Group Wrongs and Guilt Feelings

Can it ever be appropriate to feel guilt just because one's group has acted badly? Some say no, citing supposed features of guilt feelings as such. If one understands group action according to my plural subject account of groups, however, one can argue for the appropriateness of feeling guilt just because one's group has acted badly - a feeling that often occurs. In so arguing I sketch the plural subject account of groups, group intentions and group actions: for a group to intend (in the relevant sense) is for its members to be jointly committed to intend that such-and-such as a body. Individual group members need not be directly involved in the formation of the intention in order to participate in such a joint commitment. The core concept of joint commitment is in an important way holistic, not being reducible to a set of personal commitments over which each party holds sway. Parties to a group intention so understood can reasonably see the resulting action as "ours" as opposed to "theirs" and thus appropriately respond to the action's badness with a feeling of guilt, even when they themselves are morally innocent in the matter. I label the feeling in question a feeling of "membership guilt." A number of standard philosophical claims about the nature of guilt feelings are thrown into question by my argument.     

婴儿共同注意能力的发展

本研究采用严格的实验室测验法,从年龄趋势、学习能力、性别差异三方面考察了8～11个月婴儿共同注意能力的发展。结果表明：1）婴儿的共同注意力在8～11个月间逐步提高,9个月左右出现显著的发展性变化,但1岁以前,该能力的发展水平都较低;2）就共同注意而言,婴儿具有从练习经验中学习的可能性,且学习能力存在年龄差异,8个月的婴儿基本不能从练习中受益,而8个月以上的其他三组婴儿在练习后共同注意水平都有不同程度的提高;3）总体而言,女婴共同注意能力的发展水平显著地高于男婴。     

Reviews

Russell,Robert John, Murphy, Nancey and Peacocke, Arthur R. (eds) Chaos and Complexity: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action
Tigue, John W. The Transformation of Consciousness in Myth: Integrating the Thought of Jung and Campbell     

Minds and Bodies: Human and Divine

Does God have a mind? Western theism has traditionally construed God as an intentional agent who acts on creation and in relation to humankind. God loves, punishes, and redeems. God's intentionality has traditionally been construed in analogy to human intentionality, which in turn has often presumed a supernatural dualism. Developments in cognitive science, however, render supernatural dualism suspect for explaining the human mind. How, then, can we speak of the mind of God? Borrowing from Daniel Dennett's intentional stance, I suggest that analogical reasoning regarding the mind of God be abandoned in favor of an ontologically agnostic approach that treats God as an intentional system. In this approach, God's purposive action is an explanatory feature of the believer's universe, a real pattern that informs our values and beliefs about the world and our place in it.     

COSMOLOGY FROM ALPHA TO OMEGA

Abstract. This paper focuses on four passages in the journey of the universe from beginning to end: its origin in the Big Bang, the production of heavy elements in first generation stars, the buzzing symphony of life on earth, and the distant future of the cosmos. As a physicist and a Christian theologian, I will ask how each of these passages casts light on the deepest questions of existence and our relation to God, and in turn how these questions are being explored through ongoing research into the interaction between Christian theology and the natural sciences.     

The holocaust of first nation people: Residual effects on parenting and treatment implications

The residential school experience was devastating for many First Nation (Indian) people. The lingering effects of this era have been far reaching and remain painfully evident throughout Native communities. One of the more obvious areas directly affected has been parenting. This paper discusses current parenting difficulties of Native clients who were formerly in residential schools. A connection is made between the abuse experienced by these individuals and their parental struggles. Along with addressing various sociopolitical issues, a number of clinical interventions designed to promote the healing process of these victims and their families are provided and discussed.     

Procedural dependence in action memory: Effects of verb form and individual vs group conditions

Two experiments explored whether the magnitude of the enactment effect in action memory (i. e., higher recall with motor than with non-motor encoding) may depend upon the use of individual or group testing procedures. Nonmotor encoding instructions, requiring the subjects to listen to orally presented action items, were compared to instructions which also required enactment. With encoding treated as a within-subject factor, the observations failed to reveal any significant difference between individual and group testing. With encoding treated as a between-subject factor, the results showed an interaction between test and encoding conditions, such that an enactment effect was found only with group testing. Different support value for auditory cues in group and individual test situations was assumed to account for this difference. In a third experiment the indicative and imperative verb forms were compared. An interaction was observed, showing that in Norwegian, enacted verbs were remembered better when presented in the indicative than in the imperative. No corresponding difference was found under non-enactment conditions. For this finding, a social interaction interpretation was offered.     

Is community necessary? Quasi-philosophical ruminations

In responding to and examining Mary Anne Raywid's (1989) adoption of community building as an aim for schools, I survey a number of types of communities, including recreational, intentional and language communities. In considering all these communities, I try to show both the power of communities in our personal lives and some idea of why we might be of two minds about promoting community as an ideal in the modern world and in schools in particular.     

结果预期与结果反应对儿童意图认知和道德判断的影响

考察了结果预期与结果反应对儿童意图认知和道德判断的影响。结果表明,结果预期影响幼儿园和小学儿童的意图认知,结果反应仅影响幼儿园儿童的意图认知;结果预期和结果反应显著地影响幼儿园和小学儿童的道德判断,但结果预期对小学儿童道德判断的影响要比结果反应大。