环境公正:和谐社会的基本前提

人与人的和谐是和谐社会的“底线要求”,人与社会的和谐是和谐社会的核心所在,而人与自然的和谐是和谐社会的基本前提。人与自然和谐集中体现为环境公正。它首先是指人与自然物种之间的种际公正,具体体现为两个维度的公正：在空间维度上,要促进国际公正、族际公正、域际公正、群际公正;在时间维度上具有代际公正意识。     

试论罗尔斯顿环境伦理学的理论主旨

罗尔斯顿从整个西方伦理思想发展的角度出发,认为道德是人的存在方式,环境伦理的产生不是要推翻或取代人际伦理,而是要为自然共同体中的人类确立生存方式。人类道德之所以要观照自然生态系统,是因为自然生态系统具有自身的内在价值和存在目的,以文化方式生存于其中的人类须对此给予道德的尊重。环境伦理与人际伦理共同构成了完整的人之伦理,它们都是人的生存之道。     

The Mysterious Silence of Mother Earth in Laudato Si'

Laudato si' attempts simultaneously to disrupt prevailing global environmental discourse and to reorient central concepts in Catholic moral tradition by requalifying the meaning of dominion and by ecologically expanding human dignity. The image of Earth crying out to humans from within a kinship relation plays a central role in both arguments. However, the political consequences of those shifts remain vague because the “voice” of Earth remains silent in crucial loci of the encyclical's argument.     

BIRDS, BARBOUR, AND BOATS

Abstract. Ian Barbour in the second volume of his Gifford Lectures makes a significant contribution to environmental ethics. Worthy of scrutiny are his views on the relation of technology to the environment, on the distinction between nature and culture, on the problem of hierarchical thinking, and on the notion of sustainability. His integrated approach is a model for how we must relate to nature.     

Control of responding by sounds of different quality: an evolutionary analysis.

Two experiments investigated the acquisition of discriminations between two acoustic stimuli of different quality (noise bursts vs. a 2-kHz pulsed signal) when features of the everyday environment were incorporated into the experiments. In Experiment 1, rats were trained, using food, to press a lever. Throughout all sessions, 5-s trials of noise bursts (the random stimulus) were presented, after variable intertrial intervals, through a remote speaker mounted outside the experimental enclosure. The noise burst occurred randomly with respect to reinforcement of lever pressing and had no programmed relationship to the animal's behavior. When lever pressing was established, the 2-kHz signal was presented through a speaker adjacent to the response lever according to a different set of variable intertrial intervals. A response in the presence of the 2-kHz signal terminated the trial and was reinforced. The 2-kHz signal acquired control of responding within the first few trials, whereas the random stimulus exerted no control of responding. In Experiment 2, rats were trained to press the lever in the presence of the 2-kHz signal presented through the adjacent speaker on a variable intertrial interval. After 14 sessions, 5-s trials of noise bursts (random stimulus) were presented through the remote speaker on the second variable intertrial interval. The random stimulus initially elicited exploratory behavior, which then rapidly declined. Subsequently, the random stimulus exerted no or weak control of responding. The introduction of the random stimulus had no effect on responding in the presence of the adjacent stimulus. In Experiments 3 and 4 the random stimulus was presented through the adjacent speaker, and the stimulus correlated with reinforcement was presented through the remote speaker. In both experiments, there was persistent control of responding by the random stimulus and slow development of control by the stimulus correlated with reinforcement. In Experiment 5, both stimuli were presented through the adjacent speaker. There was persistent control of responding by the random stimulus.     

THE USE OF STIMULUS CONTROL OVER LITTERING IN A NATURAL SETTING

A conventional litter receptacle (55-gallon drum) and a specially designed receptacle consisting of a 55-gallon drum adorned with a plywood “hat” were alternated in two areas of a football stadium over a period of four games. A frequency count of several types of litter articles showed that more than twice as many items were deposited within the experimental container than the conventional one (an average of 52.5 and 21.5 items per game, respectively). The weight of litter deposited within each container showed a similar relationship. An average of 0.65 kg of litter per game were deposited within the conventional receptacle compared with an average of 1.3 kg per game for the experimental receptacle.     

Infant state in relation to its environmental context

Two neonatal intensive care units (NICU) were observed every 15 minutes for at least 72 consecutive hours. Although infants on both NICUs were exposed to considerable amounts of stimulation, there were differences between the units for each environmental measure in the amount of stimulation and/or the pattern of circadian periodicity. The two NICUs also differed in the amount of time infants spent in various states and in the pattern of state periodicity. In general, the diurnal rhythms of the infant states were associated with the diurnal rhythms of different environmental events; furthermore, the patterns of association were not the same on the two NICUs. The results point to potential problems in depicting a “typical” NICU. More importantly, they suggest that the environmental of NICUs has a recognizable influence on aspects of their inhabitants' behavior and that the nature of influence is different from NICU to NICU. The effects are potentially significant for physical, social, and cognitive development.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Personal and Rhythmic‐Motor‐Activity Tempo in Children: A Twin Study

In this study, we investigated the degree to which genetics and environmental factors influence the tempo and tempo stability of rhythmic motor activity in young children, using a twin study design. A total of 116 twin children, aged 4 years, were asked to strike two small clash cymbals together in a cyclical manner, in three phases. In the first phase, children were asked to maintain a comfortable personal tempo of rhythmic motor activity (spontaneous motor phase). In contrast, in the other phases, children were required to synchronize rhythmic motor activity in response to the timing of a stimulus tone, or a memorized tempo. Large additive genetic, although negligible shared environmental influences, were observed in the spontaneous motor phase. However, environmental factors were estimated in the other two phases, while the additive genetic factor was nearly zero. These results indicate that the extent of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in rhythmic motor activity can be modulated under different situations.