The Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule: Predictive Value and Clinical Usefulness

This study reports on the predictive value and clinical usefulness of the Dutch parental version of the Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS). Parents of 718 children (4–12 years) completed this CFSS-DS version before or during the child's visit. The dentist rated the child's dental fear during treatment on a 5-point Likert-type Scale from 1 (not afraid at all) to 5 (very afraid). Reliability analysis was performed, and correlation coefficients between the two measures were calculated. The reliability of the scale proved to be high (Cronbach's = .93) and significant correlation coefficients were found (r = .58 and r = .68, p < .01). The negative predictive value of the CFSS-DS was high (.96), whereas its positive predictive value was relatively low (0.41). It was concluded that the CFSS-DS might be of clinical value as a screening device of dental fear, whereas its predictive value of fearful behavior should not be overestimated.     

Higher and Lower Pleasures – Doubts on Justification

According to the discontinuity view we can have a (lower) pleasure which, no matter how often a certain unit of it is added to itself, cannot become greater in value than a unit of another (higher) pleasure. All recent adherents of this view seem to rely basically on the same sort of reasoning which is referred to here as the preference test. This article presents three arguments, each of which indicates that the inference from the preference test to the discontinuity view is not conclusive.     

Ethical Instrumentalism

The present essay offers a sketch of a philosophy of value, what I shall here refer to as ‘ethical instrumentalism.’ My primary aim is to say just what this view involves and what its commitments are. In the course of doing so, I find it necessary to distinguish this view from another with which it shares a common basis and which, in reference to its most influential proponent, I refer to as ‘Humeanism.’ A second, more general, aim is to make plausible the idea that, given the common basis, ethical instrumentalism provides a more compelling picture of the philosophy of value than Humeanism does.     

The early acquisition of verb meaning in German by normally developing and language impaired children

The research reported here focuses on the early acquisition of event structure in German. Based on longitudinal studies from 5 normally developing (ND) and 6 language-impaired (LI) children, a model of "event structural bootstrapping" is presented that spells out how ND children log into the verb lexicon. They project a target-consistent event tree, depicting the head-of-event of transitions. Young LI children, failing to employ this bootstrapping strategy, resort to radically underspecified event representations. The results from a truth-value judgment experiment with 16 ND and 16 LI children showed that ND children perform correctly on transitional verbs, while LI children perform at chance level on the same tasks. These findings are accounted for by the model of event structural bootstrapping to the extent that LI children lack an explicit representation of the head-of-event.     

On Empty Compliments and Deceptive Detours A Neopragmatist Response to Theodore W. Nunez

The philosophical question Nunez raises is whether we can have, as he thinks we need, a theoretical grounding for appeal to the intrinsic value of nature. This article examines the neopragmatist reasons for repudiating metaphysical realism's notions of intrinsicality and subject-independent reality. Following the holism of Donald Davidson and Richard Rorty rather than the epistemological premises of Holmes Rolston and Bernard Lonergan, the author concludes that coping with the ecological crisis does not require conjuring an epistemic crisis. Environmental ethics in neopragmatist hands would seek procedures for bringing about agreement in improving our practices, not our epistemology.     

ON MARTIN EGER'S "A TALE OF TWO CONTROVERSIES"

Abstract. Criticisms are presented against Eger's challenge to the demarcation between the natural sciences and ethics. Arguments are given both against his endorsement of the "new" philosophy of science and against his rejection of the fact-value dichotomy. However, his educational recommendations are reinforced rather than weakened by these criticisms     

医者不可不慈仁，病者不可猜鄙——构建和谐的医患关系

医患和谐是医学的本质要求。目前医患关系紧张是在市场经济和高科技背景下,价值选择和制度安排失当造成的。要充分利用传统文化的资源,同时适应时代要求,在价值选择和制度安排上促进医患和谐。     

MBA Education, Business Ethics and the Case for Shareholder Value

The appropriate MBA curriculum has been debated for nearly a half century. More recently, critics contend that the emphasis on functional fields in MBA education has incorrectly elevated the importance of shareholder value resulting in unethical behavior. Although some criticism of MBA programs has merit, shareholder wealth maximization should remain the dominant management objective because it is relatively easy to implement and generally consistent with the interests of stakeholders.     

Animal Rights and Animal Experiments: An Interest-Based Approach

This paper examines whether non-human animals have a moral right not to be experimented upon. It adopts a Razian conception of rights, whereby an individual possesses a right if an interest of that individual is sufficient to impose a duty on another. To ascertain whether animals have a right not to be experimented on, three interests are examined which might found such a right: the interest in not suffering, the interest in staying alive, and the interest in being free. It is argued that while the first two of these interests are sufficient to ground animal rights against being killed and made to suffer by experiments, the interest in freedom does not ground a general animal right not to be used in experimentation. Winner of the second annual Res Publica Postgraduate Essay Prize, 2006.     

How to turn a hawk into a dove and vice versa: Interactions between emotions and goals in a give-some dilemma game

The present study investigated emotional influences on behavior in a one-shot, simultaneous, give-some dilemma game. In accordance with functional perspectives on the role of discrete emotions, we found fear to reduce, and guilt to increase levels of cooperation. Moreover, we showed individual differences in the effect of induced emotional states. Specifically, results indicated that inducing fear reduced cooperation only for individuals with a pro-social value orientation, and that guilt induction increased cooperation only for individuals with a pro-self value orientation. We also established that both social value orientations could be adequately described in terms of differences in chronically accessible goals (as assessed by value-importance ratings). These results, therefore, seem to support our hypothesis that individual differences in the behavioral consequences of induced emotional states are related to variation in chronic accessibility of general goals associated with a particular emotional state.