The wastefulness principle. A burden-sharing principle for climate change

The prominent burden-sharing principles in the emerging literature of the political theory of climate change fail to sufficiently tackle the task they set out to solve. This paper sets out properties that an alternative principle should aim to meet. Based on these properties, it develops a consequentialist moral principle – the wastefulness principle. This principle holds that it is wrong to waste a shared, scarce resource. The paper argues that this principle can be used to solve the question of who should bear the burdens of anthropogenic climate change in a more suitable way than existing principles. After developing the wastefulness principle, this paper discusses in a non-exhaustive manner how it can be employed in the real world, which challenges it might meet, and how additional principles might solve them.     

时间间隔和情绪效价对双字词重复启动效应的影响

已有研究大多以中性刺激为材料,尚缺乏同时关注预存知识表征和情绪效价对重复启动效应影响及时间间隔对情绪材料相应效应调节机制的探究。本研究以国际情绪词库翻译而成的汉语双字词为材料并控制其效价,旨在探讨时间间隔对不同情绪效价词的重复启动效应的影响,并与转置词的结果相比较。结果显示,转置词较标准词的重复启动效应更强;立即重复较长间隔条件的重复启动效应更强;情绪效价与时间间隔交互影响词的重复启动效应。上述结果表明,情绪效价对重复启动效应的影响受时间间隔调节且支持注意资源缩减理论;该作用为材料是否具有预存知识表征所调节,支持自下而上加工的观点。     

The effect of visual complexity and word frequency on eye movements during Chinese reading

Eye movements of native Chinese readers were monitored when they read sentences containing single-character target words orthogonally manipulated for frequency and visual complexity (number of strokes). Both factors yielded strong main effects on skipping probability but no interaction, with readers skipping visually simple and high frequency words more often. However, an interaction between frequency and complexity was observed on the fixation times on the target words with longer fixations for the low frequency, visually complex words. The results demonstrate that visual complexity and frequency have independent influences on saccadic targeting behaviour during Chinese reading but jointly influence fixation durations and that these two factors differently impact fixation durations and saccade targeting during reading.     

Research and the organization of knowledge: where do psychotherapy and counselling fit in?

In order to clarify the place of research in psychotherapy and counselling, I look at the interrelationship of two ‘organizations of knowledge’. Organization can represent a process or an institution. My thesis is that there are particular characteristics of psychotherapy and counselling, considered as an intellectual discipline, that mean it organizes knowledge in peculiar ways that are reflected in the difficulty of reconciling them within the organization of the modern university. I shall propose that a different conception of research, based upon a third ‘organization of knowledge’, is necessary to resolve these tensions. Once psychotherapy/counselling finds more cohesion as a discipline, it is more likely to establish an independent niche within the university.     

Loss: the ultimate philosophical problem

This paper draws on Jan Zwicky’s claim in Lyric Philosophy that loss is the ultimate philosophical problem and Wittgenstein’s attitude to philosophy in his Culture and Value that: ‘philosophy ought really to be written only as a poetic composition’. This paper will enter the difficult territory of loss using poetry and reflections to engage loss as a spiritual challenge and perhaps one of the major forces shaping cultural ways. Death inescapably brings loss into life for those who remain after a death but loss has many other forms and is a persistent experience in living that touches every stage of the life journey. It is a philosophical problem rooted in common human experience from childhood on that has been addressed in a multitude of forms, conceptualizations, rituals, belief systems and religions. As a method, poetry is a way of inquiry that allows one to enter experience and meet the intensity of events, particularly loss. In her essay ‘Entering the Bird Cage: Poetry and Perceptibility’, Jane Hirschfield says that poetry allows us ‘to understand the world beyond the narrow self’ and to do so ‘it is necessary to be available to the unknown’ and loss moves experience into the unknown.     

Active control,agent-causation and free action

Key elements of Randolph Clarke's libertarian account of freedom that requires both agent-causation and non-deterministic event-causation in the production of free action is assessed with an eye toward determining whether agent-causal accounts can accommodate the truth of judgments of moral obligation.     

The Male Rape Survivor: Possible Meanings in the Context of Feminism and Patriarchy

This article covers a philosophical investigation into the possible meanings of rape for male survivors. The legal definitions of rape are investigated and the impossibility of male rape—from a legal, personal and social angle—described. An analysis of male rape in feminist theories and philosophies reveals that the dominant discourse on rape has the effect of silencing the voice of the male rape survivor. Prevailing social constructs about the perpetrator of male rape are challenged, and the physiological and psychological sequelae of rape described. A call is made for a conversation in which male and female survivors can participate and where the warrior psyche of the man can be transcended in order to facilitate healing.     

The influence of Platonism on mathematics research and theological beliefs

An age-old debate in the philosophy of mathematics is whether mathematics is discovered or invented. There are four popular viewpoints in this debate, namely Platonism, formalism, intuitionism, and logicism. A natural question that arises is whether belief in one of these viewpoints affects the mathematician’s research? In particular, does subscribing to a Platonist or a formalist viewpoint influence how a mathematician conducts research? Does the area of research influence a mathematician’s beliefs on the nature of mathematics? How are the beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics connected to theological beliefs? In order to investigate these questions, five professional research mathematicians were interviewed. The mathematicians worked in diverse areas within analysis, algebra, and within applied mathematics, and had a combined 160 years of research experience. Although none of the mathematicians wanted to be pigeonholed into any one category of beliefs, the study revealed that four of the mathematicians leaned towards Platonism, which runs contrary to the popular notion that Platonism is an exception today. This study revealed that beliefs regarding the nature of mathematics influenced how mathematicians’ conducted research and were deeply connected to their theological beliefs. The findings are presented in the form of vignettes that give an insight into the mathematical and theological belief structures of the mathematicians.     

Lost in translation,found in translation: A case study of working psychodynamically in an interpreter-assisted setting

Effective use of psychotherapeutic treatment in interpreter-assisted settings is well established; however, there has been little discussion of the use of psychodynamically informed treatments in such settings. The literature suggests that therapy facilitated by interpreters is not conducive to psychodynamic approaches due to the presence of a third person, the perceived lack of intimacy, and the difficulties of working with translated material. However, transference, countertransference and other unconscious communications and responses necessarily occur in every therapeutic setting, including triadic therapy using interpreters. This article describes a short-term (12 session) psychodynamically oriented intervention with a 52-year-old Cantonese-speaking man suffering from depression. A female, Chinese-born interpreter assisted in every session. The integral role of supervision in supporting a containing relationship between the therapist and the patient and the difficult emotional responses experienced by the interpreter is highlighted. The article attempts to trace some of the unconscious communications that occurred during the therapy and demonstrates the feasibility of working psychodynamically in an interpreter-assisted setting.     

Restoration of Intimacy and Connection in the Treatment of Couples with Substance Abuse Issues

SUMMARY

Addictions destroy both individuals and in particular their intimate relationships. Couples remain together for many reasons and when one partner has an addiction, the spouse has the fantasy that when the addiction is addressed the couple relationship will return to ‘normal.’ This article focuses on couple issues that have not been addressed in addiction treatment facilities and examines the role of the couple therapist versus the addiction counselor. Techniques and clinical interventions with this population are discussed and illustrated by case examples.