Old Foundations for the Logic of Agency and Action

The paper presents an infinite hierarchy of sound and complete axiomatic systems for Two-Dimensional Modal Tense Logic with Historical Necessity, Agents and Acts. A main novelty of these logics is their capacity to represent formally (i) basic action-sentences asserting that such and such an act is performed/omitted by an agent, as well as (ii) causative action-sentences asserting that by performing/omitting a certain act, an agent causes that such and such a state-of-affairs is realized (e.g. comes about/ceases/remains/remains absent). We illustrate how the formal machinery of our systems can be used to reconstruct a number of interesting ideas in the Logic of Agency and Action that have been proposed by authors like von Wright, von Kutschera, Belnap and Segerberg.     

ACTIONS AND AGENTS: NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL RECONSIDERED

Using a process‐oriented understanding of the relation between actions and agents, the author argues that an ontological agent is the ongoing effect or by‐product rather than the antecedent cause of actions. Applied to the relation between natural and supernatural in philosophical cosmology, this allows one to claim, first, that agents (whether natural or supernatural) are not sensibly perceived, but only inferred from the ongoing observation of empirical actions; second, that the distinction between the natural and the supernatural is then conceivably a distinction between interrelated processes rather than between independently existing agents; and third, that a higher order process of supernatural origin could be operative in a lower order empirical process without interference even though its existence and activity could only be established on the basis of a faith commitment, not empirical evidence. What Paul Ricoeur referred to as a “surplus of meaning” over and above the scientific explanation of an event would be in play with the claim of divine guidance for the cosmic process.     

心房颤动的病因、发病机制与射频导管消融治疗现状

随着人们研究的不断深入,对心房颤动的病因、发病机制有了更新的认识。后者从起搏点兴奋性增高,折返机制,发展到对心肌袖、电重构的认识;以及肺静脉、迷走神经在阵发性心房颤动中的作用,遗传物质异质性及基因突变等。同样,心房颤动的射频导管消融治疗也取得了突破性的进展。     

自上而下的因素对掩蔽启动中自动加工过程的影响

本文综述并探讨了自上而下因素的调节对启动过程的影响作用。自上而下因素的调节作用是指根据外界不断更新的对行为的要求, 大脑皮层的活动被设定于某种特殊的工作模式中。启动过程是指先前出现的启动刺激对随后目标刺激加工的易化和抑制, 是自动加工过程的体现。近年来, 部分研究认为启动范式引发的自动加工过程(包括知觉加工、语义加工和反应过程)可受到与注意、任务相关的自上而下因素的调节, 例如, 任务指导语的作用、对注意范围的设定等等。本文对此领域的研究及年龄因素进行了总结、分析和展望。启动效应可受到自上而下的注意、目的、任务要求等因素的调节, 且存在年龄因素的影响。     

国外关于工作倦怠研究的现状述评

文章回顾了国外关于工作倦怠的相关研究,全文分四部分进行介绍。第一部分介绍其概念以及相关量表;第二部分对工作倦怠方面研究的发展过程做一简介,主要涉及研究范围、研究方法和所关注的问题;第三部分介绍对工作倦怠产生影响的因素,分为工作特征和个体特征两方面的因素;第四部分补充介绍一些解释工作倦怠成因的理论模型。最后,文章在第五部分加以总结评述并对今后研究提出展望     

中职学校学生校园暴力犯罪成因分析与预防

本文试图从个人人格、家庭、学校、社会方面探讨中职学校学生校园暴力犯罪的成因,并提出了相应的预防措施。     

Emotional Attention: Uncovering the Mechanisms of Affective Biases in Perception

ABSTRACT— The emotional significance of sensory events may influence attention in a reflexive manner, but these effects vary across paradigms and participants. Recent research indicates that specific circuits in the brain may serve to amplify neural responses to emotional stimuli, a modulation similar to attentional effects usually driven by endogenous goals. However, this modulation involves distinct sources in emotional systems such as the amygdala, and may thus operate partly independent of top-down control by attentional systems in frontoparietal cortices. It remains to be clarified to what degree these emotional effects are influenced by specific perceptual and emotional dimensions, automaticity and attentional resources, task goals or expectations, and individual personality traits.     

Can Western Monotheism Avoid Substance Dualism?

The problem of divine agency and action is analogous to the problem of human agency and action: How is such agency possible in the absence of a dualistic causal interaction between disparate orders of being? This paper explores nondualistic accounts of divine agency that assert the following: (1) physical monism, (2) antireductionism, (3) physical realization, and (4) divine causal realism. I conclude that a robustly causal deity is incompatible with nonddualism's affirmation of physical monism. Specifically, I argue the incoherence of nondualistic strategies that advocate divine information transfer without energy transfer or the divine downward causation of physical events. Furthermore, I claim that the principle of explanatory exclusion makes any nondualistic, noninterventionist account of divine agency highly dubious. Finally, I suggest that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can avoid a causally inert deity only if they are willing to deny the current presumption of the causal closure of the physical.     

Longitudinal associations between relationship problems,divorce, and life satisfaction: Findings from a 15-year population-based study

Relationship problems are negatively associated with life satisfaction. Bottom-up theories assume that relationship quality affects life satisfaction while top-down theories assume that global personality dispositions affect evaluations of relationship quality. Only bottom-up theories imply that the negative association between relationship problems and life satisfaction will be removed when the relationship is ended and that divorce thus may be a positive event for persons from troubled relationships. In this study associations between relationship problems, divorce, and life satisfaction were examined among 369 heterosexual couples. Relationship problems predicted life satisfaction 15 years later in both men and women. This association was significantly stronger among not-divorced than among divorced couples. Among couples with severe relationship problems those who divorced had higher life satisfaction at 15-year follow-up than those who remained together while the reverse was true among less troubled couples. The findings thus support bottom-up theories of life satisfaction.