Condorcet and communitarianism: Boghossian’s fallacious inference

This paper defends the communitarian account of meaning against Boghossian’s (Wittgensteinian) arguments. Boghossian argues that whilst such an account might be able to accommodate the infinitary characteristic of meaning, it cannot account for its normativity: he claims that, since the dispositions of a group must mirror those of its members, the former cannot be used to evaluate the latter. However, as this paper aims to make clear, this reasoning is fallacious. Modelling the issue with four (justifiable) assumptions, it shows that Condorcet’s ‘Jury Theorem’ can be used to prove that the dispositions of the majority of the members of a group can differ from those of any individual member in a way that makes it possible to use communal dispositions as a standard with which individual dispositions can be assessed. Moreover, the argument of the paper is also shown to have general implications for the use of formal methods in the explanation of the nature of certain fallacious inferences.     

INFLUENCING PRESCHOOLERS' FREE‐PLAY ACTIVITY PREFERENCES: AN EVALUATION OF SATIATION AND EMBEDDED REINFORCEMENT

The present study evaluated the effects of classwide satiation and embedded reinforcement procedures on preschoolers' activity preferences during scheduled free‐play periods. The goal of the study was to increase time allocation to originally nonpreferred, but important, activities (instructional zone, library, and science) while continuing to provide access to all free‐play activities. The satiation intervention applied to preferred activities resulted in increased time allocation to the instructional and science activities, the customized embedded reinforcement interventions resulted in increased time allocation to all three target activities, and high levels of attendance to the instructional and library activities were maintained during follow‐up observations. Implications for the design of preschool free‐play periods are discussed.     

中世纪二元对立型社会治理模式与基督教信念伦理

本文深入分析了欧洲中世纪二元对立型社会治理模式与基督教信念伦理的深层成因、基本特征、主要内容及其二者的内在关联性,指出了它们被近现代民主法治型社会治理模式和规范伦理取代的历史必然性。     

生物自然主义:塞尔对自由意志的解释

在对自由意志问题的解答中,传统的相容论和心理决定论都存在一定的缺陷,未能令人满意地回答这一问题。塞尔试图把自由意志的心理状态说明与神经生物学解释结合起来,认为在自由意志行为中存在间隔。在解释我们的自由意志行为时我们有必要先设一个不可约减的非休谟式的自我。这种阐释虽然符合我们的日常经验和科学说明,但却引发了一个新难题:我们的神经元系统的决定性是如何与意志自由行动中的间隔相一致的?     

Speaking to Pictures

A review of Peter Steele’s Plenty, a book in which each poem is faced by a colour plate of the painting or object which sparked it off. Hollander’s ecphrasis and Krieger’s ekphrasis are held in – possibly unresolvable – dialectic by Steele’s poems. The only resolution which one can find is one of wit rather than of philosophy.

Sabina Spielrein: psychoanalytic studies

The unconscious fantasies in Kuprin's Duel , p.201
Animal symbolism and a boy's phobia, p.202
The mother-in-law, p.205     

Books received

Analytical Psychology
Rowland, Susan, C. G. Jung and Literary Theory. The Challenge from Fiction
Evolutionary Psychiatry
Stevens, Anthony & Price, John, Prophets, Cults and Madness.
Existential Psychotherapy
Yalom, Irvind, Momma and the Meaning of Life: Tales of Psychotherapy.     

范式转换与道德生活史的研究

伦理学就是一种生活观。伦理思想史的研究需要范式的转换,即由思想史转向道德生活史,研究社会变迁视野中的道德变迁,研究具体历史条件下的社会伦理关系,研究民众层面的日常道德生活。     

神经科学决定论与自由意志——兼论自由意志与自我是否可能?

神经科学的最新研究成果为决定论提供了科学依据,由此推断没有自由意志和恒定不变的自我。而传统生命伦理学中我们对其它生命体的伦理义务乃是基于这个生命体具备自由意志,即有自我的精神生活。神经科学技术对自由意志和自我的挑战不会对我们的伦理实践产生重要影响。只有在实践生活中人们采用了科学研究结论,从神经科学的发现到影响我们伦理实践的范式转换才会发生。从相容性与非相容性、物理系统自身的识别、神经科学的其它证据等方面探讨了怀疑的内在原因,认为不会因为神经科学家的新发现而否认自由意志和恒定自我。     

《四分律》中的耆婆医案探析

耆婆在中印医学交流中发挥了重要作用,《四分律》中关于耆婆医案的记载最为集中,案例涉及疾病病种有头痛、痔疮、肠扭结、水肿,治疗方法涉及外治法、内治法、手术疗法。通过对耆婆的生平、《四分律》中关于耆婆的六则医案以及医案反映出的医学思想等三个方面进行介绍,说明耆婆在我国医学发展史上的重要地位,突出耆婆在医学上丰富的诊疗经验和高超的医学技术,有助于准确把握耆婆诊疗方式、手术治疗特点、用药特色,挖掘当时医学的发展进程,有助于梳理耆婆医学思想在医学发展史上的历史意义以及更好地指导临床实践。