Towards a More Particularist View of Rights’ Stringency

Res Publica - For all their various disagreements, one point upon which rights theorists often agree is that it is simply part of the nature of rights that they tend to override, outweigh or...     

Is there a structural limit to ‘branch’ recursively between more than two tasks?

The term ‘branching’ refers to processes needed for successful reuptake of a task after interruption by another task. Based on a model of human prefrontal cognitive architecture, it has been postulated that people cannot branch recursively between more than two tasks due to a capacity limit built into the cognitive architecture (Koechlin and Hyafil in Science 318:594–598, 2007). As an alternative to a structural limit for recursive branching between more than two tasks we put forward the hypothesis that working memory capacity is the limiting factor in recursive branching. We tested this hypothesis by independently varying working memory load and number of recursive branching steps. Successful branching between up to four tasks was observed, as long as working memory load was kept low. Our data, thus, do not support the proposition of a structural limit to recursive branching beyond two tasks. Instead, they suggest that working memory capacity limit is the most important factor that limits the capacity for branching. We further observed that the requirement to retain task sets and task contents additively contributed to the difficulty of recursive branching. In a broader context, our data thus support working memory models that conceptualize working memory and executive functions not as separate modules, but as tightly interactive processes.     

More than a Media Moment: The Influence of Televised Storylines on Viewers’ Attitudes toward Transgender People and Policies

Numerous studies have demonstrated the power of entertainment narratives to influence attitudes and behaviors; fewer have examined the effects of TV portrayals on attitudes toward marginalized groups. The present study is among the first to explore how entertainment narratives depicting transgender individuals influence viewers’ attitudes toward transgender people and related policies. The study examines the impact of exposure to a TV storyline on Royal Pains (USA Network) and cumulative effects of viewing other TV series featuring transgender individuals. An online survey of 488 U.S. viewers of Royal Pains was conducted (391 had seen the relevant episode). ANCOVAs revealed exposure to both the Royal Pains’ storyline and other storylines portraying transgender individuals were associated with more supportive attitudes toward transgender people and policies. Mediation models revealed that for viewers of the Royal Pains’ storyline, the relationships between political ideology and attitudes toward transgender people and policies were mediated by identification with the main characters and the emotion of hope. Disgust mediated viewers’ attitudes toward transgender people, but not policies. Post hoc analyses revealed that exposure to transgender narratives reduced the influence of viewers’ political ideology on their attitudes. The attitudes of more conservative viewers became increasingly positive as they saw more media portrayals of transgender individuals. These findings highlight the potential for entertainment narratives to influence attitudes toward marginalized groups, and they demonstrate the importance of emotion in the context of divisive topics. Social, political, and public health implications are discussed.     

More than just child’s play: symbolic expressions of illness and spirit

While spiritual well-being is integral to health, little is known about the spiritual lives of children in the context of illness. Because the spiritual is often a hidden domain of life, exploration of the topic can be challenging, especially when dealing with children. Language is not always sufficient for describing such deeply held experiences, even for adults. Therefore, finding creative ways to elicit experiences of the spiritual is important when attempting to gain a more robust understanding of this phenomenon. Drawing from a larger study that used hermeneutic phenomenology to explore spirituality among ill children, this paper provides an interpretation of ill children’s play experiences and describes how these experiences provide a means of uncovering the spiritual in children’s everyday lives as they cope with life-threatening illness. Findings also provide insight into how play can be used in the promotion of spiritual well-being.     

It’s More than Just a Big Dick: Desires,Experiences, and How Male Escorts Satisfy Their Customers

The scholarly literature is replete with studies of female prostitutes, their customers, prostitution dynamics, and understandings of the how, where, when, how much, and why of such interactions. However, male escorts is lacking. Based on content analysis of the online reviews of 627 male escorts, this study examines the experiences and perspectives of men who locate, contact, and purchase the time and services of male escorts. Findings reveal that sexual services and sexual skills are only one aspect on which male escorts are assessed. Also, and sometimes more important, are issues of intimacy, social interactions, and personality.     

From ‘Intersex’ to ‘DSD’: a case of epistemic injustice

Synthese - The 2005 International Consensus Conference on Intersex resulted in a substantive revision of the lexicon and guidelines for treating intersex conditions. The speed with which the new...     

Peirce’s ‘Prescision’ as a Transcendental Method

Abstract

In this Paper I interpret Charles S. Peirce’s method of prescision as a transcendental method. In order to do so, I argue that Peirce’s pragmatism can be interpreted in a transcendental light only if we use a non‐justificatory understanding of transcendental philosophy. I show how Peirce’s prescision is similar to some abstracting procedure that Immanuel Kant used in his Critique of Pure Reason. Prescision abstracts from experience and thought in general those elements without which such experience and thought would be unaccountable. Similarly, in the Aesthetics, Kant isolated the a priori forms of intuition by showing how they could be abstracted from experience in general, while experience in general cannot be thought without them. However, if Peirce’s and Kant’s methods are similar in this respect, they reached very different conclusions.     

More on Putnam’s models: a reply to Belloti

In an earlier paper, I claimed that one version of Putnam's model-theoretic argument against realism turned on a subtle, but philosophically significant, mathematical mistake. Recently, Luca Bellotti has criticized my argument for this claim. This paper responds to Bellotti's criticisms.     

‘Wine’, Women and Song: The More Things Change…

The paper addresses the socially controversial issue of the public expression of sexuality in dance in the Caribbean. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of ‘wining’ or ‘wukkin’ up’, dancing involving pelvic gyrations. The focus is on changes taking place in societies in which there is supposedly the continued dominance of a male patriarchal figure. Can these changes be anything more than a new form of male control of female sexuality and public sexual expression? It seeks to address this question through an analysis of two songs, one a male performed classic competition winning calypso, ‘The Black Man feeling to party’ and a competition winning calypso sung by a female entitled ‘This is what we do’. The former celebrates heterosexual relationships right from the period of partner dancing courtship, through marriage, child rearing and, with child rearing achieved, a return to partner dancing. The latter exalts and justifies the behaviour of women ‘wining’ alone or on each other. The paper concludes that women are asserting ownership of their own sexuality through auto-sexual dance expression in public. Things have indeed changed.     

‘Bricolage’: reclaiming a conceptual tool

This article provides the genealogy of bricolage and underscores the modifications it has undergone within the sociologies of culture and religion. It draws on the study of three new religious movements that teach unconventional versions of Hinduism and kabbalah, to show that the current understanding of bricolage in the studies of popular culture and religion over-estimates its eclectic and personal nature and neglects its sociocultural logics. It tends to take for granted the availability of cultural resources used in bricolage, and finally it fails to understand the social significance of individualism, overlooking the ways in which norms and power could be expressed through culture in the contemporary world. This article suggests that it would be best reclaiming bricolage's original meaning, prompting questions about the contexts that make certain elements available, social patterns that may organise bricolage, who ‘bricole’, what for, who is empowered, from what and by using whose tradition.     

Was Merleau-Ponty a ‘transcendental’ phenomenologist?

Whether or not Merleau-Ponty’s version of phenomenology should be considered a form of ‘transcendental’ philosophy is open to debate. Although the Phenomenology of Perception presents his position as a transcendental one, many of its features—such as its exploitation of empirical science—might lead to doubt that it can be. This paper considers whether Merleau-Ponty meets what I call the ‘transcendentalist challenge’ of defining and grounding claims of a distinctive transcendental kind. It begins by highlighting three features—the absolute ego, the pure phenomenal field, and the reduction—that Husserl had used to justify claims of a specifically transcendental kind within a phenomenological framework. It then examines how Merleau-Ponty modifies each of these features to focus on the lived body and a factically conditioned phenomenal field, while remaining ambivalent about the reduction. Finally, it assesses whether Merleau-Ponty’s modified position can still legitimately be considered transcendental. I argue that—despite his own rhetoric—this modified position shapes the modality of Merleau-Ponty’s claims in such a way that his phenomenology cannot meet the transcendentalist challenge and therefore should not be considered ‘transcendental.’