The politics of ‘wrongful life’ itself: discursive (mal)practices and Tay-Sachs disease

Abstract

This article examines eight wrongful life/wrongful birth suits filed by parents of children born with Tay-Sachs disease. Their legal claims are analysed in terms of the biopolitics of genetic risk that has emerged in recent decades with a view to arguing that, as health and disease are increasingly understood within a genetics framework, the individual is becoming responsibilized to be proactive and undergo genetic testing. At the same time, this responsibilization is being defined as a kind of entitlement rooted in historically specific ideas about personhood and quality of life. The only option for reconciling this contradiction has been simply to define responsibilization as the individual's right, thereby calling into question the notion of agency in genetic decision-making and revealing that choice in this context is in fact becoming the unfreedom to choose.     

基于认知参照点理论的“Adj＋N”结构阐释机制研究

“Adj ＋N”复合结构是一种很常见但又很难解释的语言现象.产生困难的原因在于在这类复合结构中,形容词和名词之间的语义关系非常复杂且变幻无常,很难对其进行全面系统的阐释.国内外大多数研究都集中于探究其形容词修饰名词的排列次序等问题,从认知角度对其进行的研究尚不多见.本文以认知语言学的参照点模式为理论框架,对“Adj ＋N”结构的认知机制进行了探讨.认知参照点模式也适应于阐释“N＋N”结构和所有格结构等其它复合结构.     

Characteristics of men and women completing cognitive/behavioral spouse abuse treatment

Although abuse in relationships is widespread and often escalates without intervention, the scant extant data indicate that people in abusive relationships often fail to complete treatment programs. We compared demographic characteristics, Male-Female Relations Inventory scores (MFRI), and selected MilIon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory I (MCMI-I) scale scores of men and women who did and did not complete an 8-session 4-week cognitive/behavioral group treatment program. The 16 completer men had lower scores on MCMI-I scales related to drug abuse as compared with the 18 noncompleter men. Court-referred men completed more often than other men. The 23 completer women also had lower scores on MCMI-I scales related to drug abuse than the 17 noncompleter women. Fewer of the completer women were employed and fewer had children than the noncompleter women. Scores on the MFRI were not different for completer or noncompleter men or women. Implications for interventions are discussed.     

对公安机关心理测试未来发展的思考

心理测试是基于某一案件,对被测人采用涉及案件的相关问题提问,或显示案件相关图片等刺激方式,对所诱发的生理反应参数,进行分析评价的过程。作为侦查犯罪的重要辅助工具,心理测试应该朝专业化标准化规范化方向发展,建立国家级的具有示范性的心理测试实验室,尽快引入并应用国际上脑科学研究的新方法,如事件相关脑电位(ERP)这种基于脑电的心理测试。只有这样,心理测试的结论才更加具有科学性,才能更好地向前发展。