Ecology Needs Theology

A primary purpose of theology is the explication of the relationship of Creation to the transcendent for the sake of responsible action in the world. Environmental policy arenas need a perspective that can take them beyond a more limited utilitarianism. Ecology needs theology. We can appreciate to a much greater extent today than we could a generation ago that all theologies are products of particular people within particular social, cultural, historical, geographical situations. To do theology adequately, it is clearer now that many perspectives must be considered—both within and outside one's own tradition. Theology must be conversational. One's assertions of values and proposed actions must be weighed against the assertions of others. Only through such engagement will theology be meaningful to lives that must be lived with integrity in a world of manifold ambiguities. That world is the whole world in which human community is sustained and to which human beings are responsible. The practical effects of theological engagement will be to help us all find a better “common good” than may be obtained otherwise.     

麦金太尔论社会关系、共同利益与个人利益

我们从出生到死亡都处在一种接受与给予的关系中 ,我们从谁那里接受和给予谁往往是不对称的。这是我们参与到这个网络中不得不懂得的。在这个接受与给予的关系中 ,有我们的共同利益和我们个人的利益。同时 ,处在这样一种关系中 ,也需要我们遵守相应的德性规则。     

SOME THOUGHTS ON PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ETHICS

The author attempts to establish a framework for understanding the contribution of psychoanalysis to ethics through examining the work of certain philosophers, especially Kant. After reviewing the development of Freudian thought and going beyond the ‘psychoanalysis and/or psychiatry?’ question, he asserts that the space of the psychoanalytical cure revolves around an ethical problem. Thus, the limits of analysis should be determined by the subject's capacity for developing a structure of belief in the unconscious, with the concomitant capacity to go beyond equivocation in respect of an ethical conflict that underlies all cases where psychical suffering is manifested. Indeed, only human beings are called upon to deal with an ethical paradox “equally a logical one”which could be stated thus: there is Good in Evil and Evil in Good. This ethical paradox is the consequence of human subjection to the constituent laws of the Oedipus complex, which distances the human being, in his/her dealings with Evil and with Good, from any naturalist stance. In respect of the cure, then, we must take into account that Evil does not proceed from any particular drive‐based characteristic, but is rather the expression of specific subjection to an unconscious Other, towards which it directs its affects. Finally, the author proposes a principle that emerges from the preceding discussion: let us not impute to or place in the Other our own subjective splitting or pain at existing.     

The common morality in communitarian thought: reflective consensus in public policy

I explore the possible meanings that the notion of the common morality can have in a contemporary communitarian approach to ethics and public policy. The common morality can be defined as the conditions for shared pursuit of the good or as the values, deliberations, traditions, and common construction of the narrative of a people. The former sense sees the common morality as the universal and invariant structures of morality while the second sense is much more contingent in nature. Nevertheless, the communitarian sees both aspects as integral in devising solutions to public policy problems. I outline how both meanings follow from communitarian philosophical anthropology and illustrate how they work together when addressing a question such as that of providing universal health insurance in the United States. The common morality forms the basis of building an implicit consensus that is available to and reaffirmed by the shared reflections of the citizenry.     

THE WAY, THE RIGHT, AND THE GOOD

This article argues that Kongzi's religious ethics suggests an alternative way of understanding the relationship between the right and the good, in which neither takes clear precedence in terms of being more foundational for ethics. The religious underpinnings of Kongzi's understanding of the Way are examined, including the close relationship between tian ("Heaven") and the Way. It is shown that following the Way is defined primarily by the extent to which one's actions express certain virtues, and not whether one's actions are conducive to the best overall outcome or whether they are inherently right irrespective of consequences. It is then argued that the Way is seen as constitutive of both the right and the good, and that this understanding of the right and the good has important implications for contemporary virtue ethics, religious ethics, and political philosophy.     

学习成绩差与成绩好学生短时记忆特点的比较研究

本研究比较了小学１、３、５年级学习成绩好／差学生在图片、数字、词汇记忆上的特点。结果表明：（１）在图片记忆上,两组儿童的成绩没有差异。１、３年级优差生间的差异主要在数字与具体词汇记忆中;５年级两组学生的差异主要在数字与抽象词汇记忆中。（２）从提示／非提示及击中虚假刺激的结果看,两组儿童在记忆上的差异部分地是由于策略运用上的差异。经过提示,学习不良儿童在数字和词汇记忆上的成绩有了提高。     

Reaching Higher in Community Psychology: Social Problems, Social Settings, and Social Change

Forty years after the founding of community psychology, we have yet to deliver on the full promissory note of our birth, where we were poised to address social problems, social settings, and social change. Despite some success, we are at risk for selling ourselves short, for dying out in the discipline of psychology, and for failing to improve the common good. Given changes in demographics and in the safety net, the problem of entrenched disparities is even more urgent—in perception of the other, in the provision of opportunities for development, and in outcomes. Envisioning and enabling will be critical as we work with unified purpose toward a cumulative science where failure will not be predictable.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the mid-west ECO Conference in Community Psychology held in Saugatuck, Michigan, October 2004.     

That looks easy! Evidence against the benefits of an easier criterion of success for enhancing motor learning

OPTIMAL theory predicts providing learners with a relatively easier criterion of success during practice enhances motor learning through increased self-efficacy, perceptions of competence, and intrinsic motivation. However, mixed results in the literature suggest this enhancement effect may be moderated by the number of successes achieved by learners practicing with the difficult criterion. To investigate this possibility, we manipulated quantity of practice to affect the absolute number of successes achieved by learners practicing with different success criteria. Eighty participants were divided into four groups and performed 50 or 100 trials of a mini-shuffleboard task. Groups practiced with either a large or a small zone of success surrounding the target. Learning was assessed 24 h after acquisition with retention and transfer tests. In terms of endpoint accuracy and precision, there were no learning or practice performance benefits of practicing with an easier criterion of success, regardless of the number of trials. This absence of a criterion of success effect was despite the efficacy of our manipulation in increasing the number of trials stopping within the zone of success, self-efficacy, perceptions of competence, and, for participants with 100 trials, intrinsic motivation. An equivalence test indicated that the effect of criterion of success was small, if existent. Moreover, at the individual level, intrinsic motivation did not predict posttest or acquisition performance. There were no benefits of easing the criterion of success on pressure, effort, accrual of explicit knowledge, or conscious processing. These data challenge key tenets of OPTIMAL theory and question the efficacy of easing criterion of success for motor learning.     

善良人格与道德需要满足的关系：交叉滞后研究

道德需要被认为是独立于自主、胜任和关系需要（ACR）的基本心理需要,通过对两个时间段的纵向数据分析（N = 1,187）,使用交叉滞后模型,研究探讨了善良人格与道德需要满足之间的关系。结果发现,善良人格与道德需要满足存在一定程度的跨时间稳定性;在控制了ACR和人口学信息后,善良人格与道德需要满足存在双向预测关系。研究在中国文化下为道德需要的存在提供了证据,扩展了基本心理需要相关理论,并为道德教育和人格培养提供理论依据。     

An Elementary Presentation of the Equivalence Between MV-algebras and l-groups With Strong Unit

Aim of this paper is to provide a self-contained presentation of the natural equivalence between MV-algebras and lattice-ordered abelian groups with strong unit.