Richard Rorty's realism

An examination of late Rorty shows that he does not abandon belief in an external world about which we can, and indeed must, acquire knowledge. His disapproval of the correspondence theory of truth does not involve the idea that anything other than local weather, for example, could falsify remarks about local weather. It is just that once we get done looking out the window or, if we are outside, feeling the right kind of drops make contact with our skin, there is nothing else we can do, nothing better, to make ourselves more certain, more cognitively secure. One can see this in the detailed work that enables scientific progress. Science improves itself by doing more of the same. G. E. Moore's famous open question stays open only as a reminder that our fallibility never disappears and that our cognitive security is never better than pro tem. Rorty, as a faithful pragmatist and undogmatic meliorist, thinks this is perfectly O.K.     

Tainted therapy and mistaken memory: Avoiding malpractice and preserving evidence with possible adult victims of childhood sexual abuse

Recent malpractice cases reflect increased liability for psychotherapists working with possible adult victims of childhood sexual abuse. These cases have related to recovery of past memory of abuse and the fashion in which the therapist managed the recovery and treatment. Ways in which therapists may harm clients by omission and commission are explored. The emerging lack of clarity between investigative and therapeutic interviews is discussed. False memory is considered in relationship to malpractice liability, standards of care, and attempts to preserve potential evidence. The author proposes written informed consent and investigative interviewing procedures for working with potential memory recovery cases. Formats for general informed consent to psychotherapy for patient record keeping of newly emergent material are appended.     

科学发明情境中问题提出的脑机制再探

以高生态学效度的科学发明问题情境作为实验材料, 采用静息态功能磁共振成像技术, 基于低频振幅(ALFF)和静息态功能连接(RSFC)的分析方法, 探讨创造性科学问题提出的脑机制。结果发现, 在控制了被试性别、年龄后, 提出新颖有效性问题的比率越高, 左内侧前额叶(Left media prefrontal cortex, L-mPFC)和右小脑前叶(Right cerebellum)的ALFF值越高。进一步功能连接分析发现, 提出新颖有效性问题的比率与mPFC和楔叶(Cuneus)之间的功能连接强度呈显著正相关。结果强调mPFC对于科学发明情境中问题提出的重要作用, 且更高比率的新颖有效性问题的提出是通过mPFC与其它脑区的协同联结来实现的。     

Do you believe what you have been told? Morality and scientific literacy as predictors of pseudoscience susceptibility

The aim of the current study was to examine the antecedents of susceptibility to pseudoscientific information. Participants were asked to assess their perceived probability of and familiarity with statements containing popular science misconceptions and pseudoscientific claims, which were fabricated for the study. Measures of scientific literacy, moral inclinations, need for closure, and a set of additional variables were collected. Analysis of the results showed that susceptibility to known pseudoscientific theories predicted falling for novel unwarranted claims. Scientific literacy strongly predicted lower pseudoscience susceptibility of all types. Finally, participants' moral inclinations were found to be a strong predictor of different types of pseudoscientific statements.     

Philosophy in Mediis Rebus

Philosophy should begin in the middle of things. I distinguish two ways in which I think that philosophy should begin in the middle of things, and then I describe the two dominant approaches to analytic philosophy today: scientific pragmatism and conceptual analysis (or, more broadly, "a priorism"). After giving reasons for dissatisfaction with both of these dominant approaches, I set out my own view – Practical Realism – and argue for the merits of its methodological and metaphysical components.     

What Have Psychologists (And Others) Discovered About the Process of Scientific Discovery?

We describe four major approaches to the study of science–historical accounts of scientific discoveries, psychological experiments with nonscientists working on tasks related to scientific discoveries, direct observation of ongoing scientific laboratories, and computational modeling of scientific discovery processes–by viewing them through the lens of the theory of human problem solving. We compare and contrast the different approaches, indicate their complementarities, and provide examples from each approach that converge on a set of principles of scientific discovery.     

Unholy Alliances: Religion, Science, and Environment

Christianity's relationship with the environment is considered. From the seventeenth century, Christianity contributed to the legitimization of scientific developments that had injurious consequences for the environment. These developments were secularizing; hence the ecological crisis participates in the broader problems of secularization. Under secular hegemony, the normative model of the person as atomistic individual is integral to the problem itself as well as bereft of the spiritual resources to challenge abusive attitudes that profane God's creation. This paper proposes that responses to the ecological situation should be sought in a richer understanding of the human being: an anthropology that is not only part of the Christian legacy but also offered by contemporary sociobiology.