The Logic of Causal Explanation An Axiomatization

Three-valued (strong-Kleene) modal logic provides the foundation for a new approach to formalizing causal explanation as a relation between partial situations. The approach makes fine-grained distinctions between aspects of events, even between aspects that are equivalent in classical logic. The framework can accommodate a variety of ontologies concerning the relata of causal explanation. I argue, however, for a tripartite ontology of objects corresponding to sentential nominals: facts, tropes (or facta or states of affairs), and situations (or events). I axiomatize the relations and use canonical models to demonstrate completeness.     

What Poetry Brings to the Table of Science and Religion

Ever since Plato's famous attack on artists and poets in Book 10 of The Republic, lovers of literature have felt pressed to defend poetry, and indeed from ancient times down to the present, literature and art have had to fight various battles against philosophy, religion, and science. After providing a brief overview of this conflict and then arguing that between poetry and science there are some noteworthy similarities—that is, that some of the basic mental structures with which the scientist studies the “text” of nature (facts, laws, theories) find their counterparts in ways an informed reader studies the poetic text, I develop what I see as the most important differences between poetry, on the one hand, and science, philosophy, and theology, on the other. These differences lie chiefly in two areas: (1) in the stance that each takes toward language itself and (2) in the stance each takes toward that ancient polarity between the one and the many. The aim of my argument is neither to privilege poetry over the other modes of knowing the world nor to grant, particularly to science in its reductive “objectivity,” a higher epistemological status than that accorded to poetry and the arts. Instead, I wish to argue that science, by pushing the boundaries of knowledge about the material world, shows the poet, as well as the theologian, some of the more important work to be done and that poetry, with its emphasis on the particular over the abstract and on the ambiguities and paradoxes of language as inherently metaphorical, serves science and religion by providing a caution against the naive acceptance of language as literal and the consequent enthrallment to the power of absolutes and totalizing abstractions.     

Crossan on the Couch, Along with the Rest of Us: Part One: The Silhouette of a Jesus Scholar from the Perspective of Psychological Realism as Developed by Hal Childs

This article is the first of two by the present author exploring Hal Childs' path-breaking book, The Myth of the Historical Jesus and the Evolution of Consciousness. Its purpose is to elaborate on Childs' analysis of historical Jesus research from the perspective of psychological realism. Childs uses the extensive corpus of John Dominic Crossan as a case study on historical Jesus research, advancing the claim that as an historian, Crossan is a closet positivist. Examining the roots of positivism in the thought of René Descartes in the seventeenth century, the article sets forth the theoretical objections Childs raises to Crossan's approach, using the resources of contemporary historiography, the analytical psychology of C. G. Jung, and the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger. The article concludes with a hint of Childs' proposal of a new paradigm for a psychologically realistic approach to the search for the historical Jesus.     

Perspectival Variance and Worldly Fragmentation

Objects often manifest themselves in incompatible ways across perspectives that are epistemically on a par. The standard response to such cases is to deny that the properties that things appear to have from different perspectives are properties that things really have out there. This type of response seems worrying: too many properties admit of perspectival variance and there are good theoretical reasons to think that such properties are genuinely instantiated. So, we have reason to explore views on which things can have the incompatible properties they appear to have across perspectives. This paper explores the view that things can have incompatible properties if the world is not a metaphysically unified place but is instead fragmented. There is a sensible notion of co-obtainment, on which two facts can each obtain without co-obtaining. Using this notion, we can step back from our embedded perspectives on the world without deeming the contents of those perspectives to be mere appearances. This renders the sheer pervasiveness of perspectival variance a serious pressure on the standard response, as well as a serious reason to think that the world is indeed fragmented.     

Can Character Traits Be Based on Brute Psychological Facts?

Some of our largely unchosen first‐order reactions, such as disgust, can underwrite morally‐laden character traits. This observation is in tension with the plausible idea that virtues and vices are based on reasons. I propose a way to resolve the tension.     

毛泽东“实事求是”思想内涵的新维度

毛泽东的“实事求是”思想作为中国共产党的思想路线主要是认识论意义上的内涵,仅在认识论的意义上理解“实事求是”就会遇到理论和实践上难以解释的困惑。按照生活实践的观点重新理解“实事求是”,就会发现其中还蕴涵着价值论和道德论内涵。毛泽东“实事求是”思想的实践主体是中国共产党人,这一思想当中蕴含的价值论与道德论内涵具有特殊的内容。揭示毛泽东“实事求是”思想的价值论和道德论内涵对于更好地坚持实事求是具有重要意义。     

文本表述和结构对小学生数学应用题表征的影响

以450名小学生为被试,探讨了文本表述和结构对小学生数学应用题表征成绩的影响。采用2(难度)×2(题材熟悉度)×5(措辞类型)×3(年级)四因素混合设计。结果表明:不同文本表述和结构对小学生解决数学应用题的影响不因年级的不同而不同;概念性措辞问题和情境性措辞问题都促进了小学生数学应用题的表征成绩;在容易问题中,额外信息对表征成绩影响较大;在较难问题中,数学运算关系难度对表征成绩影响较大;当解决文本背景较简单的标准措辞问题时,题材熟悉度对小学生的理解产生较大影响;文本长度对问题解决的影响取决于所增加的文本是否对理解问题的句法关系和语义情景有益。     

Self-regulation, motivation, and math achievement in middle school: Variations across grade level and math context

The current study examined grade level, achievement group, and math-course-type differences in student self-regulation and motivation in a sample of 880 suburban middle-school students. Analysis of variance was utilized to assess group differences in student self-regulation and motivation, and linear regression analysis was used to identify variables that best predicted students' use of regulatory strategies. A key finding was that although seventh graders exhibited a more maladaptive self-regulation and motivation profile than sixth graders, achievement groups in seventh grade (high, moderate, low) were more clearly differentiated across both self-regulation and motivation than achievement groups in sixth grade. The pattern of achievement group differences also varied across math course type, as self-regulation and motivation processes more consistently differentiated achievement groups in advanced classes than regular math courses. Finally, task interest was shown to be the primary motivational predictor of students' use of regulatory strategies during math learning. The study highlights the importance of identifying shifting student motivation and self-regulation during the early middle school years and the potential role that context may have on these processes.     

循证医学与实事求是

循证医学主张“慎重、准确和明智地应用当前所能获得的最好的研究依据;结合临床医生的个人专业技能和多年临床经验;考虑患者的价值和愿望,将三者完美地结合制定出患者的治疗措施。”贯穿着临床医学对患者进行“以人为本”科学救死扶伤的实事求是理念。要使“循证医学”卓有成效,应当抓住二大关键：实事求是,维护“证据”的真实性,提高医术的可靠性。