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1. Inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (ipsps) produced by two classes of interneurons, CC (Contralateral and caudal projecting) and lateral interneurons, were tested for strychnine sensitivity using paired intracellular recordings in the lamprey spinal cord. The ipsps were partially blocked by 0.2-0.5 microM strychnine and were completely blocked by 5 microM strychnine. Thus, the ipsps may be glycinergic. 2. These interneurons are key participants in a proposed circuit model for fictive swimming. A connectionist-type computer simulation of the model demonstrated that the cycle period of the network increased with decreasing ipsp strength. 3. Application of strychnine (0.1-0.5 microM) to the spinal cord during fictive swimming induced by an excitatory amino acid increased cycle period, consistent with previous reports, but at odds with stimulation predictions. 4. Strychnine also produced slow rhythmic modulation of fictive swimming (period = 12 s) which maintained left-right alternation and rostral-caudal coordination. Auto- and cross-correlation analyses revealed that the slow modulation was present in a weaker form in most control preparations during fictive swimming. 5. Since the proposed model for the swimming pattern generator in the lamprey spinal cord does not predict the observed speeding with strychnine, nor the slow modulatory rhythm, it appears to be deficient in its present formulation.

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In this article I seek to show the importance of spirituality for a neo-Aristotelian account of ‘the good life’. First, I lay out my account of spirituality. Second, I discuss why the issue of the place of spirituality in the good life has often either been ignored or explicitly excluded from consideration by neo-Aristotelians. I suggest that a lot turns on how one understands the ‘ethical naturalism’ to which neo-Aristotelians are committed. Finally, I argue that through a deeper exploration of the evaluative standpoint from within our human form of life as ‘meaning-seeking animals’ we can come to better appreciate the importance of spirituality for human beings throughout recorded history up to the present and why we can be described as homo religiosus.