Proposing,Pretending, and Propriety: A Response to Don Fallis

This note responds to criticism put forth by Don Fallis of an account of lying in terms of the Stalnakerian view of assertion. According to this account, to lie is to say something one believes to be false and thereby propose that it become common ground. Fallis objects by presenting an example to show that one can lie even though one does not propose to make what one says common ground. It is argued here that this objection does not present a problem for the view of lying as Stalnakerian assertion. Responding to the objection brings out important features of this view of discourse and of assertion.     

Identity Hierarchy Within the Sudanese Superordinate Identity: Political Leadership Promoting and Demoting Subordinate Groups

Social psychology often emphasizes the link between superordinate identities and intergroup harmony. Other research, however, has illuminated the possible pitfalls of such approaches, pointing at the potentially hierarchical nature of superordinate identities. Yet the research largely ignores who invokes and mobilizes specific definitions of superordinate identities. Using interviews with political leaders and participants from the general population, this article explores a non‐Western conflict case with a hierarchical government‐defined superordinate identity: Sudan. Focus is on the government demoting and promoting different subordinate identities within the superordinate. The criteria for the highest‐level subordinate category within the superordinate identity are discussed as pertaining to three factors—Muslim, Arabic speaking and Arab. Most participants discuss this superordinate identity as yielding an identity hierarchy and strengthening subordinate identities, thereby demonstrating the potential detrimental nature of superordinate identities. The article highlights the context dependency of the link between superordinate identity and intergroup harmony and adds to the void in research on the role of leadership in constructing superordinate identities.     

“Our Fellow Creatures”

This paper defends “moral individualism” against various arguments that have been intended to show that membership in the human species or participation in our distinctively human form of life is a sufficient basis for a moral status higher than that of any animal. Among the arguments criticized are the “nature-of-the-kind argument,” which claims that it is the nature of all human beings to have certain higher psychological capacities, even if, contingently, some human beings lack them, and various versions of the idea that there is a special form of life that all human beings share but of which no animal can be a full participant. The paper concludes that none of these arguments succeeds in demonstrating that there are moral reasons to permit animals to be treated less well than members of our own species whose psychological capacities and potential are no higher than those of the animals.     

心理治疗中共同要素理论的历史发展

从共同要素的角度,分理论模式化与研究实证化两条线索,追溯了心理治疗中共同要素理论的思想渊源,并自Saul Rosenzweig开始,综述了Carl Rogers、Jerome Frank、Marvin Goldfried、Michael Lambert、Bruce Wampold等学者的观点,探讨了共同要素理论的历史演进、内涵结构、理论模式及当代研究进展。认为它在不久的未来,将与特殊技术说逐步走向整合,加深对心理治疗过程与改变机制的认识,共同提升心理治疗的效果。     

Mystical Experience Among Tibetan Buddhists: The Common Core Thesis Revisited

In the study of mysticism the debate has centered on whether a universal experiential core exists regardless of religious interpretation. The current investigation combines Jamesian empiricist and social constructivist perspectives to argue that stable experiential facets load variously on factors to construct local interpretations. Local interpretations reflect a family resemblance—a mystical common core experienced across cultures. Results of confirmatory factor analyses, based on data from 240 Tibetan Buddhist adults, suggest statistical model fit and superiority for the three‐factor model compared to the unidimensional model. Pure experience can be distinguished explicitly from its context‐specific hermeneutical construal.     

How Does the Relationship Facilitate Productive Client Thinking?

My thesis is: a) that the primary client activity that facilitates change is their productive thinking, b) that one key way the therapeutic relationship is helpful is that it facilitates this kind of activity, and c) that if we look at the therapist–client dyad as a group, then we can further understand how the therapy dialogue facilitates productive client thinking through recent ideas about socially shared cognition.     

Hume on the Standard of Virtue

Among those sympathetic to Hume'smoral philosophy, a general consensus hasemerged that his first work on the topic,A Treatise of Human Nature, is his best. Hislater work, An Enquiry Concerning thePrinciples of Morals, is regarded as scaleddown in both scope and ambition. In contrastto this standard view, I argue that Hume'slater work offers a more sophisticated theoryof moral evaluation. I begin by reviewing theTreatise theory of moral evaluation tohighlight the reasons why commentators find socompelling Hume's account of the corrections wemake to our moral sentiments. The method isendorsed by philosophers such as Henry DavidAiken and Annette C. Baier because, theyallege, it shows that moral sentiments reflecta process of judgment that includes thepossibility of corrigibility and ofjustification. But Hume's method of correctionfalls short and does not establish why thesentiments conforming to the standard of virtueshould count as moral judgments. In the secondEnquiry, Hume lays out a different set ofcriteria, including not only the need forcertain virtues of good judgment but attentionto the particular cultural and historicalorigins of the norms governing the virtues ofgood judgment. Hume's attention to diversityin evaluative outlook in his more matureposition takes seriously the relation betweenmoral authority and public debate.     

Creating “Maneuvering Room”: A Grounded Theory of Language and Influence in Marriage and Family Therapy

Influence in psychotherapy has been described as a characteristic of the therapist, a characteristic of the therapeutic relationship, and a negotiated process. This study combines grounded theory and task analysis to explore language patterns in facilitating change in family therapy. Thirty-one episodes of therapy were analyzed, resulting in the emergent concept of creating maneuvering room. Therapists introduce uncertainty into clients beliefs about problems then offer new ways of defining problems by speaking from three dimensions: therapist as expert or non-expert, therapist as participant or observer, or family members experiences as similar or different. The findings of this study support a possible common factor in family therapy.     

从伦理的视角看“三个代表”

“三个代表”重要思想,从伦理学上进行分析,饱含着深刻的伦理智慧,浸润着美善和正义的光华,它既可以理解为一种全新的政治伦理,又可以指谓一种进步的社会伦理,还可以从经济伦理、科技伦理和文化伦理等角度加以阐释与论证。因此,我们有理由认为,“三个代表”的伦理精神和伦理目标将构成当代中国社会的主流伦理,成为指导我国当前公民道德建设的伟大旗帜和促成中华伦理文化伟大复兴的理论指南。