Explanatory fictions—for real?

In this article I assess Alisa Bokulich’s idea that explanatory model fictions can be genuinely explanatory. I draw attention to a tension in her account between the claim that model fictions are explanatorily autonomous, and the demand that model fictions be justified in order for them to be genuinely explanatory. I also explore the consequences that arise from Bokulich’s use of Woodward’s account of counterfactual explanation and her abandonment of Woodward’s notion of an intervention. As it stands, Bokulich’s account must be deemed unworkable.     

Which is the real intelligence? A reply to Robinson (1999)

Robinson's ([Robinson, D.L. (1999). The ‘IQ’ factor: implications for intelligence theory and measurement. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 715–735]) arguments that crystallized intelligence represents the “one valid intelligence factor” are disputed. It is argued that Robinson seriously underestimated the relevance of fluid abilities to “intelligence”, by using an inappropriate criterion for assessing the intelligence-saturation of cognitive ability variables. The relevance of fluid and crystallized abilities to popular, psychometric, and biological conceptions of intelligence is discussed, and the issue of age-related changes in fluid and crystallized intelligence is also addressed.     

Amplitude and Width Manipulations in Fitts' Paradigm: Comment on Heath et al. (2011) and Heath et al. (2016)

Heath, Weiler, Marriott, Elliott, and Binstead (2011 Heath, M., Weiler, J., Marriott, K. A., Elliott, D., &; Binstead, G. (2011). Revisiting Fitts and Peterson (1964): Width and Amplitude manipulations to the reaching environment elicit dissociable movement times. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 259–268.1.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Heath, Samani, Tremblay, and Elliott (2016 Heath, M., Samani, A., Tremblay, L., &; Elliott, D. (2016). Fitts' theorem in oculomotor control: Dissociable movement times for amplitude and width manipulations. Journal of Motor Behavior, 48, 489–499.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) have claimed that there are dissociable movement times for amplitude and width manipulations in the Fitts' paradigm. This may to some extent be true, but the Heath et al. (2011 Heath, M., Weiler, J., Marriott, K. A., Elliott, D., &; Binstead, G. (2011). Revisiting Fitts and Peterson (1964): Width and Amplitude manipulations to the reaching environment elicit dissociable movement times. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 259–268.1.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Heath et al. (2016 Heath, M., Samani, A., Tremblay, L., &; Elliott, D. (2016). Fitts' theorem in oculomotor control: Dissociable movement times for amplitude and width manipulations. Journal of Motor Behavior, 48, 489–499.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) data do not support that contention, as shown in this comment. It is shown that data from the research of Heath et al. is not in the range of index of difficulty where ongoing visual control would be used and hence their fits of data to Fitts' law are spurious. The data of Heath et al. (2011 Heath, M., Weiler, J., Marriott, K. A., Elliott, D., &; Binstead, G. (2011). Revisiting Fitts and Peterson (1964): Width and Amplitude manipulations to the reaching environment elicit dissociable movement times. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65, 259–268.1.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for arm movements and for the primary eye saccade submovements of Heath et al. (2016 Heath, M., Samani, A., Tremblay, L., &; Elliott, D. (2016). Fitts' theorem in oculomotor control: Dissociable movement times for amplitude and width manipulations. Journal of Motor Behavior, 48, 489–499.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) are well correlated by the ballistic movement time equation of Hoffmann (1981 Hoffmann, E. R. (1981). An ergonomic approach to predetermined motion time systems. Proceedings of the 9th National Conference of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Australia, 30–47. [Google Scholar]) and Gan and Hoffmann (1988 Gan, K.-C. &; Hoffmann, E. R. (1988). Geometrical conditions for ballistic and visually controlled movements. Ergonomics, 31, 829–839.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). When the ballistic equation is used to model data for constant amplitude and constant target width conditions, the effects of the amplitude and width manipulations disappear. Other research indicates that the independent effects of movement amplitude occur due to changes in the time for the distance-covering phase of the movement.     

Do people need self-esteem? Comment on Pyszczynski et al. (2004)

In spite of impressive empirical evidence consistent with aspects of terror management theory (TMT) reviewed by T. Pyszczynski, J. Greenberg, S. Solomon, J. Arndt, and J. Schimel (2004), several fundamental assumptions of the theory remain untested or lack support. Specifically, Pyszczynski et al. (2004) have not demonstrated that (a) people need self-esteem, (b) pursuing self-esteem is an effective means for reducing anxiety, (c) pursuing self-esteem helps people achieve their important goals, (d) having or pursuing self-esteem is the only way to deal with anxiety to achieve important goals, or (e) death is the real issue driving the pursuit of self-esteem. The authors suggest there is a different paradigm for thinking about death, one in which awareness of one's mortality serves as a precious reminder of the limited time one has to accomplish one's most important goals. All of these questions can be addressed with empirical research.     

Is Psychoanalytic Education Effective? Comment on Damsa et al. (2010)

While a growing body of empirical data attests increasingly to the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment, what data do we have that attests to the effectiveness of psychoanalytic education? In this comment on Damsa et al. (2010), I briefly address that question and suggest that—if we are to truly generate passionate interest in psychoanalysis among psychiatric residents and other mental health professionals in training—perhaps we need to begin by researching the largely unresearched process of psychoanalytic education and supervision.     

心灵哲学(1950—1990)回顾与展望(四)

心灵哲学（１９５０—１９９０）回顾与展望（四）徐向东四：意向性与因果性作为一个同一性论点,类型同一性理论由于太强而引起了众多的异议,对这个理论的比较合理的抉择便是标志同一性理论。这个理论断言在精神类型和物理类型的标志之间存在着特殊的同一性。这种同一性的存在被认为符合精神性质和物理性质的不可还原的特征。因此,标志同一性理论既避免了对类型同一性理论的现象性质异议,又避免了精神状态类型的多种实现的可能性的异议。但是,这个同一性理论是否避免承诺类型同一性理论和相关的异议,取决于与之相关的关于事件本质的形而上学理论,取决于对精神事件和物理事件之间的关系的另一种理解,这种理解认为精神事件是伴随着物理事件而发生的。标志同一性理论以及对事件本质的讨论,是最近２０年来心灵哲学和语言哲学的另一个热点。这场争论的中心人物是戴维森和金（Ｊ·Ｋｉｍ）。戴维森在心一身关系上的见解称为“异常一元论”（Ａｎｏｍａｌｏｕｓｍｏｎｉｓｍ）（或“非还原的一无论”）①。按照这一观点,尽管精神类型或精神物质既不可还原为物理的类型或性质,也无彼此相关的规律,但每个个别的（标志的）精神事件是一个物理事件,这个观点的异常性表现在精神现象的因果的异常性上。     

心灵哲学(1950—1990):回顾与展望(三)

心灵哲学（１９５０—１９９０）：回顾与展望（三）徐向东三、意识和主观经验意向性质和感觉性质,构成了精神状态的本质特征。因为一个精神状态至少必须具有其中的一个性质,有的精神状态同时具有这两个性质。这些性质对于理解精神现象和非精神现象之间的区别以及各种类型的精神现象之间的差异都是关键的。可是,与对思维（Ｔｈｉｎｋ－ｉｎｇ）的研究相比,精神现象的感觉方面（Ｓｅｅｉｎｇ）是一个相对薄弱的环节。感觉性质的问题只是作为对同一性理论（包括功能主义）的异议才得到重视。总的来说,这里有两个根本问题：首先是主观经验的本质问题,然后是经验的感性方面能否在物理主义的框架内得到说明。对感觉性质的本质的分析首先涉及感觉经验的对象问题。在对感觉状态进行描述时,我们使用了那些同样应用于物理对象的词汇,如按照形状和色彩来描述视觉。齐硕姆（Ｒ．Ｃｈｉｓ－ｎｏｌｍ）论证说,当我们把这些色彩词应用于物理对象和它们的现象（ａｐｐｅａｒａｎｃｅ）时,这些词在这两个情形中是意味着不同的东西。在他看来,一个白色的对象在合适的条件下的确呈现出我们称作“白”的现象。可是,为了避免无穷后退,我们不能认为这个白色现象也是由另一个中间的“对象”呈现出来的。而且,由     

《国内心理学资料索引》(1949——1982)

《国内心理学资料索引》(1949—1982)由南京大学图书馆编制,中国科学院心理研究所审定,将于1983年出版。《索引》收录了1949年10月至1982年12月国内出版各种中文心理学杂志的全部篇目,以及散见于国内700多种报刊,100多种论文资料集和部分会议文献中的心理学文章篇目,约10,000条。     

《世界哲学年鉴(1988——1990)》简介

《世界哲学年鉴(1988—1990)》由中国社会科学院哲学研究所编辑,即将由上海人民出版社出版。这是一部哲学专业工具书,主要反映国外哲学界的最新科研进展状况和重要成果,向读者提供较全面,系统的哲学信息。本年鉴是继1986、1987以后的第三部《世界哲学年鉴》。     

永远的耶路撒冷——耶路撒冷地位问题初探(续一)

东耶路撒冷现状以色列对东耶犹太化的种种措施自以色列夺占东耶路撒冷后,以色列抓住了新的机遇,从各个方面实施对东耶的吞并。这些措施主要表现为:一、 通过立法和相应措施改变东耶的法律地位1、 通过立法吞并东耶。以色列早在1949年底就宣布耶路撒冷为其首都,只是当时东耶处在约旦控制之下,以色列实际只能把西耶当作首都。1967年6月8日以色列占领东耶后,立即组成了一个部级委员会,专门负责制订吞并东耶的法律框架。6月25日,以政府宣布吞并东耶,并在当天得到议会认可(通过修改以色列1948年行政和司法组织法律),即增加了一个条款,规定“以色…     

永远的耶路撒冷——耶路撒冷地位问题初探(续二)

有关各方立场的变化一、以色列有关耶路撒冷地位的立场变化以色列的政策也不是一时形成的,更不是一成不变的,而是根据形势的变化、实力的强弱在不断调整。19世纪末犹太复国主义诞生之初的最高纲领是在巴勒斯坦建立一个“由公共法律所保障的犹太人之家”,甚至不敢提出建立独立国家,也就没有提出耶路撒冷问题。1947年联合国大会出台巴勒斯坦分治决议之前,犹太人在巴勒斯坦处于劣势地位,在国际上也是影响有限,同时,也为了避免刺激阿拉伯国家,他们对耶路撒冷并没有独占乃至得到一半的奢望。当时的犹太代表处曾建议将耶路撒冷国际化。联合国出台…     

Virtue ethics and modern society—A response to the thesis of the modern predicament of virtue ethics

The revival of modern Western virtue ethics presents the question of whether or not virtue ethics is appropriate for modern society. Ethicists believe that virtue ethics came from traditional society, to which it conforms so well. The appearance of the market economy and a utilitarian spirit, together with society’s diversification, is a sign that modern society has arrived. This also indicates a transformation in the moral spirit. But modern society has not made virtues less important, and even as modern life has become more diversified, rule-following ethics have taken on even greater importance. Modern ethical life is still the ethical life of individuals whose self-identity contains the identity of moral spirit, and virtues have a very important influence on the self-identical moral characters. Furthermore, modern society, which is centered around utilitarianism, makes it apparent that rules themselves are far from being adequate and virtues are important. Virtues are a moral resource for modern people to resist modern evils.     

Computing the von Neumann-Morgenstern characteristic functionυ(S) for cooperativen-person transferable utility normal form games: LP and saddlepoint solutions

An APL computer program is described for computing the von Neumann-Morgensterncharacteristic function of cooperativen-person transferable utility games in normal form. The program is designed to stand alone, or it can be used in conjunction with other programs for game theoretic computation that will be introduced in future articles.