The Epicurean View of Death

The Epicurean view is that there is nothing bad about death, and we are wrong to loathe it. This paper distinguishes several different such views, and shows that while some of them really would undermine our loathing of death, others would not. It then argues that any version that did so could be at best vacuously true: If there is nothing bad about death, that can only be because there is nothing bad about anything.     

An Eastern Orthodox Perspective on Microbial Life on Mars

Recent efforts to explore the geology and climate of planets within our own solar system, especially Mars, have prompted a renewed interest in the search for microorganisms as the most plausible forms of extraterrestrial life. As the scientific search for evidence of microbial life on Mars intensifies, there has been a perceived need to examine the theological implications in advance of such a possible discovery. Religious considerations, thus far, have focused mainly on Western Christianity as represented by the Roman Catholic and various Protestant traditions. Although Eastern Orthodoxy represents the second largest group of Christians worldwide, to date, there is very little information available from these ongoing discussions concerning an Eastern Orthodox perspective. Therefore, we first review the case for the possibility of microbial life on Mars and then explore its fundamental Orthodox theological meaning. The apprehension of any form of extraterrestrial life by the Orthodox Church will be rooted in its collective interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, Patristic and contemporary religious writers, and in the ancient liturgical expression of its worship.     

Leverage Points,Paradigms, and Grounded Action: Intervening in Educational Systems

This article discusses connections between grounded action, leverage points, and paradigm transformation and transcendence. Part one provides background on Meadows' (1999) Meadows, D. H. 1999. Leverage points: Places to intervene in a system, The Sustainability Institute. www.sustainabilityinstitute.org/pubs/Leverage_Points.pdf (Accessed 22 June, 2006) [Google Scholar] approach to leverage points as well as the concept of paradigms. Part two argues that grounded action is inherently suited for leverage points analysis and paradigm-based interventions. Part three offers an example of individual paradigm transformation in the educational context vis-à-vis Olson's (2006) Olson, M. M. 2006. Driven Succeeding—The serpentine path of adult learning: A grounded action study in adult education, Ed.D. dissertation Fielding Graduate University.  [Google Scholar] grounded theory of driven succeeding. The article concludes with considerations of how the application of grounded action in one classroom might leverage system-wide paradigm transformation.     

Evaluating a Brief Scale Measuring Psychological Climate for Sexual Harassment

We evaluated the measurement properties of the psychological climate for sexual harassment (PCSH) questionnaire with data from women officers (n?=?311) in the Swedish Armed Forces. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a two-factor solution assessing risks and seriousness/actions associated with sexual harassment episodes described the underlying pattern of correlations among items. Correlational and regression analyses showed that ratings of perceived intolerance for sexual harassment were associated with high ratings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and (positive) mental health; and decreased ratings of psychological distress. We discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of our findings for future research.     

MMPI Characteristics of Drug Abusers With and Without Histories of Suicide Attempts

Compared to drug addicts without histories of suicidal attempt (n = 50), drug addicts who have attempted suicide (n = 50) were characterized by higher levels of maladjustment—particularly in the areas of depression, feelings of alienation, and use of projection and externalization—and were more emotionally withdrawn. Certain Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) codetypes appeared in the attempt group that were not present in the no history group. Drug addicts with suicidal ideation but no history of attempt (n = 13) were not significantly different from the other two groups, and their inclusion as a comparison group masked the real differences between the other two groups. The MMPI results suggest it may be possible to identify a suicide attempt group in substance abusers but not when contrasted with a suicidal ideation group. Treatment implications are considered.     

Testing the Strictness Thesis and Competing Theories of Congregational Growth

Building off of Dean Kelley's and Laurence Iannaccone's earlier work, we develop a path model of the strictness thesis that investigates and compares how congregational strictness, evangelical theology, demographic characteristics, and denominational identity variously contribute to congregational growth and decline. Using the U.S. Congregational Life Survey (2001), we test this model at the congregational level and find significant support for the mechanisms at the core of both Kelley's and Iannaccone's versions of the strictness thesis, particularly that even after controlling for the other dynamics mentioned, congregational strictness has both an indirect and a direct positive effect on congregational growth. We also find, however, that evangelical theology, fertility, and denominational identity all play important roles in the prediction of growth, leading us to assert our integrated model as a new and more fully robust understanding of congregational growth and decline.     

THE FRESHMAN OBJECTION TO EXPRESSIVISM AND WHAT TO MAKE OF IT

Cognitivism is the view that the primary function of moral judgements is to express beliefs that purport to say how things are; expressivism is the contrasting view that their primary function is to express some desire-like state of mind. I shall consider what I call the freshman objection to expressivism. It is pretty uncontroversial that this objection rests on simple misunderstandings. There are nevertheless interesting metaethical lessons to learn from the fact that the freshman objection is prevalent among undergraduates and non-philosophers. It leaves for expressivists two awkward explanatory tasks. Number one is that of explaining why natural selection – which, by expressivism's own lights, favoured moral thought and talk because of their socially useful regulative and coordinating functions – did not favour a stance that would make moral thought and talk more effective in fulfilling these functions. Number two is that of explaining how moral thought and talk survive in cultural evolution, despite the prevalence of the freshman objection and related worries. I conclude that expressivism as a theory of actual moral discourse rather than a revisionist theory is either false or committed to an implausible error theory, according to which ordinary speakers are systematically mistaken about what they are up to when they make moral judgements.     

Ethics and the generous ontology

According to a view attractive to both metaphysicians and ethicists, every period in a person’s life is the life of a being just like that person except that it exists only during that period. These “subpeople” appear to have moral status, and their interests seem to clash with ours: though it may be in some person’s interests to sacrifice for tomorrow, it is not in the interests of a subperson coinciding with him only today, who will never benefit from it. Or perhaps there is no clash, and a subperson’s interests derive from those of the person it coincides with. But this makes it likely that our own interests derive from those of other beings coinciding with us.     

A retrospective longitudinal study of cognitive and language skills in poor reading comprehension

Fifty‐six specific poor reading comprehenders (SPRC) were selected in Grade 4 and retrospectively compared to good comprehenders at preschool (age 5) and at the end of kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. The results revealed deficits in vocabulary, grammar, verbal memory and early deficits in phonological awareness in most of the SPRC sample, beginning in preschool. The reading comprehension deficits in children with SPRC were not as marked in earlier assessments in Grade 1 and 2, probably because of the greater dependence on word decoding in reading comprehension in the early grades.