ABSTRACT This study investigated the influence of different emotions and social consensus on moral decision-making using a mixed 2 × 2 experimental design. The results showed that the main effect of social consensus was significant: the moral decision-making level of participants under the condition of low social consensus was lower than that of participants under the condition of high social consensus, while no main effect of emotion emerged. Second, the results showed that emotion and social consensus have interactive effects on (...) moral decision-making. When social consensus was high, there was no significant difference in moral decision-making between individuals with positive emotions and individuals with negative emotions. When social consensus was low, individuals with negative emotions were more likely to make immoral decisions than individuals with positive emotions. These results reveal that emotion and social consensus work together in affecting moral decision-making. (shrink)

According to pragmatic encroachment, whether an epistemic attitude towards p has some positive epistemic status (e.g., whether a belief is epistemically rational or justified, or it amounts to knowledge) partially depends on practical factors such as the costs of being wrong or the practical goals of the agent. Pragmatic encroachment comes in many varieties. This survey article provides an overview of different kinds of pragmatic encroachment. It focuses on three dimensions under which kinds of pragmatic encroachment differ: the type of (...) epistemic status affected by practical factors, the type of practical factors affecting the epistemic status, and the type of normative considerations encroaching on the epistemic status. (shrink)

Medical argumentation in non-Western societies has attracted little attention. In line with the pragma-dialectical approach to the study of argumentation, this article identifies a prototypical argumentative pattern in Chinese medical consultations. In addition to institutional preconditions, whose relevance to the argumentative pattern has been well cited, a factor that may be equally important has remained unnoticed: the preference for certain drugs, treatments or therapeutic measurements on the basis of folk interpretations of medical phenomena in individual ethnic groups. These preferences may (...) be seen as cultural preferences in the medical domain. In this paper, a prototypical argumentative pattern of Chinese medical consultations is provided. Two levels of the pattern are distinguished and discussed: a basic argumentative pattern as presented in the pragmatic-dialectical approach and its extensions due to cultural preferences as well as institutional constraints. Illustrated by an exemplary analysis on the basis of empirical data collected from Chinese consulting rooms, the impact of cultural preferences on physicians’ strategic maneuvering in argumentation is identified and recognized. It is argued that the existence and impact of cultural preferences require attention in medical argumentation. (shrink)

Elucidating distinct morphological atrophy patterns of Alzheimer’s disease and its prodromal stage, namely, mild cognitive impairment helps to improve early diagnosis and medical intervention of AD. On that account, we aimed to obtain distinct patterns of voxel-wise morphological atrophy and its further perturbation on structural covariance network in AD and MCI compared with healthy controls. T1-weighted anatomical images of matched AD, MCI, and HCs were included in this study. Gray matter volume was obtained using voxel-based morphometry and compared among three (...) groups. In addition, structural covariance network of identified brain regions exhibiting morphological difference was constructed and compared between pairs of three groups. Thus, patients with AD have a reduced hippocampal volume and an increased rate of atrophy compared with MCI and HCs. MCI exhibited a decreased trend in bilateral hippocampal volume compared with HCs and the accelerated right hippocampal atrophy rate than HCs. In AD, the hippocampus further exhibited increased structural covariance connected to reward related brain regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex, the putamen, the caudate, and the insula compared with HCs. In addition, the patients with AD exhibited increased structural covariance of left hippocampus with the bilateral insula, the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, and the cerebellum than MCI. These results reveal distinct patterns of morphological atrophy in AD and MCI, providing new insights into pathology of AD. (shrink)

China's Philosophical Studies: Rediscovery of Chinese Spiritual Essence collects essential research findings of China's philosophical studies conducted by the academics at East China Normal University (ECNU) in recent years. The book covers topics including thoughts in China's Spring and Autumn Period, Chinese virtue of trust, establishing morals, historical studies of Chinese philosophy, etc. This book is the fifth volume of the WSPC-ECNU Series on China. This Series showcases the significant contributions to scholarship in social sciences and humanities studies about China. (...) It is jointly launched by World Scientific Publishing, the most reputable English academic publisher in Asia, and ECNU, a top University in China with a long history of exchanges with the international academic community. (shrink)

This paper revisits intervention effects in Mandarin Chinese why-questions. I present a novel empirical generalization, in which it is shown that the ability for quantifiers to induce intervention hinges upon their monotonicity and their ability to be interpreted as topics. I then propose a semantic account of intervention that correlates topicality with the monotone properties of intervening operators. A crucial assumption in this account is that why-questions in Chinese are idiosyncratic, in that the Chinese equivalent of why directly merges at (...) a high scope position that stays above a propositional argument. Combining the semantic idiosyncrasies of why-questions with the theory of topicality, I conclude that a wide range of intervention phenomena can be explained in terms of interpretation failure. (shrink)

Unlike similar works, Xingxue Cushu 性學觕述 by the Italian Jesuit missionary Giulio Aleni sought to deliver the Christian doctrine into China by introducing Western medicine. The conflict between the Christian concept of the soul and the traditional psychic concept in China made the task difficult. Scholasticism rejects the idea that an individual’s soul may be physically divided or localized, whereas the Chinese tradition largely assumes the contrary and regards the heart as the center of one’s psychic powers or vitality. Aleni (...) addressed this conflict by reducing the mind to the function of the brain for sensitive memory. Chinese physicians accepted Aleni’s concept of brain-related memory. However, his claim of an immaterial soul was ignored, and the Western connection between brain and memory was misinterpreted and subjected to Chinese cardiocentrism; thus, the physically centered psychic concept that underlies Chinese philosophy persisted. (shrink)

If reaching out to others is often difficult and needing both kindness and skill, it is a tremendous achievement not only to succeed in the endeavor but to win the love and respect of others as well. This was the case with Giulio Aleni. One of the most respected missionaries since Matteo Ricci and Ricci's successor in the Chinese Jesuit Province, the Italian-born Father was referred to by his followers as the "Confucius from the West" : Ai Rulue, whose other (...) name was Siji, was an Italian. He came to China in 1613. He was invited by Xu Guangqi to Shanghai, and then moved to Zhejiang to preach. Later he entered Fujian at the invitation of Ye... (shrink)

Wuwei (nonaction) is one of the core concepts of Daoist ethics. Edward Slingerland pointed out that wuwei involves a paradox, and Arthur C. Danto questioned whether wuwei could support a genuine moral theory and the idea of right action. To defend Daoist ethics and its concept of right action, it is necessary to envisage Danto’s criticism and the problems raised by Slingerland. According to Ivanhoe, Wuwei is not a paradox, but a riddle or mystery about self-cultivation. He thinks that if (...) people could find the trick to the riddle, they can realize Wuwei. Ivanhoe’s analysis failed. Nickolas Knightly argues that we must acknowledge the paradox of Wuwei squarely. Based on criticizing Ivanhoe’s and Knightly’s schemes, this paper further analyzes the strategies to deal with the paradox of Wuwei. Wuwei should be placed in a specific situation and context. Wuwei requires the agents to have the corresponding psychological motivation, which will not continuously interfere with the purpose of action. Wuwei, as the behavior evaluation word of Daoist ethics, corresponds to moral anti-realism and nonassertive moral abolitionism. (shrink)

In order to have an effective and reliable understanding of the basic moral concepts, moral propositions and moral reasoning in Daoist ethical thoughts, it is necessary to use the methods of doing philosophy and doing ethics to engage in research work, and thus draw an intellectual conclusion about Daoist ethics. The methods of Daoist ethics mainly include analysis, explanation and comparison. The method of analysis focuses on logical analysis and language analysis of moral language in the classic texts of Daoist (...) ethics. The method of interpretation focuses on effective translation and understanding of moral language with unclear meaning in Daoist ethics. The method of comparison focuses on critical dialogue between ancient Daoist ethical thoughts and contemporary ethical theories and comparison between Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist ethics. Explaining the method of doing Daoist ethics clearly will promote the dialogue and understanding between Daoist ethics and contemporary ethics. (shrink)

Intertextuality (mutual illustration) is a common rhetorical device in ancient Chinese and has been used many times in Laozi (Dao Dejing). Intertextuality (mutual illustration) is of unique significance for understanding the linguistic structure and philosophical thoughts of Lao-zi. According to the current research on mutual illustration rhetoric on ancient Chinese, the forms of this rhetoric in Laozi can be divided into mutual illustration of single sentence, of multiple sentences and of ellipsis and antisense. There are only two references to mutual (...) illustration in the annotations of Laozi in the past dynasties, and most of the commentators ignore the importance of mutual illustration in understanding Laozi. By interpreting Laozi through mutual illustration rhetoric, we can make innovations in understanding methods, understanding contents and philosophical thoughts. (shrink)

Las confesiones profesionales de Jose Gaos (Espana, 1900-1969) cultivan un genero donde se conjugan relato y reflexion, exposicion filosofica y recuento autobiografico. Se trata de una exposicion organizada y sobre todo organica donde se pone en juego un trasvase de la vida de las ideas de Gaos.

The relation between quantum collapse, consciousness and superluminal communication is analyzed. As we know, quantum collapse, if exists, can result in the appearance of quantum nonlocality, and requires the existence of a pre- ferred Lorentz frame. This may permit the realization of quantum superluminal communication (QSC), which will no longer result in the usual causal loop in case of the existence of a preferred Lorentz frame. The possibility of the existence of QSC is further analyzed under the assumption that quantum (...) collapse is a real process. We demonstrate that the combination of quantum collapse and the consciousness of the observer will permit the observer to distinguish nonorthogonal states in principle. This provides a possible way to realize QSC. Some implications of the existence of QSC are briefy discussed. (shrink)

Prólogo, por J. Gaos.--Discurso del método, por R. Descartes.--Sobre Descartes, por A. Baillet y S. de Sorbière.--Vida de Spinoza, por J. Colérus.--Elogio de Leibniz, por B. Le Bovier de Fontenelle.

Xiaojing's authorship and texts -- Related classical teachings -- Ideological foundations -- The social setting -- A persistent for the people -- Special instruction for women -- The impact on neighboring nations -- Comparative discussion -- Concluding reflections.

New Waves of China's Philosophical Studies collects important research findings of China's philosophical studies conducted by the academics at East China Normal University (ECNU) in recent years. The book covers topics including Confucian ethics and virtue ethics, true value semantics vs. commonsensible reasoning semantics, criticisms of dogmatism, consequentialism, among others. This book is the first volume of the WSPC-ECNU Series on China. This Series showcases the significant contributions to scholarship in social sciences and humanities studies about China. It is jointly (...) launched by World Scientific Publishing, the most reputable English academic publisher in Asia, and ECNU, a top University in China with a long history of exchanges with the international academic community. (shrink)

Ben shu yan jiu zhong guo li shi shang jia zhi si xiang de yan bian he jia zhi chuan tong de xing cheng, bing zai ci ji chu shang ti chu xin shi dai zhong guo jia zhi ge ming de mu biao he ren wu.

Filosofía de la filosofía ; resumen de las conferencias de José Gaos. -- Filosofía de la filosofía ; primer artículo de Francisco Larroyo. -- Primera carta de José Gaos a Francisco Larroyo. -- Disputatio de nomine; segundo artículo de Francisco Larroyo. -- Segunda carta de José Gaos a Francisco Larroyo. -- La lógica prekantiana del doctor Gaos ; tercer articulo de Francisco Larroyo. -- La filosofía, ciencia de los valores, por Francisco Larroyo. -- Filosofía, personalidad, por José Gaos.

'El Ser y el Tiempo' de Martin Heidegger ha venido a corroborar la fama de difciles que tienen las obras maestras de la filosofa, por lo que han de ser bien acogidos por los lectores y estudiosos todos los trabajos que tiendan a facilitarlas. El primero de los indicados a abrir paso a la comprensin de una obra como 'El Ser y el Tiempo' es, sin duda, el de exposicin de los temas capitales entresacados de los secundarios que los complican, (...) y formulados en los trminos del autor, pero introduciendo stos como no los introduce un autor no preocupado especialmente por la didctica: partiendo de una terminologa y siguiendo un orden tales, que la preparacin y el esfuerzo del lector culto y atento basten para entender los trminos en el sentido que el autor les da. Es el tipo de exposicin al que esta 'Introduccin' ha procurado ajustarse en mayor grado que las exposiciones ya existentes de la obra de Heidegger. En medio de las divergentes traducciones, y traducciones de traducciones, de la terminologa heideggeriana, simplemente el que sea idntica la terminologa de esta exposicin a la de la traduccin con la que hace juego ha dado a esta 'Introduccin' ndole de literalmente nica, aparte de otras cualidades que dimanan del profundo conocimiento que tena Jos Gaos de 'El Ser y el Tiempo', obra al estudio de la cual, y a su explicacin erudita y traduccin fiel y meticulosa, consagr buenos aos de una actividad intelectual frtil en todos los terrenos de la filosofa y la enseanza. (shrink)