Nothingness,Meinongianism and inconsistent mereology

Synthese - Within the framework of Meinongianism, nothingness turns out to have contradictory features—it seems to be an object and not. In this paper, we explore two different kinds of...     

The mereology of thermodynamic equilibrium

The special composition question (SCQ), which asks under which conditions objects compose a further object, establishes a central debate in modern metaphysics. Recent successes of inductive metaphysics, which studies the implications of the natural sciences for metaphysical problems, suggest that insights into the SCQ can be gained by investigating the physics of composite systems. In this work, I show that the minus first law of thermodynamics, which is concerned with the approach to equilibrium, leads to a new approach to the SCQ, the thermodynamic composition principle (TCP): Multiple systems in (generalized) thermal contact compose a single system. This principle, which is justified based on a systematic classification of possible mereological models for thermodynamic systems, might form the basis of an inductive argument for universalism. A formal analysis of the TCP is provided on the basis of mereotopology, which is a combination of mereology and topology. Here, “thermal contact” can be analyzed using the mereotopological predicate “self-connectedness”. Self-connectedness has to be defined in terms of mereological sums to ensure that scattered objects cannot be self-connected.

     

The nonclassical mereology of olfactory experiences

Synthese - While there is a growing philosophical interest in analysing olfactory experiences, the mereological structure of odours considered in respect of how they are perceptually experienced...     

Prolegomena to any future mereology of the body

Many bioethical arguments rely implicitly on the assumption that the concept of “human part” is one on which everyone must agree, because it is unambiguous. But various parties interpret this “unambiguous” term in incompatible ways, leading to contention. This article is an informal presentation of a topomereological system on whose preferred interpretation several distinct but related meanings of “human part” can be isolated: part of a human body, part of the completion of a human body, and part of a human being. A case is analyzed (the first total artificial heart (TAH) implantation), demonstrating in the process much of the apparatus of the system. By means of a casuistic methodology, the analysis is translated into recommendations for the ethical conduct of future TAH research. The more general conclusion, however, is that formal methods may provide useful tools for clarifying thought processes and organizing arguments in debates over bioethical issues.     

Parts, classes and Parts of Classes: an anti-realist reading of Lewisian mereology

This study is in two parts. In the first part, various important principles of classical extensional mereology are derived on the basis of a nice axiomatization involving ‘part of’ and fusion. All results are proved here with full Fregean (and Gentzenian) rigor. They are chosen because they are needed for the second part. In the second part, this natural-deduction framework is used in order to regiment David Lewis’s justification of his Division Thesis, which features prominently in his combination of mereology with class theory. The Division Thesis plays a crucial role in Lewis’s informal argument for his Second Thesis in his book Parts of Classes. In order to present Lewis’s argument in rigorous detail, an elegant new principle is offered for the theory that combines class theory and mereology. The new principle is called the Canonical Decomposition Thesis. It secures Lewis’s Division Thesis on the strong construal required in order for his argument to go through. The exercise illustrates how careful one has to be when setting up the details of an adequate foundational theory of parts and classes. The main aim behind this investigation is to determine whether an anti-realist, inferentialist theorist of meaning has the resources to exhibit Lewis’s argument for his Second Thesis—which is central to his marriage of class theory with mereology—as a purely conceptual one. The formal analysis shows that Lewis’s argument, despite its striking appearance to the contrary, can be given in the constructive, relevant logic IR. This is the logic that the author has argued, elsewhere, to be the correct logic from an anti-realist point of view. The anti-realist is therefore in a position to regard Lewis’s argument as purely conceptual.     

Class,powerlessness and political polarization

It is proposed that perceptions of powerlessness influence attitudes towards political policies and ideologies, and that these attitudes influence levels of support for political parties. A cross-sectional survey analysis of the relations between social class, powerlessness, ideology, and party preference supports this contention. However, the role of powerlessness in influencing the appeal of political attitudes is found to be conditional on respondents' social class. For middle class respondents, powerlessness is associated with opposition to economic redistribution, whereas for the working class it is associated with pro-redistributive attitudes. For respondents in all classes, powerlessness is associated with authoritarian beliefs, but these are only of relevance for the partisanship of respondents in the middle class. As a consequence of this pattern of relationships, powerlessness is associated with political polarization between social classes, which takes the form of increased support for the Conservative party in the middle class and increased support for the Labour party in the working class. Apart from their substantive implications these findings illustrate the importance of social structural characteristics in conditioning the relationships between social psychological variables.     

Gender, Race, and Class in Organizational Contexts

Creating settings that support diversity has been a long-standing concern of community psychology. In this paper, I propose two qualities as important aspects of organizational contexts that support the meaningful participation of diverse groups:(a) a culture of connection and (b) recognition of multiple realities. For each theme, I first examine countervailing values that can undermine meaningful participation of nondominant groups. I suggest that organizational values for independence and a press for sameness can contribute to settings where members of traditionally oppressed groups will be prevented from meaningful participation. I also suggest that fostering a culture of connectedness that actively legitimizes multiple realities is a constructive alternative. To illustrate these points, I share observations based on experiences in manufacturing, educational, and community-based settings. Then, I explore two dynamics that are important when confronting the countervailing values and building more inclusive contexts: (a) accountability for impact and (b) privilege dynamics. Last, I turn to some possibilities for change through a stance of connected disruption.     

Class size,pupil attentiveness and peer relations

Background: Despite a long‐running debate over the effects of class size differences on educational performance there is little evidence on the classroom processes that might be involved. Aims: The effects of class size differences are examined in relation to social and behavioural adjustment to school, in terms of two dimensions: attentiveness and peer relations. It was predicted that as class size increased there would be more inattentiveness in class and more signs of social difficulties between children in the form of more rejection, asocial, anxious and aggressive behaviour, and less prosocial behaviour. Samples: Data came from a large‐scale longitudinal study of children over KS1 (4‐7 years). The observation study was based on a subsample of 235 children in 21 small (average 19 children) and 18 large (average 33 children) reception classes (aged 5 years). The PBR sample involved over 5,000. Methods: There were two complementary methods of data collection: first, a systematic observation study of pre‐selected target children in terms of three ‘social modes’ — when with their teachers, other children and when not interacting — and in terms of work, procedural, social and off‐task activities; and, second, a teacher administered Pupil Behaviour Rating (PBR) scale comprising over 50 items rated on a 3‐point scale grouped into six ‘factors’: hyperactive/distractible, aggressive, anxious/fearful, prosocial, asocial, and excluded. Results: Observations showed that children in large classes were more likely to show off‐task behaviour of all kinds, and more likely to interact with their peers in terms of off‐task behaviour, social, and also on‐task behaviours. Connections between class size and PBR factors were not strong. There was no support for the view that peer relations are better in smaller classes; indeed, there was a slight tendency for worse peer relations, in terms of aggression, asocial and excluded, in the smallest classes. Conclusions: There was confirmation that children in large classes are more distracted from work and more often off task. The unexpected result, based on teacher ratings, that small classes may lead to less social and more aggressive relations between children is discussed, along with implications for teachers of a tendency for more peer‐related contacts in large classes.     

工人阶级、政治联盟与民主政治形成

民主政治在现代国家中得到普遍的确立,乃是政治发展进程中的标志性事件,工人阶级也不会自外于民主政治的形成过程,因而解释工人阶级与民主政治形成之间的因果关系就是一项富有价值的学术探险。本文秉持马克思关于工人阶级带来了民主政治的思想主张,在吸收社会科学已然呈现的成果的基础上,试图对工人阶级与民主政治形成之间的因果关系提供一个比较完整的理论解释。虽然现代国家中的民主政治并不是实现了政治平等与经济平等的实质民主,而只是实现了政治平等的形式民主,但是工人阶级仍然是民主政治形成的决定因素。当然,工人阶级在民主政治形成过程中发挥的决定作用,并不是指仅仅依靠工人阶级就能带来民主政治,而是指工人阶级联合中产阶级形成了支持民主政治的政治联盟,并且工人阶级是相比中产阶级而言更为坚定的民主政治的支持者,因此在工人阶级与中产阶级组成的政治联盟中工人阶级是中坚力量,扮演了领导者或者关键参与者的角色。