Plato's Criticism of the ``Democratic Man' in the Republic

The article discusses two puzzles about Plato's account of the democratic person: (1) unlike his account of the democratic city, his characterization of a democratic person is markedly incorrect. (2) His criticism of a person so characterized is criticism of a straw man. The article argues that the first puzzle is resolved if we see it as a result of Plato's assumption that a democratic person is a person whose soul is isomorphic to a democratic constitution. Such a person has a desire satisfaction theory of good and adopts liberty and equality of desires as a basis for action. The article then argues that Plato's criticism brings up two problems endemic to desire satisfaction theories of good, the problem of bad desires and the problem of conflicts of desires. The criticism is that the democratic person's way of dealing with these problems, by applying the social principles of liberty and equality to his desires, is irrational.     

Latent class models for nonmonotone dichotomous items

Starting from perfectly discriminating nonmonotone dichotomous items, a class of probabilistic models with or without response errors and with or without intrinsically unscalable respondents is described. All these models can be understood as simply restricted latent class analysis. Thus, the estimation and identifiability of the parameters (class sizes and item latent probabilities) as well as the chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests (Pearson and likelihood-ratio) are free of the problems. The applicability of the proposed variants of latent class models is demonstrated on real attitudinal data.This research was supported by the Kulturamt der Stadt Wien, Magistratsabteilung 7.The author wishes to thank the editor, Ivo W. Molenaar, as well as Clifford C. Clogg and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this paper.     

求真与致善——荀子正名理论新探

荀子的正名理论不仅接续孔子的正名传统,也有对诸子之学的扬弃,在正名理论中荀子借鉴了名家、墨家的理论,丽他们也是萄子批评最多的。荀子的正名理论主要体现在《正名》篇中。其中他讨论了名的分类、名的作用、制名的原则等,并对“三惑”等不正之名进行了批判。他认为名的主要作用在于“明贵贱”与“辨同异”,“贵贱”关乎价值,“同异”关乎事实,萄子就通过名联接了事实与价值。“辨同异”在乎求“真”,“明贵贱”在乎求“善”,而荀子又认为“明贵贱”高于“辨同异”,从而把名学引向伦理、政治之域。     

“FILL AND SUBDUE”? IMAGING GOD IN NEW SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTS

While the social and ecological landscape of the twenty‐first century is worlds away from the historical‐cultural context in which the biblical myth‐symbols of the image of God and the knowledge of good and evil first emerged, Philip Hefner's understanding that Homo sapiens image God as created co‐creators presents a plausible starting point for constructing a second naïveté interpretation of biblical anthropology and a fruitful concept for envisioning and enacting our human future.     

The Moral Argument for the Existence of God and Immortality

This essay tries to show that there exist several passages where Kierkegaard (and his pseudonyms) sketches an argument for the existence of God and immortality that is remarkably similar to Kant's so‐called moral argument for the existence of God and immortality. In particular, Kierkegaard appears to follow Kant's moral argument both when it comes to the form and content of the argument as well as some of its terminology. The essay concludes that several passages in Kierkegaard overlap significantly with Kant's moral argument, although Kierkegaard ultimately favors revealed faith over natural theology in general and Kant's moral faith in particular. Whereas Kant uses the moral argument to postulate the existence of God and immortality, Kierkegaard mainly uses it as a reductio ad absurdum of non‐religious thinking.     

New Digital Technologies: A Kairos for Catholic Education in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

While the Catholic Church in Rwanda endeavors to revitalize Catholic Education, the Government of Rwanda is trying to leverage the use of digital technologies to raise access, improve the quality, and strengthen the relevance of education and training to the labor market. The purpose of this article is therefore to explore and assess the value and potentially constructive educational benefits offered by digital technologies in Catholic schools. The Catholic Church is one of the key educational development partners of the Government of Rwanda. Approximately 41% of students attend Catholic schools in Rwanda. The article scrutinizes some ethical concerns associated with the emergence of digital technologies in schools. Then it critically analyzes the position of the Catholic Church vis-à-vis digital technologies and sheds some light on their ethical and responsible use in Catholic schools. Consequently, the article suggests some actions that may be undertaken by the Catholic Church in order to assist the youth to make an informed choice among a diverse range of options offered by digital technologies in a way that aligns with the Catholic social teaching and tradition.     

信任还是设防？互动博弈中社会善念对合作行为的促进效应

社会善念是个体在人际互动中充满善意地关注、尊重并保护他人选择的需要和权利的行为,通过实施社会善念有助于提升他人的合作行为。为检验这一假设,本实验设置了“施—受”双方的互动博弈情境,采用“物品选择游戏”操纵实施者的社会善念水平,分别利用信任博弈和公共物品游戏测查接受者在互动过程中的信任水平和合作行为。结果发现：相比于低社会善念组,被试在高社会善念组中表现出更高的信任水平和合作行为。进一步路径分析也发现,信任在感知社会善念与合作行为间发挥着部分中介作用。由此可见,社会善念行为的实施为互动双方建立信任关系提供了重要线索,降低了人们时时“设防”的监控动机,使合作带来的利益双赢成为可能。     

耻感与存在

本文从存在本体论维度审视耻与耻感。耻以否定性方式表达了人的内在规定性,耻感则是以否定性方式把握善。耻感形成于对善、自我及二者差距的自觉意识。耻感是一种积极的道德情感,它既是道德自律的内在根据,亦是道德义务、责任、良心的特殊存在方式。有耻无违是社会风尚清明的基本条件之一。     

Ecology Needs Theology

A primary purpose of theology is the explication of the relationship of Creation to the transcendent for the sake of responsible action in the world. Environmental policy arenas need a perspective that can take them beyond a more limited utilitarianism. Ecology needs theology. We can appreciate to a much greater extent today than we could a generation ago that all theologies are products of particular people within particular social, cultural, historical, geographical situations. To do theology adequately, it is clearer now that many perspectives must be considered—both within and outside one's own tradition. Theology must be conversational. One's assertions of values and proposed actions must be weighed against the assertions of others. Only through such engagement will theology be meaningful to lives that must be lived with integrity in a world of manifold ambiguities. That world is the whole world in which human community is sustained and to which human beings are responsible. The practical effects of theological engagement will be to help us all find a better “common good” than may be obtained otherwise.     

麦金太尔论社会关系、共同利益与个人利益

我们从出生到死亡都处在一种接受与给予的关系中 ,我们从谁那里接受和给予谁往往是不对称的。这是我们参与到这个网络中不得不懂得的。在这个接受与给予的关系中 ,有我们的共同利益和我们个人的利益。同时 ,处在这样一种关系中 ,也需要我们遵守相应的德性规则。