Privacy,speech, and values: what we have no business knowing

In the United States the ascendancy of speech protection is due to an expansive and unjustified view of the value or primacy of free expression and access to information. This is perhaps understandable, given that privacy has been understood as a mere interest, whereas speech rights have been seen as more fundamental. I have argued elsewhere that the “mere interest” view of privacy is false. Privacy, properly defined, is a necessary condition for human well-being or flourishing. The opening section of this article will provide an overview of this theory. Next, after a few remarks on speech absolutism, privacy absolutism, and balancing theories, I will sketch several of the dominant argument strands that have been offered in support of presumptively weighty speech rights. While these arguments, taken together, establish that free speech is important, they do not support the view that speech should nearly always trump privacy. In final section I will present and defend a way to balance free speech and privacy claims.     

The power of the ‘object’ to influence teacher induction outcomes

In this paper we explore newly qualified New Zealand secondary teachers’ varied accounts of induction. We claim that multiple interpretations of objectives for induction programs are a significant source of this variation. With reference to an activity system framework, we identify four primary objects of induction that were represented in the induction accounts as follows: ‘orientation to learning about the context’, ‘fitting into the school’, ‘completing registration requirements’, and ‘becoming a professional inquirer’. Whilst teachers would be expected to experience all of these objects within their induction experiences, the balance and emphases of these objects within programs varied considerably.     

Theory of mind and social interest in zero-acquaintance play situations

Many studies have examined associations between children's theory of mind and social behavior with familiar peers, but to date none have examined how theory of mind might relate to behavior toward unfamiliar peers in a play setting. Forty-four 4-year-olds (21 girls, 23 boys) participated in standard theory-of-mind tasks and in a play session with 3 or 4 other children who were unfamiliar. Children were also tested on general vocabulary ability. No relations were found between theory of mind and social engagement. However, positive associations were found between theory of mind and time spent observing, but not interacting with, other children. Possible explanations of the links between theory of mind, temperament, and social interest are considered.     

达尔文与基督教世界的沟通他的跨洋策略

在达尔文出生的那个年代,没有人会接受关于进化和人类起源的自然主义学说,他在那个时代分享了他关于自然、上帝以及历史的观念。在“贝格尔号”航行之后,他提出的“生命始于同一祖先”理论如何能令人信服,是他面临的巨大挑战。自从达尔文开始进化论的研究之后,他对“我的理论”的推广并非一定意在反驳宗教教义,而是作为宗教和科学的进步。达尔文深信的一条教义,就是人类具有共同祖先或者说所有种族皆兄弟——这可作为废除黑奴制度的一个理论根据。英国已于1838年废除了奴隶制,世界的目光于是转向美国——该国奴隶制正如火如荼,并得到一种支持奴隶制、主张人种多元的新特创论的支持。达尔文的跨洋策略自19世纪50年代开始便深深影响着美国反奴隶制的精英博物学家,他们对共同祖先理论的支持将被用来颠覆这一人种多元特创论——比用《圣经》中那不足凭信的人种同一论更为有效。因此,他的理论可作为道德和科学领域的进步而引起美国基督教世界废奴主义者的兴趣。然而,该策略却从未完全发挥自身所有的潜力,这使特创论在20世纪萌生了新的形式。