当代西方关于全球性问题的哲理反思

当代人类面临种种全球性问题,科技社会效应的两重性空前突出。当代西方思想界出现了一场科技悲观论与科技乐观论的激烈论争。对这场极具哲理性的争论应给予全面分析并加以总结,这将有助于马克思主义的科技价值论和生态哲学观的深化和发展。     

对“叔本华的悲观主义美学”之说的质疑

国内学术界习惯使用的“叔本华的悲观主义美学”说法是值得质疑的。应该把叔本华的美学和他的形而上学及伦理学原则分开来考察,“悲观主义”一词只能用在他的形而上的观点上,而在美学观上,叔本华的“解脱论”根本是“乐观主义”的。叔本华并不主张自杀,他只对自杀作逻辑上推论,并非用在现实经验层面上。“悲观”和“乐观”是个不明确的述语,应该加以限制和说明,用“唯情主义”来指称叔本华的美学也许妥帖些。     

论新老实用主义的生命审美观

实用主义不只阐明突出效用的实践观,真善美统一的真理观,鼓励探索和实验的方法论,还极力提倡一种艺术化的生命观和审美主义的人生观;激励人们为生存和改变现实境遇而努力;要求人们"活得好,活得高尚";精心呵护生命,培养审美情趣,去除社会陋习,建立审美模式,塑造完美人格,实现完整人性。每个人都应该把人生当作一门艺术,在改善自我、世界和他人生活状态的过程中把自己塑造成为一件精美的艺术品,或是把自己的生活建构成一种具有审美价值和反映某种高雅风格及富有个性的作品。     

Conditional covariance penalties for mixed models

The prediction error for mixed models can have a conditional or a marginal perspective depending on the research focus. We introduce a novel conditional version of the optimism theorem for mixed models linking the conditional prediction error to covariance penalties for mixed models. Different possibilities for estimating these conditional covariance penalties are introduced. These are bootstrap methods, cross-validation, and a direct approach called Steinian. The behavior of the different estimation techniques is assessed in a simulation study for the binomial-, the t-, and the gamma distribution and for different kinds of prediction error. Furthermore, the impact of the estimation techniques on the prediction error is discussed based on an application to undernutrition in Zambia.     

Predicting Career Adaptability From Positive Psychological Traits

This study investigated positive psychological traits as predictors of career adaptability in a group of emerging adults. A total of 415 undergraduate students (185 men, 230 women) from a large state‐funded university in Turkey responded to Turkish versions of the Career Adaptability subscale of the Career Futures Inventory (Rottinghaus et al., 2005 ), the Dispositional Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991 ), the Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985 ), and the Ego Resiliency Scale (Block & Kremen, 1996 ). Results indicated moderate to strong correlations among the variables and suggested that students who are more resilient, hopeful, and optimistic are more likely to perceive themselves as more adaptable in their careers. Simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that career adaptability was significantly predicted by hope, resilience, and optimism. In light of these results, when designing career interventions to enhance the career adaptability of emerging adults, counselors should integrate various strategies to foster hope, resilience, and optimism.     

Cruel Pessimism and Waiting for Belonging: Towards a Global Political Economy of Affect

Recent theorizations of affect have focused largely on Western historical, political and aesthetic contexts to distinguish between affect and emotion. Notably, these interventions offer new imaginaries to reinvigorate analysis of politics in the face of shrinking possibilities. However, much of this literature views affect as autonomous from emotion, while overlooking the political history of development and the differentiated relation to affect under colonial capitalism in other historical contexts. This paper studies subaltern engagement in activist performance in India to address these issues. It thinks through Lauren Berlant's account of the aesthetic genre and affective structure of cruel optimism, and her focus on historical contexts where people have recently lost the vision of a good life. By contrast, focusing on the historical present of those born into a pervasive and intractable sense of marginality and insecurity, I ask: what is the subject's relation to affect and activism in contexts where the loss of vision of a good life is not new under neoliberalism, but rather, reworks long-standing violence and inclusion/exclusion of colonial capitalism and nation-state histories. I argue that it is useful to understand Berlant's ‘materialist context for affect theory’ in light of uneven global histories of colonialism, development and neoliberalism. The affective experience of time is different across different spaces. As such, this paper contributes a global materialist context for affect theory, by focusing on activist theatre by a tribe called Chhara, designated ‘born criminals’ by British colonial law – a status legally denotified in 1952, but that is practically still effective in postcolonial India. Competing affective structures – sentimental optimism, cruel pessimism, betrayal and ordinary regard – shape and are shaped by Chhara negotiations with branded criminality. Ultimately, for the postcolonial subject, surviving in the neoliberal present involves vacillating among competing affective structures, only some of which generate sustained political critique.     

Body esteem and self-esteem in middle-aged women

The aims of the study were (a) to identify predictors of body esteem and (b) to expand on previous research by examining the link between global self-esteem and body esteem in a community-based sample of women in midlife. We found that body esteem in midlife women was predicted by body mass index (BMI), optimism, self-esteem, and menopausal symptoms. Although BMI was the main predictor of body esteem in middle-aged women, global self-esteem was more strongly related to feelings about appearance and physical condition than feelings about body size.     

The optimism trap: Migrants’ educational choices in stratified education systems

Immigrant children's ambitious educational choices have often been linked to their families' high level of optimism and motivation for upward mobility. However, previous research has mostly neglected alternative explanations such as information asymmetries or anticipated discrimination. Moreover, immigrant children's higher dropout rates at the higher secondary and university level suggest that low performing migrant students could have benefitted more from pursuing less ambitious tracks, especially in countries that offer viable vocational alternatives. We examine ethnic minority's educational choices using a sample of academically low performing, lower secondary school students in Germany's highly stratified education system. We find that their families' optimism diverts migrant students from viable vocational alternatives. Information asymmetries and anticipated discrimination do not explain their high educational ambitions. While our findings further support the immigrant optimism hypothesis, we discuss how its effect may have different implications depending on the education system.     

高校应注重学生乐观处世态度的培养

随着社会经济的快速发展,需要越来越多的德才兼备的高素质人才,大学生走向社会后,将会面对许多压力和挑战。在大学期间,乐观处世态度的培养对学生今后走向社会、增强应变能力、健康成长显得尤为重要。     

A Study of Battered Women’s Purpose of Life and Resilience in South Korea

The principal objective of this study is to determine whether battered women’s purpose of life (meaning/value) affects resilience (self‐efficacy/communication efficiency/optimism). This purpose is meaningful in that it may help provide battered women with a new perspective of a changeable life, away from the negative perspectives frequently associated with domestic violence sufferers. The subjects of this study were 110 battered women staying at shelters located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, Korea. The survey was conducted between August 15 and September 20, 2010. The data were collected using questionnaires measuring sociodemographic variables, a purpose‐of‐life scale, and a resilience scale. The collected data were evaluated with frequency, correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, the meaning and value of life positively influenced self‐efficacy. Second, only the meaning had a beneficial effect on communication efficiency. Third, only the value variable positively affected optimism. Therefore, this study implied that resilience is an important area in the context of spousal abuse. Based on these results, a program for enhancing the meaning of life is suggested to help domestic violence survivors to build up resilience.