Social disorganization in a modernizing Dalit community

India has a traditional community justice forum, known as the panchayat, which settles disputes, keeping them from escalating into serious problems. However, this forum is in decline, with serious consequences for Indian communities. Here we analyze how the demise of the panchayat in the Dalit (untouchable) community of Pudur contributed to serious conflicts and crime. Panchayats have been impacted by India’s democratization, economic development, and urbanization. Dalits, especially, want to be independent, equal, and economically prosperous. In Pudur these needs have disrupted collective sentiment to an extent that fulfillment of them has become difficult. That several non-Dalits live in Pudur has made panchayat success even more unattainable. Socially disorganizing forces—modernization, opposing values of equality and caste hierarchy, intergenerational frictions, and Pudur’s unique history and caste composition—have all contributed to the panchayat’s demise and social ills. Modern societies looking for innovative solutions to crime through community justice can learn from Pudur’s negative experiences.     

证伪：社会科学研究的可能与必然 兼与张杨商榷

本文针对张杨《证伪在社会科学中可能吗？》一文展开争鸣与论述,指出证伪是理论检验的必然结果之一,相对于证实而言,证伪更有效、更可靠。本文还就张杨文中对波普尔证伪理论的误解做了澄清,指出波普尔的证伪并非“单个反例证伪”,证伪、可证伪性、证伪主义三者之间也存在着明显的区别,不能加以混淆。文章就张文提出的证伪在社会科学中面临的四个挑战做出一一回应：（1）“迪昂奎因命题”不能成为证伪的诘问;（2）穆勒命题不能挑战证伪主义;（3）统计陈述不是概率陈述;（4）限界条件与证伪的结合使社会科学的理论更加科学。     

RECONSTITUTING COMMUNITY: SOCIAL JUSTICE,SOCIAL ORDER AND THE POLITICS OF COMMUNITY

Social policy debates are informed today by a rhetoric of the ‘politics of community’ which focuses on problems of social fragmentation and exclusion in the new era of globalisation. While this rhetoric was earlier associated primarily with debate on social justice, it now more frequently relies on notions of social order, notably in the Federal Government's welfare reform agenda. ‘Community ‘ is thus a central and dynamic focus of debate, especially in relation to the arguments over ‘social capital’. The most important question in this project of ‘reconstituting community’ is the kind of community likely to emerge under globalisation: which question cannot be raised without shifting the current focus on social order back to one on social justice.     

“You put politics in the scale:” Stewart L. Udall and excess land law in California, 1961–1968

During the 1960s, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall faced controversy about enforcement of federal reclamation’s excess land law on California’s San Luis Project and the Imperial Irrigation District. The San Luis Project was a complex mix of state and federal funding and operation, and Udall ruled that excess land law did not apply to the state service area. Yet he overruled past practice on the Imperial Irrigation District and called for enforcement of land limits. This paper examines Udall’s effort to balance politics and principle.     

Research misconduct,NSF v NIH: Its nature and prevalence and the impact of their respective methods of investigation and adjudication

ABSTRACT

The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have established separate administrative mechanisms for investigation and adjudication of alleged research misconduct.

This report compares research misconduct at NSF and NIH and the possible effects of their respective methods of investigation and adjudication.

Notable and paradoxical findings were identified: NIH supported four times the number of grants as NSF, yet NSF reviewed 2.5 times the number of research misconduct reports. NSF faculty were two-times more likely to be found guilty (88%) than faculty at NIH (42%). 83.6% of NSF offenders were guilty of plagiarism, vs. 4.8% at NIH. NSF trainees made up 6% of the guilty, vs. 42% at NIH. These findings are most likely related to the nature of their respective sciences, scientists, and the nature of their publications.

Investigative policies and procedures are quite similar at these two agencies with the exception of the subpoena power available to the NSF’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where it would be infrequently utilized in investigations of its predominant offense, plagiarism. However, it could prove useful if made available to the NIH Office of Research Integrity (ORI) for investigations of fabrication/falsification, its most common offense. Federal criteria for prosecution should be modified to increase the likelihood of prosecution of serious offenders referred by ORI.     

在理性与现实之间寻求司法的正义——兼论“以事实为根据,以法律为准绳”原则的发展和变化

在我国当下,形式理性的法律面临现实困境,即:司法裁决不能被公众认可,法律的权威和公信力也在下降.法官“以证据为根据”的裁判理念虽然符合法律实践理性的要求,然而也易引致对正义价值追求的放弃和忽视;公众则视“以客观事实为根据”为司法不言自明的正义要求.如何破解这一困局?文章对“以事实为根据,以法律为准绳”原则在我国的观念认知进行了梳理,认为该原则在公众与司法者之间存在认知差异,从而导致裁决不能被认可.回应型法的有关理论值得借鉴,它认为应以法律的目的缓和引导制度,使其不拘泥于形式主义和仪式性,以探究法律中蕴涵的公正价值.在司法裁判中,应以公正为价值,兼顾对外部社会现实的关照,建立起以“证据事实”为基础、以“客观事实”为依归的“法律真实”标准.     

确立"程序本位"理念的理论意义和实践意义

程序本位理念是指在诉讼活动中坚持以诉讼过程 ,而不是以诉讼结果为出发点和评价标准的理念。这个理念依据于程序自身的独立价值和过程本身对结果的有用性和有效性。之所以要在我国的理论研究和司法实践中树立程序本位的理念 ,是因为程序法治是现代法治的核心 ,程序本位连接了程序正义与实体正义 ;且有针砭时弊之效。当前坚持程序本位理念不仅具有纠正“重实体轻程序”的倾向 ,引进和传播程序过程、程序正义观念的理论意义 ,而且具有强调现代程序与现代法治之间的必然联系、推进当前我国审判方式改革的实践意义     

中美书证证据能力规则之比较

我国证据法应借鉴美国《联邦证据规则》,从下述五个方面完善现有的书证证据能力规则:以鉴真规则和传闻证据规则替代抽象的辨别真伪规则,从而分别保证书证的"形式真实"和内容真实;从概念、整体思路、可操作性三个角度完善我国的原始文书规则;赋予对方异议权以增强我国摘录完整性规则的可操作性;应引进摘要采纳规则,以适应数量巨大书证出示调查的需要;采取广义的书证界定,取消视听资料和电子证据这两种法定证据种类,正视转化书证、综合性书证的存在并对其实行多重审查。     

自然法:法律与道德之间

自然法是对与错的终极标准,是制度正当与否的试金石,是保守与革命的最终理据.它兼有法律和道德的双重特征,还肩负着在两者之间做出基本区分的使命.在人类漫长的思想进程特别是欧洲思想近三个世纪理性化建构中,自然法是人们探究法律适当的道德基础,又是小心避免法律受道德污染的有力工具.它为法律和道德之间的那个交叉点提供了一个名称.     

真、善、美:科学与艺术的共同本源及其在服饰上的体现

科学与艺术是人类文明的两大形态,也是人类对宇宙不断探索和创造性地加以认识的结果。它们都是以人为本,体现了人类对真、善、美的不懈追求。科学探索以追求“真”为动力,以造福人类即“善”为本源,而“美”视觉化地反映了真和善的这种当前状态;艺术是对生活本质规律的形象化揭示,是对“真”的表现和再现,是对“美”的追求的结果。艺术形象的启迪、认识、教育、审美和娱乐作用,在驱动欣赏者积极、向上、至善。因此,真、善、美分别是科学与艺术的艺同精神、终极目标和理想标准。三者在服饰上得到生动体现。     

Logic, liberty, and anarchy: Mill and Feyerabend on scientific method

On the surface, J. S. Mill and Paul Feyerabend appear to hold differing views of scientific method. Mill attempts to frame a set of rules or canons for testing evidence based on rationality and inference, whereas Feyerabend, in his so-called “epistemological anarchism”, calls for abandoning any attempt to separate the good from the bad in science according to a fixed view of rationality. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, Feryerabend cites Mill as the originator of what he (Feyerabend) has to say in defense of epistemological anarchy. First, I argue that those aspects of Mill’s On Liberty that are suggestive of an anti-rationalist philosophy are entirely compatible with the theory of scientific method Mill offers in A System of Logic. Second, in the process of reconciling these two works of Mill, I hope to shed light on how we are to understand Feyerabend’s critique of methodological dogmatism.     

毛泽东“三个世界划分”理论的政治考量与时代价值

毛泽东“三个世界划分”理论萌芽于20世纪40、50年代“一个中间地带”思想,雏形于60年代的“两个中间地带”思想,正式形成于70年代初期。毛泽东以国家利益与主权诉求为逻辑原点,以矛盾对立统一论为哲学基石,以冷战时代背景为历史平台,以反对霸权主义为主要外交方略,形成了著名的“三个世界划分”理论。作为中国外交战略和国际关系理论的标志性成果,毛泽东的“三个世界划分”理论具有十分特殊的时代价值,特别是在国际伦理与正义原则、话语权与国家形象、安全机制与战略伙伴关系、相互依存与文化超越等领域形成的理念和原则,是值得我们倍加珍视的宝贵的思想资源。     

司法过程中的利益衡量批判

在司法过程中,价值衡量是法官填补法律漏洞、作出正确裁判所必须依赖的重要方法。然而,长久以来,价值衡量被简化为利益衡量,并在许多法学论著中取得了支配地位。文章意在指出,这种简化实质上是一种将权利利益化的庸俗产物,它对于法治和司法正义必然产生损害,指出这一实质,并作出“权利论”的批判,有助于维护法治之真谛并在司法实践中推动它的实现。     

论实体正义与程序正义的关系

法的正义是实体正义与程序正义的统一。在实体正义与程序正义的关系上,人们传统上倾向于重实体正义、轻程序正义,甚至认为实体正义决定程序正义。实际上,程序正义具有独立于实体正义的价值,程序正义的独立价值应该得到足够重视,但又不能把程序正义绝对化。     

Dimensions of Restorative Justice

Restorative justice proponents tend to focus their attention on criminal justice initiatives in a small number of developed countries, but restorative processes (which encourage citizens to negotiate among themselves, rather than rely on professionals to adjudicate), and restorative values (which emphasize the importance of repairing and preventing harm), can be found across a wide range of regulatory fields. Teachers, social workers, corporate regulators, civil mediators, members of truth commissions, diplomats, and peacekeepers all—at least some of the time—practice a variety of restorative justice. Consideration of these often-neglected examples can help refine current restorative justice theory and practice, which in turn has insights to offer practitioners and researchers in these fields.     

The Value of a Statistical Life and the Coefficient of Relative Risk Aversion

Individuals’ risk preferences are estimated and employed in a variety of settings, notably including choices in financial, labor, and product markets. Recent work, especially in financial economics, provides estimates of individuals’ coefficients of relative risk aversion (R’s) in excess of one, and often significantly higher. However, it can be shown that high R’s imply equally high values for the income elasticity of the value of a statistical life. Yet estimates of this elasticity, derived from labor and product markets, are in the range of 0.5 to 0.6. Furthermore, it turns out that even an R below one is difficult to reconcile with these elasticity estimates. Thus, there appears to be an important (additional) anomaly involving individuals’ risk-taking behavior in different market settings.JEL Classification: D80, G11, G12, I10, J17     

The smell of distance: Wallace Stegner’s definition of western non-fiction

Wallace Stegner has argued that land, scale, and aridness are defining characteristics of both the American West and writings about the West. Stegner’s definition is analyzed using his own works and Mark Twain’s Roughing It.     

Engaging the public in policy development: The national bioethics advisory commission report on research involving persons with mental disorders that may affect decisionmaking capacity

U.S. bioethics commissions have used a variety of methods to involve the public. All share a common requirement: as federal advisory committees they are required to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the federal law established during the Nixon administration which provides the public with an assurance that groups established by the government to advise the government should be publicly accountable. This paper will describe some of the ways the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) sought to involve the public in its report on Research Involving Persons with Mental Disorders that May Affect Decisionmaking Capacity.     

诠释方法--通向法律的真理之路

通过反思以伽达默尔和利科为代表的哲学诠释学中关于要不要(科学)方法之争,可以肯定,在探索和寻求法律真理过程中方法不能缺席.诠释法律的方法在人类认识视野中具有多样性、独立性和自在性,在本体视野中是非自治、非独立的,而在实践视野中则具有实用功利性特征.