A Diagrammatic Reconstruction of Carnap's Quasianalysis

In this paper, I am zeroing in on Carnap's formal method of quasianalysis, arguing against two interpretations of it, offered by Nelson Goodman and Thomas Mormann. In order to overcome their inadequacy, I propose a diagrammatic reconstruction, which takes advantage of the fact that the concept of local sign is no longer ignored. This will give me the opportunity to show that Quine'scriticism of Carnap's constitution of physical space fails, and will allow me to describe QUASIMODOS (QUASIanalytical Machine Oriented Diagrammatic Operation System) – a system designed to construct qualities in continuous domains.     

"I've also experienced loss and fear": Effects of prior similar experience on empathy

Although it is frequently argued that empathy is increased by similar experiences, this idea has rarely been tested. This study investigated the relationship between empathy and prior similar experience. Participants read four different stories and rated the degree of empathy they felt. They also reported the extent to which they had prior similar experience of the events in the stories. We found that these self-reports of prior similar experience increased empathy for the persons in the stories. Similar experience may be an important situational antecedent for feeling empathy for another person. Pointing out similarities among experiences may be a fruitful means of training empathy.     

Otto Neurath on the Structure of Protocol Sentences; A New Approach to an Interpretative Puzzle

Summary  Otto Neurath’s thesis concerning the structure of protocol sentences is central to the famous Protocol Sentence Debate in the Vienna Circle. However, its precise nature is far from easy to discern in Neurath’s writings. So far, only Thomas Uebel has attempted a closer analysis of Neurath’s contribution to the debate. I argue that Uebel’s interpretation is problematic in some respects and propose a novel analysis, which hopefully brings into a clearer light Neurath’s position in the Protocol Sentence Debate as well as his relevance to contemporary philosophies of science.     

内隐学习抽象性研究的新进展

以知识迁移作为内隐学习抽象性众多涵义的统领点,同时结合国内外多领域内隐学习的新近研究,以一些详实的实征研究从一个新视角对其作了进一步的诠释,旨在更好地体现内隐学习的抽象性及其巨大潜力。     

Special issue: Combining probability and logic

This editorial explains the scope of the special issue and provides a thematic introduction to the contributed papers.     

Explication Defended

How can formal methods be applied to philosophical problems that involve informal concepts of ordinary language? Carnap answered this question by describing a methodology that he called “explication." Strawson objected that explication changes the subject and does not address the original philosophical problem; this paper shows that Carnap’s response to that objection was inadequate and offers a better response. More recent criticisms of explication by Boniolo and Eagle are shown to rest on misunderstandings of the nature of explication. It is concluded that explication is an appropriate methodology for formal philosophy.     

概念及概念结构研究新进展

近来有关归类和概念结构的研究与理论出现了两个方面的转变。第一个方面是从概念定义属性的假设 (经典观 )到概念表征属性的观点 (概率观 ) ;第二个方面是从概念以相似性组织的观点到概念围绕理论而组织的观点。本文综合概述了基于相似性和理论驱动的归类理论。     

Logical Pluralism from a Pragmatic Perspective

This paper presents a new view of logical pluralism. This pluralism takes into account how the logical connectives shift, depending on the context in which they occur. Using the Question-Under-Discussion Framework as formulated by Craige Roberts, I identify the contextual factor that is responsible for this shift. I then provide an account of the meanings of the logical connectives which can accommodate this factor. Finally, I suggest that this new pluralism has a certain Carnapian flavour. Questions about the meanings of the connectives or the best logic outside of a specified context are not legitimate questions.     

Lakatos's criticism of Carnapian inductive logic was mistaken

In [39], Imre Lakatos influentially argued that Carnapian inductive logic was a degenerate research programme. This paper argues that Lakatos's criticism was mistaken and that, according to Lakatos's own standards, Carnapian inductive logic was progressive rather than degenerate.     

An observation on Carnapʼs Continuum and stochastic independencies

We characterize those identities and independencies which hold for all probability functions on a unary language satisfying the Principle of Atom Exchangeability. We then show that if this is strengthen to the requirement that Johnson?s Sufficientness Principle holds, thus giving Carnap?s Continuum of inductive methods for languages with at least two predicates, then new and somewhat inexplicable identities and independencies emerge, the latter even in the case of Carnap?s Continuum for the language with just a single predicate.     

An application of Carnapian inductive logic to an argument in the philosophy of statistics

I claim that an argument from the philosophy of statistics can be improved by using Carnapian inductive logic. Gelman and Shalizi [9] criticise a philosophical account of how statisticians ought to choose statistical models which they call ‘the received view of Bayesian inference’ and propose a different account inspired by falsificationist philosophy of science. I introduce another philosophical account inspired by Carnapian inductive logic and argue that it is even better than Gelman and Shalizi's falsificationist account.     

Validity and Necessity

In this paper I argue against the commonly received view that Kripke’s formal Possible World Semantics (PWS) reflects the adoption of a metaphysical interpretation of the modal operators. I consider in detail Kripke’s three main innovations vis-à-vis Carnap’s PWS: a new view of the worlds, variable domains of quantification, and the adoption of a notion of universal validity. I argue that all these changes are driven by the natural technical development of the model theory and its related notion of validity: they are dictated by merely formal considerations, not interpretive concerns. I conclude that Kripke’s model theoretic semantics does not induce a metaphysical reading of necessity, and is formally adequate independently of the specific interpretation of the modal operators.     

The problem of other minds: A debate between Schrödinger and Carnap

This paper reviews the debate between Carnap and Schrödinger about Hypothesis P (It is not only I who have perceptions and thoughts; other human beings have them too)–a hypothesis that underlies the possibility of doing science. For Schrödinger this hypothesis is not scientifically testable; for Carnap it is. But Schrödinger and Carnap concede too much to each other and miss an alternative understanding: science does not depend on an explicit hypothesis concerning what other human beings see and think; it is simply a practice of communication which anticipates or presupposes the perfect interchangeability of positions amongst the members of the linguistic community. The mentalistic vocabulary of folk-psychology, used by Carnap and Schrödinger, does not take first but last place in this perspective; because it does nothing but express after the event the confidence to which the disputants bear witness regarding a generally successful practice of communication.     

笛卡尔的直观理论新探

直观概念在笛卡尔的认识论中具有重要的地位,直观是人类良知的最基本的体现,是整个科学认识活动的基础,直观的明见性和确定性也正是科学知识最全面的标准。笛卡尔的直观知识以及在此基础上构建起来的别的科学知识,在一定的程度上仅仅是认识当中的关于事物的知识,都是人类的理智观照之下的东西,而不是事物本身的真实状况。在直观的基础上形成的知识是绝对的知识,在这个意义上,直观的知识我思我在并不是偶然的,并不仅仅具有一种莱布尼兹所称的感觉的直接性。     

归类的相似性对比模型研究综述

本文阐述了近期归类中的相似性对比模型的研究,首先介绍了相似性对比的空间模型、基于特征的对比模型以及最近提出的结构匹配模型,并且详细阐述结构匹配模型观点以及它的应用方面的研究,旨在抛砖引玉,引起更多的人们来关注本领域的研究与发展。