科学假说在揭示嗅觉奥秘中的作用——解读2004年度诺贝尔医学奖

通过分析2004年诺贝尔医学奖的发现过程,揭示假说对科学研究的指导意义。只有勤观察,多思考,大胆假设,小心求证,才能揭示自然规律。     

731部队——半个多世纪后的反思

通过对日本731部队进行细菌战及美国掩盖这一事实的案例分析,强调科学不能背离人道,而要为人道服务;政治也不能不顾人道,反人道的政治终究是要失败的。因此,尊重伦理的基本价值、基本原则和基本规范具有极大的重要性和现实性。     

孔子的医学与养生思想

孔子对鬼神持怀疑态度,不承认作为实体存在的鬼神。坚决反对鬼神致病说,对后世中医学的发展产生了积极影响。孔子达观的人生态度,使其举止行为无不合于养生之道,中庸是其养生之道的根本原则。     

On Fodor's First Law of the Nonexistence of Cognitive Science

In his enormously influential The Modularity of Mind, Jerry Fodor (1983) proposed that the mind was divided into input modules and central processes. Much subsequent research focused on the modules and whether processes like speech perception or spatial vision are truly modular. Much less attention has been given to Fodor's writing on the central processes, what would today be called higher‐level cognition. In “Fodor's First Law of the Nonexistence of Cognitive Science,” he argued that central processes are “bad candidates for scientific study” and would resist attempts at empirical analysis. This essay evaluates his argument for this remarkable claim, concluding that although central processes may well be “messier” than input modules, this does not mean that they cannot be studied and understood. The article briefly reviews the scientific progress made in understanding central processes in the 35 years since the book was published, showing that Fodor's prediction is clearly falsified by massive advances in topics like decision making and analogy. The essay concludes that Fodor's Law was not based on a clear argument for why the complexities of central systems could not be studied but was likely based on intuitions and preferences that were common in psychology at the time.     

正确认识与评价SCI

发表《科学引文索引》 (science citation index, SCI) 论文的多少和论文被引用率的高低, 是国际上通用的评价基础研究成果水平的标准。引进SCI的概念, 对促进我国的科研评价标准化和国际化发挥了积极作用。SCI目前已经成为我国评价科研成果的重要指标, 某些地方甚至成为唯一指标。但SCI主要侧重在基础学科领域的评价, 不能涵盖全面的科技评价。在肯定SCI对规范我国科研的评价体系的积极作用的同时, 对其负面影响也不能忽视。以上海中医药大学为例, 通过介绍SCI和国内SCI论文发表的现状, 对正确认识和全面评价SCI的作用提出建议。     

Interdisciplinary Invigoration of Creativity Studies

The forces of globalization are magnifying the importance of interdisciplinary creative work. While the field of creativity studies always has been more open to interdisciplinary idea borrowing than many other fields, it can and should do more interdisciplinary synthesizing. This article begins with a discussion of the rationale for encouraging interdisciplinary work in the field and then explores several examples of constructs imported from various disciplines that can enrich theory and research in creativity studies. These constructs include market fundamentalism from economics, and networked science from various STEM fields. Some other candidates for importation also are discussed briefly.     

We,Heirs of Enlightenment: Critical Theory,Democracy and Social Science

Abstract

My goal here is to come to terms with the Enlightenment as the horizon of critical social science. First, I consider in more detail the understanding of the Enlightenment in Critical Theory, particularly in its conception of the sociality of reason. Second, I develop an account of freedom in terms of human powers, along the lines of recent capability conceptions that link freedom to the development of human powers, including the power to interpret and create norms. Finally, I show the ways in which the social sciences can be moral sciences in the Enlightenment sense. This account provides us with a coherent Enlightenment standard by which to judge institutions as promoting development, understood in terms of the capabilities necessary for freedom. The relevant social science in this area might include the robust generalization that there has never been a famine in a democratic society.     

哈贝马斯科技伦理观述评——哈贝马斯《作为"意识形态"的技术与科学》解读

哈贝马斯关于科学技术执行着意识形态的职能的思想,进一步发展了霍克海默和马尔库塞的科学伦理思想。同时这又是他试图进行历史唯物主义“重建”的序曲。哈贝马斯通过对韦伯的合理化的伦理观进行解析和批判,提出了交往关系的伦理解释框架,辨析了科学技术意识形态化的社会制度背景,并认为,只有随着资本主义生产方式的出现,制度框架的合理性才能直接同社会劳动系统联系在一起。科学技术成为第一位的生产力使国家干预活动的增加,同时技术与科学具有意识形态的作用。哈贝马斯揭示了晚期资本主义社会科学技术发展的新动向,也可以引发我们对科学技术的合理应用的思考。然而,在哈贝马斯关于科学技术意识形态化的批判中,的确存在着方法论的误区。     

Comparative analysis of the risk-handling procedures for gene technology applications in medical and plant science

In this paper we analyse how the risks associated with research on transgenic plants are regulated in Sweden. The paper outlines the way in which pilot projects in the plant sciences are overseen in Sweden, and discusses the international and national background to the current regulatory system. The historical, and hitherto unexplored, reasons for the evolution of current administrative and legislative procedures in plant science are of particular interest. Specifically, we discuss similarities and differences in the regulation of medicine and plant science, and we examine the tendency towards dichotomizing risk — focusing on social/ethical risks in medicine and biological risks in plant science. The context of this article is the Synpraxia research project, an inter-disciplinary program combining expertise in sciences and the humanities.     

Social and ethical dimensions of nanoscale science and engineering research

Continuing advances in human ability to manipulate matter at the atomic and molecular levels (i.e. nanoscale science and engineering) offer many previously unimagined possibilities for scientific discovery and technological development. Paralleling these advances in the various science and engineering subdisciplines is the increasing realization that a number of associated social, ethical, environmental, economic and legal dimensions also need to be explored. An important component of such exploration entails the identification and analysis of the ways in which current and prospective researchers in these fields conceptualize these dimensions of their work. Within the context of a National Science Foundation funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program in nanomaterials processing and characterization at the University of Central Florida (2002–2004), here I present for discussion (i) details of a “nanotechnology ethics” seminar series developed specifically for students participating in the program, and (ii) an analysis of students’ and participating research faculty’s perspectives concerning social and ethical issues associated with nanotechnology research. I conclude with a brief discussion of implications presented by these issues for general scientific literacy and public science education policy.