This essay seeks to abstract from the works of Maximus the Confessor (580–662) a ‘theory’ of virtue ethics that engages Maximus’s own categories and language while still developing conversation with contemporary virtue ethics. First is a reconstruction of the larger cosmological (and moral) ‘narrative’—the oikonomia Maximus sees embodied in sacred history—that frames his essentially teleological understanding of the formation of virtue in created beings. The second part of the essay explores Maximus’s doctrine of the moral self as a synthesis of (...) ‘diachronic’ and ‘synchronic’ dimensions, and details three identifiable protocols by which moral agents cultivate the Christian virtues: first, the development of intellectual virtues such as prudence that serve clear vision (theoria) of worthy moral ends; second, the appropriate ‘use’ of the passible faculties of desire and temper in alliance with reason; and third, the conditioning of the virtues within moral communities (monastery or church) characterized by relations of accountability, imitation, and the traditioning of moral wisdom. (shrink)

In Moral Formation and the Virtuous Life, volume editor Paul M. Blowers has translated and gathered several key texts from early Christian sources to explore the broad themes of moral conscience and ethics. Readers will gain a sense of how moral formation was part of a process sustained by pastoral instruction and admonition based on ritual practice (baptism, eucharist, and liturgy) as well as learned ethical behaviors related to moral issues, such as sexual ethics, marriage and celibacy, wealth and poverty, (...) pagan entertainment, military service, and more. (shrink)

Psychologists from nineteen countries in Asia and Oceania report on the expansion of western psychology in the region at both the academic and the professional levels. With its own network of associations, conferences, and journals, the comminity of psychologists in the East has braved new frontiers for the discipline.

Incorporating Martha Nussbaum's work on the “intelligence” of human emotions in Greco‐Roman moral philosophy, Robert Kaster's analysis of the “narrative scripts” of rivalrous emotions in antiquity, and René Girard's insights into the role of “mimetic desire” in human envy, this article explores the strategies of two major early Christian bishops, Cyprian and Basil of Caesarea, to “read” and to cure the variant scripts of envy and related invidious passions in concrete ecclesial contexts. The article also examines certain monastic theologians in (...) late antiquity who aspired to preempt invidious passions by encouraging salutary scripts of competition in virtue that realized equality of honor in their respective communities. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe negativity bias is the tendency for individuals to give greater weight, and often exhibit more rapid and extreme responses, to negative than positive information. Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott illusory memory paradigm, the current study sought to examine how the negativity bias might affect both correct recognition for negative and positive words and false recognition for associated critical lures, as well as how trait neuroticism might moderate these effects. In two experiments, participants studied lists of words composed of semantic associates of (...) an unpresented word. Half of the lists were comprised of positive words and half were comprised of negative words. As expected, individuals remembered negative list words better than positive list words, consistent with a negativity bias in correct recognition. When tested immediately, individuals also exhibited greater false memory for negative versus positive critical lures. When tested after a 24-hr delay... (shrink)

Human beings, as a species, have two outstanding characteristics compared to all other species: the apparently enormous elaboration of our thought through language and symbolism, and the elaboration of our forms of social organization. The obvious question is whether these two characteristics are connected. ... Our view is that they are connected intimately. Thought and social organization are two aspects of the same larger phenomenon, or better the same larger bundle of phenomena. ... Here we bring the two streams of (...) analysis together, in what is at once an exposition of the basic structure of the systems of thought that organizations are built upon and, eo ipso, an exposition of the organizational basis and origin of human thinking as such. The resulting reconfiguring of questions, answers, and methods, we believe, cannot be described otherwise than as a new science and not just a new paradigm. (shrink)

Japanese edition of Flock of watchbirds. The masterpiece of Munro Leaf is finally republished! This is a book of what are bad behaviors: deceit, lazy, greedy... A child learns what behaviors are acceptable through these hilarious pictures of children in daily life. In Japanese. Annotation copyright Tsai Fong Books, Inc. Distributed by Tsai Fong Books, Inc.

From the known coordinate representation of these operators, a unified treatment of the abstract operators for curvilinear coordinates and their canonically conjugate momenta is given for systems in three dimensions. A configuration representation, corresponding to classical configuration space, exists in which description is simplified; the three-dimensional ket space factors into a direct product of one-dimensional spaces. Four cases are examined, according to the range of the continuous curvilinear coordinate. In addition to normalization of momentum eigenstates to the Kronecker delta for (...) finite range of coordinate and normalization to the Dirac delta for range on the entire real axis, normalization occurs to δ (or δ+) for range on the positive (or negative) part of the real axis. The domain of Hermiticity of curvilinear coordinate and conjugate momentum operators in each case is the entire three-dimension ket space. The fundamental commutation relations hold in all representations. Statements to the contrary for the radial and azimuth coordinates in spherical polar coordinates are seen to be erroneous. (shrink)

The formalism of (±)-frequency parts , previously applied to solution of the D'Alembert equation in the case of the electromagnetic field, is applied to solution of the Klein-Gordon equation for the K-G field in the presence of sources. Retarded and advanced field operators are obtained as solutions, whose frequency parts satisfy a complex inhomogeneous K-G equation. Fourier transforms of these frequency parts are solutions of the central equation, which determines the time dependence of the destruction/creation operators of the field. The (...) retarded field operator is resolved into kinetic and dissipative components. Correspondingly, the energy/stress tensor is resolved into three components; the power/force density, into two—a kinetic and a dissipative component. As in the analogous electromagnetic case the dissipation theorem is derived according to which work done by the dissipative power/force is negative: energy/momentum is dissipated from the sources to the K-G field. Boson quantization conditions are satisfied by the kinetic component but not by the dissipative component of the retarded K-G field. (shrink)

Presents the four things people must be in order to live together pleasantly: honest, fair, strong, and wise.

It is shown that in every gauge the potential of the electromagnetic field in the presence of sources is resolved by an extension of the Helmholtz theorem into a solenoidal component and an irrotational component irrelevant for description of the field. Only irrotational components are affected by gauge transformations; in Coulomb gauge the irrotational component vanishes: the potential is solenoidal. The method of solution of the wave equation by use of positive- and negative-frequency parts is extended to solutions of D'Alembert's (...) equation, and applied to equations satisfied by the potential in Coulomb gauge and the electric and magnetic vectors. Fourier transforms of potentials specifying destruction/creation operators become time dependent in the presence of sources. Our central equation states this time dependence. Frequency parts of Maxwell's equations are obtained. When the retarded potential in Coulomb gauge is resolved into kinetic and dissipative components, the latter is shown to be in radiation gauge. Correspondingly, the energy/stress tensor is resolved into three components; the power/force density, into two: a kinetic and a dissipative component. Work done by the latter component is negative: energy and momentum are dissipated from matter to radiation. Boson quantization conditions are satisfied by the kinetic component of the retarded potential, but commutators of the dissipative component are determined by the current sources. The energy/stress tensor and Hamiltonian of the field in the presence of sources are derived from the classical Lagrangian density. The relation between the Hamiltonian and the energy is shown to agree with the time dependence of the destruction/creation operators in Heisenberg picture. (shrink)

Jones' article suggests that the anthropological analysis of kinship has followed a single line of development based on a single underlying conception of meaning and method. In fact, there have been two opposed lines of development. Jones' conception is positivistic. The other is pragmatic. Pragmatic theory is superior on every recognized criterion. This briefly describes the differences.

Publication in this journal recently of a paper by A. Grünbaum has induced me to submit a treatment of the same subject. Like Grünbaum, I shall use the framework of special relativity, but my analysis will be different. Some of his arguments, I believe, are inadmissable. I shall pose the problem in a form different from his, but the solution to be described will be applicable to his case as well.

The linear vector space for the quantum description of a physical system is formulated as the intersection of the domains of Hermiticity of the observables characterizing the system. It is shown that on a continuous interval of its spectrum every Hermitian operator on a Hilbert space of one degree of freedom is a generalized coordinate with a conjugate generalized momentum. Every continuous spectral interval of a Hermitian operator is the limit of a discrete spectrum in the same interval. This result (...) is applied to description of the state of a system by a statistical operator p( $\hat q$ ) following measurement of the probabilities of the eigenvalues of an observable $\hat q$ . Each continuous interval in the spectrum of $\hat q$ is replaced by a discrete spectrum in the same interval with a parameterK; the limitK → ∞ in which the spectrum becomes continuous is not attainable physically. In the linear vector space of a quantum mechanical system every continuous interval in the spectra of the observables is similarly replaced by a discrete spectrum with a finite parameter: it is a space of discrete bases and a set of such parameters. The case of degenerate spectrum is also discussed. (shrink)

The Einstein law of velocity addition is well-known. Consider three inertial reference frames S, K, and M, with X axes parallel in the same sense. Let K have velocity v1 along the X axis of S, and M have velocity v2 along the X axis of K. Then, according to the Einstein formula, the velocity v3 of M along the X axis of S is If v2 is the velocity of an object at rest in M as measured by an (...) observer in K, then v3 is the velocity of the same object as measured by an observer in S. The formula is valid for a change in reference frame of the observer. (shrink)

A balanced approach that considers human strengths and weaknesses will lead to a more flattering set of empirical findings, but will distract researchers from focusing on the mental processes that produce such findings and will diminish the practical implications of their work. Psychologists ought to be doing research that is theoretically informative and practically relevant, exactly as they are doing.

IntroductionThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines acknowledge the importance of the parent–infant relationship for child development but highlight the need for further research to establish reliable tools for assessment, particularly for parents of children under 1 year. This study explores the acceptability and psychometric properties of a co-developed tool, ‘Me and My Baby’.Study designA cross-sectional design was applied. The MaMB was administered universally with mothers during routine 6–8-week Health Visitor contacts. The sample comprised 467 mothers. Dimensionality of (...) instrument responses were evaluated via exploratory and confirmatory ordinal factor analyses. Item response modeling was conducted via a Rasch calibration to evaluate how the tool conformed to principles of ‘fundamental measurement’. Tool acceptability was evaluated via completion rates and comparing ‘completers’ and ‘non-completers’ demographic differences on age, parity, ethnicity, and English as an additional language. Free-text comments were summarized. Data sharing agreements and data management were compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation, and University of York data management policies.ResultsHigh completion rates suggested the MaMB was acceptable. Psychometric analyses showed the response data to be an excellent fit to a unidimensional confirmatory factor analytic model. All items loaded statistically significantly and substantially on a single underlying factor. The item response modeling showed that most MaMB items fitted the Rasch model. item reliability was high yet the test yielded little information on each respondent, as highlighted by the relatively low ‘person separation index’ of 0.1.Conclusion and next stepsMaMB reliably measures a single construct, likely to be infant bonding. However, further validation work is needed, preferably with ‘enriched population samples’ to include higher-need/risk families. The MaMB tool may benefit from reduced response categories and some modest item wording amendments. Following further validation and reliability appraisal the MaMB may ultimately be used with fathers/other primary caregivers and be potentially useful in research, universal health settings as part of a referral pathway, and clinical practice, to identify dyads in need of additional support/interventions. (shrink)

Homeri Ilias. Scholarum in usum edidit Paulus Cauer. Pars I. Carm. I.—XII. Editio Maior. Vienna, Tempsky; Leipzig, Freytag. 3m. Ditto. Ditto. Editio Minor, 1m. 75. The First Three Books of Homer's Iliad, with Introduction, Commentary, and Vocabulary for the use of schools. By Thomas D. Seymour, Hillhouse Professor of Greek in Yale College. Boston, Ginn. Homer's Ilias in Verkürzter Ausgabe. Für den Schulgebrauch von A. Th. Christ. Mit 9 Abbildungen und 2 Karten. Vienna, Tempsky. 1 fl. 30kr.