毛泽东的遗产

很少有人给他的时代留下的烙印能与毛泽东相提并论,也没有谁的命运比他更为模糊不清了。毛泽东诞辰一百年周年纪念为我们思考他在历史上的地位提供了一个恰当的时机,当然它并不是什么神奇的试金石,可以让我们从中得出一个权威的论断。从毛泽东经历的实际情况来看,今天我们所了解的比1976年多得多(那一年在《中国季刊》的支持下很快出版了一部探讨毛泽东在各个领域的贡献的书),也比1982年多得多(该年我斗胆提出了自己的评价),但还有很多地方依然是模糊的,他一生的事业所产生的最终影响更是难以确定的。毛泽东的个性既是多面的,又充满了矛盾。他在他的时代扮演了很多角色。一篇简短的论文无法涉及这样一个人物的方方面面。我这里所关注的不是毛泽东这个人,而是他对中国所做的事情,这样,对于他的优点和缺点,无论属于公共领域还是私人品质,只有在它们影响到毛泽东所能成就的事情时,才予以讨论。     

Affective forecasting and the Big Five

Recent studies on affective forecasting clarify that the emotional reactions people anticipate often differ markedly from those they actually experience in response to affective stimuli and events. However, core personality differences in affective forecasting have received limited attention, despite their potential relevance to choice behavior. In the present study, 226 college undergraduates rated their anticipated and experienced reactions to the emotionally-evocative event of Valentine's Day and completed a measure of the Big Five personality traits - neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness - and their facet scales. Neuroticism and extraversion were associated with baseline mood, experienced emotional reactions, and anticipated emotional reactions. The present findings hold implications for the study of individual differences in affective forecasting, personality theory, and interventions research.     

Principlism, medical individualism, and health promotion in resource-poor countries: can autonomy-based bioethics promote social justice and population health?

Through its adoption of the biomedical model of disease which promotes medical individualism and its reliance on the individual-based anthropology, mainstream bioethics has predominantly focused on respect for autonomy in the clinical setting and respect for person in the research site, emphasizing self-determination and freedom of choice. However, the emphasis on the individual has often led to moral vacuum, exaggeration of human agency, and a thin (liberal?) conception of justice. Applied to resource-poor countries and communities within developed countries, autonomy-based bioethics fails to address the root causes of diseases and public health crises with which individuals or communities are confronted. A sociological explanation of disease causation is needed to broaden principles of biomedical ethics and provides a renewed understanding of disease, freedom, medical practice, patient-physician relationship, risk and benefit of research and treatment, research priorities, and health policy.