Negation in context: Evidence from the visual world paradigm

Literature assumes that negation is more difficult to understand than affirmation, but this might depend on the pragmatic context. The goal of this paper is to show that pragmatic knowledge modulates the unfolding processing of negation due to the previous activation of the negated situation. To test this, we used the visual world paradigm. In this task, we presented affirmative (e.g., her dad was rich) and negative sentences (e.g., her dad was not poor) while viewing two images of the affirmed and denied entities. The critical sentence in each item was preceded by one of three types of contexts: an inconsistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had little savings) that activates the negated situation (a poor man), a consistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had enough savings) that activates the actual situation (a rich man), or a neutral context (e.g., her dad lived on the other side of town) that activates neither of the two models previously suggested. The results corroborated our hypothesis. Pragmatics is implicated in the unfolding processing of negation. We found an increase in fixations on the target compared to the baseline for negative sentences at 800?ms in the neutral context, 600?ms in the inconsistent context, and 1450?ms in the consistent context. Thus, when the negated situation has been previously introduced via an inconsistent context, negation is facilitated.     

Control Interaction

Summary

The positive norm of reciprocity makes two minimal demands: (a) help those who help you; and (b) do not harm those who help you. The complementary norm of retaliation may be interpreted as making two similar demands: (a) harm those who harm you; and (b) do not help those who harm you. Previous research has verified that the first demand for both norms does govern human behavior, but has never looked at the second demands. This study investigated the second minimal demands of both norms by using a 2 × 2 factorial design. Half of the Ss were either given benefits or not by a C, and then were permitted to shock her. The remaining Ss were either shocked or not shocked by a C and then allowed to benefit her. The predictions were that Ss would not harm those who benefited them and would not benefit those who harmed them. Results did not support these hypotheses. The Ss' impressions of the other person and of themselves were consistent with the behavioral data. It was concluded that the reciprocity norms must be delimited to behaviors within positive or negative modes of reinforcement.     

A Critique of Frankfurt-Libertarianism

Most libertarians think that some version of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP) is true. A number of libertarians, which I call ‘Frankfurt-libertarians,’ think that they need not embrace any version of PAP. In this paper, I examine the writings of one such Frankfurt-libertarian, Eleonore Stump, for her evaluation of the impact of Frankfurt-style counterexamples (FSCs) to PAP. I show how, contrary to her own claims, Stump does need a PAP-like principle for her account of free action. I briefly argue that this discussion also goes some distance to showing that any Frankfurt-libertarian is in a similar position regarding the need for some PAP-like principle. If I am correct, then Frankfurt-libertarians must either renounce their incompatibilism or concede that FSCs fail to show all PAP-like principles to be false.

The Mania of Existence: Klein,Winnicott, and Heidegger's Concept of Inauthenticity

This paper offers a new interpretation of Heidegger's concept of inauthenticity (Uneigentlichkeit) in Being and Time. It breaks from the “conformity interpretation” of inauthenticity, according to which the anonymity of the inauthentic person is due to her conformity to das Man. Rather, it argues that the anonymity of the inauthentic person is due to “existential mania” – a state in which a person denies her death and anxiety, understands her abilities to be limitless, and is perpetually active. It shows how this existential mania – and the anonymity to which it gives rise – is analogous to the mania described by the object relations psychoanalyst Melanie Klein. Finally, drawing on D. W. Winnicott's discussion of mania, it shows how both the inauthentic person's conformity to das Man, and her existential mania, give rise to anonymity.     

Organism,normativity, plasticity: Canguilhem,Kant, Malabou

Some of Catherine Malabou’s recent work has developed her conception of plasticity (originally deployed in a reading of Hegelian Aufhebung) in relation to neuroscience. This development clarifies and advances her attempt to bring contemporary theory into dialogue with the natural sciences, while indirectly indicating her engagement with the French tradition in philosophy of science and philosophy of medicine, especially the work of Georges Canguilhem. I argue that we can see her development of plasticity as an answer to some specific shortcomings in Canguilhem’s conception of organic or biological normativity as advanced in The Normal and the Pathological. Such a view of plasticity shows its potential to provide the basis for a powerful critical engagement with contemporary conceptions of selfhood, self-transformation, subjectivation, and the general theory of norms.     

The vicissitudes of affect in Horney's theory

Abstract

Karen Horney, a Neo-Freudian analyst who immigrated from Germany to the USA, undertook the difficult task of developing a theory that remained concrete psychology without resorting to biology or to metapsychological entelechies. Although her basic construct, as in Freud, is a conflict between nature and culture, nature for her is the naturally endowed real self, which the neurotic abandons bowing to cultural pressures. This process of desertion is teleological and based on imagination, and is also creative. It entails the pursuit of a god-like idealized image of the self shaped according to narrow and despoiled values. Being interpersonal, Horney's theory avoids third-person objectification which creates a false distance; it thus remains (inter)subjective. A theory of interpersonal affect, it is dramatic before being dynamic. It also abandons claims to universality as it does to the “objectivity” of the natural sciences. Horney's focus on alienation brings her close to Hegel and Marx, a neglected fact, and she pioneered feminist and self-help theories. The difficulty in reading Horney is not her abstruseness, since her theory refuses technicism. It resides rather in that resistance created by what Althusser called interpellation: one feels her finger pointed at oneself as one reads.     

Kitzinger’s Feminist Conversation Analysis: Critical Observations

This paper contributes to ongoing discussions on feminism and the analysis of discourse. In particular, I examine Celia Kitzinger’s [(2000), Doing feminist conversation analysis. Feminism and Psychology, 10, 163–193 and (2002) Doing feminist conversation analysis. In P. McIlvenny (Ed.), Talking gender and sexuality. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.] claims to be engaged in “feminist conversation analysis.” This paper identifies susceptibilities in her arguments at both the theoretical level and the level of data analysis. My argument is that Kitzinger fails to appreciate the fact that her enterprise is basically a formal analytic one and that as such it is both radically different from, and incommensurate with, ethnomethodology (EM) and conversation analysis (CA). Indeed her attempts to supplement feminism with EM/CA are unnecessary and counterproductive from an EM/CA position insofar as they crucially undermine its integrity.

‘I never talked about,ever’: A comprehensive process analysis of a significant client disclosure event in therapy

Aims: The present study was intended to examine how a particular client disclosure came about and what made it important to the client. Method: A client‐identified significant therapy event involving disclosure of childhood abuse was analysed using Comprehensive Process Analysis (CPA), a qualitative interpretive method for examining the process, effects and context of significant events in therapy. Results: The analysis identified therapist invitation and client universalisation as the key elements of the disclosure event. The context analysis showed how the event linked to the client's symbolisation of her fear earlier in the session and in the previous session. The client gained insight into how the earlier abuse had affected her life, linking it to the victimisation that was her primary reason for seeking therapy, and to her relationship with her mother. The therapist facilitated the event by following up the client's hints, trusting the strength of the alliance, and staying close to the client's frame of reference. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the initial significance of an invited disclosure event may diminish for a client over the course of therapy.     

Monism and individuation in Anne Conway as a critique of Spinoza

ABSTRACT

In chapter IX of the Principles, Anne Conway claims that her metaphysics is diametrically opposed to those of Descartes and Spinoza. Scholars have analyzed her rejection of Cartesianism, but not her critique of Spinoza. This paper proposes that two central points of Conway’s metaphysics can be understood as direct responses to Spinoza: (1) the relation between God, Christ, and the creatures in the tripartite division of being, and (2) the individuation of beings in the lowest species. I will argue that Conway, in criticizing Spinoza’s identification between God and nature, defends a paradoxical monism, and that her concept of individuation is a reductio ad absurdum of Spinoza’s criterion of identity in the individuation of finite modes.     

The Determiners of Energy Expenditure in String-Pulling by the Rat

A follow-up was made of 18 male dyslexic children (RDs) and a group of matched controls (Cs), who had all been judged free from emotional and school adjustment problems two years earlier, (a) to see if RDs' reading deficit had been overcome, (b) to measure “emotional overlay,” and (c) to find predictors of success in learning to read. Results showed that at the time of the follow-up (a) none of the RDs had overcome his reading disability despite remediational efforts; (b) RDs had significantly lower achievement levels and significantly more adjustment problems than Cs; (c) low scores for WISC Full Scale IQ, Vocabulary subtest, and Coding subtest were associated with large reading deficits two years later; and (d) high WISC Arithmetic and Coding subtest scores were associated with large gains in reading skill. Physiological measures did not predict size of deficit or gain in reading skill over time.     

Mislocated fixations can account for parafoveal-on-foveal effects in eye movements during reading

Contrasting predictions of serial and parallel views on the processing of foveal and parafoveal information during reading were tested. A high-frequency adjective (young) was followed by either a high-frequency word_n (child) or a low-frequency word_n (tenor), which in turn was followed by either a correct (performing) or an orthographic illegal word_{n + 1} (pxvforming) as a parafoveal preview. A limited parafoveal-on-foveal effect was observed: There were inflated fixation times on word_n when the preview of word_{n + 1} was orthographically illegal. However, this parafoveal-on-foveal effect was (a) independent of the frequency of word_n, (b) restricted to those instances when the eyes were very close to word_{n + 1}, and (c) associated with relatively long prior saccades. These observations are all compatible with a mislocated fixation account in which parafoveal-on-foveal effects result from saccadic undershoots of word_{n + 1} and with a serial model of eye movement control during reading.     

Individuality Without Individualism: Review of Janice Raymond's A Passion for Friends

This review of Janice Raymond's A Passion for Friends focuses on her strong sense of the individual and of individuality. However, and this is the central contention of my paper, her perspective is quite distinct from liberal individualism. It is also a complex variation on the feminist concern with selves in relationships.     

Activity,Passivity, and Normative Avowal

The idea that agents can be active with respect to some of their actions, and passive with respect to others, is a widely held assumption within moral philosophy. But exactly how to characterize these notions is controversial. I argue that an agent is active just in case (A) her action is one whose motive she can truly avow as reason‐giving, or (B) her action is one whose motive she can disavow, provided her disavowal effects appropriate modifications in her future motives. This view maintains a link between activity, reason‐responsiveness, and answerability, while avoiding commitments to an implausible theory of motivation.     

Levi on Causal Decision Theory and the Possibility of Predicting One's Own Actions

Isaac Levi has long criticized causal decisiontheory on the grounds that it requiresdeliberating agents to make predictions abouttheir own actions. A rational agent cannot, heclaims, see herself as free to choose an actwhile simultaneously making a prediction abouther likelihood of performing it. Levi is wrongon both points. First, nothing in causaldecision theory forces agents to makepredictions about their own acts. Second,Levi's arguments for the ``deliberation crowdsout prediction thesis' rely on a flawed modelof the measurement of belief. Moreover, theability of agents to adopt beliefs about theirown acts during deliberation is essentialto any plausible account of human agency andfreedom. Though these beliefs play no part inthe rationalization of actions, they arerequired to account for the causalgenesis of behavior. To explain the causes ofactions we must recognize that (a) an agentcannot see herself as entirely free in thematter of A unless she believes herdecision to perform A will cause A,and (b) she cannot come to a deliberatedecision about A unless she adoptsbeliefs about her decisions. FollowingElizabeth Anscombe and David Velleman, I arguethat an agent's beliefs about her own decisionsare self-fulfilling, and that this can beused to explain away the seeming paradoxicalfeatures of act probabilities.     

‘Mon petit essai’: Émilie du Châtelet’s Essai sur l’optique and her early natural philosophy

ABSTRACT

Émilie du Châtelet’s recently-discovered Essai sur l’optique offers new insights into her early natural philosophy. Here I analyse the Essai in detail, focusing on Du Châtelet’s use of attraction and her discussion of the laws governing it. These features of the Essai are crucial to her early thought. I also analyse how other contemporaneous sources augment the Essai, including her review of Voltaire’s Elémens and her correspondence with Maupertuis. These sources track her growing appreciation of the need for a metaphysical framework in science. I also discuss the Essai’s implications for key passages of the Institutions de physique.     

Joyce Trebilcot: Member of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Outsiders On the Occasion of the Publication of Dyke Ideas and of Her Retirement from Teaching at Washington University in St. Louis

In 1994, Joyce Trebilcot retired from teaching at Washington University in St. Louis, where she had founded the Women's Studies Program and had been a member of the Philosophy Department since 1970. In the Fall of 1994 I participated on a SWIP conference panel on her book Dyke Ideas ( Trebilcot 1994 ) conference; I used that occasion also to reminisce and place her work in the context of her life as a SWIP activist. ¹ 1 The conference was held at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, October 21–23, 1994.
What follows is adapted from that presentation.     

Reply to Comments on ��Sarah Palin, a Nation Object(ifie)s��

In our original article, Sarah Palin, A Nation Object(ifie)s: The Role of Appearance Focus in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, we suggested that a focus on Sarah Palin??s appearance may have harmed the Republican ticket in the 2008 presidential election by leading others to objectify her(creating perception of her as less competent, warm, trustworthy, and generally less human) and potentially undermining her performance by inducing her own self-objectification. In this paper, we address several issues raised by Budesheim (2011) and Heldman and Wade (2011) in response to our article. Specifically, we fine-tune our definition of objectification, provide better evidence that Palin??s appearance was highly focused on, and address some alternative accounts (e.g., overcorrection) raised to account for our experimental findings. We conclude by reiterating the relevance of our research to this real-world situation, but heed the warning to keep our claims grounded with solid empirical and theoretical roots.     

Feminist Phenomenology and the Film World of Agnès Varda

Through a discussion of Agnès Varda's career from 1954 to 2008 that focuses particularly on La Pointe Courte (1954), L'Opéra‐Mouffe (1958), The Gleaners and I (2000), and The Beaches of Agnes (2008), this article considers the connections between Varda's filmmaking and her femaleness. It proposes that two aspects of Varda's cinema—her particularly perceptive portrayal of a set of geographical locations, and her visual and verbal emphasis on female embodiment—make a feminist existential‐phenomenological approach to her films particularly fruitful. Drawing both directly on the work of Maurice Merleau‐Ponty and on some recent film‐ and feminist‐theoretical texts that have employed his insights, it explores haptic imagery and feminist strategy in The Gleaners and I, the materialization of space characterizing Varda's blurring of fiction and documentary, and the dialectical relationship of people with their environment often observed in her cinema. It concludes that both Varda's female protagonists and the director herself may be said to perform feminist phenomenology in her films, in their actions, movement, and relationship to space, and in the carnality of voice and vision with which Varda's own subjectivity is registered within her film‐texts.