Toward a Confucian Ethic of the Gift

In this essay I discuss how the relational ethic characteristic of Classical Confucianism articulates an ethic of gift exchange. I first discuss the tradition that Confucius appropriated and show that the gift was utilized to form, maintain, and symbolize social relationships in Shang, Zhou, and Warring States China. I then go on to discuss the implications of this view by addressing two difficulties of gift exchange that are often discussed in the literature: the use of gifts to indebt or control others and the inability of the gift to fully express one’s sentiments. This essay not only shows that Confucian ethics has much to say on the matter but also demonstrates that ritual action is still relevant in modern contexts.     

循环经济分析框架下的企业社会责任

循环经济与传统线性经济不同,它是经济增长方式的一场革命.从历史上看,在不同的经济社会发展阶段,企业社会责任现有着不同的内涵.在市场经济的发展过程中,人们对企业的社会责任的认识经历了一个由古典社会责任观到现代企业社会责任现的演变过程.循环经济作为一种经济发展方式,一种影响社会发展方式的理论,直接影响鲥对企业社会责任的诠释.循环经济分析框架下的企业社会责任增添了许多新内涵.     

经济伦理道德建设：对市场经济的适应和超越

社会主义市场经济发展的现实要求我们必须加强经济伦理学道德建设。经济伦理道德建设必须建立在对市场经济的适应和超越这两个层面上 ,实现构想一种最低要求和最高要求相结合、广泛性和先进性相结合、现实性和理想性相结合的经济伦理道德价值体系 ,为进一步完善和发展社会主义市场经济体系 ,为实现社会主义四个现代化提供坚实的经济伦理保障。     

论我国社会经济与道德的协调发展

经济与道德的协调发展 ,对于我国社会发展来说 ,不仅在于它是我国社会发展历史经验的忠告 ;更在于它是我国社会发展的内在根据、现实要求和基本规律 ;还必须选择现实的实现途径 ,一是作出制度安排和政策选择 ,二是作为有机统一的实践过程 ,三是变成每个社会成员的精神、心理和行动。     

Comments on Where the Creativity Research Has Been and Where Is It Going

This Commentary examines where the creativity research has been and where it is going. They key points include evolving definitions of creativity, interdisciplinarity in the creativity research, divergent thinking as a reliable index of creative potential, improvements in testing, the impact of technology, the inclusion of political, moral, and everyday creativity in the research, the use of semantic networks and conceptual maps, the creative economy, and the need to extricate personal creativity from social recognition.     

The Genealogy of “Empirical Post-structuralist” STS,Retold in Two Conjunctures: The Legacy of Hegel and Althusser

Recent discussions in science and technology studies (STS) about the risks of science and technology have led to political economy occupying centre stage. Closely related to political economy as a field of investigation are a number of overarching concepts, such as class, capitalism and interest. However, reliance on such concepts is rejected in post-Actor Network Theory STS. This stand-off over overarching categories can be traced back to two conjuntures in the genealogy of STS. First, the influence of Hegel and his concept of “totality”; and second, the influence from anti-hegelian French epistemology with its celebration of the opposite concept, that of “multiplicity”.     

A systematic evaluation of token economies as a classroom management tool for students with challenging behavior

A two-part systematic review was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of token economies in increasing rates of appropriate classroom behavior for students demonstrating behavioral difficulties. The first part of the review utilized the recently published What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards for evaluating single-subject research to determine the extent to which eligible studies demonstrated sufficient evidence to classify the token economy as an evidence-based practice. The second part of the review employed meta-analytic techniques across four different types of effect sizes to evaluate the quantitative strength of the findings. Methodological strengths and weaknesses across the studies were systematically investigated. Results indicated that the extant research on token economies does not provide sufficient evidence to be deemed best-practice based on the WWC criteria.     

The effects of session length on demand functions generated using FR schedules

In comparing open and closed economies, researchers often arrange shorter sessions under the former condition than under the latter. Several studies indicate that session length per se can affect performance and there are some data that indicate that this variable can influence demand functions. To provide further data, the present study exposed domestic hens to series of increasing fixed-ratio schedules with the length of the open-economy sessions varied over 10, 40, 60, and 120 min. Session time affected the total-session response rates and pause lengths. The shortest session gave the greatest response rates and shortest pauses and the longest gave the lowest response rates and longest pauses. The total-session demand functions also changed with session length: The shortest session gave steeper initial slopes (i.e., the functions were more elastic at small ratios) and smaller rates of change of elasticity than the longest session. Response rates, pauses, and demand functions were, however, similar for equivalent periods of responding taken from within sessions of different overall lengths (e.g., total-session data for 10-min sessions and the data for the first 10 min of 120-min sessions). These findings suggest that differences in session length can confound the results of studies comparing open and closed economies when those economies are arranged in sessions that differ substantially in length, hence data for equivalent-length periods of responding, rather than total-session data, should be of primary interest under these conditions.     

Uncommon Schools: Stanley Cavell and the Teaching of Walden

Thoreau’s Walden is a text that has been misinterpreted in various ways, one consequence of which is a failure to appreciate its significance as a perfectionist and visionary text for education. This paper explores aspects of what might be called its teaching, especially via the kind of teaching that is offered by Stanley Cavell’s commentary, The Senses of Walden. Walden is considered especially in the light of its conception of language as the “father-tongue” and of the ideas of continual rebirth and departure that are associated with this. References to teaching and learning abound in the book, but it is Thoreau’s specific reference to the need for “uncommon schools” that provides a focus for the present discussion. Paul Standish is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Sheffield. His recent books include The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Education (2003), co-edited with Nigel Blake, Paul Smeyers and Richard Smith. He is Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education and Co-editor of the online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy of Education.