Temporal Relations vs. Logical Reduction: A Phenomenal Theory of Causality

Kant, in various parts of his treatment of causality, refers to determinism or the principle of sufficient reason as an inescapable principle. In fact, in the Second Analogy we find the elements to reconstruct a purely phenomenal determinism as a logical and tautological truth. I endeavour in this article to gather these elements into an organic theory of phenomenal causality and then show, in the third section, with a specific argument which I call the “paradox of phenomenal observation”, that this phenomenal determinism is the only rational approach to causality because any logico-reductivistic approach, such as the Humean one, would destroy the temporal order and so the very possibility to talk of a causal relation. I also believe that, all things said, Kant did not achieve a much greater comprehension of the problem than Hume did, in his theory of causality, for he did not free a phenomenal approach from the impasse of reductivism as his reflections on “simultaneous causation” and “vanishing quantities” indeed show, and this I will argue in Sect. 4 of this article.

War-Related Dream Themes in Germany from 1956 to 2000

Based on the continuity hypothesis of dreaming, the effects of World War II on the dreams of German persons have been studied. The present study included four representative samples from 1956 to 2000 (repeated cross-sectional surveys). Although a decline of war-related dream themes over time was found, the heightened rate of these themes in the oldest age group (60 years and older) in the year 2000 indicate the long-lasting effect of emotionally salient life experiences on dreams. The present findings indicate that the method of dream content analysis is a very informative approach to study the effects of political events on the inner life of people and, thus, of value for the field of political science.     

Broadcasting of violence on Spanish television: a quantitative panorama

A quantitative analysis of broadcasted violence by the main television (TV) channels transmitting for Madrid (Spain) was carried out using a novel method that randomly selects fragments of delimited duration from TV broadcasts. The device selects acts of aggression shown in those TV extracts, and classifies them according to their type. There was a high incidence of aggressive acts, especially physical (particularly leading to death), in TV fiction: films, serials and promos. The device also allowed examination of the prominence of aggression in children's programs, as well as showing minimal variation in the number of aggressive acts over screened time intervals. The pattern of the collected data suggests that the broadcasting of violence on TV emphasizes the conflicting elements of social reality, reproducing it in fiction, news reports and children's shows. Aggr. Behav. 32:137–145. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

学习与推行“恶性肿瘤诊治规范”是临床（肿瘤）医生紧迫而持久的任务

恶性肿瘤是迄今威胁人民生命健康最常见、最凶险的一大类疾病,关于它的诊断和治疗,既十分复杂而又涉及多学科协作,制定一种权威性的临床肿瘤诊治规范或指南,去规范临床(肿瘤)医生的医疗实践,有着多方面的重要意义,学习与贯彻指南需要采取一系列措施。     

从《论语》探析孔子素质教育思想的现代理论价值

人们普遍认为“素质教育”是一种新的教育模式,其实,早在两千多年前孔子就比较全面地提出了素质教育思想。《论语》正是孔子这一思想的集中体现。本文从教育对象、教育内容、教育方法诸方面总结孔子的素质教育思想,以利于深刻地理解素质教育的内涵,推进教育教学改革。     

Jerry Fodor on non-conceptual content

Proponents of non-conceptual content have recruited it for various philosophical jobs. Some epistemologists have suggested that it may play the role of “the given” that Sellars is supposed to have exorcised from philosophy. Some philosophers of mind (e.g., Dretske) have suggested that it plays an important role in the project of naturalizing semantics as a kind of halfway between merely information bearing and possessing conceptual content. Here I will focus on a recent proposal by Jerry Fodor. In a recent paper he characterizes non-conceptual content in a particular way and argues that it is plausible that it plays an explanatory role in accounting for certain auditory and visual phenomena. So he thinks that there is reason to believe that there is non-conceptual content. On the other hand, Fodor thinks that non-conceptual content has a limited role. It occurs only in the very early stages of perceptual processing prior to conscious awareness. My paper is examines Fodor’s characterization of non-conceptual content and his claims for its explanatory importance. I also discuss if Fodor has made a case for limiting non-conceptual content to non-conscious, sub-personal mental states. This paper has grown out of comments I made on Fodor’s paper “Revenge of the Given,” delivered at The Steven Humphrey Excellence in Philosophy Conference: “Content and Concepts: A Conference on the Philosophy of Mind” at the University of California, Santa Barbara, February 14, 2004. Thanks to Jerry Fodor for useful feedback, and to Barry Loewer for discussing with me the ideas that went into this paper.     

THOG问题促进效应研究

通过选取经典的THOG问题作为实验材料,探讨了大学生解决具体以及抽象选言推理问题的认知机制,结果发现:(1)具体内容的选言推理问题对抽象内容的选言推理问题有明显的促进效应,表现为先解决逃犯问题后解决THOG问题组的正确率显著高于先解决THOG问题后解决逃犯问题组;(2)提供笼统的解题策略对大学生解决THOG问题几乎没有促进作用。     

Relationship between psychological stress and lymphocytic 5′-ectonucleotidase

The relationship between psychological stress and lymphocytic 5-ectonucleotidase, an enzyme marker for lymphocyte differentiation, was studied. Lymphocytic 5-ectonucleotidase was decreased significantly by about twofold in persons experiencing psychological stress, with a corresponding change in Total Mood Disturbance scores of the Profile of Mood States. Enzyme values were reversible in that they returned to normal once the stress had been reduced. Administration of high doses of ascorbate to severely depressed patients also normalized 5-ectonucleotidase activities, and implied that low enzyme values in stressed persons may be mediated by oxygen radical damage. This finding was consistent with previous reports of heightened inflammatory responses occurring in depressed patients. The primary cause of lowered 5-ectonucleotidase during stress may be the breakdown in the homeostatic mechanisms of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and immune system resulting in lymphoid tissue resistance to corticosteroids. It is suggested that this lowering of lymphocyte 5-ectonucleotidase may contribute to stress-mediated immune suppression by inhibiting lymphocyte maturation.     

Bounded contraction and Gentzen-style formulation of Łukasiewicz logics

In this paper, we consider multiplicative-additive fragments of affine propositional classical linear logic extended with n-contraction. To be specific, n-contraction (n 2) is a version of the contraction rule where (n+ 1) occurrences of a formula may be contracted to n occurrences. We show that expansions of the linear models for (n + 1)- valued ukasiewicz logic are models for the multiplicative-additive classical linear logic, its affine version and their extensions with n-contraction. We prove the finite axiomatizability for the classes of finite models, as well as for the class of infinite linear models based on the set of rational numbers in the interval [0, 1]. The axiomatizations obtained in a Gentzen-style formulation are equivalent to finite and infinite-valued ukasiewicz logics.Presented by Jan Zygmunt     

Having a voice and getting a hearing: An educational perspective on free speech in a plural society

This paper examines Ronald Dworkin's claim that the right to free speech does not include a right to circumstances that encourage citizens to speak nor a right to competent and sympathetic understanding on the part of listeners. Drawing on familiar arguments for the existence of other human rights, the paper challenges Dworkin's claim. Even if, however, the challenge fails and it is not possible to show that there is such a right, that is not the end of the story. It is argued that democratic societies should try to foster conditions in which citizens are encouraged to speak and are listened to sympathetically in the interests of the well-being and flourishing of the polity. The important role education has to play in this is explored.