The Metaphysical Morality of Francis Hutcheson: A Consideration of Hutcheson’s Critique of Moral Fitness Theory

Hutcheson’s theory of morality shares far more common ground with Clarke’s morality than is generally acknowledged. In fact, Hutcheson’s own view of his innovations in moral theory suggest that he understood moral sense theory more as an elaboration and partial correction to Clarkean fitness theory than as an outright rejection of it. My aim in this paper will be to illuminate what I take to be Hutcheson’s grounds for adopting this attitude toward Clarkean fitness theory. In so doing, I hope to bring to light an otherwise unexpected continuity between moral sense theory and the moral rationalism to which it is usually opposed, and, in so doing, draw attention to the anti-sceptical realism that lies at the heart of both accounts.

RELIGION AND THE MODE OF PRACTICE IN MICHAEL OAKESHOTT

Michael Oakeshott's religious view of the world stands behind much of his political and philosophical writing. In this essay I first discuss Oakeshott's view of religion and the mode of practice in his own terms. I attempt next to illuminate his idea of religion by describing it in less technical language, drawing upon other thinkers such as Georg Simmel and George Santayana, who share similar views. I then evaluate Oakeshott's view as a whole, considering whether his ideas about religion can stand up to careful scrutiny and whether they have value for present-day reflection on religion.     

“淑女之争”与“君子协议”:回眸英国精神分析学会的“论战”

20世纪40年代,英国精神分析学会内部爆发一场影响全世界精神分析学发展的"战争"。以Anna Freud和Melanie Klein各自为首的精神分析师团体围绕潜意识幻想、本能与力比多以及精神分析培训与教学等一系列主题展开激烈争论,即历史上著名的"Freud-Klein论战"。这场"论战"就精神分析培训问题达成协议,并直接导致克莱因学派、维也纳学派和独立学派三"组"鼎立的英国精神分析时局。"论战"促使了客体关系精神分析与自我心理学的分离,推动了精神分析研究从驱力模式向关系模式的范式转变,奠定了后续精神分析运动发展的格局。     

Application of multi-feature fusion and random forests to the automated detection of myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) was one of the most threatening cardiovascular diseases due to its suddenness and high mortality. Electrocardiography (ECG) reflected the electrophysiological activity of the heart which was widely used for the diagnosis of MI. The aim of the paper was to provide a novel method to detect MI leveraging ECG. Firstly, data enhancement technology was employed to extend the database and prevent overfitting. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) features, statistical features, and entropy features were computed as the representation of first layer features for each lead. Furthermore, the second layer features for each lead were extracted by using random forests (RF), and the feature extraction results were quantified as a classification data set. Finally, in order to evaluate the proposed method, two schemes for the intra-patient and inter-patient were employed. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and F1 values in the intra-patient scheme were 99.71%, 99.7%, 99.73%, and 99.71%, respectively, and 85.82%, 73.91%, 97.73%, and 83.9% in the inter-patient scheme. Meanwhile, compared with different methods including support vector machine (SVM), back propagation neural network (BPNN), and k-nearest neighbor (KNN), RF displayed the best performance.     

Face memory and hemispheric preference: Emotionality and extraversion

Subjects made arousing or nonarousing judgments about photographs of strangers, then had an unannounced recognition test over the photographs. Emotional orienting tasks led to better retention than nonemotional tasks. Assuming emotionality is predominantly a right-hemisphere activity, then this result is consistent with other research showing a right-hemisphere advantage in processing faces. This difference was most clear for subjects with a right-hemisphere cognitive style. Extraversion had no effect on face recognition, nor did a subject's cognitive style seem to be associated with extraversion or neuroticism scores.     

Colonial and Post‐Colonial Elaborations of Avataric Evolutionism

Avataric evolutionism is the idea that ancient Hindu myths of Vishnu's ten incarnations foreshadowed Darwinian evolution. In a previous essay I examined the late nineteenth‐century origins of the theory in the works of Keshub Chunder Sen and Madame Blavatsky. Here I consider two major figures in the history of avataric evolutionism in the early twentieth century, N. B. Pavgee, a Marathi Brahmin deeply involved in the question of Aryan origins, and Aurobindo Ghose, political activist turned mystic. Pavgee, unlike Keshub, used avataric evolutionism in expounding his nationalistic goals for an independent India. His rationale was bolstered by the idea that India was the fountainhead of all science and civilization. Aurobindo saw in avataric evolutionism a possible key to understanding the involution and evolution of the supreme spirit in the realm of matter as taught in traditional Vedanta. This material‐spiritual evolution represented for Aurobindo the necessary knowledge for the true liberation of India, transcending purely political independence. Such knowledge he also saw as the means for the spiritual liberation of the whole of humankind. The processes of involution and evolution he claimed were not in conflict with modern science, and Western evolutionary thinking seems to have inspired many of his own evolutionary reflections, even though in the end he rejected the Darwinian transmutation of species. I conclude with an overview and assessment of recent, post‐colonial Hindu assimilations of avataric evolutionism.     

Ecumenism in Scotland

This article examines the history of Scottish ecumenism through the institutional ecumenism of the Scottish Churches Council, the Scottish Ecumenical Committee, the second Scottish Churches Council and Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), looking at the significant contribution of Scottish Churches House and the ‘Tell Scotland’ Movement. It also looks at the history of ‘participative ecumenism’ and how it has related to ‘representative ecumenism’. It gives a brief reflection on local ecumenism and notes the history of discussion for organic union.     

英美医学生伦理困境及教育问题研究简介

英美学者研究认为,医学生在医学院校学习和临床培训期间,由于其身份地位、文化冲突以及医疗管理等方面的原因而经历的种种伦理困境,易于使他们陷入情感和心理的困扰、信仰和行为的冲突、理想和现实的矛盾之中,并最终导致其价值观和伦理原则的损害。他们呼吁教育工作者应当承担起帮助学生应对复杂的矛盾问题以及学习职业伦理困境的处理经验的责任。这些成果对深入研究和积极探索我国医学伦理教育的有效路径具有重要的借鉴意义。