Philosophy of Science: What One Needs to Know

This introduction to the philosophy of science offers an overview of the major concepts and developments in contemporary theories of science. Strengths and weaknesses of deductive, inductive, and falsificationist models of science are considered. The "Received View" in the theory of science is contrasted with Kuhn's paradigms and Feyerabend's "anything goes," leading to an examination of the merits of a research program–based approach. After touching on the sociology of science, postmodernism, and the feminist critique, the article concludes with a summary, in six theses, of the implications for religion/science.     

创造力内隐理论研究：源起与现状

创造力内隐理论是指一般公众（专家和外行人）在日常生活和工作背景下所形成的,且以某种形式存在于个体头脑中的关于创造力概念、结构极其发展的看法。创造力内隐理论研究是近20年来人们极为关注的新趋势之一。该文从创造力内隐理论的提出和新进展两个方面,对近20年该领域的有关文献进行了综述;简要评价了研究的现状,并对创造力内隐理论研究的发展趋势进行了展望     

1996-2004年中国大陆儒学研究的新进展

1996-2004年,中国大陆的孔子、儒学研究持续繁荣发展,在以下八个方面上,取得了新的进展: (1)儒学与世界和平; ( 2 )儒家人文精神; ( 3 )简帛儒家文献; ( 4 )儒学宗教性问题; (5)儒学与生态伦理; (6)儒学与普世伦理; (7)儒学与文化保守主义; (8)儒学与自由主义; (9)儒学与民主、人权; (10)儒学与全球化。     

论健康伦理学及其基本理论架构——“九大理论”视野中的健康伦理

当代医学道德发展的走向理应是健康道德,后医学伦理学时代理应是健康伦理学。建设健康伦理学需要搭成一个基本理论架构。其组成至少应该有“九大理论”,即生命神圣论、生命质量论、生命价值论,医学人本论、医学功利论、医学公正论,医者美德论、医者义务(患者权利)论、医患和谐论。其间,按顺序由每三论构成一个“统一论”,将第一个“统一论”作为立论前提,将第二个“统一论”作为直接依据,将第三个“统一论”作为应用指南,如此,才能由三个“统一论”共同地更好地阐释全部健康伦理学问题。     

人与情境交互作用理论述评

人与情境交互作用理论认为,人一情境系统是一个整合、复杂和动态的整体,个体是其中一个积极和有目的的部分。该理论对情境在个体功能和发展中的作用、人一情境系统发挥自身功能的原则,以及人和情境子系统的结构和过程作了详尽的分析。这些理论主张对当前心理学的理论、方法和研究策略具有深远的启示意义,但也存在难以操作化的缺点。     

教师的创造力内隐理论

创造力内隐理论是指一般公众（专家和外行人）在日常生活和工作背景下所形成的,且以某种形式存在于个体头脑中的关于创造力概念、结构及其发展的看法。教师的创造力内隐理论对学生创造力的培养和发展起着至关重要的作用。本文从教师对创造力的理解、创造性学生的态度和创造力培养观三个方面对该领域的研究进行综述,以期为我国开展此领域的研究提供一些借鉴。     

There's something about obesity: culture, contagion, rationality, and children's responses to drinks "created" by obese children

Theories of the development of obesity stereotypes cannot easily explain the stigma associated with being obese. Evidence that important similarities exist between the symptoms of obesity and contagious illnesses, young children have "theories" of illnesses, and obesity stereotypes are among the earliest that children develop led to the hypothesis that children would find beverages purportedly created by obese children less tasteful and more memorable than beverages created by average weight children. After assignment to two story conditions in which a child became ill after eating an unfamiliar food, Caucasian-American and Chinese 7- and 10-year-olds sampled identically flavored "obese-created" and "average-created" beverages. Taste ratings were lower, ratings of the chances of feeling sick were higher, and memory was superior for obese-created drinks than for average-created drinks, particularly when the character in the story contracted a contagious illness and memory was scored for "gist." Finally, children often created the false memory that the story character was an obese beverage creator. The roles of contagion and magical beliefs are discussed, as are the rationality of children's responses and the relevance of the findings for theories of obesity stereotypes.     

ON EXPLICATING THE CONCEPT THE POWER OF AN ARITHMETICAL THEORY

In this paper I discuss possible ways of measuring the power of arithmetical theories, and the possiblity of making an explication in Carnap’s sense of this concept. Chaitin formulates several suggestions how to construct measures, and these suggestions are reviewed together with some new and old critical arguments. I also briefly review a measure I have designed together with some shortcomings of this measure. The conclusion of the paper is that it is not possible to formulate an explication of the concept.     

The relation between essentialist beliefs and evolutionary reasoning

Historians of science have pointed to essentialist beliefs about species as major impediments to the discovery of natural selection. The present study investigated whether such beliefs are impediments to learning this concept as well. Participants (43 children aged 4–9 and 34 adults) were asked to judge the variability of various behavioral and anatomical properties across different members of the same species. Adults who accepted within-species variation—both actual and potential—were significantly more likely to demonstrate a selection-based understanding of evolution than adults who denied within-species variation. The latter demonstrated an alternative, incorrect understanding of evolution and produced response patterns that were both quantitatively and qualitatively similar to those produced by preschool-aged children. Overall, it is argued that psychological essentialism, although a useful bias for drawing species-wide inductions, leads individuals to devalue within-species variation and, consequently, to fail to understand natural selection.     

The ‘Fractionable Autism Triad’: A Review of Evidence from Behavioural,Genetic, Cognitive and Neural Research

Autism is diagnosed on the basis of a triad of impairments in social interaction, communication, and flexible imaginative functions (with restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests; RRBIs). There has been a strong presumption that these different features of the syndrome are strongly intertwined and proceed from a common cause at the genetic, cognitive and neural levels. In this review we examine evidence for an alternative approach, considering the triad as largely ‘fractionable’. We present evidence from our own twin studies, and review relevant literature on autism and autistic-like traits in other groups. We suggest that largely independent genes may operate on social skills/impairments, communication abilities, and RRBIs, requiring a change in molecular-genetic research approaches. At the cognitive level, we suggest that satisfactory accounts exist for each of the triad domains, but no single unitary account can explain both social and nonsocial features of autism. We discuss the implications of the fractionable-triad approach for both diagnosis and future research directions.