The Implicit Image of God: God as Reality and Psychological Well‐Being

Research has widely demonstrated that religiosity is related to psychological well‐being even in situations of severe illness. To assess religious beliefs, explicit measures have generally been used. In this study, we measured the belief that God is reality as opposed to myth or abstraction by using an implicit technique (the Single Category Implicit Association Test). The study was carried out in Italy, where a large majority of the population is Catholic, and the prevailing image of God is that of a compassionate and supportive father. Participants were cancer patients identifying themselves as believers. As expected, the automatic belief that God is reality (vs. abstraction) was related to beneficial outcomes: lower reported psychophysical anxiety symptoms and a weaker use of avoidance strategies to cope with stress. Thus, also, automatic religious beliefs may affect feelings and behaviors.     

Sociodemographic and Clinical Differences Between Suicide Ideators and Attempters: A Study of Mood Disordered Patients 50 Years and Older

Our study sought to characterize mood disordered suicide ideators and attempters 50 years and older admitted to a psychiatric ward either for a recent suicide attempt or for ongoing suicidal ideation. We enrolled 50 patients with suicide ideation consecutively admitted to an inpatient department and 50 patients admitted for a suicide attempt made in the last 48 hours. Suicide attempters more frequently had low social support and an age of onset of mood disorder of 46 years and older, and less frequently had a history of suicidal behaviors in the family members and pharmacological treatment, despite the fact that the groups did not differ with regard to antidepressants prescribed. The groups were not distinguishable based on several variables assumed to be risk factors for suicide behavior, such as proximal life events and stressors or alcohol use disorders. In both samples, comorbidity with organic diseases, the presence of stressful life events in the past 12 months, and a diagnosis of major depression were frequently reported. In conclusion, the presence of low social support and the absence of a pharmacotherapy may increase suicidal behaviors in patients at risk.     

Suicide Attempts in Major Depressed Patients with Personality Disorder

Suicide attempters who met criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) comorbid with major depressive disorder (MDD) were compared to both suicide attempters suffering from MDD alone and to attempters with comorbid MDD and other personality disorders (PD). Participants were 239 (158 patients with comorbid PD and 81 patients with MDD without comorbidity) inpatients consecutively admitted after a suicide attempt made in the last 24 hours. Suicide attempters with comorbid MDD and BPD had more frequent previous suicide attempts and were more likely to have a history of aggressive behaviors and alcohol and drug use disorders compared with patients suffering from MDD without Axis II comorbidity.     

Beauty and Aesthetic Experience in Theravāda Buddhism

The following essay deals with the specificity of aesthetic experience and apprehension of beauty in the frame of Theravāda Buddhism. This essay is aimed, above all, to Western readers, since aesthetics and beauty, as an inherent quality of nature and works of art, are constitutive parts of the Western philosophical and cultural tradition. I consider texts written in Western languages and available in the Western debate. On the one hand, so far as aesthetics is concerned, as a philosophical reflection on beauty and art, Theravāda Buddhism may seem to be critical towards any kind of aesthetical experience. On the other hand, Theravāda Buddhism can offer a different and peculiar perspective on art and beauty. The aim is to demonstrate that there is a specific aesthetic experience in Theravāda Buddhism and this experience allows a different perception and use of the work of art and a different experience of beauty.     

Classification and Moral Evaluation of Uncertainties in Engineering Modeling

Engineers must deal with risks and uncertainties as a part of their professional work and, in particular, uncertainties are inherent to engineering models. Models play a central role in engineering. Models often represent an abstract and idealized version of the mathematical properties of a target. Using models, engineers can investigate and acquire understanding of how an object or phenomenon will perform under specified conditions. This paper defines the different stages of the modeling process in engineering, classifies the various sources of uncertainty that arise in each stage, and discusses the categories into which these uncertainties fall. The paper then considers the way uncertainty and modeling are approached in science and the criteria for evaluating scientific hypotheses, in order to highlight the very different criteria appropriate for the development of models and the treatment of the inherent uncertainties in engineering. Finally, the paper puts forward nine guidelines for the treatment of uncertainty in engineering modeling.     

Proof theory and mathematical meaning of paraconsistent C-systems

A proof-theoretic analysis and new arithmetical semantics are proposed for some paraconsistent C-systems, which are a relevant sub-class of Logics of Formal Inconsistency (LFIs) introduced by W.A. Carnielli et al. (2002, 2005) [8] and [9]. The sequent versions BC, CI, CIL of the systems bC, Ci, Cil presented in Carnielli et al. (2002, 2005) [8] and [9] are introduced and examined. BC, CI, CIL admit the cut-elimination property and, in general, a weakened sub-formula property. Moreover, a formal notion of constructive paraconsistent system is given, and the constructivity of CI is proven. Further possible developments of proof theory and provability logic of CI-based arithmetical systems are sketched, and a possible weakened Hilbert?s program is discussed. As to the semantical aspects, arithmetical semantics interprets C-system formulas into Provability Logic sentences of classical Arithmetic PA (Artemov and Beklemishev (2004) [2], Japaridze and de Jongh (1998) [19], Gentilini (1999) [15], Smorynski (1991) [22]): thus, it links the notion of truth to the notion of provability inside a classical environment. It makes true infinitely many contradictions B∧¬B and falsifies many arbitrarily complex instances of non-contradiction principle ¬(A∧¬A). Moreover, arithmetical models falsify both classical logic LK and intuitionistic logic LJ, so that a kind of metalogical completeness property of LFI-paraconsistent logic w.r.t. arithmetical semantics is proven. As a work in progress, the possibility to interpret CI-based paraconsistent Arithmetic PACI into Provability Logic of classical Arithmetic PA is discussed, showing the role that PACIarithmetical models could have in establishing new meta-mathematical properties, e.g. in breaking classical equivalences between consistency statements and reflection principles.     

作为思想着的理性的科学

在其1943年一篇题为“尼采的话‘上帝死了”’的文章结尾处,海德格尔说道：宣称上帝之死的“疯子正是大声叫喊着‘上帝’而寻找上帝的人。在这里,可能真的是一位思想者发自心底的叫喊？而我们思想的耳朵呢？……除非我们开始思想,否则就听不到这种叫喊。只有当我们已经体会到,干百年来被人们颂扬不绝的理性乃是思想最顽固的敌人,思想才能启程”（海德格尔,1975-,v：267）。     

Impulsivity and reward sensitivity within the pen model: A test of discriminant hypotheses

Impulsivity and reward sensitivity are often treated as interchangeable constructs. This conflation may be traced back to Gray’s interpretation of impulsivity as the trait level manifestation of the Behavioral Activation System (BAS), that mediates sensitivity to rewards. In this study (N = 696) we evaluated discriminant hypotheses regarding the relationships between BAS-mediated reward sensitivity, impulsivity and Eysenck’s PEN superfactors. We hypothesized that reward sensitivity would be mainly linked with Extraversion, and that impulsivity would be primarily connected with Psychoticism. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling and equality constraints tests. Results mostly supported our expectations: reward sensitivity was more strongly related to Extraversion than to the other PEN superfactors, while impulsivity was more strongly related to Psychoticism and Neuroticism. Implications for BAS and impulsivity research are discussed.