A (Post)Foundational Approach to the Philosophy of Science: Part II

Summary  This is a sequel to my paper, “Searching for a (Post)Foundational Approach to Philosophy of Science”, which appeared in an earlier issue of this Journal [Ginev 2001, Journal for General Philosophy of science 32, 27–37]. In the present paper I continue to scrutinize the possibility of a strong hermeneutics of scientific research. My aim is to defend the position of cognitive existentialism that combines the advocacy of science’s cognitive specificity and the rejection of any form of essentialism. A special attention will be paid to the notion of the thematizing project of scientific research.     

医生的探索与发现

临床工作中有着许多未知、疑难问题,这就是医生们探索与发现的起点。通过对桂希恩等多位医学专家临床探索发现事例的分析,得到许多启示,指出临床探索发现是一个系统的科学活动过程,也是临床决策的重要组成部分;找到客观存在的事物或规律,有利于疾病的诊治,充满了大医精诚精神;有利于人才培养,医学创新和进步,应予大力提倡和鼓励。     

浅析当前临床科学决策的几个影响因素

随着循证医学在我国的发展和"医疗举证责任倒置"等相关法律的实施,我国临床医生在进行诊治决策时已逐步向临床科学决策迈进。而防御性医疗、不健全的医疗制度及相关法律等却严重影响着这一科学决策的转变过程。只有有效解决了导致干扰科学决策的各种社会影响因素,如扩大基本医疗保险的覆盖率,实施医疗风险保险制度,提高医务人员认知和职业素质,保障行医安全等,临床科学决策的真正落实就大有希望。     

Animal Mind: Science,Philosophy, and Ethics

Although 20^th-century empiricists were agnostic about animal mind and consciousness, this was not the case for their historical ancestors – John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and, of course, Charles Darwin and George John Romanes. Given the dominance of the Darwinian paradigm of evolutionary continuity, one would not expect belief in animal mind to disappear. That it did demonstrates that standard accounts of how scientific hypotheses are overturned – i.e., by empirical disconfirmation or by exposure of logical flaws – is inadequate. In fact, it can be demonstrated that belief in animal mind disappeared as a result of a change of values, a mechanism also apparent in the Scientific Revolution. The “valuational revolution” responsible for denying animal mind is examined in terms of the rise of Behaviorism and its flawed account of the historical inevitability of denying animal mentation. The effects of the denial of animal consciousness included profound moral implications for the major uses of animals in agriculture and scientific research. The latter is particularly notable for the denial of felt pain in animals. The rise of societal moral concern for animals, however, has driven the “reappropriation of common sense” about animal thought and feeling.     

科学隐喻的方法论意义

The essential significance of scientific metaphor lies in applying the general metaphorical theory to specific interpretations and elaborations of scientific theories to form a methodology of scientific explanation. It is a contextual grasp of objective reality. A given metaphorical context and its grasp of the essence of reality can only be valid when the context is continually restructured. Taking the context as a whole, the methodological characteristic of scientific metaphor lies in the unity of understanding and choice, experience and concepts, semantic structures and metaphorical domains, rationality and irrationality. As a form of thinking based on reasons, scientific metaphor plays an important role in invention, representation, explanation, evaluation, and communication. Translated by Liu Yiyu from Zhongguo Shehui Kexue 中国社会科学 (Social Sciences in China), 2004, (2): 92–101     

发展:从“硬道理”、“第一要务”到“科学发展”

改革开放的三十年所取得的成功的经验之一,就是找到一个适合中国国情的发展观,即从“发展是硬道理”到“发展是第一要务”从而确立了科学发展观。“发展是硬道理”向我们表明,在发展过程中,“软道理”要服从“硬道理”,无论在何种情况下,我们都是坚持马克思主义历史观,把经济发展看作是社会发展的基础,同时在经济发展中兼顾其他各个方面的发展。     

萨顿的新人文主义及其意义

萨顿提出的新人文主义观,分析批判了科学与人文的分裂对立,指出科学人性化是科学与人文融合的方法,其人性化的科学现有利于我们今天深度解读、审视医学的人性化,张扬价值理性,在实践中克服目前医学异化的倾向,开掘医学和人文融合的路径,实现医学人性化的真正回归。     

National symbols: Explorations in cosmology

A review of M. Douglas, London: Barrie and Rockliff: The Cresset Press, 1970. pp. xvii + 174. £2.25