Does Arguing from Coherence Make Sense?

In this paper the argument from coherence is submitted to a critical analysis. First, it is argued to be a complex form of coordinative argumentation, structured on various argumentative levels. Then, using the pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation a distinction is brought out between two basic forms of the argument from coherence: in one use this argument occurs as a sequence of two symptomatic arguments; in the other use we have a main symptomatic argument supported by a subordinate pragmatic argument. Finally, from an evaluative point of view it is assessed whether the argument from coherence can be found acceptable as a tool for settling disputes. It is claimed that in general, we can welcome this argumentative structure as sound and fully acceptable provided that we are aware of the interpretative discretion its use implies. A preliminary version of this essay was presented at the symposium organised by the Department of Speech Communication, Argumentation Theory, and Rhetoric at the University of Amsterdamon the 27/02/04. I wish to express my indebtedness to Dora Achourioti, Francesco Belvisi, Frans van Eemeren, Eveline Feteris, Bart Garssen, Jean Wagemans, Peter Houtlosser, and Henrike Jansen for their helpful remarks. Needless to say, the responsibility for the views expressed herein as well as for any errors of form or content rests solely with me.     

Can We Make Sense of the Notion of Trustworthy Technology?

In this paper we raise the question whether technological artifacts can properly speaking be trusted or said to be trustworthy. First, we set out some prevalent accounts of trust and trustworthiness and explain how they compare with the engineer’s notion of reliability. We distinguish between pure rational-choice accounts of trust, which do not differ in principle from mere judgments of reliability, and what we call “motivation-attributing” accounts of trust, which attribute specific motivations to trustworthy entities. Then we consider some examples of technological entities that are, at first glance, best suited to serve as the objects of trust: intelligent systems that interact with users, and complex socio-technical systems. We conclude that the motivation-attributing concept of trustworthiness cannot be straightforwardly applied to these entities. Any applicable notion of trustworthy technology would have to depart significantly from the full-blown notion of trustworthiness associated with interpersonal trust.     

Second Nature and Historical Change in Hegel’s Philosophy of History

Hegel’s philosophy of history is fundamentally concerned with how shapes of life collapse and transition into new shapes of life. One of the distinguishing features of Hegel’s concern with how a shape of life falls apart and becomes inadequate is the role that habit plays in the transition. A shape of life is an embodied form of existence for Hegel. The animating concepts of a shape of life are affectively inscribed on subjects through complex cultural processes. This paper examines the argument Hegel puts forward in his Lectures on the Philosophy of World History for why civilizations come to atrophy and examines the decisive role habit plays in this process. The paper concludes with a discussion of the way in which the central role of second nature in historical transitions and norm formation conflicts with Brandom’s account of norm formation in Hegel’s thought.     

Dignity and Animals. Does it Make Sense to Apply the Concept of Dignity to all Sentient Beings?

Although the idea of dignity has always been applied to human beings and although its role is far from being uncontroversial, some recent works in animal ethics have tried to apply the idea of dignity to animals. The aim of this paper is to discuss critically whether these attempts are convincing and sensible. In order to assess these proposals, I put forward two formal conditions that any conception of dignity must meet (non-redundancy and normative determinacy) and outline three main approaches which might justify the application of dignity to animals: the species-based approach, moral individualism and the relational approach. Discussing in particular works by Martha Nussbaum and Michael Meyer I argue that no approach can convincingly justify the extension of dignity to animals because all fail to meet the formal conditions and do not provide an appropriate basis for animal dignity. I conclude by arguing that the recognition of the moral importance of animals and their defense should appeal to other normative concepts which are more appropriate than dignity.     

How Does the Difference Principle Make a Difference?

The paper examines the relationship between the two parts of Rawls’ second principle of justice. More specifically, it explores the ways in which the Difference Principle (DP) may constrain the range of acceptable social arrangements in light of the stated lexical priority of the requirement of fair equality of opportunity (FEO) over the DP. The paper discusses two possibilities. First, it examines the role the DP may play within an institutional scheme that satisfies the requirement of FEO. Second, it discusses the role the principle may play in selecting among different institutional schemes that satisfy FEO. The paper argues that the DP has an important role only if there is a range of institutional arrangements that are equivalent from the point of view of FEO but non-equivalent from the point of view of the DP. Next, it explores the possible sources of the variation among the different FEO-equivalent institutional schemes, and argues that on the most satisfactory reading of the requirement of FEO, there will not be much variation that is relevant from the point of view of the DP. The paper concludes that the role of the Difference Principle is at best very limited in constraining the range of social arrangements that are acceptable from the point of view of justice.     

Does Social Protest Shake People’s Justice Beliefs? It Depends on the Level of Group Identification

We examined whether social protests will shake people's justice belief, and its potential mechanisms. Participants were reminded of an occurrence of a social protest (vs. an ordinary event) and their justice belief toward social system as well as attitudes toward the protest was measured. Moreover, participants’ perceived group identification with the protesters was measured in Experiment 1 and manipulated in Experiment 2. The results revealed that participants with greater group identification perceived the social system as more just, and were less supportive of the protest than those with low group identification. The implications of these findings were discussed.     

Spiritual Coping, Family History, and Perceived Risk for Breast Cancer—Can We Make Sense of it?

Differences in spiritual beliefs and practices could influence perceptions of the role of genetic risk factors on personal cancer risk. We explored spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions among women with and without a reported family history of breast cancer. Analyses were conducted on data from 899 women in primary care clinics who did not have breast cancer. Structural equation modeling (SEM), linear, and logistic modeling tested an interaction of family history of breast cancer on the relationship between spiritual coping and risk perceptions. Overall analyses demonstrated an inverse relationship between spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions and a modifying effect of family history. More frequent spiritual coping was associated with lower risk perceptions for women with positive family histories, but not for those with negative family histories. Results support further research in this area that could influence communication of risk information to cancer genetic counseling patients.     

What Difference Does It Make?

Abstract. The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion has its most direct influence on faculty members who teach in colleges, universities, and theological schools. These faculty members, in turn, have an impact upon churches through their leadership and teaching in local communities. Wabash workshops encourage faculty to continue to develop four qualities that make a difference in their teaching and scholarship, in the lives of students who become community and church leaders, and ultimately in the life of the church: these are the abilities to (1) help pastoral leaders integrate multiple kinds of knowledge, (2) value context and particularity, (3) strengthen their skills as public theologians and community leaders, and (4) cultivate the encouragement to live lives of wholeness. The gift of hospitality at Wabash workshops provides the environment and space for faculty to engage these qualities in their teaching, research, scholarship, and living.     

Does Practice Make the Perfect Liar? The Effect of Rehearsal and Increased Cognitive Load on Cues to Deception

Recent studies have explored ways to increase cognitive load in liars to identify cues to deception. This study used a driving simulator as a load‐inducing technique to explore differences between truth‐tellers and liars during an investigative interview scenario and also investigated the effect of rehearsing lies in this context. Deception affected driving performance. Truth‐tellers drove more slowly compared with their own baseline, whereas unrehearsed liars sped up. There was no difference in speed between truth‐tellers and rehearsed liars. In addition, truth‐tellers had significantly faster reaction times compared with their own baseline, than both rehearsed and unrehearsed liars. During the interviews, truth‐tellers provided significantly more visual and auditory details and mentioned significantly fewer cognitive operations than liars. The findings add to the body of literature exploring the optimal relationship between cognitive load and secondary task performance to identify cues to deception.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Justice for all? Progress in Research on Cultural Variation in the Psychology of Distributive and Procedural Justice

Nous passons en revue les apports des recherches concernant l'impact de la culture sur la perception de la justice. Nous pre´sentons les mode`les qui rendent compte de la faµon dont les gens appre´cient l'e´quite´ de l'attribution des allocations d'une part, l'e´quite´ des processus de de´cision d'autre part. Suite a` l'examen de recherches interculturelles, nous prenons en conside´ration des diffe´rences entre pays pour mettre a` l'e´preuve des hypothe`ses sur les liens entre des valeurs culturelles ge´ne´rales (ex.: individualisme‐collectivisme) et des crite`res particuliers (ex. les re`gles d'e´quite´). Nous ne manquons pas toutefois de souligner les e´cueils que rencontre cette strate´gie de recherche qui a entraîne´ une meilleure pre´cision des conceptions de l'influence culturelle (pre´cision dans les valeurs, les contextes sociaux qui renvoient a` des crite`res d'e´quite´ particuliers et les structures de savoirs qui pre´sident a` l'interpre´tation des conduites)     

Does Being Well-Off Make Us Happier? Problems of Measurement

The article uses General Social Survey data (GSS) collected by Statistics Canada from 1986 to 2005 and experience sampling data (ESM) collected in 1985 and 2003 at the University of Waterloo to examine relationships between economic growth, household income, and subjective sense of well-being. The article puts to a test two propositions made by Easterlin (Nations and households in economic growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz. Academic Press, New York, NY,1974), namely that personal and household incomes correlate positively with subjective well-being, but this does not apply to the relationship between subjective well-being and societal economic growth. Analyses of GSS data reported in this article support Easterlin’s findings. They show that higher household incomes correlate positively with respondents’ retrospective assessments of life satisfaction, but economic growth has not been accompanied by a corresponding rise of subjective well-being. Analyses of ESM data suggest that when relationships between household income and subjective well-being are measured by “experiential” measures (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson in J Nerv Ment Dis 175: 526–537, 1987), these relationships are not statistically significant and subjective valuations of well-being taper off at the top of the income pyramid.     

Does quality of sleep mediate the effect of depression on hopelessness?

The objectives of the study were to evaluate the relationship between sleep quality, depression, and hopelessness in advanced cancer patients and whether sleep quality mediated the effect of depression on hopelessness. The final sample consisted of 102 advanced cancer patients under palliative treatment. Patients completed the Greek Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a sleep quality instrument, the Greek Beck Depression Inventory for measuring depression, and finally the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Patients' performance status was assessed by their overall physical functioning, as defined by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Depression was highly associated with hopelessness (r = .52, p<.001). Statistically significant associations were found between sleep quality with hopelessness (r = .37, p<.001), as well as with depression (r = .36, p<.001). Mediation analyses indicated that depression influenced hopelessness directly as well as indirectly by its effect on sleep quality. About 14.58% of the variation in hopelessness was explained by depression; 4% of the variance in hopelessness explained by depression was accounted for by the mediation pathway indicating that sleep quality mediated the relationship between depression and hopelessness. Similarly, in the reverse mediation analysis, depression mediated the relationship between sleep quality and hopelessness; 43% of the variation in hopelessness was explained by sleep quality. In conclusion, some of the effect of depression on hopelessness was mediated by sleep quality, but depression had a direct effect on hopelessness as well. Additionally, some of the effect of sleep quality on hopelessness was mediated by depression. The current findings are important because improving sleep quality by treating depression may contribute to decreased hopelessness scores and vice versa: Treating depression by improving sleep quality may also contribute to lower hopelessness scores.     

Does the Experience of Organizational Justice Mitigate the Invasion of Privacy Engendered by Random Drug Testing? An Empirical Investigation

This research used theories of organizational justice to develop predictions regarding employees' judgments of the invasiveness of random-drug-testing programs. An investigation with two firms suggested that employees view random drug testing to be less invasive when they (a) hold management positions, (b) have been tested for drug use fewer times, (c) perceive the consequences of testing positive for drug use to be less punitive, and (d) perceive the drug-testing procedures to be more accurate. Unexpectedly, however, the perceived danger of impaired performance on the job was unrelated to the criterion. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.     

Does Risk Assessment Make a Difference? Results of Implementing the SAVRY in Juvenile Probation

An effective approach to reducing recidivism is, first, to identify a youth's risk of reoffending and then to match the intensity of interventions to that risk level. This pre-post quasi-experimental, prospective study compared 247 (pre) with 217 (post) adjudicated youths to examine the implementation of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and its effects on case management practices in Louisiana's Caddo parish probation office. The results indicated that placement rates dropped by 50%, use of maximum levels of supervision dropped by almost 30%, and use of community services decreased except for high-risk youths, but only after the SAVRY was properly implemented. This shift towards more appropriate allocation of resources that are matched to risk level occurred without a significant increase in reoffending. The implications for implementation and for use of risk/needs assessment in juvenile probation are discussed. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.