Counterfactuals vs. conditional probabilities: A critical analysis of the counterfactual theory of information

Cohen and Meskin 2006 Cohen, Jonathan and Meskin, Aaron. 2006. An Objective Counterfactual Theory of Information. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 84: 333–352. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] recently offered a counterfactual theory of information to replace the standard probabilistic theory of information. They claim that the counterfactual theory fares better than the standard account on three grounds: first, it provides a better framework for explaining information flow properties; second, it requires a less expensive ontology; and third, because it does not refer to doxastic states of the information-receiving organism, it provides an objective basis. In this paper, I show that none of these is really an advantage. Moreover, the counterfactual theory fails to satisfy one of the basic properties of information flow, namely the Conjunction principle. Thus, I conclude, there is no reason to give up the standard probabilistic theory for the counterfactual theory of information.     

The Contribution of Personality Traits,Motivation, Academic Risk-Taking and Metacognition to the Creative Ability in Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which personality traits, motivation, academic risk-taking, and metacognition explain the mathematical creative ability of high school students. The participants were 217 9th-grade students that were exceptionally high achievers. The participants responded to a set of measures about personality traits, motivation, academic risk-taking, metacognition, and creative ability in mathematics. The results revealed that although openness to experience and consciousness were significantly correlated with creative ability in mathematics, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism were not correlated with the creativity scores. Moreover, intrinsic goal orientation followed by openness to experience was the most significant predictor of mathematical creative ability. Academic risk-taking was not significantly correlated with creative ability. Although knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition showed moderate correlations with creative ability in mathematics, they failed to predict creative ability.     

A Path Model of Meaning in Life among University Students: The Roles of Gratitude,Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Construal

Applied Research in Quality of Life - The current study aimed to investigate the relationships between meaning in life (presence of meaning, search for meaning), self-construal (integration,...