Boring Infinite Descent

In formal ontology, infinite regresses are generally considered a bad sign. One debate where such regresses come into play is the debate about fundamentality. Arguments in favour of some type of fundamentalism are many, but they generally share the idea that infinite chains of ontological dependence must be ruled out. Some motivations for this view are assessed in this article, with the conclusion that such infinite chains may not always be vicious. Indeed, there may even be room for a type of fundamentalism combined with infinite descent as long as this descent is “boring,” that is, the same structure repeats ad infinitum. A start is made in the article towards a systematic account of this type of infinite descent. The philosophical prospects and scientific tenability of the account are briefly evaluated using an example from physics.     

Between Dolev and Dummett: Some Comments on ‘Antirealism,Presentism and Bivalence’

Abstract

It is well known that, according to some, philosophical reflection on zombies (i.e. bodies without minds) poses a problem for physicalism. But what about ghosts, i.e., minds without bodies? Does philosophical reflection on them pose a problem for physicalism? Descartes, of course, thought so, and lately rumours have been surfacing that has was right after all, that ghosts pose a problem for both a priori and a posteriori physicalism, and for any kind of physicalism in between. This paper argues that physicalists have nothing to fear from ghosts, since the central consideration employed to motivate ghostly arguments against physicalism – i.e. that ghosts are conceivable – is false: ghosts aren’t conceivable.     

‘Make sure you keep our house safe!’ Thematic analysis of a children's psychotherapy group

This paper describes a systematic thematic analysis of one particular latency-aged children's group and includes a discussion about potentially helpful outcomes measures. The impetus for our small, practice-based qualitative research project came from the two papers by Reid (1999) and Canham (2002) about children's psychotherapy groups, particularly Canham's (2002) paper, ‘Group and gang states of mind’. Canham and Reid used Bion's theories of group functioning as the basis of their technique with children's groups. We felt that it would be an interesting follow-on from Reid and Canham's findings to explore in some detail the specific therapeutic factors involved in a shift from paranoid–schizoid to depressive functioning in group therapy. We hoped that this might give us some helpful clinical indications as to the circumstances in which group rather than individual psychotherapy and parallel parent work should be considered as the treatment of choice. The paper concentrates exclusively on group work with latency-aged children, therefore referring mainly to the limited number of papers published about psychoanalytic group therapy with this age group.     

社会判断内容的基本维度研究

社会判断在内容上存在热情与能力两个基本维度,前一个维度是对他人意图的反映,后一个维度是对他人能力的反映。首先对社会判断基本维度的命名进行剖析,接着梳理了社会判断中热情和能力存在的三种关系:热情优先、晕轮效应和补偿效应。最后,从判断者、被判断者等方面出发,回顾了影响热情和能力关系的主要因素。在此基础上,从研究内容、研究方法、毕生发展、文化差异等方面提出了未来研究的方向。     

SHIFTING BETWEEN ALTERNATIVE MODES OF COGNITION: CAN FREE ASSOCIATION,IN AND OF ITSELF,PROVE THERAPEUTIC?

From early on in his career, at the time of his treatment of Frau Emmy von N., Freud (Breuer and Freud 1895) recognized the value of listening to the patient's material without attempting to steer it along a particular course. His focus on the method of freie Einfalle (free association), to be presented to the patient as the fundamental rule of analytic treatment, led to his recommendation that the analyst listen with evenly suspended attention (Freud 1912 ). But is free association therapeutic in and of itself? The author proposes an affirmative reply to this question based on the contribution of free association to the patient's nascent ability to shift between active and passive modes of cognition.     

自我知觉视角和元知觉视角下能动性评价对自尊的预测作用

本研究探讨自我知觉视角和元知觉视角下社会认知基本维度对自尊的预测作用。研究1中36名被试同时完成自我知觉和元知觉视角下的能动性和社群性评价任务,结果发现仅有自我知觉视角下的能动性评价能预测自尊,元知觉视角下能动性评价对自尊的预测作用被自我知觉视角下的能动性评价所中介;研究2中120名被试完成自我知觉视角评价任务,另120名被试完成元知觉视角评价任务,结果发现无论是自我知觉视角还是元知觉视角,能动性评价都能预测自尊,而社群性评价对自尊没有预测作用,这表明能动性评价能预测个体的自尊。     

Stereokinetic phenomena revisited: The oscillating tilted bar, the swinging gate and the vertical contracting bar

We present here a revised version of our mathematical modelling of the stereokinetic phenomena known as the “oscillating tilted bar”, the “swinging gate” and the stereokinetic phenomenon elicited by a vertical, periodically contracting line segment simultaneously undergoing a lateral displacement from left to right and conversely in the frontal plane of an observer. The criticisms of Liu, Z. [(2004). On the minimal relative motion principle—The oscillating tilted bar. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 48, 196-198] and Rokers and Liu [(2004). On the minimal relative motion principle—Lateral displacement of a contracting bar. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 48, 292-295.] helped us in reformulating our models, eliminating discrepancies and ambiguities. Characteristic of the present modelling is the clear definition of a multi-stage mathematical procedure matching different requirements posed by the Visual System, as we know them from our experimental observations.     

Harmony and Autonomy in Classical Logic

Michael Dummett and Dag Prawitz have argued that a constructivist theory of meaning depends on explicating the meaning of logical constants in terms of the theory of valid inference, imposing a constraint of harmony on acceptable connectives. They argue further that classical logic, in particular, classical negation, breaks these constraints, so that classical negation, if a cogent notion at all, has a meaning going beyond what can be exhibited in its inferential use.I argue that Dummett gives a mistaken elaboration of the notion of harmony, an idea stemming from a remark of Gerhard Gentzen"s. The introduction-rules are autonomous if they are taken fully to specify the meaning of the logical constants, and the rules are harmonious if the elimination-rule draws its conclusion from just the grounds stated in the introduction-rule. The key to harmony in classical logic then lies in strengthening the theory of the conditional so that the positive logic contains the full classical theory of the conditional. This is achieved by allowing parametric formulae in the natural deduction proofs, a form of multiple-conclusion logic.     

The association between implicit theories of personality and the attributional process

The influence of implicit theories of personality (entity vs. incremental theorists; see Dweck, Chiu and Hong, 1995) on the stages of the Sequential Operations Model of attribution (Gilbert, Pelham, and Krull, 1988) was investigated. Two hundred eighty Norwegian participants were given a Norwegian translation of the implicit personality theories measure. Participants then read two essays, one advocating the pro-life position and the other advocating the pro-choice position on the abortion issue. The essay positions were ostensibly assigned rather than freely chosen by the author. After each essay, participants were asked to rate the essay position and the true attitude of the author. Entity and incremental theorists showed no differences in their ratings of the essay position; however, entity theorists made significantly stronger correspondent inferences about the author's attitude than did incremental theorists. These results support the contention that entity theorists engage in less attributional correction than incremental theorists.     

Difficult Patients in Group Analysis: The Personification of (ba) I:A/M

Following a discussion of the treatment of difficult patients in group analysis, two theories are proposed concerning a fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of groups, called Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M and the personification of basic assumption processes, in particular that of (ba) I:A/M by difficult patients. These theories are illustrated with clinical data. Special attention is given to crustacean and amoeboid forms of encapsulation as a defence against the fear of annihilation within the context of the traumatogenic process. It is suggested that for difficult patients the treatment of choice is dyadic psychotherapy/psychoanalysis followed by group analysis.