Reflections on the Incompatibilist’s Direct Argument

The Direct Argument for the incompatibility of determinism and moral responsibility is so christened because this argument allegedly circumvents any appeal to the principle of alternate possibilities – a person is morally responsible for doing something only if he could have avoided doing it – to secure incompatibilism. In this paper, I first summarize Peter van Inwagen’s version of the Direct Argument. I then comment on David Widerker’s recent responses to the argument. Finally, I cast doubt on the argument by constructing counterexamples to a rule of inference it invokes.

The role of idealizations in the Aharonov–Bohm effect

Synthese - On standard accounts of scientific theorizing, the role of idealizations is to facilitate the analysis of some real world system by employing a simplified representation of the target...     

An adventure in scholarship and faith: Reflections on the study centre 1975–1992

CSIC has now had 15 years' experience of Muslim/Christian partnership in an adventure of faith and scholarship. How honest have the partners been able to be with each other, and with the rest of the world? CSIC was a Christian initiative, yet quickly became a co‐operative venture. One of its emergent problems was how to present Christianity intelligibly to Muslims; another the perennial issue of dialogue and mission. Faith and reason clashed predictably among the students, but many outside the institution valued its expertise in their professional responsibilities, and CSIC acquired the credibility to contribute to wide‐ranging socio‐political debates. May the adventure continue, at the expense of academic safety, if necessary.     

Reflections on Christian–Muslim Dialogue: The Hermeneutics of Messianism

The article points to the dimension of waiting in Jewish, Christian and Shi‘a Muslim thinking as one particular feature of these traditions. There is a need to distinguish between escapist and productive eschatology. The whole question might also be a feature in a discussion on the interrelationship in international relations of the concepts of realism and idealism and the possible contribution of religion.     

Why the way we consider the body matters – Reflections on four bioethical perspectives on the human body

Background  

Within the context of applied bioethical reasoning, various conceptions of the human body are focused upon by the author in relation to normative notions of autonomy.     

Does the Worm Live in the Ground? Reflections on Native American Spirituality

Native American spirituality is described through the 4 basic cultural elements of Medicine, Harmony, Relation, and Vision. Based on these 4 cultural elements, practical implications for counseling are offered concerning greeting, hospitality, silence, space, eye contact, intention, and collaboration.     

Incarcerated Violent Offenders' Ability to Avoid Revealing Their Potential for Violence on the Rorschach and the MMPI–2

Recently, Hartmann and Hartmann (2014) Hartmann, E., &; Hartmann, T. (2014): The impact of exposure to Internet-based information about the Rorschach and the MMPI–2 on psychiatric outpatients' ability to simulate mentally healthy test performance, Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 432–444. doi:10.1080/00223891.2014.882342.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] found that psychiatric outpatients, both with and without access to Internet-based information about the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM; Weiner, 2003 Weiner, I. B. (2003). Principles of Rorschach interpretations (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. [Google Scholar]) and the MMPI–2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, &; Kaemmer, 1989 Butcher, J. N., Dahlstrom, W. G., Graham, J. R., Tellegen, A., &; Kaemmer, B. (1989). Manual for the Restandardized Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: MMPI–2. An administration and interpretive guide. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. [Google Scholar]), were unable to imitate healthy test performance on these tests. We replicated the study by administering the RIM and the MMPI–2 to 63 incarcerated violent offenders using similar testing conditions. As in the previous study, comparisons were made not only among the 3 subgroups of incarcerated offenders, but also between these offender groups and the group of nonpatients examined in the previous study. On the RIM, Internet-coached and uncoached “faking good” offenders produced records with significantly higher F% and X–% and significantly lower M, m, SumC, X+%, P, AG, and COP than nonoffenders under standard instructions (effect sizes between d = 0.24 and d = 2.39). For AgC, AgPot, AgPast, and TCI% there were no significant differences between the faking offenders and the nonoffenders under standard instructions. On the MMPI–2 clinical scales, there were no significant differences between the faking good groups and the nonoffenders under standard instructions, except on Hs, Pd, and Sc. Both faking groups were identifiable by their high L scale scores. Although both faking groups managed to avoid giving responses with aggressive and generally psychopathological content on the RIM, they were unable to produce test profiles demonstrating healthy test performance on any of the tests; nevertheless, Internet-based test information might weaken test validity.     

Reflections on working memory: are the two models complementary?

By means of the theoretical modeling of data from Kemps, De Rammelaere, and Desmet (2000, this issue), the working memory theory of Baddeley and the theory of constructive operators of Pascual-Leone are contrasted and compared. It is concluded that although the theory of constructive operators is complementary with working memory theory (for it explains developmental and individual differences that working memory theory cannot explain), the converse is not true; the theory of constructive operators explains all the data without need of working memory theory.     

Reflections on “difficult” embeddings

The main purpose of this note is to present difficult embeddings of minimal and full intuitionistic logic into classical linear logic, and to prove their soundness and faithfulness. Moreover, it is also pointed out that Girard's translation of intuitionistic logic into classical linear logic is provably equivalent to one of the translations considered in this paper.     

Reflections on Averintsev’s Method

The author represents Averintsev’s thought as a response to, and commentary on, Russia’s Silver Age, and describes his particular method of seeing and understanding. The article considers his response to the cultural context in which he worked, focusing mainly on Averintsev’s language, style and syntax, and linking it with his ideal of equilibrium. Finally, the article moves on to Averintsev’s criticism of thinking in polarities.     

Radical Intersubjectivity: Reflections on the “Different” Foundation of Education

This article addresses the question how educational theory can overcome the assumptions of the tradition of the philosophy of consciousness, a tradition which can be seen as the foundation of the modern project of education. While twentieth century philosophy has seen several attempts to make a shift from consciousness to intersubjectivity (Dewey, Wittgenstein, Habermas) it is argued that this shift still remains within the humanistic tradition of modern thought in that it still tries to define, still tries to develop a theory about the human subject. Foucault's thesis of the end of man is interpreted as an attempt to move beyond humanism, an attempt motivated by a sincere concern for the humanity of the subject. Starting from the question as to who comes after the subject, several answers to this question, which all share an interest in the question as to where the subject comes into presence, are discussed (referring to the writings of Tschumi, Arendt and Levinas). In the concluding section it is argued that one way to move beyond the humanistic tradition of modern thought is to conceive of the subject in terms of responsibility and ethics (Levinas) and to conceive of the very task of theory in terms of justice, and not in terms of truth. This, so it is argued, should be the final concern for educational theory and curriculum theory.     

Professionals’ Reflections About the Impact of Digital Technologies on Eating Disorders

The aim of this study was to explore how professionals working with clients who suffer from eating disorders reflect the impact of digital technologies on their clients. Interviews with 30 professionals were conducted. A qualitative analysis revealed the following areas: (a) the attributes of technologies that influence people with eating disorders, (b) the characteristics of people with eating disorders that influence their interaction with digital technologies, (c) the risks of technology usage, and (d) the benefits of technology usage. The results are discussed with respect to the Rodgers’s theoretical model explaining technology–eating disorder relations and the implications for practice.     

Does Microcredit “Empower”? Reflections on the Grameen Bank Debate

Recent debates about the Grameen Bank’s microlending practices depict participating female borrowers as having fundamentally empowering or disempowering experiences. I argue that this discursive framework may be too reductive: it can conceal how technique and technology simultaneously facilitate relations of dependence and independence; and it can diminish our capacity to understand and assess innovative development initiatives.

Kantian Reflections on the Givenness of Zahavi’s Minimal Experiential Self

Abstract

At the core of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason was a decisive break with certain fundamental Cartesian assumptions or claims about consciousness and self-consciousness, claims that have nonetheless remained perennially tempting, from a phenomenological perspective, independently of any further questions concerning the metaphysics of mind and its place in nature. The core of this philosophical problem has recently been helpfully exposed and insightfully probed in Dan Zahavi’s book, Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame (OUP, 2014). In these remarks I suggest that Zahavi’s view of what he calls ‘The Experiential Self’ defends precisely the sorts of claims to which a Kantian account of consciousness is fundamentally opposed, and while assessing the overall merits of the two contrasting outlooks is no easy matter, I side with the Kantian view.     

Al-Ghazali’s Reflections on the Metaphysics of Metaphor in the Mishkāt al-Anwar

Mythological language is sometimes understood as a way of representing, by concrete imagery, more abstract notions. In this paper, we will pose some metaphysical questions about the possibility of such a representation. These questions will serve to motivate a brief tour of Mishkāt al-Anwār (Niche of Lights)—Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s commentary on the famous ayat al-nur (“verse of light”) of the Qur’an—wherein is discussed, among other things, how symbolic imagery is possible, and “the respect in which the spirits of the meanings are specified within the frames of the similitudes.”

Idealizations,essential self-adjointness,and minimal model explanation in the Aharonov–Bohm effect

Two approaches to understanding the idealizations that arise in the Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect are presented. It is argued that a common topological approach, which takes the non-simply connected electron configuration space to be an essential element in the explanation and understanding of the effect, is flawed. An alternative approach is outlined. Consequently, it is shown that the existence and uniqueness of self-adjoint extensions of symmetric operators in quantum mechanics have important implications for philosophical issues. Also, the alleged indispensable explanatory role of said idealizations is examined via a minimal model explanatory scheme. Last, the idealizations involved in the AB effect are placed in a wider philosophical context via a short survey of part of the literature on infinite and essential idealizations.