Suicide bombings and the self

The failure to locate a unifying psychological profile of suicide bombers should prompt moves to a more extended and interdisciplinary front, availing itself of insights from disciplines such as sociology, philosophy and history of ideas, as well as from psychology. This paper aims in that direction by exploring ‘traditional’ versus ‘western liberal’ conceptions of the self, with special emphasis on their possible pathologies; and by integrating those pathologies with insights from Durkheimian suicidology. It is hypothesised that suicide bombers in the West are typically callow, malleable young men targeted by terror merchants, and that their suicide missions are, first and foremost, acts of deluded self-enhancement, which need to be understood against the backdrop of the western liberal conception of the self. Finally, some implications for moral education are suggested.     

西南少数民族教育价值观的调查研究

在文献综述、开放式问卷和个别访谈的基础上,提出了西南少数民族教育价值观的理论构想,自编了西南少数民族教育价值观量表。约1,500名西南地区少数民族被试接受了测试。研究表明,该量表具有良好的信度和效度,西南少数民族的教育价值观包括教育效用、家族荣誉、个人发展、民族传承等四个维度,西南少数民族群众的教育价值观在性别和年龄不存在显著性差异,在民族和文化程度上存在着显著性差异。     

Cultural Values Underlying Psychometric Cognitive Testing

It is proposed that culture (values, beliefs, styles of behavior) can affect neuropsychological testing.Cognitive testing represents a social situation that-as any social situation, it is one governed by implicit cultural rules. At least eight different culture-dependent values underlie cognitive testing: (1)One-to-one relationship, (2) Background authority, (3) Best performance, (4)Isolated environment (5) Special type of communication, (6) Speed, (7) Internal or subjective issues, and (8) The use of specific testing elements and strategies. In addition, it is proposed that“the distance” (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity) between the examiner and the examinee may potentiallyimpact the testing situation. A special analysis regarding the function of instruction in cognitive tests is also presented emphasizing that test instruction interpretation is also culture-dependent. Some potential avenues of research are finally proposed.     

On The Infinitely Hard Problem Of Consciousness

I show that the recursive structure of Leibniz's Law requires agents to perform infinitely many operations to psychologically identify the referents of phenomenal and physical concepts, even though the referents of ordinary concepts (e.g. Hesperus and Phosphorus) can be identified in a finite number of steps. The resulting problem resembles the hard problem of consciousness in the fact that it appears (and indeed is) unsolvable by anyone for whom it arises, and in the fact that it invites dualist and eliminativist responses. Moreover, if this is the hard problem then we can predict that regardless of the strength of the argument for physicalism, and regardless of physicalism's truth, an ineliminable dissatisfaction is bound to accompany any physicalist theory of consciousness. Accordingly, I suggest that this is the hard problem of consciousness, and therefore that the hard problem arises from a recursively degenerate application of Leibniz's Law.     

Basic human values: The ethos for methodology

This paper draws on the personal experiences of part of a research project where the original methodology was flawed and needed to change to properly encompass the lives and experiences of the people who the research was for, namely users of mental health services living in supported housing. The change in methodology involved a recognition that the research could not be termed ‘value-free’; that researchers are not objective. It is argued that it was important to demonstrate that the information obtained in the research was ‘valid’, and that despite the subjective nature of the research, there are steps that can be taken to convince others that the information received is ‘real’. It is further argued that the traditional approach to research of separating theory (or knowledge) from practice was not only inappropriate in this sort of research, but is a false notion in any sort of action research that aims to promote change. The importance of the influence and power of service providers in action research is recognised, as well as the constraints placed on short-term funded projects. It was important for the methodology to be non-oppressive so that researchers adopted an open and honest approach and for researchers to become involved with the research participants. The implications of this ‘involvement’ are discussed. There is a concluding discussion about whether non-users of mental health services can be considered as allies in research. It is argued that all oppressed groups need their allies and if the research is led by basic human values, then working alongside people who depend on services can lead to emancipatory outcomes.     

Civil Ethics and the Validity of Law

This paper aims to clarify the nature and contents of 'civil ethics' and the source of the binding force of its obligations. This ethics should provide the criteria for evaluating the moral validity of social, legal and morally valid law. The article starts with observing that in morally pluralist Western societies civil ethics already exists, and has gradually started to play the role of guiding the law. It is argued that civil ethics should not be conceived as 'civic morals' which is in fact rather 'state ethics', nor as 'public ethics' which is said to reach its perfection when it becomes law, nor as ethics applicable primarily to the basic structure of a society (political liberalism), but instead as a citizens' ethics. Subsequently the paper attempts to show what the contents of this ethics are, and which ethical theory would be able to ground its obligations.     

试论金州区新型农村合作医疗管理模式

建立和完善新型农村合作医疗制度是新时期农村卫生工作的重要内容.金州区在新型农村合作医疗管理中,探索出一条自己的模式.这种模式既有可资借鉴的地方,如管理与监督分离、多方参与、服务方便快捷等;也存在着不少问题,如群众对农村合作医疗仍存在认识上的误区、用药品种太少、报销比例太低;经办人员的编制等.建议政府制定政策要有持续性和稳定性,广泛宣传,提高参合农民健康意识;增加基本药物目录的范围,适当情况下,可采取二次救助;确定合适编制,建立一支稳定、高效的新型农村合作医疗管理队伍.     

父母教育价值观对儿童人格的影响:有调节的中介模型

通过随机取样的方法选取大连市三所幼儿园553名3~6岁幼儿为测查对象,采用问卷方式探讨了家长教育价值观、父母教养方式、儿童气质以及儿童人格之间的关系。本研究构建了一个有调节的中介模型,即父母教养方式在教育价值观和儿童人格间起中介作用,这一中介作用受到儿童自身气质特点的调节。结果表明:(1)教育价值观关系性维度正向预测了儿童人格的智能特征;教育价值观好行为维度正向预测了儿童人格的情绪稳定性;(2)教养方式不一致性维度在关系性与智能特征的关系中起中介作用;教养方式溺爱性维度在好行为与情绪稳定性的关系中起中介作用;(3)气质的情绪性维度和反应性维度分别调节了教养方式不一致性和溺爱性的中介作用。     

Frege,Boolos, and Logical Objects

In this paper, the authors discuss Frege's theory of logical objects (extensions, numbers, truth-values) and the recent attempts to rehabilitate it. We show that the eta relation George Boolos deployed on Frege's behalf is similar, if not identical, to the encoding mode of predication that underlies the theory of abstract objects. Whereas Boolos accepted unrestricted Comprehension for Properties and used the eta relation to assert the existence of logical objects under certain highly restricted conditions, the theory of abstract objects uses unrestricted Comprehension for Logical Objects and banishes encoding (eta) formulas from Comprehension for Properties. The relative mathematical and philosophical strengths of the two theories are discussed. Along the way, new results in the theory of abstract objects are described, involving: (a) the theory of extensions, (b) the theory of directions and shapes, and (c) the theory of truth values.