Minding Animals, Minding Earth: Old Brains, New Bottlenecks

Abstract. I emphasize the importance of broadening behavioral, ecological, and conservation science into a more integrative, interdisciplinary, socially responsible, compassionate, spiritual, and holistic endeavor. I stress the significance of studies of animal behavior, especially ethological research concerned with animal emotions in which individuals are named and recognized for their own personalities, for helping us to learn not only about the nonhuman animal beings with whom we share Earth but also about who we are and our place in nature. We are best understood in relationship with others. To this end I develop the notions of “minding animals” and “deep ethology.” Animals are sources of wisdom, a way of knowing. We are all citizens of Earth, members of a global community in which intimate reciprocal and beneficent peaceful relationships are mandatory. A world without cruelty and with boundless compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, and love would be a better world in which to live. We have compelling responsibilities for making Earth a better and more peaceful habitat for all beings. It is essential that we do better than our ancestors. We must reflect and step lightly as we “redecorate” nature. Time is not on our side. I plead for the development of heartfelt and holistic science that allows for joy and play. Science need not be suspicious of things it cannot fully understand. We must not avert our eyes or other senses from the eyes and voices of other beings who urgently need our uncompromising and unconditional aid and love. We can do much more than we have done for animals and the Earth.     

Ethics of Globalization and the AIDS Crisis from a Jewish Perspective

This essay explores what Jewish ethics has to say about globalization in relation to the AIDS crisis. Special attention is paid to the consequences in affirming current intellectual trends to transcend traditional limits in both society and thought for rethinking traditional Jewish values. The discussion proceeds from two presuppositions. The first is that there is an intimate connection between ethics, science, and politics. The second is that the history of Jewish ethics involves three distinct forms that are generally correlated but rarely identical in content and moral judgment. These three forms are law, wisdom or virtue, and covenant. The discussion considers related issues of accidental connections in time between the bubonic plague and Zionism and between AIDS and homosexuality in relation to moral–theological issues related to divine providence and distributive justice.     

Some differences between Kant’s and Husserl’s conceptions of transcendental philosophy

This article compares the differences between Kant’s and Husserl’s conceptions of the “transcendental.” It argues that, for Kant, the term “transcendental” stands for what is otherwise called “metaphysical,” i.e. non-empirical knowledge. As opposed to his predecessors, who had believed that such non-empirical knowledge was possible for meta-physical, i.e. transcendent objects, Kant’s contribution was to show how there can be non-empirical (a priori) knowledge not about transcendent objects, but about the necessary conditions for the experience of natural, non-transcendent objects. Hence the transcendental for Kant ends up connoting a philosophy that claims to show how subjective forms of intuition and thinking have objective validity for all objects as appearances. By contrast, Husserl’s phenomenological philosophy takes a different set of problems for its starting point. His quest is to avoid the uncertainty of empirical knowledge about all kinds of objects that present themselves to us as something other than, something transcendent to, consciousness. Transcendental or reliable knowledge is made possible through the phenomenological reduction that focuses strictly on consciousness as immediately self-given to itself—reflection upon “pure” consciousness. The contents of such consciousness are not the same for everyone and at every time, so they are not necessary and invariant in the way that Kant’s pure forms of subjectivity are. Since Husserl however also claims that the all objects, as intentional objects, are constituted in and for consciousness, an investigation into the structures of pure subjectivity can also be called “transcendental” in a further sense of showing the genesis of our knowledge of objects that are transcendent to consciousness. Moreover, since Husserl’s philosophical interest is precisely upon the structures of that consciousness, he also concentrates on necessary conditions for the constitution of these objects in his philosophical work. Hence, there ends up being a great deal of overlap between his own transcendental project and Kant’s in spite of the differences in what each of them means by the term “transcendental.”

中国文化中的智慧结构探析

智慧的德才一体理论将智慧定义为个体在其智力与知识的基础上,经由经验与练习习得的一种德才一体的综合心理素质,主张智慧在本质上是良好品德与聪明才智的合金。基于智慧德才一体理论智慧结构的构想,通过实证方法探析中国文化中的智慧结构,结果表明:智慧是一个多层次、多维度的结构,由二阶二因素一阶六因素构成,两个二阶因素分别是聪明才智与良好品德,六个一阶因素分别是:中常智力、创造思维、渊博知识以及善良动机、善良效果、善良手段。六个因素相辅相成,互为补充。     

WISDOM, PESSIMISM, AND "MIRTH"Reflections on the Contribution of Biblical Wisdom Literature to Business Ethics

Ancient Israel's wisdom literature dealt explicitly with moral education. Applying this literature to modern challenges of business ethics requires reading the texts in the light of existential structures that bond the ancient with the modern world. Such structures could include the temporal categories of present and future along with the challenging angst of managing the future. By providing conflicting positions the ancient wisdom literature provides an attitude of heart for the modern person, especially the modern business person, whose all‐absorbing attention to the future may well be based on an underlying existential situation behind much unethical behavior in modern business.     

WHAT IT TAKES TO LIVE PHILOSOPHICALLY: OR,HOW TO PROGRESS IN THE ART OF LIVING

This essay presents an account of what it takes to live a philosophical way of life: practitioners must be committed to a worldview, structure their lives around it, and engage in truth-directed practices. Contra John Cooper, it does not require that one’s life be solely guided by reason. Religious or tradition-based ways of life count as truth directed as long as their practices are reasons responsive and would be truth directed if the claims made by their way of life are correct. The essay argues that these three conditions can be met by progressors as well as sages. Making progress in how one acts in the world, and improving one’s understanding and direction through being part of a community is living a philosophical way of life. The offered view acknowledges more ways to develop the art of living and enables a broader range of people to count as living philosophically.     

整合智慧量表的编制及信效度检验

基于智慧的德才一体理论,编制包含良好品德和聪明才智二因子的整合智慧量表,以方便取样抽取中国大陆892名青年,检验其信效度。总量表的Cronbach's α和组合信度分别为0.89和0.94。四周后重测信度为0.85。验证性因素分析发现,量表的结构效度良好,CFI=0.91,IFI=0.91,TLI=0.90,RMSEA=0.07,SRMR=0.08,也具有良好的聚合效度和区分效度。与自我评估智慧量表、三维智慧量表、开放性和心理幸福感的相关分别为0.79、0.36、0.32和0.46,与生活满意度的相关不显著(p>0.05)。这说明整合智慧量表具有良好的信效度,是测量中国青年智慧的有效工具。     

向死存在对智慧的影响:观点、机制及评价

向死存在对智慧产生了怎样的影响?三种观点及相关证据回答了这个问题,并提供了解释机制:(1)向死存在助推智慧,使人谦卑、超越、利他、公平和宽容等,其主要解释机制是创伤后成长理论;(2)向死存在阻碍智慧,引起心理不健康、自我服务偏见、内群体偏见、贪婪、物质主义等,其主要解释机制是恐惧管理理论;(3)向死存在是否助推智慧受到如自尊、权力感、自我构念、政治信念、宗教信仰等多种因素的调节。文末评价了过去研究中存在的问题,即概念界定问题、向死存在的心理阶段性问题和文化世界观的内涵问题,并提出了化解之道。     

家庭社会经济地位与青少年智慧的关系:积极教养方式和开放性人格的中介作用

以696名初高中学生为研究对象,考察家庭社会经济地位与青少年智慧的关系,以及积极教养方式和开放性人格的中介作用。结果表明：（1）家庭社会经济地位、积极教养方式、开放性人格与智慧四个变量之间存在显著正相关;（2）积极教养方式在家庭社会经济地位与青少年智慧之间起完全中介作用,但开放性人格在家庭社会经济地位与智慧之间不起中介作用,开放性人格在积极教养方式与智慧之间起部分中介作用,积极教养方式、开放性人格在家庭社会经济地位与智慧之间起链式中介作用。     

The Older Woman as Sage: The Satisfaction of Mentoring

Mentoring is important to the personal and professional lives of many developing professionals, but it is also beneficial in numerous ways to the mentor. This article focuses on the benefits of mentoring from the mentor's prospective, including satisfaction in seeing protégées succeed and empowerment of both the mentor and protégée. This article showcases the importance of being a mentor, the impact mentoring has on developing psychologists, and how mentoring sustains older women's connections and contributions to their field. The authors discuss what mentoring is, what mentors do, how to become a mentor, and the benefits of being a mentor. How one becomes a mentor in various work settings including academia is also discussed, as are concerns regarding inappropriate mentoring relationships and how to improve the quality of the mentoring relationship. The authors suggest that becoming a mentor can be empowering for women clients as well as therapists.