On Not Changing the Problem: A Reply to Howson

Howson's critique of my essay on Hume's problem of induction levels two main charges. First, Howson claims that I have attributed to him an error that he never made, and in fact which he warned against in the very text that I cite. Secondly, Howson argues that my proposed solution to Hume's problem is flawed on technical and philosophical grounds. In response to the first charge, I explain how Howson's text justifies attributing to him the claim that the principle of induction is shown to be inconsistent by Goodman's riddle. In regards to the second, I show that Howson's objections rest on misunderstandings of formal learning theory and on conflating the problem of induction with the problem of unconceived alternatives.     

Why the Negation Problem Is Not a Problem for Expressivism

The Negation Problem states that expressivism has insufficient structure to account for the various ways in which a moral sentence can be negated. We argue that the Negation Problem does not arise for expressivist accounts of all normative language but arises only for the specific examples on which expressivists usually focus. In support of this claim, we argue for the following three theses: 1) a problem that is structurally identical to the Negation Problem arises in non‐normative cases, and this problem is solved once the hidden quantificational structure involved in such cases is uncovered; 2) the terms ‘required’, ‘permissible’, and ‘forbidden’ can also be analyzed in terms of hidden quantificational structure, and the Negation Problem disappears once this hidden structure is uncovered; 3) the Negation Problem does not arise for normative language that has no hidden quantificational structure. We conclude that the Negation Problem is not really a problem about expressivism at all but is rather a feature of the quantificational structure of the required, permitted, and forbidden.     

Lack of Ability Is Not Always the Problem

Managers request validation studies and stringent standards to stem training attrition. These studies while legally mandated and important are not necessarily the solution. The current study was motivated by such a request. The validity of four composites from an aptitude battery for predicting training success for weapons directors was evaluated. Participants were 353 Air Force personnel who completed training and duty in a previous job. All four composites, Mechanical, Administrative, General, and Electronics were valid. General was most valid. We observed only three academic failures among 32 failed participants. The General composite scores for the successful and non-academic failures were very similar. It was speculated that low motivation and job design features were contributing factors for most eliminees.     

Truthmaker Theory Does Not Solve The Gettier Problem

Truthmaker theory has become immensely popular in recent years. So, it is not surprising that we are beginning to see it put to work in other areas of philosophy. Recently, several philosophers have proposed that truthmaker theory is the key to solving the Gettier problem. Edmund Gettier demonstrated that the traditional analysis of knowledge (as justified, true belief) was unsatisfactory. The truthmaker solution proposes that knowledge is a justified, true belief, where the source of one's justification is either identical to, or else causally related to, the state of affairs which makes the believed proposition true. This amendment of the traditional analysis of knowledge purportedly escapes the problems identified by Gettier cases. In this paper, I will examine two particular recent endorsements of this solution – those from Sven Bernecker and Adrian Heathcote – and argue that truthmaker theory is not the key to solving the Gettier problem.     

高通量分析技术:流行背后的思考

1　高通量分析技术产生的背景人类基因组计划以前的遗传学偏重于单个基因的研究 ,而人类基因组计划则是把目光投向整个基因组的所有基因 ,从整体水平去考虑基因的存在、基因的结构与功能、基因之间的相互关系等 ,其意义与价值是以前的研究方法所不可比拟的。正是由于这个背景 ,伴随着相关技术的成熟 (光蚀刻、机器手、大规模测序、生物信息学技术 ) ,生物芯片这个集多学科之大成的技术产物应运而生[1] 。芯片技术一经推出 ,立即在世界范围内引起轰动。最初产生的芯片主要是ＤＮＡ芯片、ｃＤＮＡ微阵列 ,随后 ,蛋白质阵列浮出水面 ,并逐渐开…     

Living Danger: On Not Knowing What We Know

This paper contextualizes the struggle around the American Psychological Association's ethical standards regarding psychologists' participation in abusive interrogations of detainees by examining the psychological and political meanings of living in a society in which the state assumes the right to torture. To highlight the implications of authoritarian trends in America's post-9/11 political culture, I offer an interdisciplinary psychoanalytic analysis of the extreme social situation of the Argentine Dirty War, in which torture was used by the military government not as a tactic to make detainees talk but as a strategy to silence an entire population. I explore the defense mechanism of disavowal and its use by both perpetrators and victims in ways that contributed to sustaining authoritarian rule in Argentina. I suggest that it is within the legitimate arena of psychoanalysis to consider the psychological meanings of patients' experience in the larger social order. I argue for a psychoanalytic project that does not disavow the centrality of social reality in the formation of subjectivity and for a clinical model that provides a potential space in which the subject can develop a critical psyche able to co-construct a more democratic political as well as personal life.     

Projection on Projective Techniques = Pathology: The Problem That Is Not Being Addressed

A replication of the "levels effect" and reported correlation of projection and pathology was undertaken using a selected set of Thematic Apperception Test (Murray, 1943) cards varied for ambiguity and scored for pathology and projection. The levels effect was not found for pathology in either a normal or psychiatric group, but was found for projection in the normal group. The correlation between projection and pathology was again clearly confirmed. It was concluded that failure to take into consideration the stimulus properties of the cards and the context in which the test was administered may lead to false attribution of pathology to normal test-takers.     

Not Everything Is Proportional: Effects of Age and Problem Type on Propensities for Overgeneralization

Previous research (e.g., De Bock, 2002) has shown that-due to the extensive attention paid to proportional reasoning in elementary and secondary mathematics education-many students tend to overrely on proportional methods in diverse domains of mathematics (e.g., geometry, probability). We investigated the development of misapplication of proportional reasoning with the age and the educational experience of students. A paper-and-pencil test consisting of several types of proportional and nonproportional arithmetic problems with a missing-value structure was given to 1,062 students from Grades 2 to 8. As expected, students tended to apply proportional methods in cases in which they were clearly not applicable. Although some errors of overapplication were made in the 2nd grade, their number increased considerably up to Grade 5 in parallel with the growing proportional reasoning capacity of the students. From Grade 6 on, students started to distinguish more often between situations when proportionality was applicable and when it was not, but even in 8th grade, a considerable number of proportional errors were made. The likelihood of error varied with the type of nonproportional mathematical model underlying the word problems.     

Not a Problem to Be Fixed: Successful First-Generation Graduates and Implications for College Counselors

This article describes a qualitative study with seven first-generation college graduates who went on to complete graduate school and are now working in colleges and universities as counselors and counselor educators. The findings highlight the resources that these participants possessed that contributed to their college success stories. Relational-cultural theory is proposed as a fitting developmental model for college counselors working with this student demographic. Este artículo describe un estudio cualitativo con siete graduados universitarios de primera generación que completaron programas de posgrado y actualmente trabajan como consejeros y educadores de consejeros en universidades y otros centros de estudios superiores. Los resultados resaltan los recursos que poseían los participantes y que contribuyeron a sus historias de éxito en la educación superior. Se propone la teoría relacional-cultural como un modelo de desarrollo apropiado para consejeros de educación superior que trabajan con este grupo demográfico de estudiantes.     

The Problem Is Not Professional Publishing,But the Publish-or-Perish Culture

Science and Engineering Ethics - The publication of scientific papers has become increasingly problematic in the last decades. Even if we agree that a renewed model is needed for peer-reviewed...