达米特的直觉主义数学哲学观——访英国哲学家、牛津大学哲学系迈克尔·达米特教授

迈克尔·达米特(M ichael Dummett)是20世纪英国最著名的哲学家之一,他的主要贡献在分析哲学、数学哲学、语言哲学和逻辑哲学等领域,尤其是他关于弗雷格哲学的研究奠定了他的整个哲学生涯,他是20世纪反实在论和数学哲学中直觉主义的主要代表人物,其主要著作有:《弗雷格:语言哲学》(1973);《直觉主义的成分)(1977);《弗雷格哲学的解释》(1981);《弗雷格和其他哲学家》(1991);《弗雷格:数学哲学》(1991);《形而上学的逻辑基础》(1991);《分析哲学的起源》(1993);《语言的海洋》(1993)等。2005年12月~2006年5月作者在英国牛津大学访问期间对他…     

Measuring service learning outcomes: test-retest reliability of four scales

Previous research efforts have developed and validated various scales potentially useful in evaluating service learning outcomes. The developmental efforts reported for the four scales examined in this study did not include the test-retest reliabilities that would provide assurance to service learning researchers of the long-term stability and therefore usefulness of these measures. Summary estimates of 13-wk. test-retest reliabilities for the scales Civic Participation, Self-efficacy Toward Service, Attitude Toward Helping Others, and College Education's Role in Addressing Social Issues provide service learning researchers with evidence of stability of the scales over the typical duration of service learning courses.     

On the inferential epistemics of trait centrality in impression formation

We provide a novel, inferential, account of the trait centrality phenomenon. We suggest that a trait possesses the property of “centrality” to the extent that it is subjectively deemed to imply other traits. Five studies explore four central elements of this view. First, trait relations can be stored as unidirectional rules (“if X then Y” but not necessarily “if Y then X”). Second, the strength of individuals' lay inference rules determines the effect of traits on impressions. Third, situationally manipulating the strength of lay inference rules influences the impact of traits on impressions. Fourth, the impact of an inference rule is reduced when it is difficult to discern the inference rule and when processing resources are limited. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GOD AS A COMMUNICATIVE SYSTEM SUI GENERIS: BEYOND THE PSYCHIC, SOCIAL, PROCESS MODELS OF THE TRINITY

With an aim to develop a public theology for an age of information media (or media theology), this article proposes a new God-concept: God is a communicative system sui generis that autopoietically processes meaning/information in the supratemporal realm via perfect divine media ad intra (Word/Spirit). For this task, Niklas Luhmann's systems theory is critically appropriated in dialogue with theology. First, my working postmetaphysical/epistemological stance is articulated as realistic operational constructivism and functionalism. Second, a series of arguments are advanced to substantiate the thesis: (1) God is an observing system sui generis ; (2) self-referential communication is divine operation; (3) unsurpassable complexity is divine mystery; (4) supratemporal autopoiesis of meaning is divine processing; (5) agape is the symbolic medium of divine communication. Third, this communicative model of God is developed into a trinitarian theology, with a claim that this model offers a viable alternative beyond the standard (psychic, social, process) models. Finally, some implications of this model are explored for constructive theology (conceiving creation as divine mediatization) and for science-and-religion in terms of derivative models: (1) God as a living system sui generis and (2) God as a meaning system sui generis .     

Chinese Children's Moral Evaluation of Lies and Truths-Roles of Context and Parental Individualism-Collectivism Tendencies

The present study examined Chinese children's moral evaluations of truths and lies about one's own pro-social acts. Children ages 7, 9, and 11 were read vignettes in which a protagonist performs a good deed and is asked about it by a teacher, either in front of the class or in private. In response, the protagonist either tells a modest lie, which is highly valued by the Chinese culture, or tells an immodest truth, which violates the Chinese cultural norms about modesty. Children were asked to identify whether the protagonist's statement was the truth or a lie, and to evaluate how 'good' or 'bad' the statement was. Chinese children rated modest lies more positively than immodest truths, with this effect becoming more pronounced with age. Rural Chinese children and those with at least one nonprofessional parent rated immodest truths less positively when they were told in public rather than in private. Furthermore, Chinese children of parents with high collectivism scores valued modest lies more than did children of parents with low collectivism scores. These findings suggest that both macro- and micro-cultural factors contribute significantly to children's moral understanding of truth and lie telling.     

职业生涯背景行动理论及其方法的述评

背景行动理论是职业生涯研究中的新理论。此理论以人类职业行动为基本研究单位,认为:(1)人类的职业行动在本质上都是意向性和目标指向的;(2)应在日常生活中了解人们的职业观念、解释和选择;(3)职业是社会建构的。行动-项目质性方法基于此理论产生,从外显行为、内在过程和社会意义三方面收集职业行动的完整信息。背景行动理论对职业行动、发展过程及社会意义的认识为职业生涯研究提供了新的理论视角。     

The effect of number of options on choices involving delayed causation

A video game was adapted to investigate the effect of the number of alternatives on causal judgment in a complex environment involving targets with delayed outcomes. Participants were presented with groups of potential targets. Each target (the candidate cause) fired at random relative to the others, with one target in each group causing a delayed explosion (the effect).The participants were tasked with discriminating which of the potential targets was producing the effect. Experiment 1 revealed a main effect of delay on discriminability but no effect of the number of alternatives. However, latencies did increase as the number of alternatives increased, suggesting that discriminability was maintained by compensating with longer observation times. But, a similar increase in latency for longer delays did not offset the detrimental impact of an increase in cause-effect delay. Experiment 2 replicated the outcome under conditions in which participants were always required to observe for 16 s before making a decision; under the most difficult conditions, however, the limited viewing time started to reveal an effect of the number of alternatives on the participants' ability to discriminate a true cause from foils. Evidence suggests that participants' decisions were determined primarily by differences in the number of cause-effect contiguities experienced for the true cause versus the foils.     

The interaction of attention and action: From seeing action to acting on perception

We discuss evidence indicating that human visual attention is strongly modulated by the potential of objects for action. The possibility of action between multiple objects enables the objects to be attended as a single group, and the fit between individual objects in a group and the action that can be performed influences responses to group members. In addition, having a goal state to perform a particular action affects the stimuli that are selected along with the features and area of space that is attended. These effects of action may reflect statistical learning between environmental cues that are linked by action and/or the coupling between perception and action systems in the brain. The data support the argument that visual selection is a flexible process that emerges as a need to prioritize objects for action.     

A preference for genuine smiles following social exclusion

Research indicates that rejected individuals are better than others at discriminating between genuine (Duchenne) and deceptive (non-Duchenne) smiles (i.e., true versus false signals of affiliative opportunity). We hypothesized that rejected individuals would show a greater preference to work with individuals displaying Duchenne versus non-Duchenne smiles. To test this, participants wrote essays about experiences of inclusion, exclusion, or mundane events. They then saw a series of 20 videos of smiling individuals (10 with Duchenne and 10 with non-Duchenne smiles). Participants then indicated how much they would like to work with each target. Analyses revealed that compared to included and control participants, excluded individuals showed a greater preference to work with individuals displaying “real” as opposed to “fake” smiles. This effect was partially mediated by threats to “relational needs” (Williams, 2007) and fully mediated by threats to self-esteem. These results suggest that exclusion yields adaptive responses that could facilitate reconnection with others.