Sex Hormones and Sexual Desire

Some scholars attempt to explain sexual desire biologically by claiming that sex hormones play a necessary causal role in sexual desire. This can be claimed even if sexual desire is seen to be an experience. Yet the evidence for such biological essentialism is inadequate. With males the loss of sexual desire following hormonal changes can easily be explained in terms of social stigmas that are attached to the physiological situation. Concerning females, the relevance of sex hormones here is even more unclear. Although some women seem to have fluctuations in sexual desire during hormonal changes, other women do not. Even where there are such fluctuations these can be explained by responses to other physiological changes or the meanings that are attached to the situation. Research with non‐human primates supports this view of the non‐essential relation of sex hormones to sexual desire. A phenomenology of sex hormones is given that shows a possible non‐essential relation between sex hormones and sexual desire. Here hormone induced excitations in the genitals may or may not lead to sexual desire depending on the meaning they are given within awareness. This suggests that sexual desire has its origin in the meanings we give our biology and not in our biology itself.     

浅析何心隐的"寡欲"说

何心隐在伦理领域提出寡欲说。何心隐的寡欲说提倡节制欲望,提倡个人欲望的满足要受社会规范的制约,表现出与传统儒学思想的相通之处,但更多地体现出与传统寡欲说的区别。何心隐的寡欲说,其理论主旨在于坚决反对无欲,通过对欲的内涵的新解,何心隐明确了欲的正当性和天然合理性,提倡育欲即满足全体社会成员尤其是普通民众的各种欲求,反对统治者对社会财富的垄断,表达出新兴市民阶层对物质利益和平等地位的渴求,反映了当时先进知识分子对旧的社会秩序和传统道德的反思。     

The Role of Peers and Siblings in Toddlers’ Developing Understanding of Incompatible Desires

According to previous research, social experiences with other children might explain why three‐year‐olds are already quite proficient in understanding desires but not beliefs as subjective mental states. This study investigated toddlers’ (N = 50) developing subjective understanding of incompatible desires around the age of 3 years (M = 35.5 months) and the associated social factors (i.e., family demographics, peer, and sibling variables). Results indicated a developmental sequence from understanding desires to understanding desire‐dependent emotions with an unexpected positivity bias in toddlers’ prediction of own emotions. A hierarchical regression model revealed that specific social factors (i.e., reported quality of peer interactions and day care attendance) individually contributed to explaining the variance in children's desire‐reasoning skills. Findings are interpreted as supporting a belief–desire asymmetry, and specific social experiences, such as positive peer interactions and desire conflicts, may promote toddlers’ understanding of incompatible desires as subjective mental states.     

“It's like he just goes off,BOOM!”: mothers and grandmothers make sense of child‐to‐parent violence

Child to parent violence (CPV) involves continual and cumulative abusive actions perpetrated by children and adolescents towards their parents or caregivers. This abuse produces short‐term distress and ongoing long‐term harmful consequences for parents and their families. Practitioners, researchers and policy‐makers are increasingly challenged to identify, conceptualize and respond to this form of family violence. A major challenge is that parents and caregivers under‐report this abuse so there is a lack of awareness and understanding of their psychological experiences in relation to CPV. This research adopts an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the psychological experience of CPV. Interviews were conducted with six New Zealand mothers and two grandmothers who all experienced CPV. This abuse was experienced as an ‘emotional bloody roller coaster’ of unconditional love through to hatred; as ‘judgement’ – self‐blame and others' blame of their parenting skills; and the ‘absent father’ in their adolescents' lives was drawn on as an explanation for the abuse. Taken together, these psychological experiences identify the silencing of CPV is related to parents' conflicting emotions towards their children, their thoughts and feelings about themselves and how other people view them, and the impact of an absent father figure in their children's everyday lives.     

Parenting Black children in White spaces: Skilled African migrants reflect on their parenting experiences in Australia

This paper employs a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to probe the experiences of skilled African migrants parenting Black children in Australia, a predominantly White country. Two key themes emerged from this study: (1) the need to explicitly teach children about race and racism and to foster positive racial identities and (2) the complexities of navigating tensions between ‘African’ and ‘Western’ cultural values. Participants demonstrated high levels of awareness of intercultural parenting approaches and a desire to blend the best aspects of African and Australian cultural values in their own parenting practice. A significant paradox was also apparent in the tension between parental desires to inculcate pride in African ancestry and culture, while simultaneously encouraging children to ‘curate’ their blackness to minimize experiences of racialization. Social workers in Australia often play a critical role in the lives of migrant families as they support them to negotiate transitions in parenting contexts. Although this paper only offers a perspective on the parenting experiences of skilled African migrants and how they creatively manage the tensions and change emerging from this process, we suggest that this understanding helps to expand knowledge on the complexity of parenting in multicultural, transcultural and intercultural contexts.     

Complex belief-desire reasoning in children

Previous research concerned with children's belief-desire psychology has examined the capacity to predict or interpret action on the basis of the implicit proposition that ‘when an actor desires a particular end and believes that a particular action will achieve that end, he or she will undertake that action’. The limitations of this formulation for understanding acts of omission are outlined and an elaborated version of belief-desire psychology introduced. This version holds that ‘when an actor desires a particular end and believes that a particular action will achieve that end, and when it is believed that there are no co-occurring outcomes of that action whose avoidance is desired more highly than is the originally conceived end, then the actor will undertake the action which will satisfy the original desire’. An experiment is reported which examines 4-, 5, and 7-year-olds' ability to predict story characters' actions on the basis of either their true or false beliefs concerning undesirable outcomes associated with the pursuit of a desired end. Children of all age-groups provided evidence of understanding the elaborated version of belief-desire psychology. However, a significant improvement was noted between the ages of 4 and 7 years in the ability to understand circumstances involving false beliefs.     

The flavours of love: A cross‐cultural lexical analysis

Linguists have often remarked upon the polysemous nature of love, whereby the term encompasses a wide diversity of emotional relationships. Several typologies have been constructed to account for this diversity. However, these tend to be restricted in scope, and fail to fully represent the range of experiences signified by the term ‘love’ in discourse. In the interest of generating an expanded typology of love, encompassing its varied forms, an enquiry was conducted into relevant concepts found across the world's cultures, focusing on so‐called untranslatable words. Through a quasi‐systematic search of published and internet sources, 609 relevant words were identified. These were organised through a version of grounded theory into 14 categories, representing 14 different forms or ‘flavours’ of love. The result is an expanded theoretical treatment of love, allowing us to better appreciate the nuances of this most cherished and yet polysemous of concepts.     

Children's Theory of Mind: Understanding of Desire, Belief and Emotion with Social Referents

Preschooler's understanding of belief, desire, and emotion was assessed in a new false belief task that explored childen's mental state reasoning about social situations. The social analog task presented a change in a partner's play activity rather than a change in the location of a physical object. Two main differences from the usual pattern of theory of mind results were obtained. Five-year-olds had more difficulty understanding a false belief about another's current social activity compared to a false belief about a physical situation. The understanding of desire exhibited a 3- to 5-year age change that may have been shown because the social situation involved conflicting desires. When there was a conflict, the younger children tended to disregard the stated desire and exhibited 'social opportunism' by misattributing desires to permit a social interaction. The new results give a more varied picture of the development of theory of mind, and argue for expanding its study into social frames of reference.     

The social inclusion policy agenda in Australia: a case of old wine,new bottles?

The election of an Australian Labor Government in Australia in 2007 saw ‘social inclusion’ emerge as the official and overarching social policy agenda. Being ‘included’ was subsequently defined by the ALP Government as being able to ‘have the resources, opportunities and capabilities needed to learn, work, engage and have a voice‘. Various researchers in Australia demonstrated an interest in social inclusion, as it enabled them to construct a multi‐dimensional framework for measuring disadvantage. This research program resulted in various forms of statistical modelling based on some agreement about what it means to be included in society. The multi‐dimensional approach taken by academic researchers, however, did not necessarily translate to a new model of social policy development or implementation. We argue that, similar to the experience of the UK, Australia's social inclusion policy agenda was for the most part narrowly and individually defined by politicians and policy makers, particularly in terms of equating being employed with being included. We conclude with discussion about the need to strengthen the social inclusion framework by adopting an understanding of social inequality and social justice that is more relational and less categorical.     

WESTERN SYDNEY AND THE DESIRE FOR HOME

‘Western Sydney’ frequently figures in current debates about urban planning as exemplifying ‘the problem of urban sprawl’. In this context it is represented as the spatial articulation of the irrational desires of a wilful population to live out ‘the great Australian dream’. This paper proposes an alternative reading of the western Sydney suburban landscape to argue for a different understanding of the issues it poses for urban planners. In particular, it is argued that this landscape articulates, and should be valued as, the memories and history of people struggling to make a home for themselves in the, modern world. Attempts by urban planners, it is suggested, to ignore or marginalise this version of ‘the great Australian dream’ will inevitably lead to failure.     

FROM ENTITLEMENT TO OBLIGATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN WELFARE STATE

This article examines recent debates relating to the provision of welfare in Australia. It starts with an assessment of the trend towards the acceptance of the philosophy of ‘mutual obligation’ by governments, commentators and lobby groups, traces the process of the movement of welfare from ‘entitlement’ to ‘obligation’ and argues that this is being used to justify a reworking of the relationship between citizen and state. The paper argues that a ‘genuine’ mutual obligation has always been part of the Australian welfare system and that, in contrast to the current rhetoric of individual responsibility, it should rather be seen as a community based obligation.     

泛爱情时代的真爱乌托邦--论真爱文本的生产与分裂

以怀旧青春电影、真人秀相亲节目和浪漫言情电视剧为主要内容的真爱文本的流行,是当下的重要文化现象之一。真爱文本建构了美好的爱情图景,但文本叙事的失效使其成为乌托邦幻象。大众文化所建构、呈现的欲望化、合理化社会倾向以及个性表征的表面化,改写了现代性所确立的真爱话语的内涵,其对于现实爱情经验的影响和重塑,是真爱文本进行乌托邦想象的动力。改写、置换现实语境是真爱乌托邦的内在话语策略,由此造成了虚幻的真爱想象对真实爱情体验的压抑和取代。     

“桑梓情谊”的现代转化：费孝通社会理论的情感维度

费孝通的社会理论在社会结构方面更受学界重视，而其中的情感维度尚未得到足够关注。本文试图在费孝通早年有关中国现代化的理论视域中，梳理他有关“桑梓情谊”与“亲属情谊”“乡土工业”“村镇地方团体”之间关系的探索和讨论，进而呈现费孝通社会理论中对于情感的重视。 在费孝通看来，中国的现代化应该以中国传统社会组织为基础来嫁接西方现代技术， 从而推动整个社会从传统向现代的有效过渡。 在此过程中，他尝试将既旧且新的“桑梓情谊”阐释为现代中国社会的情感基础。 文章认为，“桑梓情谊”表征并构造了本地的根源与大社会的流动以及地方与国家的人际关联， 是理解费孝通社会理论之情感维度的关键，对我们思考当代中国现代化建设也有一定的启示。     

Conditions of mothering: The bio-politics of falling in love with your child

This article discusses and deconstructs the myth of ‘motherly love’ by contrasting it with fieldwork on Israeli parents' reactions to their appearance-impaired child. The ethnography of these reactions presents a common pattern of rejection—alternatively consisting of both the abandonment of the child at the hospital and of various forms of abuse at home. The article concludes by re-thinking the issue of ‘motherly love’ and ‘bonding’ as conditioned on some deeply-ingrained parental expectations regarding the appearance of their child.     

略论幸福的德性

立足于亚里士多德适度的伦理观角度探讨幸福,认为幸福就是适度,就是面对痛苦、超越痛苦,享受必要的快乐,适当享受快乐而不沉溺,并且适当地控制欲望使其成为人生的动力。适度的幸福观对于人生中的痛苦、快乐和欲望都具有重大意义。     

Home sweet home? Professionals' understanding of ‘home’ within residential care for unaccompanied youths in Sweden

The number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden continues to rise. The majority are placed in residential care units. This qualitative study aims to increase the understanding given by the professionals to the concept of ‘home’ within the framework of residential care for unaccompanied young people. Data are based on participatory observations at two residential care units, followed up by individual interviews with staff. The findings confirm that the concept of home has a complex meaning involving both objective aspects such as physical buildings, and more subjective components that can be seen as state of mind. The staff's desire to offer an ‘ordinary home’ fails because of the surveillance, their dominant positions and especially due to the legal restrictions that were not initially meant for this target group. Unaccompanied young people have to be considered based on their own specific needs in order to make it possible for society to offer the most suitable care.     

“对共同伤害的复仇”或义愤的社会化维度 斯宾诺莎《政治论》与一个自由共同体的情动基础

斯宾诺莎是启蒙传统中的一个“异类”,其政治社会理论不再将政治社会视作“国中之国”,而将人类情动（affect）视作一种真实的社会力量,并且将这些个体间的力量博弈奠立为国家的根基。由此,因特定社会状态而起的抵抗性情动“义愤”就以一种极富张力的方式被引入社会起源的讨论中。与对抗性的政治行动不同,斯宾诺莎强调这种情动所呈现的时空特征。在空间维度上,因义愤而敞开的情动模仿及想象性认同可贡献于社会化过程;在时间维度上,短时效的义愤能够被有效调控与挫败,使其作为集体伤害的记忆融入建制之中,提供社会变革的历史性动力。好的共同体必须将由“恐惧”支配的团结模式转变为由“希望”引导的团结模式。     

Live Discharge from Hospice and the Grief Experience of Dementia Caregivers

When an individual has dementia, family members are involved in many care transitions in their roles as caregivers. One such transition is the ‘live’ discharge from hospice services. This occurs when an individual no longer meets eligibility criteria. This can be difficult for caregivers who have been anticipating an end to understand in the context of their grief process. This qualitative study (N = 24) explored the experience of caregivers of adults with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, who experienced a ‘live’ discharge from hospice. Specifically, the experience of grief is examined. Results from this study highlight the complexity of caring for someone with a terminal disease and the grief experience in end-of-life care as caregivers struggle to understand the individual’s terminal prognosis as temporary. This is further complicated for caregivers who must resume caregiving responsibilities or assume a new caregiving role after experiencing a loss of hospice services. Finally, hospice social workers are well positioned to offer emotional and other concrete support to caregivers who experience a ‘live’ discharge.     

无须德性的伦理生活——黑格尔论现代社会的理念

比较黑格尔的伦理概念与古代伦理概念的区别有助于澄清现代社会的理念。在亚里士多德那里,“伦理”是一个借助习惯、法律和政制搭建起来的、旨在塑造人的欲求和欲望的生活方式。对于处在自然德性和思虑德性之间的伦理空间而言,习惯、法律和制度并不是自足的,它们着眼并取决于德性。相比之下,在黑格尔那里,现代人无须具备多么高的德性,仅仅通过服从健全的法律和制度就能够驯化自己的欲望,从而赢得他人的承认和自由。不过,我们需要反思,在法律和制度的健全和完备之外是否还有其他可能性？或许,这仍然取决于我们能否在自身的文明传统中再度唤醒某种伦理特质,去驾驭这些理性化的法律和制度,营造出一种值得欲求的共同生活。