CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION

Cognitive explanations of religious beliefs propose an evolutionary past in which humans had to possess certain cognitive adaptations to survive. The aim of this article is to show that some cognitive accounts may overvalue the putative role of cognition. One such cognitive idea is an assumption that cognition has been evolutionarily shaped only, or most importantly, in the Pleistocene. This idea seems common among writers on the cognitive science of religion (CSR), but is mistaken. Cognition has been shaped throughout evolution. Another idea is that components of religion could not have been produced by natural selection (the hypothesis that religion is a by-product). But the article suggests that there are some domains in the field of religion and religious components that could be acquired and transmitted despite or even against alleged cognitive biases. The aim of this article is to argue for an extended approach that combines a cognitive account with functional naturalistic approaches, including an adaptationist one. Such distinction could imply that cognition is not functional. Obviously, this is not the case since cognition is the process of knowing, and surely knowledge is functional. However, the main argument for such a distinction lies in the key idea of the cognitive account that as far as cognition is functional and adaptive, religious components are not. Functionalism or “adaptivism” concerning cognition contradicts functionalism concerning religion. Numbers of scholars who consider themselves part of CSR seem also to consider both cognition and religion adaptive. However, in regard to components of religion, their adaptive, functional power is only secondary. The article concludes that the study of religion—as the study of cultural evolution in general—should include a pluralistic methodology combining cognitive and evolutionary accounts with the specificity of cultural evolution.     

INSTABILITY AND DISSONANCE: PROVOCATIONS FROM SANDRA HARDING

Abstract. Sandra Harding's work is useful, not only as a critique of the scientific method and its epistemological constructs, but also in providing new energy and insights to the discussions about epistemology between theology and science. Feminist theory has been critical of the worldviews inherited from the Enlightenment. No longer is there one unambiguous way of knowing ourselves and the world around us, a single vision of reality. Feminist philosophers of science like Sandra Harding and Donna Haraway have redefined the scientific method and its analytic categories. They have contributed significantly to this discussion by moving the Enlightenment epistemological issues into the arena of politics and ethics. Feminist theory continues to remind us that what is important is not only how or what we know but what we do with that knowledge and how we use it.     

人类基因组计划中的计算机科学

叙述了人类基因组计划（HGP）实施过程中计算机科学向基因组学领域的不断渗透及面临的挑战。基因组数据库及网络系统的构建与完善为基因组信息的交流提供了基础,一系列计算机软件的开发和改进简化了HGP这一繁重的劳动。在HGP的推动下,世界各大信息技术公司也加盟到基因组研究中,使生物学中融入了更多的计算机专业技能,有利于引进新的思维模式,开拓新的研究方法。但目前在基因组信息的交流与分析方面,标准化和精确性仍显不足,信息的处理能力也受到计算机存储量和运算速度的制约,这些问题将随着计算机科学的不断发展而逐渐解决。     

How navigation systems transform epistemic virtues: Knowledge,issues and solutions

In this paper, we analyse how GPS-based navigation systems are transforming some of our intellectual virtues and then suggest two strategies to improve our practices regarding the use of such epistemic tools. We start by outlining the two main approaches in virtue epistemology, namely virtue reliabilism and virtue responsibilism. We then discuss how navigation systems can undermine five epistemic virtues, namely memory, perception, attention, intellectual autonomy, and intellectual carefulness. We end by considering two possible interlinked ways of trying to remedy this situation: [i] redesigning the epistemic tool to improve the epistemic virtues of memory, perception, and attention; and [ii] the cultivation of cognitive diligence for wayfinding tasks scaffolding intellectual autonomy and carefulness.     

泛化或异化SCI评估体系的利弊思辨

简述《科学引文索引》 (science citation index, SCI) SCI检索系统的定义、国内外应用简况, 介绍了国内医学领域应用SCI检索系统中存在的问题, 重点阐述了国内医学领域中泛化、异化SCI检索体系造成的危害, 包括对医疗、教学、科研以及医学出版社发行的不良影响, 如SCI论文数量大幅度增大, 我国医学科研整体实力未提升;不利于国内医疗水平的提高和医师职业精神的培养;不利于医学科研水平的提高, 且会导致学术腐败;国内医学期刊办刊日渐艰难, 不利于国内医学的持续发展。最后提出必须科学全面地评价SCI论文。     

脑科学与心理学研究

随着现代科技的进步,脑科学特别是脑成像技术能够无损伤地探测人脑,成为脑功能研究的“显微镜”。这些科技的发展对心理学研究具有重大影响。它使得意识能够受到真正科学地研究,促使心理学研究从“计算机隐喻”向“脑隐喻”的转变,并将使心理学理论形态更加复杂。     

公立医院医师自媒体科普的现况及其治理

对微信公众号医师自媒体科普现状进行了调查,对医生进行了深度访谈。研究分析了523个公众号,使用k均值聚类的方法,根据原创文章数量、发表文章间隔将医师的科普投入分为最低到最高4个组。医师在科普中的投入程度与存在推销行为及时政热点评论行为存在一定程度的相关性。研究认为,公立医院医师自媒体科普的内容应具备公益性、科学性和诊疗科目相关性。应鼓励公立医院医师开展科普,进行多主体的治理,引导产出符合人民和时代需要的科普内容,合力托举人民健康。

     

Thick Naturalism: Comments on Zygon 2000

The term naturalism arouses strong emotions; religious naturalism even more. In this essay, naturalism is explored in a variety of contexts, in contrast to supernaturalism (in metaphysics), normativism (in ethics and epistemology), and rationalism (in the philosophy of mind). It is argued that religious naturalism becomes a "thick" naturalism, a way of life rather than just a philosophical position. We can discern a subculture with a historical identity, a variety of dialects, stories that evoke attitudes and feelings, as well as more systematic theological elaborations. In this context, religious naturalists are called to thicken further the ways of life that embody their religious and naturalist sensitivities. In order to speak of a naturalist theology in this context, one has to define theology in a way that avoids assumptions regarding the supernatural; this can be achieved by presenting theologies as particular combinations of cosmologies (informed by the sciences) and axiologies (values).