Does Alternating Between Masculine and Feminine Pronouns Eliminate Perceived Gender Bias in Text?

This study explores whether alternating betweenthe pronouns he and she ina text is an effective way to avoid sexist language.Participants were psychology students at a largemidwestern university and were predominately White and frommiddle-class backgrounds. Students read two versions ofan essay, one that alternated between masculine andfeminine pronouns and one that exclusively used paired, he or she-type pronouns. Readersperceived the alternating version to be biased in favorof females and lower in overall quality than the pairedversion. However, the alternating version appeared to be more effective at combating sexism,suggesting an alternating strategy may be desirable forauthors with this goal. If the author is not primarilyconcerned with increasing readers' awareness of gender issues, techniques such as pluralization or thesingular they may be moreappropriate.     

Some aspects of eloquence in Descartes's works

In Descartes's philosophy, communicating scientific and philosophical truth does not represent a problem that can be traced back to humanistic rhetoric, meant as the art of persuasion. Descartes states his belief in the eloquence of reason: a clear, precise, and adequately expressed thought cannot fail to convince the listener. This is the measure of the distance between the level of truth and the level of opinion. However, the moment of confrontation with the public is also the very moment when the truth of the new knowledge enters into conflict with other, different conceptions. Education and history influence communication with the result that the distinction between intellectual conviction and persuasion becomes less straightforward. Rational eloquence, as Descartes is well aware, must be articulated in such a way as to avoid any possible language equivocation and to adopt exposition strategies ensuring effective access to readers. The aim of this paper is to illustrate some aspects of this tension as expressed by the writer Descartes with reference to a number of texts (from the Regulae to the Meditationes) that were essential for the elaboration and dissemination of his philosophy.     

Variations in use of the term “or”

Two studies showed that adults' responses to questions involving the term or varied markedly depending upon the type of question presented. When presented with various objects (A's and B's) and asked to circle all things which are A or B subjects tended to circle A's as well as B's, whereas when asked to circle all the A's or B's subjects showed a relatively stronger tendency to circle one or the other. Moreover the nature of the sets of objects (As and Bs) influenced behavior as well. There was also evidence that the effects due to question wording or set type transferred.     

Heidegger's formal indication: A question of method in Being and Time

For Heidegger, phenomenological investigation is carried out by formal indication, the name given to the methodical approach he assumes in Being and Time. This paper attempts to draw attention to the nature of formal indication in light of the fact that it has been largely lost upon American scholarship (mainly due to its inconsistent translation). The roots of the concept of formal indication are shown in two ways. First, its thematic treatment in Heidegger's 1921/22 Winter Semester course, Phenomenological Investigations into Aristotle, is examined to make clear what Heidegger silently assumes in Being and Time. Second, Heidegger's adaptation of Husserl's use of the term, indication, is outlined to clarify the concept even more. The enhanced understanding of formal indication granted by these two points leads to a better grasp of Heidegger's concept of truth, for formal indication and truth are mutually implied for Heidegger. Finally, it is suggested that the reader of Being and Time, on the basis of what formal indication demands, approach the work not as a doctrine to be learned but as a task always requiring further completion.     

Sprachverstehende maschinen

In this paper the author tries to disentangle some of the problems tied up in John Searle's famous Chinese-room-argument. In a first step to answer the question what it would be for a system to have not only syntax, but also semantics the author gives a brief account of the functioning of the language understanding systems (LUS) so far developed in the framework of AI research thereby making clear that systems like Winograd's SHRDLU are indeed doing little more than mere number crunching. But things would be entirely different, the author argues, if the database of a LUS were built up by the system itself via some perceptual component-at least, if this perceptual component had the capacity to distinguish objects having a certain property F from objects which do not. For in this case the system could store an internal representation of the fact that the object has the property F in its database if and only if the object in fact has that property. And this would be a good basis for calling such a system a genuine LUS. But Searle has objected to a very similar account of J. Fodor that nothing could be further from true language understanding. The reason for this complaint seems to be that Searle holds the view that a true LUS must e.g., know that the word hamburgers refers to hamburgers and that he moreover claims that this knowledge must be explicit or that the system must be aware of the reference of hamburgers to hamburgers. The author argues that this is asking too much. For it seems plausible to say that a system is able to understand e.g., the word hamburger even if it has only implicit knowledge of the fact that hamburger refers to hamburgers in the sense that it has the capacity to tell hamburgers from non hamburgers and the capacity to bring the word hamburger together just with objects of the former kind.     

Hick's interpretation of religious pluralism

Conclusion There is no question that Hick's theory rests upon multiple assumptions about a singular, transcendental grounding and the fundamental equality of the various religions that cannot be inductively verified beyond all doubt. That need not mean, however, that the attractiveness of his theory derives solely from the peculiar charm of supposing that the One and the Many are no more at odds in the realm of religion than anywhere else. For Hick's assumptions are not just an exercise in wishful thinking or wild speculation. They are based upon experience from within what he calls the benign circle of faith. Because the reality experienced is ambiguous, acceptance or rejection of his views will, of course, be a matter of choice. And, admittedly, this choice will be dictated not so much by a weighing of empirical evidence that might prove the various religions to be exactly as he sees them, as by a consideration of what we have been surveying in the preceding pages, namely, the import of seeing things as Hick does.

---

     

Die Rechtsansichten der Eurasier -- Rechtsordnung oder Wertordnung?

In their juridical doctrines, the members of the Evrazijstvo movement advocated the idea of a Russian special path criticizing at the same time the formalism and coldness of the western conception of law, based principally on Roman law. Their views are characterized by an evident priority accorded to justice over law, to the order of values over legal order.     

Gender specificity in value structures

Separate factor analyses of the value rankings of 53 male and 77 female college students yielded three factors for each gender. Interpretation suggested Creative Self-Determination versus Submissive Dependency, Personal Gratification versus Sociopolitical Consciousness, and Existential Responsibility versus Traditionalism as core concepts for the female respondents; while males' axiological dimensions were labeled Communal Idealism versus Entrepreneural Pragmatism, Hedonism versus Egalitarianism, and Sybaritic Bohemianism versus Traditional Sobriety. Each pole of the female factors was interpreted as reflecting a major ideological referent component of the Women's Liberation Movement, while male factors were construed as constituting perspectives for interpreting varieties of response to feminist ideology. Techniques for increasing individuals' levels of self-actualization by direct intervention in axiological organization were discussed.     

Accepting inconsistencies from the paradoxes

It has been proposed that the law of non-contradiction be revised to permit the simultaneous truth and falsity of the key sentences of the logical paradoxes, e.g., This sentence is false. In an attempt to show to what extent this bizarre suggestion of inconsistent models or truth-value gluts is a coherent suggestion it is proved that a first-order language for number theory can be semantically closed by having its own global truth predicate under some non-standard interpretation and thus that it actually can contain the Liar sentence. It is proved that in this interpretation the Liar sentence is both true and false, although not every sentence is.     

Hubris in the family

This paper elaborates the Palazzoli group's idea of hubris in family systems using two case examples. The first case illustrates the symmetry in a couple who are too richly cross-joined and the escalating hubristic position of each partner. The intervention that unbalanced the system was based on the Milanese group's theory. The second couple shows what the author calls reverse symmetry. They have a somewhat greater capacity for transformation than the first, which suggests a higher level of psychosexual development. In both cases, the theory behind the intervention is outlined and there is an attempt at rapprochement between systems theory and some aspects of individual psychology. For example, homeostasis and the need for safety, symmetry, projection and the repetition compulsion are shown to be common to both. Pathological narcissism which pervades the psychotic family is defined as the hubristic action itself. The form that the narcissism takes within the family in turn determines the hubristic position of its members; three forms are described.     

A Social Version of Gerotranscendence: Case Study

This article reexamines the concept of gerotranscendence in the light of anthropological findings. Particular social patterns in a nursing home reveal a unique reality communal to its tenants. The author assumes that the tenants' spontaneous patterns of social gathering construct a collective death consciousness which is spiritual in its nature. Tornstam's term another paradigm seems suitable not only for a developmental shift in old age but also for the situational shift in the daily life of the subjects. Anthropological concepts, as well as contextual and inter-subjective parameters, join to indicate that some gerotranscendence dimensions are experienced in what the author terms as sitting and giving episodes.     

On a problem of P(α, δ, π) concerning generalized Alexandroff s cube

Universality of generalized Alexandroff's cube plays essential role in theory of absolute retracts for the category of , -closure spaces. Alexandroff's cube. is an , -closure space generated by the family of all complete filters. in a lattice of all subsets of a set of power .Condition P(, , ) says that is a closure space of all , -filters in the lattice ( ), .Assuming that P (, , ) holds, in the paper [2], there are given sufficient conditions saying when an , -closure space is an absolute retract for the category of , -closure spaces (see Theorems 2.1 and 3.4 in [2]).It seems that, under assumption that P (, , ) holds, it will be possible to givean uniform characterization of absolute retracts for the category of , -closure-spaces.Except Lemma 3.1 from [1], there is no information when the condition P (, , ) holds or when it does not hold.The main result of this paper says, that there are examples of cardinal numbers, , , such that P (, , ) is not satisfied.Namely it is proved, using elementary properties of Lebesgue measure on the real line, that the condition P (, ₁, 2 ) is not satisfied.Moreover it is shown that fulfillment of the condition is essential assumption in, Theorems 2.1 and 3.4 from [1] i.e. it cannot be eliminated.     

Distribution of the feature [+animate] in the lexicon of the child

Piaget suggests that animistic thinking is a pervasive feature of children's cognition. To test this notion, 4- to 8-year-old children were shown several inanimate objects and asked to pick those which perform activities characteristic of living organisms. These activities were typified by six verbs: eat, sleep, breathe, grow, die,, and be alive. Fifty percent of the younger children responded animistically, by misattributing life processes to inanimate objects, but only 18% of their total responses were animistic. Twenty percent of the older children responded animistically, but only 20% of their responses were animistic. In Experiment II, children were shown drawings singly and asked if the object could perform activities named by one of the six verbs. Results were similar to those of Experiment I but with somewhat less animism. Experiment III required children to spontaneously name things that are alive. There were no animistic responses. It was concluded that animistic thinking is not a genuine phenomenon but linguistic confusion elicited by novel objects and unfamiliar words.This work was supported by NSF Grant GB 23083.A portion of the data of Experiment I constituted a Bachelor Honors Thesis conducted by the first author under the direction of the second and submitted to Florida State University. These data were presented at the meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, April 1973.     

Distinctions between subgroups of asthmatic children: Parental reactions to experimental separation

Parental reactions to experimental separation were analyzed for two groups of asthmatic children, those for whom behavioral factors were judged highly relevant to asthma and those for whom such factors appeared unimportant. The former group of 13 (predicted positives) had shown a highly significant improvement in asthma during separation from their families; the latter group of 12 (predicted negatives) had not. Coding of standardized interviews conducted around the time of separation disclosed that parents (mothers, especially) of predicted positives scored significantly higher than parents of predicted negatives on such scales as fussing over the child at the time of leave taking, missing child, experiencing pain and discomfort during the separation, being anxious over child's welfare, etc. Psychological test data did not discriminate between the parents' or childrens' groups as clearly as the more focused separation interviews but the test results were consistent with interview differences. The separation elicited very strong emotional reactions from several mothers.This study was supported by United States Public Health Service Grant No. HD01060 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Kirk Brady, John Means, loan Muser, and Claire Purcell contributed to data collection and/or data analysis.     

Teaching,Reason and Risk

In his writings on teaching, Isreal Scheffler has argued for the close connection between teaching and reason, an argument which can be summarized by, Teaching is. . an initiation into open rational discussion. This essay examines Schefflier's thesis in the light of criticisms drawn from feminist writings on teaching. It is argued that Scheffler's thesis is consistent with a view of teaching in which it can be achieved through kindness, good example and the efficacy of unconscious imitation, characteristics of the private, reproductive processes typical of women. It is then argued that Scheffler's concept of teaching is compatible with views of education that try to do justice to both reason and emotion, mind and feeling.     

Feminism versus minority group identity: Not for black woman only

An analytical review of the literature revealed four basic hypotheses that have been adopted by researchers investigating Black women and their relationships. The hypotheses have been identified by the author as follows: The weakening hypothesis, the double whammy hypothesis, the Black matriarchy hypothesis, and the Black racism hypothesis. In addition, a discussion of the implication that the hypotheses have for Black and White researchers was given. Finally, suggestions for new approaches and directions that future research should take were included.     

The family as portrayed on prime-time television, 1947–1990: Structure and characteristics

Successful family series across four decades of American prime-time television were examined. Family portrayals were defined as either conventional or nonconventional. Conventional families were categorized as couples without children and couples with children. Nonconventional families were categorized as single parent or contrived. Additional family characteristics were also recorded including sex of single parent, reason for singleness, social class status, females employed outside the home, live-ins, race, and whether the presentation was dramatic or comedic. The data show a trend toward more equal presentation of conventional and nonconventional families, few divorced or female single parents, and few minority families. Implications of findings are discussed and future research questions suggested.     

Can Artificial Intelligence Have a Near-Death Experience? A Critical Look at the Ultimate Text

Since a computer model begins as an instance of writing, that is, a text, it is appropriate to examine this kind of discourse through the perspective of literary criticism. I examine Stephen Thaler's (1995) intelligent computer program and conclude that the gedanken creatures are constructed upon a structuralist theory of the text, which cannot support a complete simulation of human intelligence or experience.     

Developmental study of the comprehension and production of the pronoun “it”

Forty-two English-speaking children aged 3,3 to 7,0 were asked to act out instructions of the type There is clay on the table, give it to me, where the pronoun it occurs in object position and refers to a collective noun, or to a count noun, or to a noun (chocolate) which can be either. They were also asked to describe actions performed by the experimenter and to repeat the experimenter's instructions. A hierarchical pattern of behavior emerged and unexpected errors were noted. The results do not appear to be interpretable from the purely linguistic point of view; it is argued that analogous observations have been made in problem-solving tasks and that therefore cognitive development in general must play an important part.     

Gender stereotypes and dimensions of effective leader behavior

Research has consistently found that effective leadership is perceived as characterized by traits similar to those associated with masculine gender roles. These perceptions would appear to be at odds with extensive research indicating that effective leadership requires consideration and structuring behaviors—behaviors that seem to represent both masculine and feminine styles. In two separate studies, the correspondence between gender stereotypes and dimensions of effective leadership were assessed. Results indicate that consideration behaviors are perceived to be feminine, while structuring behaviors are perceived to be masculine. Similarly, qualities that characterize the masculine gender role are perceived to be consistent with structuring, while qualities associated with the feminine gender roles are perceived to be consistent with consideration. It is suggested that an increased awareness of the androgynous nature of effective leadership behaviors might weaken the biases in favor of male leaders.