Have We Found the Holy Grail? Theory of Mind as a Unifying Construct

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to a person’s ability to understand that another person has his or her own unique way of thinking and feeling. ToM is a well-known and rapidly expanding field of research in the neurosciences, cognitive, social sciences, evolution, and brain imaging. This review article expands ToM into areas where there has not yet been research. We propose that ToM could illuminate the relationship between religion/spirituality and health, and could provide the lingua franca for the hundreds of schools of psychotherapy. We discern two different kinds of spirituality: personal versus impersonal. Empathy is central to ToM research and is also central to mental health training and practice. ToM illuminates familiar topics in a new light. For example ToM reveals a close link between psychology and spirituality in self-efficacy and locus of control research.     

“Plausible insofar as it is intelligible”: Quine on underdetermination

Quine’s thesis of underdetermination is significantly weaker than it has been taken to be in the recent literature, for the following reasons: (i) it does not hold for all theories, but only for some global theories, (ii) it does not require the existence of empirically equivalent yet logically incompatible theories, (iii) it does not rule out the possibility that all perceived rivalry between empirically equivalent theories might be merely apparent and eliminable through translation, (iv) it is not a fundamental thesis within Quine’s philosophy, and (v) it does not carry with it the anti-realistic consequences often associated with the thesis in recent debates. The paper analyzes Quine’s views on the matter and the changes they underwent over the years. A conjecture is put forth about why Quine’s thesis has been so widely misrepresented: Quine’s writings up to 1975 tackled primarily the formulation and justification of the thesis, but afterwards were concerned mostly with the question whether empirically equivalent rivals to the theory we hold are to be considered true also. When this latter discussion is read without bearing in mind Quine’s earlier formulation and justification of the thesis, his thesis seems to have stronger epistemic consequences than it actually does. A careful reading of his later writings shows, however, that the formulation of the thesis remained unchanged after 1975, and that his mature and considered views supported only a very mitigated version of the thesis.     

Adequate formalization

This article identifies problems with regard to providing criteria that regulate the matching of logical formulae and natural language. We then take on to solve these problems by defining a necessary and sufficient criterion of adequate formalization. On the basis of this criterion we argue that logic should not be seen as an ars iudicandi capable of evaluating the validity or invalidity of informal arguments, but as an ars explicandi that renders transparent the formal structure of informal reasoning.     

道家文化精神对山东新时期小说的影响

道家文化偏重于个体精神的超越和自由,在人与社会、人与自然关系上,强调人与自然的一体性,注重人的自然本性,其对于社会文化的批判着重于批判社会文化观念对人的自然本性的异化。道家自然人性论及其对人性异化现象的批判、道家人与自然一体观念对山东新时期小说创作具有重要影响。     

Direct perception in the intersubjective context

This paper, in opposition to the standard theories of social cognition found in psychology and cognitive science, defends the idea that direct perception plays an important role in social cognition. The two dominant theories, theory theory (TT) and simulation theory (ST), both posit something more than a perceptual element as necessary for our ability to understand others, i.e., to “mindread” or “mentalize.” In contrast, certain phenomenological approaches depend heavily on the concept of perception and the idea that we have a direct perceptual grasp of the other person’s intentions, feelings, etc. This paper explains precisely what the notion of direct perception means, offers evidence from developmental studies, and proposes a non-simulationist interpretation of the neuroscience of mirror systems.     

Affective intentionality and self-consciousness

We elaborate and defend the claim that human affective states (“feelings”) are, among other things, self-disclosing. We will show why affective intentionality has to be considered in order to understand human self-consciousness. One specific class of affective states, so-called existential feelings, although often neglected in philosophical treatments of emotions, will prove central. These feelings importantly pre-structure affective and other intentional relations to the world. Our main thesis is that existential feelings are an important manifestation of self-consciousness and figure prominently in human self-understanding. We offer an ordering of four levels of existential feelings and also give considerations in favour of the essential bodily nature of these feelings.     

中国古代应对欲望的几种学说

我国古代应对欲望的学说主要包括:寡欲说、无欲说、除欲说、欲用说、顺欲说、节欲说、导欲说.这些学说之问有些是一致的,有些是对立冲突的,但它们都可以从不同的视角给我们以启示.     

内群偏私：自我锚定还是社会认同？

以往关于内群偏私的研究大多采用社会认同理论（social identityt heory）做解释。近期,自我锚定（self-anchoring principle）原理被证实可用于解释内群偏私的原因。基于中国人及美国人在内群偏私的目的、方法上的不同,我们采用最小群体范式,验证这两种理论在中国大学生上的适用性。410名大学生（其中前测94名）在互联网上完成以认知能力评估为名的实验,实验控制反馈类型,要求参与者对自身、内群及外群在不同维度上评分。实验证明内群偏私存在;分化理论成立;采用演绎策略时,个体评价与内群评价的差异显著小于个体采用归纳策略时两者的差异,符合社会认同理论的假设。     

Social cognitive predictors of college students’ academic performance and persistence: A meta-analytic path analysis

This study tested Social Cognitive Career Theory’s (SCCT) academic performance model using a two-stage approach that combined meta-analytic and structural equation modeling methodologies. Unbiased correlations obtained from a previously published meta-analysis [Robbins, S. B., Lauver, K., Le, H., Davis, D., & Langley, R. (2004). Do psychosocial and study skill factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 261–288.] were used to create the input correlation matrices for subsequent path-analytic tests of the model, using both college GPA and retention as performance criteria. Results suggested that SCCT does an adequate to excellent job of modeling academic performance and persistence, but that model fit was better when general cognitive ability versus high school GPA was used to operationalize the ability/past performance variable. Results are discussed in terms of their fit with SCCT and their practical implications.