The Varieties of (Relative) Modality

In ‘The Varieties of Necessity’ Fine presents purported counterexamples to the view that a proposition is a naturally necessary truth if and only if it is logically necessary relative to or conditional upon the basic truths about the status and distribution of natural kinds, properties and relations. The aim of this article is to defend the view that natural necessity is relative necessity, and the general idea that we can define other kinds of necessity as relative, against Fine's criticisms.     

自我损耗的视听通道效应

采用双任务实验范式,通过两个实验探讨了自我损耗的通道效应。实验1考察了完成视听工作记忆任务对执行手柄任务（非视听任务）的影响,结果发现,完成视觉损耗任务导致手柄任务的成绩显著地变差,完成听觉损耗任务、视听非损耗任务均对手柄任务的成绩没有影响。实验2考察了完成视听工作记忆任务对执行Stroop任务（视觉任务）的影响,结果发现,完成视觉损耗任务导致Stroop任务的成绩显著地变差,完成听觉损耗任务、视听非损耗任务对Stroop任务的成绩没有影响。研究结果表明同一自我控制任务通过视听通道完成对随后另一自我控制任务的影响不同,证实了自我损耗的视听通道效应。     

Virtual Modality

Model-theoretic 1-types overa given first-order theory T may be construed as natural metalogical miniatures of G. W. Leibniz' ``complete individual notions', ``substances' or ``substantial forms'. This analogy prompts this essay's modal semantics for an essentiallyundecidable first-order theory T, in which one quantifies over such ``substances' in a boolean universe V(C), where C is the completion of the Lindenbaum-algebra of T.More precisely, one can define recursively a set-theoretic translate of formulae _N of formulae of a normal modal theory T_m based on T, such that the counterpart `<sub>i</sub>' of a the modal variable `x_i' of L(T_m) in this translation-scheme ranges over elements of V(C) that are 1-types of T with value 1 (sometimes called `definite' C-valued 1-types of T).The article's basic completeness-result (2.13) then establishes that varphi; is a theorem of T<sub>m</sub> iff [[ <sub>N</sub> () is aconsequenceof <sub>N</sub> (T<sub>m</sub>) for each extension N of T which is a subtheory of the canonical generic theory (ultrafilter) u]] = 1 – or equivalently, that T<sub>m</sub> is consistent iff[[there is anextension N of T such that N is a subtheory of the canonical generic theory u, and <sub>N</sub>() for all in T<sub>m</sub>]] > 0.The proof of thiscompleteness-result also shows that an N which provides a countermodel for a modally unprovable – or equivalently, a closed set in the Stone space St(T) in the sense of V(C) – is intertranslatable with an `accessibility'-relation of a closely related Kripke-semantics whose `worlds' are generic extensions of an initial universe V via C.This interrelation providesa fairly precise rationale for the semantics' recourse to C-valued structures, and exhibits a sense in which the boolean-valued context is sharp.     

模态与本质

模态(modality)是指可能性、必然性等哲学范畴。根据关涉对象的不同,它可以分为从言模态与从物模态两类:若模态性质指的是命题或语句为真的可能性与必然性,则它是从言模态;若模态性质指的是事物具有某种性质或关系的可能性与必然性,则它是从物模态。     

Abduction and Modality

This paper introduces a modal epistemology that centers on inference to the best explanation (i.e. abduction). In introducing this abduction‐centered modal epistemology, the paper has two main goals. First, it seeks to provide reasons for pursuing an abduction‐centered modal epistemology by showing that this epistemology aids a popular stance on the mind‐body problem and allows an appealing approach to modality. Second, the paper seeks to show that an abduction‐centered modal epistemology can work by showing that abduction can establish claims about necessity/possibility (i.e. modal claims)—where ‘necessity’ and ‘possibility’ denote metaphysical necessity and possibility, ways things may or may not have been given how they actually are.     

Models and Modality

This paper examines the connection between model-theoretic truth and necessary truth. It is argued that though the model-theoretic truths of some standard languages are demonstrably 'necessary' (in a precise sense), the widespread view of model-theoretic truth as providing a general guarantee of necessity is mistaken. Several arguments to the contrary are criticized.     

The Impact of Modality on Mind Wandering during Comprehension

The executive resource hypothesis assumes a positive relationship between resource availability and mind wandering. Under the assumption that different modalities of information delivery differentially tax resources, we compared mind wandering across different modalities during the presentation of The Red Headed League (Experiment 1 and 2) and Walden (Experiment 3). An Audio only condition produced the most mind wandering. Two conditions that presumably consumed more executive resources than the Audio Only condition (i.e. Audio + Text and Self‐paced Reading) produced equivalent amounts of mind wandering during Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 3 the reading time of the Self‐paced readers moderated the effect of mind wandering in that the fast readers mind wandered more than those in the Audio + Text condition. Results are discussed in the context of the demands of different modes of information delivery methods and mind wandering as well as the potential effects of material type. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The bilingual lexicon: Modality effects in processing

In this article the effects of modality on the processing in the bilingual lexicon will be explored. Therefore, two parallel repetition priming experiments were conducted, an auditory and a visual one. The subjects were Dutch-English bilinguals. They had to perform a lexical decision task. There were two types of stimuli: cognates and noncognates. The results indicated that there are no processing differences between the auditory and the visual modalities. Furthermore, in both experiments interlingual repetition priming was found for both cognates and noncognates. The implications of these results for the influence of the factor proficiency level are discussed.     

The Effect of Text Coherence and Modality on Metamemory Judgements

This study examined the effects of text coherence and modality on the metamemory judgements of Ease of Learning (EOL) and Judgement of Learning (JOL), and on the object-level measure of recall. Previous work found that sentence material set in a coherent, ordered text context was not judged as more memorable than that presented in a context of sentences in a disordered sequence, even though an ordered sequence helped recall (Shaddock & Carroll, 1997). The current study modified Shaddock and Carroll's design by changing the texts used from expository to narrative text. The metamemory judgements and recall were now found to be significantly more sensitive to material learned in an ordered sequence than to material learned in a disordered sequence. Also, JOLs and recall were more sensitive to material that was originally learned in an auditory mode (spoken presentation) than in a visual mode (verbal presentation). The results are discussed in terms of a cue-utilisation approach to metamemory judgements.     

The Inaugural Address: Kantian Modality: Tom Baldwin

Kant's claim that modality is a 'category' provides an approach to modality to be contrasted with Lewis's reductive analysis. Lewis's position is unsatisfactory, since it depends on an inherently modal conception of a world. This suggests that modality is 'primitive'; and the Kantian position is a prima facie plausible position of this kind, which is filled out by considering the relationship between modality and inference. This provides a context for comparing the Kantian position with Wright's non-cognitivist 'conventionalism'. Wright's position is vulnerable to the type of argument used against ethical non-cognitivism, and the Kantian position is further confirmed by Blackburn's acknowledgment that modality is 'antinaturalistic to its core'. The position is further elaborated to show that it can accommodate the famous Kripkean categories of the empirically necessary and the contingent a priori , and finally defended against the criticisms used by Quine against Carnap.