant enlightenment” in Lakatos’ sense. Thus, we are confronted with one of those cases where, as Paul de Man puts it, a multidimensional critical reading on the semiological as well as rhetorical levels shows “that the text does not practice what it preaches” (1979, 5).     

Lenin on democratic theory

Lenin’s State and Revolution is not only a project for imminent revolutionary policy and not only a legitimization argument for a revolutionary dictatorship, but also a theory of state and theory of democracy. Lenin points at the reduplication of state organs that is inherent in a democratic state. While the Russian revolutionary thinks of this reduplication as something transitory, we today increasingly see it as a durable condition coterminous with the late-modern democratic state. I use Lenin’s treatise as a point of inspiration to briefly characterize my dialectical theory of state.     

Perceived stress in prodromal Huntington disease

This study examines perceived stress and its relationship to depressive symptoms, life changes and functional capacity in a large sample of individuals who are positive for the Huntington disease (HD) gene expansion but not yet diagnosed. Participants were classified by estimated proximity to HD diagnosis (far, mid, near) and compared with a non-gene-expanded comparison group. Persons in the mid group had the highest stress scores. A significant interaction between age and time since HD genetic testing was also found. Secondary analyses using data from a different data collection point and including a diagnosed group showed the highest stress scores in the diagnosed group. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.     

Differentiation of Self, Stress, and Emotional Support as Predictors of Psychological Distress

We explored the relations among stress, emotional support, and differentiation of self from the family of origin as predictors of psychological distress in a sample of 200 college students. First, we investigated the discrepant findings of Murdock and Gore (Contemp Fam Ther 23: 319–335, 2004) and Skowron et al. (J Couns Dev 82: 69–78, 2004) regarding the relationships among stress, differentiation, and symptoms (a question of mediation vs. moderation). Second, we examined the role of emotional support in concert with stress and differentiation. When both stressful events and perceived stress were measured, differentiation of self was found to be a significant partial mediator of their effects on psychological distress. Emotional support was also found to partially mediate the relationship between differentiation of self and psychological distress. Differentiation of self partially mediated the relationship between actual and perceived stress, and perceived stress partially mediated the relationship between differentiation of self and psychological distress.     

Multisystemic therapy for young offenders: families' experiences of therapeutic processes and outcomes

Multisystemic Therapy (MST) has been found to be effective in reducing youth antisocial behavior, but little is known about the process and impact of MST from the perspective of families themselves. This qualitative study explored parents' and young people's experiences of MST, focusing on aspects of the intervention that promoted or limited change. Thirty-seven semistructured interviews were conducted with a consecutive sample of 21 families (21 parent interviews, 16 young people) who had participated in a randomized controlled trial of MST for young offenders in the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis yielded 10 themes, organized into two domains: (a) engagement in MST and initial processes of change captures the central importance of the therapeutic relationship and the MST engagement model in families' positive experiences of MST; and (b) outcomes are complex reflects the range of positive outcomes reported (notably increased parental confidence and skills, improved family relationships, a return to education, and greater reflection and aspiration on the part of the young person) and mixed behavior outcomes. Even when the young person had reoffended, respondents indicated a range of other benefits for the family. The findings support the MST theory of change as well as point to some outcomes not usually measured in MST outcome studies. They also suggest some adaptations that may increase the impact of the intervention, including more attention to the influence of deviant peers, and ongoing support for families struggling to maintain strategies beyond the prescribed treatment period.     

Inferring facts from fiction: reading correct and incorrect information affects memory for related information

People can acquire both true and false knowledge about the world from fictional stories. The present study explored whether the benefits and costs of learning about the world from fictional stories extend beyond memory for directly stated pieces of information. Of interest was whether readers would use correct and incorrect story references to make deductive inferences about related information in the story, and then integrate those inferences into their knowledge bases. Participants read stories containing correct, neutral, and misleading references to facts about the world; each reference could be combined with another reference that occurred in a later sentence to make a deductive inference. Later they answered general knowledge questions that tested for these deductive inferences. The results showed that participants generated and retained the deductive inferences regardless of whether the inferences were consistent or inconsistent with world knowledge, and irrespective of whether the references were placed consecutively in the text or separated by many sentences. Readers learn more than what is directly stated in stories; they use references to the real world to make both correct and incorrect inferences that are integrated into their knowledge bases.