Experiences with the indirect Clausen Test using NTA as an antigen in multiple sclerosis and other neurologic diseases

The present study based on the indirect Clausen-test using NTA and PHA as antigens contributed to therapy control and possibly prognosis assessment rather than to immunological differential diagnosis.     

A demonstration of the costs and benefits of expertise in recognition memory

In their area of expertise experts know more potentially interfering facts than nonexperts do, yet their memory IS superior to that of nonexperts. This has been termed the “paradox of interference.” We proposed that the ability of experts to go beyond the information given allows them to infer the presence of items that might not otherwise be remembered. However, such inferences can also be detrimental to accurate recognition memory in that such inferences might become confused with actual targets. We examined the benefits and costs of expertise in two recognition memory experiments In which experts and nonexperts participated. Experts in Ex-penment 1 were knowledgeable about baseball; those in Experiment 2 were knowledgeable about Ohio geography. Distractors in both studies bore a synonymous, an inferential, or no special relation to the targets. In the last instance, experts had recognition memory superior to that of the nonexperts. When the distractors were related to the targets, however, the non-experts were superior. We proposed that experts' inferential behavior is a contributor to their generally superior memory, but that task demands can convert this asset into a liability.     

Imagery and argumentation in apologetics: a case study

This essay explores aspects of the relationship between imagery and thought in the work of the English apologist G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), focusing on the language and imagery of energy and of vision in his work. It attempts to assess both the strengths and the weaknesses of the ways in which imagery and other aspects of this writer's use of language relate to his argumentation. It also explores the possibility that Chesterton's work can shed light on one of the philosophical dimensions of apologetics, namely, apologists’ attempts to present concepts that cannot be explicitly stated, as part of a defence of Christianity. In considering this issue, it brings Chesterton's use of imagery into dialogue with certain images in the work of the philosopher Mary Midgley and the apologist C.S. Lewis. Finally, it draws certain tentative conclusions concerning the role of imagery in relation to argumentation, within the field of apologetics.     

Expanding the Horizontal Call: A Typology of Social Influence on the Call to Ministry

This research examines the social actors and interactions that facilitate seminary students' sense of calling. Drawing from 36 in-depth interviews with first year Masters of Divinity students, we introduce six ideal typical social others who play a formative role in the early stages of a call to ministry: instigators, exemplars, interpreters, affirmers, challengers, and codiscerners. Together, these findings demonstrate that the call to ministry, while deeply personal, emerges through social interactions that facilitate and make plausible a person's sense of calling and that sustain it over time. Extending Richard Pitt's conceptualization of the “horizontal call,” this paper argues that social others help evoke and solidify—not merely legitimate—a personal sense of call. This research also highlights differences in the social structuring of call by gender. Despite considerable gains in the ordination of women, we find that many still face obstacles to experiencing and embracing a call to ministry.     

Humean nomic essentialism

Humeanism – the idea that there are no necessary connections between distinct existences – and Nomic Essentialism – the idea that properties essentially play the nomic roles that they do – are two of the most important and influential positions in the metaphysics of science. Traditionally, it has been thought that these positions were incompatible competitors. We disagree. We argue that there is an attractive version of Humeanism that captures the idea that, for example, mass essentially plays the role that it actually does in the laws of nature. In this paper we consider the arguments that have lead many to conclude that Humeanism cannot be combined with Nomic Essentialism; we identify the weaknesses in these arguments; and we argue in detail that a version of Humeanism based on a variant of the Best System account of laws captures the key intuitions behind nomic essentialism.