For Bayesian Wannabes,Are Disagreements Not About Information?

Consider two agents who want to be Bayesians with a common prior, but who cannot due to computational limitations. If these agents agree that their estimates are consistent with certain easy-to-compute consistency constraints, then they can agree to disagree about any random variable only if they also agree to disagree, to a similar degree and in a stronger sense, about an average error. Yet average error is a state-independent random variable, and one agent's estimate of it is also agreed to be state-independent. Thus suggests that disagreements are not fundamentally due to differing information about the state of the world.     

Nonlinear social welfare functions

It is argued that Bayesian decision theory is a solution of an important philosophical problem, viz. the problem of how to define rational behavior under risk and uncertainty. The author has shown in earlier papers that if we take the Bayesian rationality postulates seriously, and take an individualistic point of view about social welfare, then our social welfare function must be a linear function of individual utilities: indeed, it must be their arithmetic mean. The present paper criticizes Diamond's and Sen's contention that one of the Bayesian postulates (viz. the sure-thing principle) does not apply to social decisions, even though it may apply to individual decisions. It also criticizes Sen's proposal of making social welfare a nonlinear function of individual utilities. The social welfare function proposed by the author depends on interpersonal utility comparisons. The use of such comparisons is defended. It is also argued that anybody who feels that the utilitarian (i.e., linear) form of the social welfare function is not egalitarian enough, should reject the author's individualism axiom, instead of trying to reject the Bayesian rationality axioms. However, this would be equivalent to giving egalitarian considerations a priority in many cases over humanitarian considerations. Finally, the paper discusses the reasons why even full agreement on the mathematical form of the social welfare function would not give rise to a Utopian state of moral consensus: moral controversies arising from disagreements about what predictions to make about future empirical facts would still remain.     

家庭·学校·社会:伦理教育的整合实施思路

在社会转型发展的当代境遇中,以道德和美德为基本内容的伦理教育,要卓有成效地展开,首先应该构建起家庭、学校、社会的互动平台,遵循人生奠基、生态整体、广博博爱和全面慈善等基本原则,整合实施伦理教育,引导人学会成就自己、关爱他人、关心社会、善待自然、敬畏生命、担当责任,既践行道德生活,又追求美德作为.     

Narrating Love and Abuse in Intimate Relationships

via email: heather.fraser{at}rmit.edu.au Summary In this article, I use discourse analysis to explore the relationshipbetween love and abuse. I argue that Anglo-American social workhas been reticent to theorize love; and that when it does, theborders separating love from abuse are usually assumed to berelatively stable and readily apparent. After nominating someof the reasons for and repercussions of dichotomizing love andabuse, I suggest that knowledge about intimate abuse will expandif more attention is given to the study of love. I promote theuse of feminist discourses because they provide valuable insightsabout the operations of power in love relationships. Drawingideas from both structural feminism and post-structural feminism,I encourage social workers to move their analytical attentionback and forth between the micro-politics of intimate relationshipsto the wider cultural contexts within which they are staged.I conclude with the assertion that social workers will be betterplaced to understand the dilemmas that many ‘ordinary’women confront in their everyday lives, if they critically analysethe intersections of love and abuse.     

Moral decisionism and its discontents

Decisionists use decision/choice concepts to understand and represent X: bees, Deep Blue, and Ron Carter make decisions. Explicit decisionists argue that X should be understood and represented using decision/choice concepts: it's correct to speak of bees', computers', and jazz improvisers' decision‐making. Explicit anti‐decisionists disagree: bees, computers, jazz improvisers, algorithms, and drug addicts aren't correctly understood and represented as decision‐makers. Sociologists look at decisionism and explicit decisionism as social phenomena, which show up in discourses, practices, technologies, and organizations. I make a contribution to the sociology of decisionism and the sociology of morality by examining three kinds of explicit moral anti‐decisionism: Murdochian, sociological/structural, and Confucian/Daoist. I show why these discontents are discontent, what theories and evidence they draw on, what assumptions they make, and how they conceive of morality without decision/choice concepts. Then, I consider how moral anti‐decisionism might matter, how the sociology of decisionism might matter, and where to go from here (if anywhere).     

Three stories about mother: narratives by women who have lived in care

Families and social work interventions in their lives are at the core of child welfare. Child welfare practices can shape children's and parents' family memories and narratives of different family relations. However, there is little social work research so far based on the personal narratives of people who have lived in care. The study data consist of the written life stories and biographical interviews of three women who have lived part of their childhood in children's homes. In their narratives, the most central family relation was their relationship to the mother. They used different narrative strategies in their stories while trying to manage both living their childhood in care and presenting their mother morally in the same story. The central moral and emotional stance in the narratives of the mother–daughter relationship was love. Through the analysis, three moral characters of the mother were constructed. The first told about an absent mother, the second a loved and loving mother and in the third, the mother's moral character was continuously negotiated and contested. Constructing a personal story and moral character of oneself and of one's mother can be truly risky in the context of a childhood in care.     

Modernizing social security: Changing responsibilities and individual choice

Social security needs to be reformed to make it sustainable. We argue that it is necessary to consider not only system characteristics (such as the level and duration of benefits, insured population), but also the division of responsibilities. Social security is not solely a state matter; firms, trade unions, industrial sectors and the individual play a role as well. As social risks are to some extent endogenous, insurance ought to be taken care of at the level at which the risk can be most directly influenced in order to improve efficiency. This may partly take place within the public system, for example through risk rating. Alternatives would include shifting from collective to more individual arrangements, prominent examples being multipillar systems and savings accounts. Multipillar systems mainly imply a new division of responsibilities, taking the endogeneity of social risks and the implications of modern life cycles into account. At the same time they offer more individual choice. Savings accounts reduce moral hazard without affecting individual choice. Either way, in reforming social security a balance needs to be found between competing goals or principles: between equity and efficiency, between solidarity and freedom of choice, between the risks of moral hazard and adverse selection. This choice is difficult because social security is not only about "security". It is an important part of the way we organize our society and embodies many of society's values.     

‘‘With the greatest respect and fidelity:’ a Cherokee vision of the ‘Trust’ doctrine”

The trust relationship is the conceptual/philosophical framework against which all relations between the federal government and indigenous groups are conducted. Yet despite the centrality of this concept, federal policymakers have no consistent or agreed upon definition of what the trust relationship actually entails (Wilkins, 1997). And, more importantly, indigenous conceptions of trust have rarely been assessed. This article analyzes and advances one tribe's—the Cherokee—perspective on trust. In focusing on how the Cherokee perceive trust, this section emphasizes that from an indigenous viewpoint the trust relationship embodies a complex and sophisticated understanding that both the tribe and the United States have reciprocal responsibilities to maintain positive relations towards one another. The leaders of the Cherokee people—one of the more diverse indigenous groups— understood in the federal government's actions, whether these were expressed in treaties, policy statements, congressional laws, or court decisions, that the federal government was pledged to protect Cherokee property and sovereignty, would act with utmost integrity in its legal and political dealings with the people, and would insure that the United States political and judicial representatives would act in a moral manner regarding the tribe's rights. Notwithstanding the federal government's tremendous variety of treaty and trust violations, the Cherokee conception of trust is regenerative from generation to generation. This breathes new life into a seasoned concept and offers hope for the often difficult political/legal relations between the federal, state, and tribal governments. And here we beg leave to ask of our father that, in future transactions of a public nature between the United States and our nation, the American Government will not require of our nation any thing which, as our protectors and guardians, they will not, after due deliberation, advise us to comply with; and having no doubt of the magnanimity and benignity of the Government, we shall return home satisfied, and report to our nation the result of our mission to this. With the greatest respect and fidelity, we subscribe our names (Going Snake, et al., 1817, p. 147)     

SPECIAL ISSUE： IMPORTANT ISSUES IN MARXIST PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY CHINA：The theory of question-oriented reflection and its contemporary significance

“前提批判”与“问题反思”表征着两种不同的哲学立场,同时也构成当代哲学不同的出场路径。“前提批判”是以形态学立场为前提、以重构形态为旨趣的话语行为。它遮蔽了一个真实的基础：一切真正的哲学都起源于问题,对问题的批判性反思才是哲学走向深处的真正语境。虽然形态建构一直是哲学话语体系的存在方式,但是它始终是对实践问题的哲学解答方式,问题与形态相比不能不占首位并具有根本性质。马克思哲学革命提出的“反思的问题学”指涉实践论和“问题学”立场,强调哲学本质上是问答逻辑。坚持以“改变世界”的问题为中心,通过反思批判“问题中的哲学”和“哲学中的问题”,才能达到哲学形态的前提,进而才能构建合理的哲学形态。     

认识自己及自己的发展境遇——对科学发展观及生态文明的实践哲学解读

在当下理论界,建立科学的发展观和生态文明成为一个非常普遍的话题。但是人们在谈论这一话题的时候,往往只关注它的表面的日常生活中的现象世界的问题,而不能深入到其深层的理论背景中去。实际上这一话题包含着深刻的哲学背景在里面。要想真正的坚持科学的发展观和生态文明,一个关键性的步骤就是要合理的理解马克思有关人的存在性问题的观点,要合理的认识自己、认识我们现代化进程以及我们当下的现实性的发展境遇。     

简论魏源论著中的爱国主义思想

魏源所处的时代 ,是我国由封建社会向半殖民地半封建社会急剧变化的时代。魏源一生最光辉的业绩 ,是协助林则徐编译《海国图志》 ,编撰《圣武记》 ,总结鸦片战争的失败教训 ,集中反映了魏源的爱国情怀。魏源身世坎坷 ,主张经世致用 ,改革弊政 ,富国强兵 ,但最终壮志未遂。其有些著作后流入东瀛 ,对日本的明治维新有较大影响     

从日常生活言谈及科学理论言谈看同一性的本体论问题

文章介绍了分析哲学中关于同一性的本体论问题的一些解答,特别解释了奎因是怎样从日常生活言谈及科学理论言谈的角度出发得出一种相对同一性的观点的。奎因的工作展示了像同一性这样相对抽象的哲学理论概念如何能够在具体的日常生活及科学实践的语境中得到澄清。在讨论了奎因的非实在论方法在分析的形而上学中的广泛应用之后,作者介绍了麦克道尔对道德投射主义的批判,然后论证麦克道尔的工作可以被用来挑战上述的非实在主义的形而上学理论。     

中日家庭德育之比较

家庭道德教育是社会道德教育的有机组成部分。中日两国素来具有重视家庭德育的传统,他们既有着共同的特点,也有着巨大的差异性。比较两国家庭德育的特点,借鉴日本家庭德育的成功经验,对于改进我国家庭德育教育方法,提高德育实践能力具有重要意义。     

从经典马克思主义到西方马克思主义

经典马克思主义哲学可以有不同解释 ,可以用不同名称来表示 ,其本质之点是把现实生活和实践的观点当作整个哲学的根本观点。恩格斯和列宁在哲学上关注的问题与马克思有所不同 ,但他们的根本观点是一致的。在马克思主义哲学的发展中出现了对其根本原则的偏离现象 ,导致国际共产主义运动遭到挫折 ,西方马克思主义的形成与此相关     

SPECIAL ISSUE： CULTURAL PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES IN CHINA：Reflections on philosophy of culture in China

文化哲学已经成为中国哲学研究的热点,但还处于起步、初创、泛化而不精细的阶段,目前至少存在着实证性的,不自觉的,非反思的,知识学的,范式性的等几种文化哲学类型。造成中国文化哲学研究泛化和多样化特征的直接原因在于,它的兴起面临着复杂多样的文化景观和丰富多样的思想理论资源,而深层原因在于,尚未真正实现从意识哲学向文化哲学的范式转变,深化中国文化哲学研究的首要任务是推动理论范式的自觉,避免把文化哲学理解为一种部门哲学,而把它定位于一种通过回归文化而真正回归生活世界的哲学范式,一种新的历史解释模式。     

哲学嫉妒

关于“人的科学”的观念长期以来诱惑着西方的思想家们。自然科学的每一次突破都被用来佐证哲学已经被自然科学所取代。自然科学家们常常对哲学家和文学家们不能达成一致不厌其烦。他们把这种不一致与作为自然科学的经验性的信条的标志的共识和稳步前进进行不公平的比较。最近在对大脑功能的研究方面和进化论生物学领域都取得的一些研究成果,在这种意义上也被认作为对哲学的部分的取代。然而斯蒂夫·平克用这些自然科学信条解决政治和社会问题的企图并没有什么意义。对于政治和社会问题,平克和他的盟友们提供不了任何具体的、实用的建议。他们错误地认为我们需要关于人性的理论作为解决政治和社会问题的原理。但事实并非如此,政治和社会指针只能从对人类历史的研究而不是生物学的研究中产生。西方哲学史的精神在于关于人性的理论应被关于历史的研究所取代,关于非历史的人类本质的理论,不论是哲学的还是生物学的,都不值得我们认真对待。     

Emotions and Moral Motivation

One question in moral psychology concerns the role of emotions to motivate moral action. This question has recently become more urgent, because it is now clearer that cognitive developmental theories cannot offer a complete explanation of moral functioning. This paper suggests that emotion, as is typically understood in psychology, cannot be seen as the basis for an acceptable explanation of moral behaviour and motivation. However, it is argued that it is possible to understand emotions as embedded in agentic processes, and regulated by conscious concerns. So understood, emotions acquire an important role in the person's moral life. These conclusions are reached through an extensive review of psychological and philosophical conceptions.     

Disclosing Conflicts of Interest to Research Subjects: An Ethical and Legal Analysis

In this article, I examine the ethical and legal issues related to disclosure of conflicts of interest to research subjects, and discuss some empirical studies related to the topic. I argue that researchers have an ethical obligation to disclose conflicts of interest to research subjects, provided that they take steps to help subjects understand information about conflicts of interest and how to interpret it. Researchers also may have a legal duty to disclose conflicts of interests to subjects, depending on the facts of the case and the court's interpretation of the law. To reinforce and clarify the legal obligation to disclose conflicts of interest, the federal regulations should be amended to include disclosure of conflicts of interest as one of the informed consent requirements. Institutional review boards play a key role in helping researchers to disclose conflicts of interests to subjects in an appropriate manner. Institutional review boards should approve the disclosure language in informed consent documents, and they should require researchers to disclose financial interests to research subjects, if they have any, as a condition of approval.     

Disclosing conflicts of interest to research subjects: an ethical and legal analysis

In this article, I examine the ethical and legal issues related to disclosure of conflicts of interest to research subjects, and discuss some empirical studies related to the topic. I argue that researchers have an ethical obligation to disclose conflicts of interest to research subjects, provided that they take steps to help subjects understand information about conflicts of interest and how to interpret it. Researchers also may have a legal duty to disclose conflicts of interests to subjects, depending on the facts of the case and the court's interpretation of the law. To reinforce and clarify the legal obligation to disclose conflicts of interest, the federal regulations should be amended to include disclosure of conflicts of interest as one of the informed consent requirements. Institutional review boards play a key role in helping researchers to disclose conflicts of interest to subjects in an appropriate manner. Institutional review boards should approve the disclosure language in informed consent documents, and they should require researchers to disclose financial interests to research subjects, if they have any, as a condition of approval.     

关于我国社会弱势群体的伦理思考

弱势群体是在社会经济利益和权力的分配中处于相对不利的地位,在政治、经济和文化生活中的影响力相对下降,成为整个社会需要同情和关爱的对象群体。在追求共同富裕的社会主义中国,他们的生活现状处于道德的尴尬状态。如果无视或漠视弱势群体的利益势必给社会的发展和进步带来道德的危害。鉴于此,必须贯彻以人为本、公平正义、人人共享社会发展成果的执政道德理念;选择并设计好扶助弱势群体的道德制度;营造一个扶助弱势群体的道德大环境;增强弱势群体主体适应竞争社会的技能与信心。