RESPECTING HUMAN DIGNITY: CONTRACT VERSUS CAPABILITIES

Abstract: There appears to be a tension between two commitments in liberalism. The first is that citizens, as rational agents possessing dignity, are owed a justification for principles of justice. The second is that members of society who do not meet the requirements of rational agency are owed justice. These notions conflict because the first commitment is often expressed through the device of the social contract, which seems to confine the scope of justice to rational agents. So, contractarianism seems to ignore the justice claims of the severely cognitively impaired. To solve this problem, Martha Nussbaum proposes the capabilities approach. The justifiability condition, on this approach, is met by the idea of overlapping consensus. This essay argues that overlapping consensus cannot meet liberalism's justifiability condition, nor is it more inclusive of the cognitively impaired. Therefore, we have reason to retain the contract device and look for another way to ensure that liberalism respects the justice claims of all.     

Parenting stress and competence among mothers of young children with substance use disorders: The roles of trauma and reflective functioning

Posttraumatic stress symptoms are prominent in the lives of parents of young children with substance use disorders (SUD). Parenting experiences, particularly stress and competence, impact parenting behaviors and concomitant child growth and development. Factors that promote positive experiences of parenting, such as parental reflective functioning (PRF), and protect the mother and child from negative outcomes are crucial to understand to develop effective therapeutic interventions. The current US study analyzed baseline data from a parenting intervention evaluation to examine how length of substance misuse, PRF, and trauma symptoms were associated with parenting stress and parenting sense of competence among mothers in treatment for SUDs. Measures included the Addiction Severity Index, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report, Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index/Short Form, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. The sample included 54 predominantly White mothers with SUDs who had young children. Two multivariate regression analyses found that (1) lower parental reflective functioning and higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with higher parenting stress, and (2) only higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with lower levels of parenting sense of competence. Findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma symptoms and PRF when aiming to improve parenting experiences for women with an SUD.     

Practical-theoritical argumentation

This essay explores the dialectics of theory and practice in terms of argumentation theory. Adapting Jonsen and Toulmin's (1988) notion of a Theory-Practice spectrum, it conceives Theory and Practice as extreme ends of a continuum and discourses as falling at various points along the continuum. Every theoritical discourse has essential practical aspects, and every practical discourse has essential theoretical aspects. Practices are theorized to varying degrees but every practice is thorized to some degree. Reflective discourse, which is discourse about practice, moves to and fro along the Theory-Practice continuum. Reflective discourse involves argumentation. Practical argumentation connects theory to practice; it appeals to general warrants, which may be simple or may tap into elaborate conceptual structures, in order to establish grounds for practical judgments. A practical discipline is a relatively coherent intellectual-professional enterprise that cultivates a field of social practice by engaging within itself and with practitioners in a reflective discourse. The argumentation of a practical discipline, like ordinary practical reflection, moves to and fro along the Theory-Practice continuum but in more methodical steps informed by systematic methodological reflection on the reflective process itself.     

Mentalizing in psychotherapy: patients’ and therapists’ reflective functioning during the psychotherapeutic process / Mentalizando en psicoterapia: funcionamiento reflexivo de pacientes y terapeutas durante el proceso psicoterapéutico

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in mentalization in clinical research given its relationship with normal and psychopathological functioning and its explanatory potential as a mechanism of psychotherapeutic change. This study uses the Reflective Functioning Scale (RFS) to identify and characterize mentalization manifestations in psychotherapeutic interaction. Method: the RFS was applied to a sample of relevant episodes — 44 sessions from five different psychotherapy processes carried out with adult patients who had different diagnoses. Results: we observed a higher probability of reflective functioning (RF) passages in relevant events than in neutral segments. There were no differences in the RF passages according to episode or actor type, but there were in RF Failures, which is more likely in patients and during rupture episodes. Discussion: although certain modifications are necessary, the RFS can be applied to clinical material, and it is a promising strategy for the study of mentalization within psychotherapy.     

Dreyfus and Deleuze on L’habitude,Coping, and Trauma in Skill Acquisition

Abstract

One of the more important and under‐thematized philosophical disputes in contemporary European philosophy pertains to the significance that is given to the inter‐related phenomena of habituality, skilful coping, and learning. This paper examines this dispute by focusing on the work of the Merleau‐Ponty and Heidegger‐inspired phenomenologist Hubert Dreyfus, and contrasting his analyses with those of Gilles Deleuze, particularly in Difference and Repetition. Both Deleuze and Dreyfus pay a lot of attention to learning and coping, while arriving at distinct conclusions about these phenomena with a quite different ethico‐political force. By getting to the bottom of the former, my hope is to problematize aspects of the latter in both philosophers’ work. In Deleuze’s case, it will be argued that he adopts a problematic position on learning that is aptly termed ‘empirico‐romanticism’. While I will agree with the general thrust of Dreyfus’ foregrounding of habit and skilful coping, even in the political realm, it will also be argued that there are some risks associated with his view, notably of devolving into a conservative communitarianism.     

On the Emotions

Art historians and philosophers often talk about the interpretive significance of titles, but few have bothered with their historical origins. This omission has led to the assumption that an artwork's title is its proper name, since names and titles share the essential function of facilitating reference to their bearers. But a closer look at the development of our titling practices shows a significant point of divergence from standard analyses of proper names: the semantic content of a title is often crucial to the identification, individuation, and interpretation of its associated artwork. This paper represents a first step towards an empirically centred study of our titling practices. I argue that, in order to accept titles as proper names, we must first recognize the social, rather than the referential, function of naming.     

Pre-Motor and Motor Reaction Time Differences Associated with Stretching of the Hamstring Muscles

Pre-motor and motor RT scores were obtained from 24 male Ss using a knee flexion task. It was predicted that an increased arousal state due to proprioceptive feedback from stretched hamstring muscles would shorten pre-motor RT while motor RT would shorten because of changes in muscle tension development due to changes in the series elastic and/or contractile components of the muscle tissue. A finger RT task was also included in order to determine whether other factors not related to changes in the stretch of the hamstring muscles were operative. Motor RT decreased with increased muscle stretch and constituted 46% of leg RT. Pre-motor RT as well as finger RT increased rather than decreased with increased muscle stretch. No relationship was found between pre-motor and motor RT indicating that lags in CNS processing are independent of lags associated with the rate of muscular tension development.     

Sales Manager Behavior Control Strategy and its Consequences: The Impact of Manager Gender Differences

Salesperson gender studies have consistently reported no differences. In contrast, a single-company study found several differences based on sales manager gender concerning salesperson attitudes, behavior, and outcome (Piercy, Cravens, and Lane 2001). The present research examines the sales manager gender issue across multiple companies from the perspective of sales managers. Sales units led by female managers display higher effectiveness. Female sales managers perform significantly higher levels of behavior-based control activities and display higher competence in this management approach, compared to male counterparts. There are few differences in managers’ assessments of salespersons’ behavior performance based on gender. Female sales managers do not show higher levels of organizational citizenship behavior as part of their management approach. Interestingly, no differences based on gender were found concerning several salesperson and organizational characteristics. These findings suggest that different selling environments are not affecting the study gender results. Several promising future research directions are discussed.     

The effects of initial movement dynamics on human responses to postural perturbations

Falls are a major cause of injury, and often occur while turning, reaching, or bending. Yet, we have little understanding of how an ongoing feet-in place activity at the onset of imbalance, and its associated cognitive and biomechanical demands, influence our ability to recover balance. In the current study, we used an ankle-rocking paradigm to determine how the nature of the baseline task influences the balance recovery response to a backward support surface translation. Fourteen participants were instructed to “recover balance without stepping” and were perturbed at vertical while standing quietly (“S”), while ankle rocking and moving forward (“A_f”), or while ankle rocking and moving backward (“A_b”). The results showed that changes in rocking velocity at the time of the perturbation elicited changes in the incidence of stepping, magnitude of trunk angular displacements (p < .01), and the onset latencies of distal muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus, both p < .01) used to recover balance. In addition, plots of onset latencies across all muscles showed that onset latencies appeared to occur earlier in many muscles when participants held a static position compared to when they performed a dynamic task at the onset of the perturbation. The results suggest that muscle activities used to recover balance are tailored to the nature of the perturbation and the ongoing task, and that onset latencies are later when participants are performing a dynamic as opposed to static task at the time of a perturbation. These findings support previous research suggesting that automatic postural responses are highly adaptable to environmental, situational, and task demands.     

The Necessity of Counselor Individuation for Fostering Reflective Practice

Counselor self‐reflection is crucial for increasing self‐awareness and improving counseling practice. Nonetheless, the definition for reflective practice is noninclusive of practitioner self‐reflection. Furthermore, little is known about the characteristics necessary for critical self‐reflection, resulting in insufficient guidance for practitioners to acquire critical self‐reflective capabilities. Examining these concerns reveals that counselors will be more capable of reflective practice as they individuate, or develop, their personalities. Thus, the promotion of counselor individuation is essential.