FROM BELIEF TO UNBELIEF AND BACK TO BELIEF: A RESPONSE TO MICHAEL RUSE

Abstract. Michael Ruse's rejection of religious belief is questioned at two levels. First, on the metaethical level of analysis, evolutionary ethics cannot account for moral behavior that is based on a "strong version" of the Love Command. Second, agnosticism is discussed as a form of belief. Insights from religious forms of life that are inclusive, pluralistic, and expansive are contrasted with exclusivistic, closed, and fundamentalist forms of religion in order to develop criteria for "genuine religion." Theistic agnosticism is presented as a prolegomena to belief.     

Age and outstanding occupational achievement: Lehman revisited

The findings of H. C. Lehman's (1953, Age and achievement, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press) study of age and outstanding occupational achievement were reviewed along with the explanations which have been put forth to account for the finding that major contributions are most likely to occur in young adulthood. Subsequently, an alternative explanation was proposed based on the central developmental tasks facing individuals in young adulthood and middle age. More specifically, it is argued, in accordance with N. Haan (1981, in R. M. Lerner & N. A. Busch-Rossnagel (Eds.), Individuals as producers of their own development: A life span perspective, New York, Academic Press), that young adults employ an accommodating adaptive style, and that the cognitive and behavioral concomitants of this style may increase the likelihood of major contributions. It is also noted that the realistic, controlling adaptive style of the middle aged would tend to facilitate minor contributions. Finally, the broader literature was reviewed in relation to these hypotheses, and certain practical implications of this reinterpretation were laid out.     

Intrusions and perseverations

Twenty-two subjects with presumed senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT), twenty-two with dementia other than SDAT, twenty with aphasia, and seventeen healthy controls over 50 years of age were examined for intrusions and perseverations. Perseverations were defined as the immediate inappropriate repetition of a prior response whereas intrusions were defined as the inappropriate repetition of prior responses after intervening stimuli. Intrusions and perseverations occurred in demented and aphasic subjects, but were rare in controls. Intrusions occurred most often in SDAT or Wernicke aphasia, but also in dementia other than SDAT. Intrusions were not correlated with dementia severity. Intrusions are a useful sign of dementia, but they cannot be considered pathognomonic of SDAT. They appear to arise when subjects are unable to access correct responses from long-term memory and instead substitute erroneous responses selected from short-term memory. Perseverations were most common in the Wernicke aphasics and subjects with dementia due to communicating hydrocephalus. Although frontal lobe dysfunction is prominent in communicating hydrocephalus, it is absent in cases of Wernicke aphasia. Thus, we have confirmed prior suggestions that perseveration can occur in the absence of frontal lobe injury. Failure to self-monitor speech as well as an inability to change mental set probably plays an important role in the genesis of perseverations. There was no statistically significant correlation between dementia severity and number of perseverations. Low correlations were found between intrusions and perseverations suggesting that these seemingly similar behaviors are distinct and are probably produced by separate neuropsychological mechanisms.     

Commitment,ego-involvement,and resistance to attack

Subjects with initially extreme or moderate positions (based on a median split) recorded a consonant speech under public, private, or no commitment and later received a strong, mild, or no attack on their position. Extremes were more ego-involved in terms of wider latitudes of rejection, narrower latitudes of non-commitment, and greater resistance to attack, relative to moderates. Commitment had no effect for extremes, suggesting a ceiling effect on changes in the latitudes and resistance to attack for initially high levels of ego-involvement. For moderates, commitment resulted in narrower latitudes of noncommitment, wider latitudes of rejection (greater rejection of discrepant positions), and greater resistance to attack, suggesting that commitment may elevate ego-involvement with the issue. Commitment and ego-involvement may increase the salience of one's attitude position in later situations, thereby increasing the probability of attitudeconsistent behavior.     

The role of the perioral reflex in lip motor control for speech.

The analysis of spinal and brainstem reflexes has been shown to be a useful method of quantifying the various inputs to motoneuron pools involved in voluntary motor control. This work is selectively reviewed as a background to a discussion of the role of the perioral reflex in lip motor control for speech. Data on the sensorimotor innervation of the lips and the static and dynamic properties of the perioral reflex are presented in support of the notions that (1) perioral reflex analysis provides a viable technique for analyzing brainstem excitability changes underlying lip muscle contraction for speech, and (2) the perioral reflex loop is an important functional element in lip motor control for speech.     

The social behavior of preschool children at different developmental levels: Effects of group composition

The social participation, constructiveness of play, and communicative interactions of 4- to 6-year-old developmentally delayed and nondelayed preschool children were compared under conditions in which children interacted in play groups homogeneous with respect to developmental level and in heterogeneous play groups. A within-subjects design was utilized to assess the relatively immediate effects of group composition. Data for both children and teachers were analyzed separately for each of four developmental level groups and across two time periods. Although numerous differences were obtained as a function of developmental level and time, the only significant effect of group composition on children was reduced inappropriate play by severely delayed youngsters while interacting in heterogeneous play groups. No detrimental effects of heterogeneous grouping were observed for children at any developmental level. These results were discussed in terms of their importance in evaluating the impact of programs that mainstream young children.     

Toward a reconceptualization of the reciprocal imitation phenomenon: Two experiments

This paper reports two experiments which consider the increased imitation exhibited by models who have been imitated. Experiment 1 was concerned with whether the reciprocal imitation effect is really reciprocal or if the subsequent imitation will generalize to someone else. It was found that adult subjects who were previously imitated at the 75% rate on a perceptual judgments task subsequently imitated their partner more, rated their partner more attractive, and felt more confidence when imitated than did subjects imitated at the 25% rate. These results were obtained regardless of which confederate the subjects imitated, thus indicating that reciprocal imitation is not necessarily reciprocal, but is generalizable. Experiment 2 assessed whether the subsequent imitation is the product of the effects of being imitated or is the result of the subject observing the imitator's imitation. The results indicated that after having observed imitation at a 75% rate, adult onlookers are more likely to subsequently imitate and be attracted to the imitator, the imitated person, and a person new to the situation than are onlookers who observed a 25% imitation rate. A theoretical modification is advanced which holds that subsequent imitation effects, whether from observing others imitate or from being the target of the imitation, result from a process of imitation of imitativeness. The results of these two experiments have implications for theory in imitation and social learning.     

Higher Pantheism

Romantic sensibility and political necessity led Humphry Davy, Britain's most prominent scientist in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, to pantheism: nature worship, involving for him a fervent belief in the immortality of the soul. Rapt with a vision of sublimity, from mountain tops or balloons, men of science in succeeding generations also found in pantheism a reason for their vocation and a way of making sense of their world. It should be seen as an alternative both to active participation in church life (like Faraday's) and to a gritty agnosticism (like Huxley's), indicating again how subtle and complex relationships were between science and religion in the nineteenth century.     

Do Patriotic Ties Limit Global Justice Duties?

Some theorists who accept the existence of global justice duties to alleviate the condition of distant needy strangers hold that these duties are significantly constrained by special ties to fellow countrymen. The patriotic priority thesis holds that morality requires the members of each nation-state to give priority to helping needy fellow compatriots over more needy distant strangers. Three arguments for constraint and patriotic priority are examined in this essay: an argument from fair play, one from coercion, another from coercion and autonomy. Under scrutiny, none of these arguments qualifies as successful.