Empirical research has recently emerged as a key method for understanding the nature of causation, and our concept of causation. One thread of research aims to test intuitions about the nature of causation in a variety of classic cases. These experiments have principally been used to try to resolve certain debates within analytic philosophy, most notably that between proponents of transference and dependence views of causation. The other major thread of empirical research on our concept of causation has investigated the (...) role that normative considerations play in causal judgments. These experimental results suggest that philosophical accounts of our concept of causation should take a broader view of what might be relevant. For both lines of research, we describe some of the significant experiments and outline key philosophical morals that have been drawn, all while pointing out various limitations. We conclude by considering other kinds of empirical research that should be philosophically interesting for those studying the nature of causation and our concept of causation. In particular, we point towards the need for philosophical research about causal perception, causal reasoning, and causal learning, as well as ways in which this research could play a role in prescriptive metaphysics. (shrink)

The human body was made legible long ago. But what of the human mind? Is it possible to ‘read’ the mind, for one human being to know what another is thinking or feeling, their beliefs and intentions. And if I can read your mind, how about others – could our authorities, in the criminal justice system or the security services? Some developments in contemporary neuroscience suggest the answer to this question is ‘yes’. While philosophers continue to debate the mind-brain problem, (...) a range of novel technologies of brain imaging have been used to argue that specific mental states, and even specific thoughts, can be identified by characteristic patterns of brain activation; this has led some to propose their use in practices ranging from lie detection and security screening to the assessment of brain activity in persons in persistent vegetative states. This article reviews the history of these developments, sketches their scientific and technical bases, considers some of the epistemological and ontological mutations involved, explores the ecological niches where they have found a hospitable environment, and considers some implications of this materialization of the readable, knowable, transparent mind. (shrink)

Social theory has much to gain from taking up the challenges of conceptualizing ‘mental health’. Such an approach to the stunting of human mental life in conditions of adversity requires us to open up the black box of ‘environment’, and to develop a vitalist biosocial science, informed by and in conversation with the life sciences and the neurosciences. In this paper we draw on both classical and contemporary social theory to begin this task. We explore human inhabitation – how humans (...) inhabit their ‘ecological niches’ – and examine a number of conceptual developments that ‘deconstruct’ the binary distinction between organism and environment. We argue that we must understand the neurological, ecological and social pathways and mechanisms that shape human (mental) life if we are to address the central concerns of our discipline with inequity and injustice as these are inscribed into the bodies and souls of human beings. (shrink)

The "divided line" passage seems to compare the four states of the soul and their objects to the four segments of a line, somewhat as follows.

Human ecology - the study and practice of relationships between the natural and the social environment - has gained prominence as scholars seek more effectively to engage with pressing global concerns. In the past seventy years most human ecology has skirted the fringes of geography, sociology and biology. This volume pioneers radical new directions. In particular, it explores the power of indigenous and traditional peoples' epistemologies both to critique and to complement insights from modernity and postmodernity.

The analysis of critical incidents in the pre-professional practice of teacher training is essential to promote reflection. Building upon this notion, the urgent need for a reflective practice in the training of science teachers is addressed. In this context, future educators are instructed in the preparation of reports that highlight the critical incidents experienced in their pedagogical work. From these perspectives, reflective practice emerges as a fundamental resource to solidify their identity and pedagogical mastery by incorporating experiences for guidance purposes, (...) emphasizing the significance of reflection. (shrink)

This paper critically evaluates an objection to introspective arguments for human freedom found within Spinoza's Ethics. The objection-- which we call Spinoza's dream argument -- challenges the evidentiary value of a person's experience of her own freedom by pointing out that some choices made within dreams are experienced as no less free than choices made while awake despite the fact that choices made within dreams are not free. After reconstructing Spinoza's dream argument, we critically evaluate it, concluding ultimately that it (...) fails in two respects. First, we draw upon the results of an experiment we conducted that suggests that dreamt choices are not experienced as free to the same extent as choices made while awake. Second, we argue that there is no compelling justification for the claim that choices made within dreams are not free. (shrink)

The state plays a major role in corporate social responsibility in emerging and transitional economies and often influences firms through political connection, and hence knowing how firms respond to the state’s CSR initiatives can inform policy making and has important implication on the sustainability of society and environment. However, existent studies show conflicting results on politically connected firms’ CSR participation. We examine the relationship between political endorsement and firms’ engagement in different types of CSR simultaneously. Using a representative sample of (...) more than 1,000 private firms in the early 2000s, we find that politically endorsed firms engage more in philanthropic donation, but less in environmental practices, which impose higher costs and constraints than philanthropy. This is consistent with our explanation that they attempt to maintain legitimacy and discretion through selective engagement in CSR. Our study contributes to research on CSR in transitional economies by reconciling conflicting findings about the CSR engagement of politically connected firms, provides a new lens to illuminate firms’ strategic response in CSR, and has important policy implications. (shrink)

The behavior of some nightlife-setting patrons would be unacceptable in workplaces or public settings and could cause distress to other patrons. This quantitative study determined 381 young Australian’s descriptive and personal norms regarding four types of sexual behavior. Participants’ personal norms were that these behaviors are wrong, but they reported that the behaviors are common in a nightlife setting. Behaviors such as these could theoretically be prevented by modifying patrons’ descriptive norms with evidence that their beliefs are contrary to individuals’ (...) personal norms of acceptable behavior in nightlife settings. (shrink)

There are two aims to the present paper. The first is to support the assertion that traditional justifications of revolution, rebellion and civil disobedience, though not wrong, are culturally inappropriate. The second is to outline, in the most basic of forms, what a “culturally appropriate” form of political resistance would require. The latter aim will be attempted by offering a counter-enlightenment model of resistance, derived in a large part from a Hegelian reading of Sartre's later work on groups, appropriate to (...) the cultural conditions of late modernity. (shrink)

It is no longer the fashion to imagine Herodotos a liar when he tells marvellous stories, for some of his most extraordinary statements have long since been shown to contain at least a substantial measure of truth. It is perhaps not sufficiently realized, however, that on occasion he misleads his readers and himself by too much critical unbelief in his materials and consequent application of the crude methods of mythological investigation then current. In other words, he often rationalizes in the (...) only way then possible, superficially altering the story so as to rid himself of the incredible details, or at all events, as I think, attributing to the actors motives which a somewhat drily rational mind could understand and approve or condemn. It is of course well known that at least the former method was a commonplace of the sophists, whose influence on Herodotos is manifest and widespread; it has been said, indeed, that it is much older than they and characteristically Ionic. L. Radermacher finds traces of it in the Odyssey itself and adds that, although we can sometimes catch the rationalizer at work, we cannot be sure of always doing so and ‘müssen annehmen, dass der Glaube an die Geschichtlichkeit ihrer Sage manche griechischen Autoren früh verführt hat, sie geschichtlicher zu erzählen als eigentlich erlaubt war’. This is a true and useful statement. Modern criticism has long learned to set aside ancient allegorizations of myths, about which I need say nothing, for the subject has been repeatedly and well handled by my colleague, Dr. J. Tate; it has often, however, confused ancient interpretation of myth with ancient criticism of saga. Euhemerism indeed is usually recognized for what it is, although even this is not always so; but uixere inepti ante Euhemerum multi, and their efforts are by no means always distinguished either from allegorizing or from real sagas. For an example of the former confusion I may refer to Stallbaum's note on Plato, Phaedrus, 29 C-D, where the reader is referred to the account given by Lobeck of the rise and growth of allegorization. But Plato says nothing at all of allegories in this passage. He quotes, with ironical admiration of its ‘wisdom’, a version of the story of Boreas and Oreithyia according to which she. was knocked off the Areiopagos, or some other place, by a strong north wind, and so was killed and consequently said to have been carried away by Boreas. He adds that it would be a laborious and dismal business to go through all the tales of wonder in that way, rationalizing the Hippocentaurs, Gorgons, Chimaira, Pegasos, and the rest out of existence; a wise saying which was uttered in vain for Palaiphatos and his kind. However, most moderns know a myth from a saga and an allegory from a crude rationalization which accepts the story as true except for the incredibilities and is quite ready to believe, for instance, in Romulus if we will but postulate that he was not snatched up to heaven but murdered and his body hidden. There is a much more subtle snare, consisting of a story which, although rationalized, is well told, and Herodotos in this respect can be a notable offender, for he never tells a story ill. (shrink)

The Sīh-rōzag in Zoroastrianism: A Textual and Historico-Religious Analysis. By Enrico G. Raffaelli. Iranian Studies, vol. 20. London: Routledge, 2014. Pp. xvi + 346. $160.

There is an epigram preserved in two lives of Pindar, that in the scholia Ambrosiana and the rambling biography of the poet by Eustathios. It is perhaps most conveniently accessible in von Christ's larger edition of Pindar, pp. ci and cii, and runs as follows: μλα ρωτμχτε καμητισ λιуφωνιινδρ‘nu; κλατ θуατρεσ πιντα, αρуθεν μoσ κντκμζσ νδoθι κρωσσλειψαν' π' ༀπ ξεινησ θρα πρκαïσ. IIρωτμχη Eustathius. 2. Éκλατα ινδρ θуατρεσ East. et Ambr., corr. Gerhard.

One of the basic metatheoretical premises of pragma-dialectics is that “Argumentation has the general function of managing the resolution of disagreement.” From a Peircean perspective this is at best a partial truth. While it may be correct that in concrete, finite contexts, argumentation may function to manage the resolution of disagreement, in the long run argumentation will tend towards the Truth. Using Peirce as my compass, I will take argumentation to refer to the resolution function of thought contingently situated and (...) finitely understood. I will take argument to mean any structure or process which can serve as a real, compelling constraint upon thought in general. I will show that while the particular function of argumentation may be managing the resolution of disagreement, when situated within a Peircean-styled realism, argumentation will tend in the long run toward the Truth. I will end by showing that while argumentation may have a resolution function, its real measure and normative standard is growth rather than resolution per se. (shrink)

The function of REM, or any other stage of sleep, can currently only be conjectured. A rational evaluation of the role of REM in memory processing requires systematic testing of hypotheses that are optimally derived from a complete synthesis of existing knowledge. Our view is that the large number of studies supporting a relationship between REM-related brain activity and memory is not easily explained away. [Vertes & Eastman].

_The Social Work Psychoanalyst's Casebook_ begins with an interview with Dr. Sanville, who reflects on her evolution as a social work analyst, theoretician, writer, teacher, and leader. These reminiscences are followed by accounts of nine analytic treatments, each of which offers an unusual window into what actually transpired between analyst and analysand during the treatment hours. These case studies concern particularly troubled, often traumatized patients-the very "hard to reach" or "difficult to treat" clients with whom social workers have long been (...) familiar. They include a reanalysis by the same analyst of a patient whose first therapy ended in a stalemate; an account of transference and countertransference phenomena during termination; a report on the analysis of a young woman who experienced both chronic and stress-related trauma; and an account of the special issues involved in the treatment of an aging woman. Most of the case studies reflect the influence of Dr. Sanville, whose work has long evinced the therapeutic imagination and disciplined creativity to which all the contributors aspire. Tthe contributors to this volume offer the salutary reminder that analytic work is built on a relationship of respect and empathy and that treatment success follows from the therapist's willingness to accommodate the unique needs of individual patients. In honoring Jean Sanville, _The Social Work Psychoanalyst's Casebook_ speaks to the robustness of a multidisciplinary approach to psychopathology that transcends the bounds of any single profession-an approach in which contemporary psychoanalysis is enlarged by the insights and emphases of social work just as social work is enriched by the clinical wisdom of psychoanalysis. (shrink)

Making a career decision is one of the most complex development tasks faced by high school students who will graduate from school. Students need to believe that they would succeed in their effort to do the necessary tasks during the process of career decision-making. This belief is referred to as a career decision self-efficacy. This study examined the influence of parenting style on career decision self-efficacy through the mediation of proactive personality in senior high school students. A total of 949 (...) participants were involved in this study. Data were collected using Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form, Parental Authority Questionnaire, and Proactive Personality Scale. Data were analyzed using the regression technique with the Macro Process from Hayes. The regression results show that fathers’ and mothers’ authoritative parenting directly affect career decision self-efficacy; fathers’ and mothers’ authoritarian parenting, as well as mother's permissive parenting, affect the career decision self-efficacy only through the mediation of proactive personality. Also, fathers’ permissive parenting did not have a significant effect on career decisions self-efficacy either directly or indirectly through a proactive personality. Therefore parents – both father and mother – need to involve in developing career decision self-efficacy of their children through parenting process, especially authoritative parenting. (shrink)

Dr. David K. Naugle is widely regarded as a leading thinker in the area of Christian worldview formation. As Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Dallas Baptist University, he has drawn accolades and admiration. -/- This collection in his honor demonstrates that intellectual pursuits are inherently spiritual, that no area of life is separate from the lordship of Christ, and that true Christian faith is in fact the deep fulfillment of the human experience. On topics ranging from linguistics to gardening and (...) everything in between, these essays represent the depth and breadth of the idea that all goodness is God's goodness, all truth is God's truth, and all beauty is God's beauty. (shrink)

El estudio analiza un curso Blended Learning para identificar patrones de interacción didáctica que favorecen la construcción del conocimiento y por ende, del aprendizaje. La investigación muestra en la transición hacia la virtualidad desde la presencialidad, una apropiación gradual del aprendizaje y una orientación hacia la autonomía. Las transiciones indican mayor elaboración de contenidos significativos en lo virtual, señalando una relación entre interacción virtual intensificada, aprendizaje y menor dependencia docente. El análisis de la práctica educativa en Blended Learning promueve autonomía, (...) logros y participación mediante colaboraciones entre pares y mayor interacción social, conduciendo a resultados notables. (shrink)

This book examines public policy in physical education and sport and provides insights into practices of school curriculum and after-school sport programs from a global context. The authors reflect on the continuously shifting understanding of the field of physical education and suggest a new direction for the profession.