Commitment using punishment.

Experimental parameters were adjusted so that pigeons' pairwise choices among three alternatives reflected the following order of preference: (a) a smaller-sooner reinforcer, (b) a larger-later reinforcer, and (c) the smaller-sooner reinforcer followed by a punishment (consisting of an extended blackout period). After this order of preference was established, the pigeons were exposed to a two-link, concurrent-chain-like choice procedure. One terminal link consisted of a choice between the smaller-sooner and the larger-later reinforcer; the other terminal link was identical to the first except that the smaller-sooner reinforcer was followed by blackout punishment. The pigeons' preference (in their initial-link choice) for the terminal link with the punished smaller-sooner alternative increased as the delay between the initial and terminal links increased. By choosing this terminal link, the pigeons are said to have "committed" themselves to obtaining the larger-later reinforcer. However, unlike prior studies of commitment (e.g., Rachlin & Green, 1972), it was still possible after making the commitment for the pigeons to choose the smaller-sooner reinforcer and undergo the punishment. The pigeons did in fact occasionally make this highly deleterious choice.     

Particularism and the Point of Moral Principles

According to radical moral particularists such as Jonathan Dancy, there are no substantive moral principles. And yet, few particularists wish to deny that something very like moral principles do indeed play a significant role in our everyday moral practice. Loathe at dismissing this as mere error on the part of everyday moral agents, particularists have proposed a number of alternative accounts of the practice. The aim of all of these accounts is to make sense of our appeal to general moral truths in both reaching and justifying our particular moral judgments without thereby violating the particularists' stricture against substantive moral principles. In this paper, I argue that the most prominent non-substantive accounts of moral generalities appealed to by radical particularists – the heuristic account and default reasons accounts – fail in this aim.     

Hermeneutics and Experiences of the Body. The Case of Low Back Pain

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the notion of clinical medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise and to bridge the gap between the general perspectives of hermeneutics and the particularities of medical practice. The case of a patient with low back pain is analyzed. The discussion centers around the metaphor of the patient as a text and a model of five social discourses about low back pain. The problems addressed are: (1) the nature of a moral experience, (2) the variety of available texts, (3) the difference between the doctor's and patient's narratives, and (4) the patient's and doctor's responsibility regarding the existential, biographical meaning of an illness. Although many problems are left unsolved, it is argued that from a philosophical point of view the notion of medicine as a hermeneutical enterprise opens up the possibility of gaining insight in the foundations of the clinical encounter.     

全球性道德危机与道德重建——麦金泰尔道德哲学意蕴

作为当代西方道德伦理学家的麦金太尔,一直以来都关注着社会伦理道德理论研究与现实状况：本文正是对其在道德危机领域的研究做了简单的梳理,对其关于当今全球性道德危机产生的根源及其重建进行了归纳与概括,     

试论以人为本的道德价值观

以人为本的道德价值观,也就是以人的属性、人的思维和人的境界为理论出发点的道德价值观。人的属性有主体性、社会性、自然性、精神性之分。人的思维具有个体本位、社群本位、自然本位、信仰本位四个维层。人的境界有伟人、英雄、模范、先进、普通之区别。     

朱熹《大学章句》道德教育理论的当代启示

朱熹对《大学》研究有很大贡献,《大学章句》道德教育理论在道德教育的理论基础、道德教育目的、道德教育过程、道德教育规范、道德教育方法等逻辑要素方面有丰富的内容,《大学章句》展示的中国古代道德教育模式为当代公民道德建设尤其是大学生思想政治教育提供了文化滋养。     

苏格拉底真的认为"美德即知识"吗?

根据史料,我们并不能确认苏格拉底真的认为美德即知识,而“美德即知识”在苏格拉底时代是一个比较含混的命题,并没有准确表达苏格拉底关于美德和知识关系的看法。     

儒家伦理中的自律

儒家伦理是否自律,不少学者对此问题进行过深入的探讨,但结论却莫衷一是。该文通过比较儒家伦理中所体现的自主性因素和西方哲学中的“自律”概念,认为学者们的分歧主要在于对西方哲学中“自律”概念的两个构成因素的不同侧重。儒家伦理中不存在作为个人权利基础的“自律”,但在作为道德理想的意义上则的确可说是“自律”的。儒家的“自律”观为我们提供了一个更接近自然主义的人的观念。     

小学生道德自我觉知与情绪体验的关系及影响因素

该研究采用道德情境故事问卷,以192名小学生为被试,考察了道德自我觉知与情绪体验的关系及其影响因素。结果发现:(1)小学生道德自我觉知的内容和程度与其情绪体验的性质紧密相关;(2)行为情境对小学生的道德自我觉知具有普遍影响,行为意图对小学生的道德自我觉知具有特定影响。     

Letters, Notes, & Comments

Includes:
G. Simon Harak, S.J., Commenting on Recent Studies in Aquinas's Virtue Ethic: A Review Essay by Jean Porter
James F. Keenan, S.J., Commenting on Recent Studies in Aquinas's Virtue Ethic: A Review Essay by Jean Porter
The author replies... by Jean Porter, author of Recent Studies in Aquinas's Virtue Ethic: A Review Essay