阿富汗毒品经济：历史、作用与成因

阿富汗毒品经济主要来源于以鸦片生产和贸易为主的非法经济活动。阿富汗的毒品资金主要通过鸦片种植和毒品加工保护费、毒品国际走私通道保护费、毒品销售资金这三种方式流向塔利班以及基地组织手中,成为恐怖组织源源不断的经济来源。阿富汗农民长期贫困与毒品经济巨大利润形成的反差、喀布尔政府权力虚弱与管治无力、塔利班分子苦心经营以及美国阿富汗政策的连续失误,使得阿富汗毒品经济在短时间内难以铲除,成为国际反恐战争的最大障碍。     

微积分辩证认识简要

微积分在全部数学的历史中是一个最大创造,微积分发现的全部历史中,展现了辩证思维法的胜利,阿基米德的“穷竭法”,刘徽的“割圆术”,卡瓦列里的不可分量,费马的求切线方法,均是有力的说明。牛顿和莱布尼茨关于建立微积分而作出的杰出贡献,就在于他们分别提出了微积分的基本原理、三个重要概念:流量、流数、瞬和“变量”数学的思想体系。马克思和恩格斯则自觉地运用辩证方法对微积分作了深入探讨。     

Causality Assessment of the Acute Health Complaints Reported in Association with Oxygenated Fuels

In some areas where oxygenated fuel programs have been implemented, there have been widespread complaints of non-specific health effects attributed to the gasoline. There are a number of hypotheses that can account for this apparent association. This paper examines the hypothesis that the use of oxy-fuel (either oxygenated gasoline or reformulated gasoline) results in exposure of the general population to one or more chemicals at concentrations that cause toxicologic injury. Although several oxygenates can be used in oxy-fuels, this analysis focuses on MTBE because it is the most widely used oxygenate and because the database of relevant toxicologic data is greatest for this oxygenate. The causal assessment is based on an evaluation of the qualitative and quantitative plausibility that oxygenated fuel-related exposures have toxicological effects, and the epidemiologic studies that directly test the hypothesis that the use of oxygenated fuels causes adverse health effects. The plausibility that chemical exposures related to oxy-fuel use cause toxicological effects is very low. This determination is based on consideration of the exposure-response and time-action profiles for relevant toxicological effects of MTBE in animals, experimental MTBE exposure studies in humans, and the possibility that the addition of MTBE to gasoline results in toxicologically significant qualitative and/or quantitative changes in gasoline-related exposures. Similarly, the epidemiologic studies of oxy-fuel exposed cohorts do not support a causal relationship between oxy-fuel use and adverse health effects. Although the data are insufficient to rule the possibility of unique sensitivity in a small segment of the population, the strength of the evidence and the availability of other more plausible explanations for the health complaints reported in association with oxy-fuels support a high degree of confidence in the conclusion that MTBE-containing oxygenated fuels are not the cause of acute toxicity in the general population.     

Assigned Shares in Compensation for Radiation-Related Cancers

At the request of Congress, a Working Group of the National Institutes of Health prepared radioepidemiologic tables which estimate the likelihood that cancer victims previously exposed to a dose of radiation developed their cancer as a result of this exposure. The ultimate purpose of the tables is to provide a scientific basis for determining compensation for such victims, and their use would represent a marked departure from the current tort system for deciding compensation. The preparation of radioepidemiologic tables requires extensive mathematical modeling because matters such as sex, size of dose, age at exposure, type of cancer, and age at diagnosis must be taken into account. The limited data require many assumptions about the quantitative relationship between radiation dose and the age-specific incidence rate of cancer. After partitioning a population into reference sets based on age at exposure, size of dose, type of cancer, etc., an assigned share is computed for each reference set and then assigned to all of its members. The assigned share represents the fraction of the cancer cases in the reference set that are attributed to the radiation dose. Because the population can be partitioned in many ways, each individual's assigned share depends on the partition used and will change with different partitions. Options for modeling and limitations in epidemiologic data lead to considerable uncertainties in estimates of assigned shares that have been scientifically evaluated for the Working Group's tables. In contrast, the uncertainties associated with the current approach for determining the likelihood that a claimant's cancer was caused by radiation have not been appraised, but are likely to be even greater than those associated with the Working Group's tables. One issue is how to use such tables to compensate victims. Some among many possibilities are: to use them together with a compensation formula to determine the fraction of a standard award to be given; to use them as a starting value for the fraction, to be modified by an authority on the basis of additional information supplied by the claimant and defendant; and to use them as input to the present compensation system.     

跨文化交流中的“误读”现象

通常存在于阅读活动中的"误读"现象,在比较文学和比较文化研究领域中指的是在跨文化交流中人们对他者文化的或积极或消极的变异性理解。接受者的主观动机、文化交往的客观条件以及不同文化的差异性是导致误读产生的主要原因。对误读的研究和关注是当代意识的产物,反映出对文化差异性的重视。误读的创造性意义在于,它往往是对被理解的文化主体的一种丰富和扩展,也是打破不同文化间无联系状态、导致认同和理解并产生新的文化内容的契机。     

The concept of adequate causation and Max Weber's comparative sociology of religion

Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, studied in isolation, shows mainly an elective affinity or an adequacy on the level of meaning between the Protestant ethic and the 'spirit' of capitalism. Here it is suggested that Weber's subsequent essays on 'The Economic Ethics of World Religions' are the result of his opinion that adequacy on the level of meaning needs and can be verified by causal adequacy. After some introductory remarks, particularly on elective affinity, the paper tries to develop the concept of adequate causation and the related concept of objective possibility on the basis of the work of v. Kries on whom Weber heavily relied. In the second part, this concept is used to show how the study of the economic ethics of India, China, Rome and orthodox Russia can support the thesis that the 'spirit' of capitalism, although it may not have been caused by the Protestant ethic, was perhaps adequately caused by it.     

我国侵权法因果关系理论评析

侵权法中的因果关系是客观存在的 ,然而 ,对因果关系的判断和认定却是一个主观的过程 ,需要正确的理论作指导。由于受制于人类的认知能力和知识水平 ,依赖于整个人类的实践活动和经验积累 ,所以在未能完全掌握因果联系的规律性的前提下 ,判断和认定侵权法中的因果关系就不可避免地发生偏差。研究侵权法中因果关系的根本目的就在于建立科学的理论以指导司法实践 ,减少因果关系认定时的主观随意性和客观上的偏差 ,以准确确定责任 ,公平分担损失 ,合理分配风险 ,以实现侵权法维护社会公平正义之目标     

中日环境健康损害因果关系证明比较研究

以20世纪60年代的四大公害诉讼为契机,日本在法学理论和司法实务中针对公害健康损害因果关系的认定发展出了不同于传统侵权诉讼的因果关系推定规则,具体包括盖然性法、间接反证法、流行病学法等推定方法。我国则自20世纪90年代开始,通过特殊的因果关系举证责任分配规则实现保护受害人的政策目标。但是在理论研究和司法实务中,对这种特殊的举证责任分配规则的理解存在分歧,其争议焦点在于受害人是否对因果关系事实承担一定的举证责任。通过对中日的比较,可以发现日本的做法更为谨慎,其在坚守科学证明的前提下兼顾受害人保护的价值追求;而我国则更注重于受害人保护这一政策目标的实现,而忽视了证明的最终目标是寻求事实真相。我国应当在坚持现有举证责任规则的基础上,在审判实务中探索适用因果关系推定方法,实现政策考量与法律逻辑的相对平衡。     

我国共同侵权制度的再探讨

在侵权法立法之际,我们应当再次探讨该制度,以构建完整的、妥当的共同侵权制度.就共同加害行为而言,行为的"共同"的认定应采共同故意说,行为人应承担连带责任.就拟制的共同加害行为而言,应妥当认定教唆人和帮助人,同时应以责任能力为基础,来确立教唆或帮助未成年人或精神病人时的责任承担.就共同危险行为而言,它是指加害人不明,行为人应承担连带责任,并可以通过举证因果关系不存在而免责.此外,共同加害行为制度不能扩张适用于无过错责任案件,而共同危险行为制度可以扩张适用于无过错责任案件;团伙成员的责任制度不宜规定在侵权法之中.     

Continuities Between Peircean Realism and Critical Realism: On Causation,Ontology, and Truth

In recent years, critical realists have increasingly engaged with the thought of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of the American pragmatist tradition. But the engagement has been mostly narrow in focus and at times misinformed. This paper examines points of continuity between Peircean thought and critical realism with respect to causation, ontology, and truth. Its purpose is to lay the groundwork for further and more fruitful engagement between the traditions by bringing attention to some things critical realists may not have known, and to correct some inaccurate things they thought they knew, about Peirce's philosophy.