The logic of historical necessity as founded on two-dimensional modal tense logic

We consider a version of so called T × W logic for historical necessity in the sense of R.H. Thomason (1984), which is somewhat special in three respects: (i) it is explicitly based on two-dimensional modal logic in the sense of Segerberg (1973); (ii) for reasons of applicability to interesting fields of philosophical logic, it conceives of time as being discrete and finite in the sense of having a beginning and an end; and (iii) it utilizes the technique of systematic frame constants in order to handle the problem of irreflexivity in tense logics, well known since Gabbay (1981). Axiomatizations are given for two infinite hierarchies of two-dimensional modal tense logics, one without and one with the characteristic operators for historical necessity and possibility. Strong and weak completeness results are obtained for both hierarchies as well as a result to the effect that two approaches to their semantics are equivalent, much in the spirit of Di Maio and Zanardo (1996) and von Kutschera (1997).     

Deductive Chauvinism

Any theory of explanation must account for the explanatory successes of statistical scientific theories. This should not be done by endorsing determinism. These considerations have been taken as sufficient ground for rejecting the demand on explanations to be deductive. The arguments for doing so, in Coffa (1974) and Salmon (1977, 1984, 1988), are, however, not persuasive. Deductivism is a viable position. Considering that doubts can be raised against the explanatory validity of probabilistic causal relations and the intuitive plausibility of deductivism, it is also a recommendable position, though elaboration is needed in accounting for some of the uses of statistical theories in explanations. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Hypothesis Of Ether And Reid's Interpretation Of Newton's First Rule Of Philosophizing

My object is to question a recurrent claim made to the point that Thomas Reid (1710–1796) was hostile to ether theories and that this hostility had its source in his distinctive interpretation of the first of Newton's regulæ philosophandi. Against this view I will argue that Reid did not have any quarrel at all with unobservable or theoretical entities as such, and that his objections against actual theories concerning ether were scientific rather than philosophical, even when based on Newton's first rule. I argue further that Reid's insistence on Newton's rule concerns, not direct observation, but rather the notion of explanation itself.     

Dream Reflection in Logotherapy: Facilitating the Psychotherapeutic Process and Case Studies

Logotherapy or Existenzanalyse is a treatment orientation developed by the late Viennese psychiatrist, Dr. Victor Frankl. Frankl's orientation places primary emphasis upon helping the client to notice, actualize and honor the meaning and meaning potentials in his or her life. This helps the client to shrink his/her existential meaning vacuum, and the symptoms and problems that grow and flourish in this existential vacuum. In this article Frankl's treatment orientation is briefly outlined, with a focus on the use of dream reflection to facilitate the Logotherapeutic process which is illustrated through case material.     

Re-Collection in Existential Psychotherapy with Couples and Families Dealing with Death

Re-collection is a treatment dynamic in existential family therapy in which the client family is helped to remember and honor meanings that family members have previously actualized and deposited in the past. This shrinks the family meaning vacuum and those symptoms and problems that grow and flourish in a family meaning vacuum. In this article, an existential orientation to re-collection with families who are dealing with the death of a loved one is presented, described, and illustrated with case material.     

Memory for traumatic events

This research compares memory for traumatic events with memory for non-traumatic versions of the same event. In Experiment 1, subjects watched an event depicted in slides while focusing and rehearsing the central detail of each slide. They were tested after a short or a longer retention interval (20 min or 2 weeks). Subjects who watched the traumatic version were better able to recall the central details that they had rehearsed, but were less well able to recognize the specific slides that they saw. Better recall for the traumatic group did not occur because the words used to describe the recalled details were inherently more memorable, as shown in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3, subjects watched either a traumatic or non-traumatic version of a filmed event and about 6 months later they were asked to remember the essence of the film. Subjects who saw the traumatic version were better able to recall the essence of the film. A similar finding was obtained with a group of subjects from Experiment 1 who were also contacted about 6 months after their initial participation. These results suggest that some information (the essence, the theme) of a traumatic event might be relatively well retained in memory, while memory is impaired for many of the specific, and especially peripheral, details.     

Heidegger's Brightness as a Responsibility of the Therapist in Existential Family Therapy

The author reflects upon the Heideggerian concepts of thrown-ness, death imagery, arrogance and brightness and their usefulness in existential family therapy. The article describes and illustrates with clinical material the process of helping a couple or family to move from an arrogance response to thrownness and death imagery to the response of brightness as attendants of Being. The responsibilities of the therapist in facilitating such a process are also described.Director of the Worthington Logotherapy Institute, co-director of Lantz and Lantz Counseling Associates, and a professor at The Ohio State University. College of Social Work     

Resistance in family logotherapy

The author describes a logotherapy view of family resistance and its occurrence in a variety of family situations. In family logotherapy resistance is understood as a manifestation of the human fear of meaning, which is a reaction to the family's discomfort with the two side effects of meaning awareness: vulnerability and responsibility.     

Franklian psychotherapy with adults molested as children

A Franklian approach to treatment with adults who were molested as children recognizes that the trauma client's experiences of trauma and terror as a child can be transformed to discover real meaning potentials in the adult's daily life. In this paper the authors present a five-stage treatment approach based upon the Logotherapy concepts of Viktor Frankl which they have found to be helpful with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Case material is presented to illustrate the described intervention approach.     

Extreme itching treated by a family systems approach

A case study is presented in which a 16-year-old daughter developed extreme itching and scratching behavior that was triggered by the occurrence of manifested parental conflict. The daughter's scratching also served the family function of helping the parents avoid marital conflict. Family treatment consisted of helping the parents manifest, negotiate, and resolve marital conflict issues in front of the daughter so that she could experience the benefits of dealing with a family conflict in a functional way. This approach has helped the daughter decrease her anxiety about conflict situations which, in turn, has resulted in a significant decrease in her itching and scratching behavior. In addition, the parents report an improved marital relationship now that the daughter's itching no longer occurs and no longer interrupts the parents' attempts to negotiate marital conflict issues.