“On the Shoulders of Giants”: A History of the Understandings of Pain,Leading to the Understandings of Neuromodulation

The history of the use of electrical stimulation for pain is a cavalcade of research and innovation of many great scholars, scientists, and physicians over centuries that continues up to the present day. The legacy of this philosophy, research, and innovation is the field of neuromodulation for pain control. Today, patients with chronic pain from damage to the nervous system and chronic pain of the extremities, the axial low back, and neck, the face, and the viscera, all derive benefit from these early pioneers that have led to the expanding field of neuromodulation ... “on the shoulders of giants.” We present here a history of the understandings of pain from the ancients to the present, which has led to our understandings of the use of electricity to cure disease and release patients from their suffering, generating the new, exciting, and expanding field of neuromodulation.     

概念隐喻在写作中的应用

根据Lakoff和Johnson所创立的体验哲学以及认知语言学的基本观点,将对这一观点的重要分支概念隐喻作一个阐述,同时将着重讨论概念隐喻理论在写作中的应用,以期加强我们对语言表达以及理解的准确性。     

科学模型与中医各家养生学说

从西方科学哲学模型论的角度来说,各养生学派是在一定的生活情况、环境和时间上运用来指导养生,因而各家养生学说就是的一个科学模型.模型不是真理,而是适应经验上遇到的某些生活情况而创造的.运用科学模型的角度看中医理论四位养生大家的养生思想.     

医学模式内涵中的哲学思想探析

考察医学与哲学的互动关系,探讨其现代意义及提供的启示有助于加深对医学哲学的理解。以此为目的,用历史和逻辑的方法就医学发展的几个主要历史阶段医学模式之中的哲学思想进行分析和探讨,以期建构医学哲学。     

Is disorder x in category or spectrum y? General considerations and application to the relationship between obsessive–compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders

Is obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) best categorized as an anxiety disorder? This question has been raised previously, but advances in the psychobiology of OCD and the anxiety disorders, and preparations for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—V and International Classification of Diseases—11, make reconsideration timely. The debate in turn raises the more general issue of how best to address any question of the form “is disorder x in category or spectrum y?” Such questions are related to a number of key debates in philosophy of science and language and have also increasingly been addressed by the cognitive–affective neuroscience of categorization. Here, we review this background debate and use OCD as a relevant exemplar. Depression and Anxiety 25:330–335, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

What characterises nursing care? A hermeneutical philosophical inquiry

The aim of this study was to identify some common characteristics associated with nursing care based on the historical text by the nursing pioneer, Rikke Nissen, and the modern philosophy of care, principally that of Kari M. Martinsen. The hermeneutic approach has been inspired by Gadamer's thinking. His philosophy influenced interpretation and reflection on the content of historical and modern text. Typical basic characteristics associated with nursing care can be grouped into three mutually reinforcing areas: (i) the notion of excellence in nursing care, (ii) the relationship between nursing care and moral values, and (iii) caring as an interpretational exercise. The most significant core element was the strong relationship between care and professional judgement (or clinical judgement), and the requirement of analytic cognition on different levels of abstraction in context with the patient. In the early days of nursing, care was a concept deeply rooted in Christian philosophy. Within modern nursing philosophy, care is conceptualized in a number of ways, depending on philosophical stance and world view. What seems absolutely necessary is to differentiate between the concept of care on the superordinate level and each individual philosopher's unique perspective on care. As a superordinate term, nursing care encompasses the patient's fundamental needs, as well as the patient's values and experience. Nursing care is characterized by the holistic view and the moral inherent in excellent nursing. Excluding the patient as a unique human being, should be regarded as noncaring and amoral practice. Whether nursing care represents a specific domain of knowledge is still an unanswered question, and something which has consequences for the application of a caring philosophy in nursing practice and the state of caring knowledge in nursing.     

Caritas--caring as an ethical conduct

The aim of this theoretical study is to describe and analyze caritas by seeking the primary source for this phenomenon, which is used as a central motive in Eriksson's Caritative Theory. The search for the origin and the essence of caritas by critical analysis will create an opportunity to assimilate new meaning into the practice of caring science. This new meaning, based on interpretation, will also act as a solid base for the creation of future theories within caring science. Although this study does not intend to create a new theory for this domain, an attempt is made to shed light on new understandings to establish a deeper foundation for further discussion. Therefore, the methodological basis used is the hermeneutics phenomenology described by Nygren. The starting points refer to three basic assumptions, the former two of which present the core of caring science as an academic discipline; the latter borrows from philosophical creation theology. Therefore, the path for analyzing caritas and the significance of developing a deeper and meaningful understanding are based on the writing of Eriksson as well as through historical and philosophical sources from Judaism, such as the Bible and the Talmud. The results of this study have introduced a new meaning and created a 'space' for caritas. These results are related to the notion of attitudes, being driven by curiosity and questioning, that link faith and scientific investigation. Above all, these attitudes form a central motive profoundly linked to love. Hence, caritas as an attitude turns the concept of care into a more ethical act. However, these new understandings have given rise to ethical questions that obligate consideration towards further study.     

Hormetic Responses in Neural Systems: Consideration,Contexts, and Caveats

Dr. Edward Calabrese asserts that hormetic responses occur in neural systems, and provides ample review of evidence to support this claim. In this essay, we survey Dr. Calabrese's findings, illustrate the somewhat provocative premise of hormesis, and posit that while evidence suggests that amplification of low-dose effects are operative in neural systems, it is equally important to consider observations and claims of hormesis in greater detail, and framed within the “cultural” and epistemic contexts of science. We offer specific caveats to avoid the overgeneralization of findings, oversimplification of putative effects or mechanisms, and the dogmatic adherence to a restrictive methodologic orientation. Finally, we assert that any meaningful discussion of hormesis must be grounded to methodologic rigor, yet openness, and must allow for a self-critical and self-revisionist epistemic approach. We attempt to show that the work presented by Calabrese takes a first and important step toward the initiation of dialectic, allows for the exchange of ideas, strives toward reconciliation of differences and the amelioration of error, and seeks intellectual synthesis.     

宋明理学与道家道教之关系

宋明儒在对隋唐佛道兴盛、儒学衰微之因做深刻反思的基础上，吸收了道家道教的心性论、本体论、生成论、修养论并将之融入儒学，使儒学更加精致和完满，促进了儒学复兴并重拾思想主导地位。与此相反，道家道教之地位却日益旁落，为了生存和发展，不得不做出理论调适，从宋明理学之性善论、修身论、伦理观、治世观等吸取养分，对道家道教产生了深远影响。其结果是道教走出山林，走向民间，更具普适性，但也因此渐失本真，渐趋衰微。总而言之，宋明理学与道家道教既为维护各自的道脉和学统而对抗斗争，又为发展自身理论而相互融摄，表现为互融互摄、相资为用的特点，但殊途而同归，共同推动了中国哲学和文化的发展。     

ESSAY: Finding the ethical standard of medical science in the age of the sciences

Science has nothing to do with ethics. Science is blind to good and evil. Ethics is a division of philosophy, not science. Socrates was the father of ethics, not science. The science of his day taught him little about human nature. Searching his soul enlightened.  It is therefore odd to find certain modern scientists employing the Socratic method. They ask probing questions. Their questions begin a conversation, as though they know nothing. They do know there are serious limits to knowledge. Like Socrates they may admit their ignorance. They define terms. Then they differentiate between real knowledge and mere opinion. They argue, in order to demolish false opinion. Truth is what is left when the rest has been destroyed by compelling logic.