《周易》象理无隔视野下的船山经学观

王船山学宗张载,以易学为入路构建起形上学体系。他从易学最基本的象理问题出发,提出了“《易》之全体在象, 象理一体无隔”的易学基本理念,并据此导出“即象以见理”的易学方法论。他以此象理无隔的易学视野和方法来统摄《六经》,进一步得出了“《五经》皆象,《易》统其理”的经学观,并主张治经要以训诂为根基,以义理为标的,从而使他的经学呈现出汉宋兼采并治的学术特色。     

Supporting the formal verification of mathematical texts

The formal verification of mathematical texts is one of the most interesting applications for computer systems. In fact, we argue that the expert language of mathematics is the natural choice for achieving efficient mathematician–machine interaction. Our empirical approach, the analysis of carefully authored textbook proofs, forces us to focus on the language and the reasoning pattern that mathematician use when presenting proofs to colleagues and students. Enabling a machine to understand and follow such language and argumentation is seen to be the key to usable and acceptable math assistant systems. In this paper, we first perform an analysis of three textbook proofs by hand; we then describe a computational framework that aims at mechanising such an analysis. The resulting proof-of-concept implementation is capable of processing simple textbook proofs and constitutes promising steps towards a natural mathematician–machine interface for proof development and verification.     

小学生数学应用题解题水平影响因素的研究——视空间能力、认知方式及表征方式的影响

研究采用3(年级)×2(场认知方式)×2(视空间能力水平)×3(问题表征方式)四因素混合实验设计,探讨了这四种因素对小学生数学应用题解题水平的影响。结果表明:年级、认知方式、空间能力以及问题表征方式均是影响小学生应用题解决水平的关键因素;问题表征方式、认知方式、空间能力以及年级四个因素对小学生解题水平存在交互作用,其中图形提示有利于场依存性学生解题水平的提高,低空间-场依存型的学生更适合图形提示;高空间-场依存型的学生随年级升高解题能力发展较快,而低空间-场依存型的学生解题水平提高较慢;随着年级的升高,图式表征对小学生问题解决的促进作用增强。     

东西方医学伦理思维之共通性

从中国古代医者的行医事迹、著作来探寻中国的医者是否在行医过程当中勤守医者的本份,也即类似原则思维的表现。虽然中国古代并没有"医学伦理"这个名词,但从历代具有代表性之医者身上发现,其实在中国古代医者的行医事迹当中,就表现出类似的医学伦理情操。因之,医学伦理原则是俱普世价值的,也即世界上有所谓的共同道德存在。     

A model for residence time in concurrent variable interval performance

A component-functions model of choice behavior is proposed for performance on interdependent concurrent variable-interval (VI) variable-interval schedules based on the product of two component functions, one that enhances behavior and one that reduces behavior. The model is the solution to the symmetrical pair of differential equations describing behavioral changes with respect to two categories of reinforcers: enhancing and reducing, or excitatory and inhibitory. The model describes residence time in interdependent concurrent VI VI schedules constructed from arithmetic and exponential distributions. The model describes the data reported by Alsop and Elliffe (1988) and Elliffe and Alsop (1996) with a variance accounted for of 87% compared to 64% accounted for by the Davison and Hunter (1976) model and 42% by Herrnstein's (1970) hyperbola. The model can explain matching, undermatching, and overmatching in the same subject under different procedures and has the potential to be extended to performance on concurrent schedules with more than two alternatives, multiple schedules, and single schedules. Thus, it can be considered as an alternative to Herrnstein's quantitative law of effect.     

QUANTUM REALITY AND ETHOS: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT REGARDING THE FOUNDATION OF ETHICS IN COSMIC ORDER

The authors undertake a thought experiment the purpose of which is to explore possibilities for understanding moral principles in analogy with cosmic order. The experiment is based on three proposals, which are described in detail: an ontological, a neurological, and a moral proposal. The ontological proposal accepts from the phenomena of quantum physics that there is a nonempirical domain of physical reality that consists not of material things but of what is philosophically conceptualized as a realm of nonmaterial forms. This realm of forms is the realm of potentiality in physical reality that quantum physics posits as an indivisible Wholeness—the One. It is the ultimate reality because everything empirical is the actualization of its forms. The neurological proposal is the hypothesis that the brain is sensitive to the potentiality waves in the cosmic field, as ordinary measuring instruments in physics are sensitive to potentiality waves at the quantum level, so that the cosmic field can communicate with the human brain. The third proposal assumes that the communication with the cosmic field can translate into moral ideas and actions. Even though the three proposals underlying the thought experiment are highly speculative, they lead to definite implications that make sense in their own right and can be applied in a useful way. From the order of reality some simple rules of conduct follow that are identical with traditional moral rules but have the character of rules of well‐ness, leading to new aspects of Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia and Kant's concept of the highest good. In analogy with the structure of physical reality, where all empirical phenomena are actualizations of nonempirical forms, it is suggested that the structure of morality, too, is that of a tacit, nonempirical form that actualizes in explicit principles and moral acts through our consciousness. The tacit form is thought to exist in the realm of cosmic potentiality, together with all the other forms that the empirical world actualizes. It can appear spontaneously in our consciousness when needed, offering its guidance to our judgment and free will. Because it does not appear in the form of commandments accompanied by threats, the actions of the tacit moral form define a higher level of morality, similar to that offered by some aspects of the Christian teaching, where one acts not out of fear but on the desire to do things right.     

Better safe than sorry: Precautionary reasoning and implied dominance in risky decisions

In four studies, student and nonstudent participants evaluated the possible outcomes of binary decisions involving health, safety, and environmental risks (e.g., whether to issue a dam‐failure evacuation order). Many participants indicated that false positives (e.g., evacuation, but no dam failure) were better than true negatives (e.g., no evacuation and no dam failure), thereby implying that the more protective action dominated the less protective action. A common rationale for this response pattern was the precautionary maxim “better safe than sorry.” Participants apparently evaluated outcomes partly on the basis of the decisions that might lead to them, in conflict with consequentialist decision models. Consistent with this explanation, the prevalence of implied dominance decreased substantially when the emphasis on decisions was reduced. These results demonstrate that an initial preference for a decision alternative can alter the evaluation of possible consequences of both the preferred alternative and a competing alternative, suggesting positive feedback loops that reinforce the initial preference. The rationality of considering the decision itself as an attribute of possible outcomes is discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From a necessary being to god

Not a lot of work on theistic arguments has been devoted to drawing connections between a necessary being and theistic properties. In this paper, I identify novel paths from a necessary being to certain theistic properties: volition, infinite power, infinite knowledge, and infinite goodness. The steps in those paths are an outline for future work on what William Rowe (The Cosmological Argument, 1975, p. 6) has called “stage II” of the cosmological argument.     

CONSTRUCTING AND DERIVING RECIPROCAL TRIGONOMETRIC RELATIONS: A FUNCTIONAL ANALYTIC APPROACH

Participants were pretrained and tested on mutually entailed trigonometric relations and combinatorially entailed relations as they pertained to positive and negative forms of sine, cosine, secant, and cosecant. Experiment 1 focused on training and testing transformations of these mathematical functions in terms of amplitude and frequency followed by tests of novel relations. Experiment 2 addressed training in accordance with frames of coordination (same as) and frames of opposition (reciprocal of) followed by more tests of novel relations. All assessments of derived and novel formula‐to‐graph relations, including reciprocal functions with diversified amplitude and frequency transformations, indicated that all 4 participants demonstrated substantial improvement in their ability to identify increasingly complex trigonometric formula‐to‐graph relations pertaining to same as and reciprocal of to establish mathematically complex repertoires.     

The genesis of reading ability: What helps children learn letter-sound correspondences?

Knowledge of letter-sound correspondences underpins successful reading acquisition, and yet little is known about how young children acquire this knowledge and what prior information they bring to the learning process. In this study, we used an experimental training design to examine whether either prior letter awareness or prior phonemic awareness directly assists preliterate children in subsequently learning letter-sound correspondences. Here 76 preschoolers received 6 weeks of training in either letter awareness, phonemic awareness, or control tasks and then received a further 6 weeks of training in either letter-sound correspondences or control tasks. There was limited evidence that prior training in either phoneme or letter awareness directly assisted learning of letter-sound correspondences, although phonemically trained children appeared to show some advantage on recognition tasks. Overall, the data suggest that there is little value in training preschoolers in either letter forms or sounds in isolation in advance of providing instruction on the links between the two.