TECHNO‐SECULARISM AND “REVEALED RELIGION”: SOME PROBLEMS WITH CAIAZZA'S ANALYSIS

Abstract. Instead of focusing my remarks on John Caiazza's interesting and important thesis about the way in which modern technology is drastically secularizing our culture today, I examine the frame within which he sets out his thesis, a frame I regard as seriously flawed. Caiazza's argument is concerned with the broad range of religion/science/technology issues in today's world, but the only religion that he seems to take seriously is what he calls “revealed religion” (Christianity). His consideration of religion is thus narrow and cramped, and this makes it difficult to assess properly the significance of what he calls techno‐secularism. I suggest that employing a broader conception of religion would enable us to see more clearly what is really at stake in the rise of techno‐secularism. Instead of defining the issues in the polarizing terms of revealed religion versus secularity, I argue for a more integrative approach in which concepts are developed that can bring together and hold together major religious insights and themes with modern scientific thinking. If, for example, we give up the anthropomorphism of the traditional idea of God as creator and think of God as simply creativity, it becomes possible to integrate theological insights with current scientific thinking and to formulate the issues posed by the rise of techno‐secularism in a more illuminating way. This in turn should facilitate effective address of those issues.     

SCIENCE AND SCIENTISM: THE IMPORTANCE OF A DISTINCTION

Abstract. John Caiazza's interesting argument is an important one and deserves a close hearing. However, his article could be more forceful if he would distinguish more carefully between science on the one hand and “scientific secularism” and “materialism” on the other.     

A REFUTATION OF CONSEQUENTIALISM

Abstract: This article argues that consequentialism does not work as a comprehensive theory of right action. The argument is that what course of action maximizes the good makes sense only within a particular context, but that it is impossible to supply such a context while adhering to a global consistency requirement. A global consistency requirement merely specifies the demand for maximization: it insists that an individual action, in order to be morally right, must be optimific relative not only to a set of temporally and spatially local alternatives but also to all future possibilities that the action would preclude. I further argue that an appropriate context is impossible to provide because act consequentialism invokes incompatible temporal horizons, that of action and that of a maximizable good. The incompatibility between these two horizons makes it impossible for there to be any morally salient, consistent assignment of consequences to actions, and thus renders act consequentialism empty.     

全社会共同努力,在发展中实现卫生公正

“公正”是科学发展观的重要内容,是卫生系统的主要价值取向,实现公正是医药卫生界的神圣职责。目前,在发展中实现卫生公正已经刻不容缓。我们必须以政府为主导,坚持以人为本和卫生公正,树立扶贫济困的社会风气,共同努力,采用多种措施实现卫生公正。     

科普杂志目录编排效果的眼动研究

该研究探讨了读者在阅读科普杂志目录时的眼动特征。实验仪器为美国应用科学实验室生产的Model504型眼动仪。实验设计为2(插图颜色:彩色、黑白)×2(插图注解:有、无)×2(文字颜色:黑、蓝)。被试为大学生。研究发现:(1)被试对彩色插图的注视时间和注视次数比黑白插图的多;(2)被试对有注解的插图注视时间和注视次数要比无注解插图的多。实验结果表明,所阅读目录中的信息量决定读者的注意力。     

Using performance feedback to improve treatment integrity of classwide behavior plans: an investigation of observer reactivity

The current study replicated the positive effects of performance feedback on treatment integrity and extended previous work by examining reactivity using a multiple baseline design with alternating treatments for observer-present and observer-absent conditions on teachers' implementation of a classwide behavior plan. No differences were found between conditions, and treatment integrity improved across all teachers, suggesting that performance feedback, rather than observer reactivity, was responsible for reported behavior changes.     

The error statistical philosopher as normative naturalist

We argue for a naturalistic account for appraising scientific methods that carries non-trivial normative force. We develop our approach by comparison with Laudan’s (American Philosophical Quarterly 24:19–31, 1987, Philosophy of Science 57:20–33, 1990) “normative naturalism” based on correlating means (various scientific methods) with ends (e.g., reliability). We argue that such a meta-methodology based on means–ends correlations is unreliable and cannot achieve its normative goals. We suggest another approach for meta-methodology based on a conglomeration of tools and strategies (from statistical modeling, experimental design, and related fields) that affords forward looking procedures for learning from error and for controlling error. The resulting “error statistical” appraisal is empirical—methods are appraised by examining their capacities to control error. At the same time, this account is normative, in that the strategies that pass muster are claims about how actually to proceed in given contexts to reach reliable inferences from limited data.     

Achieving ego integrity: Personality development in late midlife

Using data from two longitudinal studies of educated white women, we explored precursors and correlates of ego integrity versus despair, which is the last developmental stage in Erikson’s theory of adult development. The women comprising Study 1 graduated from Smith College in 1964 (N = 42); the women comprising Study 2 graduated from Radcliffe College also in 1964 (N = 50). In both studies, hierarchical regressions indicated that women who had resolved their regrets at age 53 achieved higher levels of ego integrity at age 62, and those who had resolved their regrets at age 62 also had higher concurrent levels of ego integrity. Further, in study 2, generativity at age 53 was found to predict ego integrity at age 62.     

论解放思想的哲学基础

党的十七大在新的历史起点上,号召全党坚持马克思主义思想路线,解放思想,实事求是,与时俱进,不断研究新情况,解决新问题。“解放思想”与“实事求是”是一致的;它是坚持与发展社会主义,实现现代化的法宝。邓小平在重新确立党的正确的思想路线起了决定性作用。它的哲学理论基础是马克思主义世界观和方法论。文章着重阐释了马克思恩格斯新唯物主义与辩证方法若干原创点。     

纳米医学的哲学迷思

自诺贝尔医学奖设立以来,就没有一个真正的中国本土科学家获奖,其因素是多方面的,教育方法的颠覆,科研态度的浮躁,科研政策的困扰和科研资源的散落是其中最重要的四大因素。另外,人文素养的缺乏和一些传统的思维理念的局限,对此也有不小的影响。