Direct democracy and life satisfaction revisited: new evidence for Switzerland

We re-evaluate the relation between cantonal direct democracy and perceived subjective well-being in Switzerland using new data from the Swiss Household Panel. In addition, this study goes beyond previous work by carefully controlling for cultural determinants of happiness such as languages and religion. We find that once language is controlled for, no robust significant relationship between the extent of direct democracy and life satisfaction can be observed. The results also show that direct democracy does not affect well-being within language groups in Switzerland.

Psychoanalysis in Psychiatric Institutions - Theoretical and Clinical Approaches

The paper presents historical remarks about psychoanalysis in institutions with a special focus on the contributions of nurses working in psychoanalytic settings. A case report of the forensic psychotherapy ward in Reichenau Mental Hospital, which is organised as a therapeutic community, shows how individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and special nursing care contribute to significant progress in the treatment of a severely narcissistic arsonist.     

Responsibility as a Virtue

Philosophers usually discuss responsibility in terms of responsibility for past actions or as a question about the nature of moral agency. Yet the word responsibility is fairly modern, whereas these topics arguably represent timeless concerns about human agency. This paper investigates another use of responsibility, that is particularly important to modern liberal societies: responsibility as a virtue that can be demonstrated by individuals and organisations. The paper notes its initial importance in political contexts, and seeks to explain why we now demand responsibility in all spheres of life. In reply, I highlight the distinctively institutional character of modern liberal societies: institutions specify many of the particular responsibilities each of us must fulfil, but also require responsibility to sustain them and address their failings. My overall argument is that the virtue of responsibility occupies a distinctive place in the moral needs, and moral achievements, of liberal societies; and this, in turn, explains why it now occupies such a prominent place in our moral discourse.

The Role of Public Education in Place-Remaking: From a Retrospective Walk Through my Hometown to a Call to Action

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the role of public education in the process of place-remaking that relies on a false separation between teaching and issues of race, politics, and power. I construct a historical case study of my hometown that presents a counter narrative, presented by students, of race and legacy in the context of a public school and the surrounding community. Building upon a walk-as-method approach, I illustrate the confluence of historical, racialized narratives that are discoverable at the scale of the city but invisible within the walls of the school. I conclude with an in-progress professional code of ethical teaching and research practice for the learning sciences. These commitments are intended to support and protect students (and all young people in our communities) from bearing sole responsibility for critical stances based on their identities and histories-in-place.     

我国妇幼保健机构公共卫生属性淡化的机制研究

妇幼卫生是公共卫生体系的重要组成部分,妇幼保健机构是妇幼卫生工作的实现主体,为了促进我国妇幼保健机构的健康和可持续发展,提高妇女、儿童健康水平,通过对妇幼保健机构的社会功能、行为动因和行为特征的系统分析,构建出妇幼保健机构公共卫生属性淡化的作用机制模型.公共卫生的实质是公共政策,建议政府要实现市场机制与政府宏观调控的有机结合,促进妇幼保健事业健康发展.     

The many faces of counts-as: A formal analysis of constitutive rules

The paper proposes a logical systematization of the notion of counts-as which is grounded on a very simple intuition about what counts-as statements actually mean, i.e., forms of classification. Moving from this analytical thesis the paper disentangles three semantically different readings of statements of the type “X counts as Y in context c”, from the weaker notion of contextual classification to the stronger notion of constitutive rule. These many ways in which counts-as can be said are formally addressed by making use of modal logic techniques. The resulting framework allows for a formal characterization of all the involved notions and their reciprocal logical relationships.     

Form and forming a focus: In brief dynamic therapy

This paper describes a model of training for individual work which treats as essential the consideration of group and institutional dynamics, as contrasted with the ‘prevailing model’ in which such issues are not overtly attended to. The author outlines key elements of such a ‘group-aware’ model and endeavours to show the value of it in terms of the students’ self-development, their fuller use of the training experience and in relation to their clients. She suggests that such a model has key advantages over the ‘prevailing model' for all counselling and psychotherapy students, but places emphasis on its particular relevance and value for those training to work with children, adolescents and young people.