周敦颐的《太极图说》、《易》象数及西方有关学说

本文从《易》象数的角度来解释周敦颐的《太极图说》与《通书》,认为这种象数的“二对生”的区别性特征是周氏学说的内在发动结构,由此而提出一些很不同于流行的“宇宙论加上伦理学”的解释模式的思路。在一些被长久争论的问题上,比如“太极与无极的关系”、“太极与两仪的关系”、“诚与太极的关系”、“中与太极和诚的关系”,都提出了新的看法。在这新的理解方式中,周敦颐的《太极图说》就不止是程朱陆王的一个含糊的先导,而是融合了儒道释的思想精华,而又有着自己独特的思想原发力与中和的精微境界的划时代的哲理学说,其蕴义(比如超出理气二分的原本发生论)并未被后来的理学家们穷尽。本文最后将周敦颐的思想与西方的毕达哥拉斯及莱布尼兹的学说进行对比,一方面揭示“象数”在伟大的哲理传统中的关键作用,另一方面又表明中西两大传统之间存在的深刻差异在结构上的原因。     

Why talk about sin? Luther's understanding of sin and hopeful sin-talk in the 21st century

For Luther talking about sin and the sinful nature of human beings has a strong pastoral significance. His emphasis on the “bondage” of the human will is tightly connected to his insistence on the human sinful condition, and our inability to choose to be or not to be held captive by sin. My conclusion is that it is indeed important to continue to talk about sin if the Christian discourse about God's forgiveness and grace is to make sense. Furthermore, I believe Luther's understanding of sin as misplaced trust, the distinction he makes between sin and sins, and his idea of a justified sinner can indeed make a significant contribution to a hopeful sin-talk within Christian communities today. It is, however, necessary to pay attention to Luther's historical context and to reevaluate his understanding of human nature and human sinfulness from a feminist critical perspective. The sin-concept has gradually been losing its relevance within Christian communities. Therefore the question: why should we continue to talk about sin? The aim of this article is to explore Luther's understanding of sin and human sinfulness, in order to find out if, and then how, he might prove helpful when it comes to the interpretation of the concept of sin in the 21st century. The focus is on Luther's pastoral writings in The Small and The Large Catechism (1529), together with his Smalcald Articles (1537).     

Human vs. supervised machine learning: Who learns patterns faster?

The capabilities of supervised machine learning (SML), especially compared to human abilities, are being discussed in scientific research and in the usage of SML. This study provides an answer to how learning performance differs between humans and machines when there is limited training data. We have designed an experiment in which 44 humans and three different machine learning algorithms identify patterns in labeled training data and have to label instances according to the patterns they find. The results show a high dependency between performance and the underlying patterns of the task. Whereas humans perform relatively similarly across all patterns, machines show large performance differences for the various patterns in our experiment. After seeing 20 instances in the experiment, human performance does not improve anymore, which we relate to theories of cognitive overload. Machines learn slower but can reach the same level or may even outperform humans in 2 of the 4 of used patterns. However, machines need more instances compared to humans for the same results. The performance of machines is comparably lower for the other 2 patterns due to the difficulty of combining input features.     

A novel argument for the Universality of Parsing principles

Previous work on Relative Clause attachment has overlooked a crucial grammatical distinction across both the languages and structures tested: the selective availability of Pseudo Relatives. We reconsider the literature in light of this observation and argue that, all else being equal, local attachment is found with genuine Relative Clauses and that non-local attachment emerges when their surface identical imposters, Pseudo Relatives, are available. Hence, apparent cross-linguistic variation in parsing preferences is reducible to grammatical factors. The results from two novel experiments in Italian are presented in support of these conclusions.     

Missionary Institutes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council: the case of the Missionaries of Africa

It is legitimate to imagine that the Church would have been different had it not been for the courage and insight of Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Ecumenical Council, completed after him by Pope Paul VI. It initiated extensive reform in the Catholic Church, both in the way she understands herself and as she sees her presence and interaction with the (secular) world. This Ecumenical Council also invited Religious Congregations and Institutes of Consecrated Apostolic Life to engage in a process of renewal (aggiornamento) that would bring them also into line with the new theology of the Second Vatican Council. The Missionaries of Africa, under the leadership of Fr Léo Volker, undertook this thorough renewal before, during and after the 1967 General Chapter. This article explores how aggiornamento changed our Missionary Family and how it impacted on the local churches in Africa which we served.     

The SNARC effect in the processing of second-language number words: Further evidence for strong lexico-semantic connections

We present new evidence that word translation involves semantic mediation. It has been shown that participants react faster to small numbers with their left hand and to large numbers with their right hand. This SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect is due to the fact that in Western cultures the semantic number line is oriented from left (small) to right (large). We obtained a SNARC effect when participants had to indicate the parity of second-language (L2) number words, but not when they had to indicate whether L2 number words contained a particular sound. Crucially, the SNARC effect was also obtained in a translation verification task, indicating that this task involved the activation of number magnitude.     

Evolutionary Guidance System: A Community Design Project

The Evolutionary Guidance System (EGS) is a holistic and inclusive model for designing self-organizing social systems. Such a model must be driven by evolutionary values articulated by the members of the system. The small community is an ideal context for the "growing" of an Evolutionary Guidance System. This paper describes the creation of an EGS in a community organization. The rational for the activity is to bring harmony and build community among the members of the organization and, at the same time, to reach out and include the larger community. This organization can provide a model for other organizations in the town, and the ultimate goal is to install an EGS as a nongovernmental design system for the town.     

Alice in Systems Wonderland: A Children's Systems Learning Guidebook Accompanying Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The author proposes the development of systems learning guidebooks to accompany famous children's classic books. Children's classic books can make excellent bases for children's learning guidebooks on systems thinking and global ecology, because they are fun to read and well known worldwide. If such learning guidebooks are properly designed with humor and entertaining aspects, they could stimulate children to learn more about systems thinking. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is chosen as a pilot case for developing such a children's guidebook. The systems learning guidebook that accompanies Alice's Wonderland shall be entitled Alice in Systems Wonderland and will help its readers look at the Alice's Wonderland story with a systems perspective.     

Making Big Communities Small: Using Network Science to Understand the Ecological and Behavioral Requirements for Community Social Capital

The concept of social capital is becoming increasingly common in community psychology and elsewhere. However, the multiple conceptual and operational definitions of social capital challenge its utility as a theoretical tool. The goals of this paper are to clarify two forms of social capital (bridging and bonding), explicitly link them to the structural characteristics of small world networks, and explore the behavioral and ecological prerequisites of its formation. First, I use the tools of network science and specifically the concept of small‐world networks to clarify what patterns of social relationships are likely to facilitate social capital formation. Second, I use an agent‐based model to explore how different ecological characteristics (diversity and segregation) and behavioral tendencies (homophily and proximity) impact communities’ potential for developing social capital. The results suggest diverse communities have the greatest potential to develop community social capital, and that segregation moderates the effects that the behavioral tendencies of homophily and proximity have on community social capital. The discussion highlights how these findings provide community‐based researchers with both a deeper understanding of the contextual constraints with which they must contend, and a useful tool for targeting their efforts in communities with the greatest need or greatest potential.