Atomism, Pluralism, and Conceptual Content

Conceptual atomists argue that most of our concepts are primitive. I take up three arguments that have been thought to support atomism and show that they are inconclusive. The evidence that allegedly backs atomism is equally compatible with a localist position on which concepts are structured representations with complex semantic content. I lay out such a localist position and argue that the appropriate position for a non-atomist to adopt is a pluralist view of conceptual structure. I show several ways in which conceptual pluralism provides an advantage in satisfying the empirical and philosophical demands on a theory of conceptual structure and content.     

Sibling differentials in power and memory conformity

How much a person conforms to another person's memory report can depend on the power and credibility of this person, even if these factors are manipulated by the experimenter. The aim of the current study was to establish whether memory conformity is also affected by power in pairs involving natural power differentials, in this case siblings. Pairs of adult siblings were shown 50 photographs of faces and then given a recognition test where one partner had to answer before the other. The findings showed that what one sibling reported affected what the other one reported. Contrary to our expectations, however, there was no significant difference in conformity between the younger and the older sibling. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

SOCIALIZATION TACTICS AND PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT

We examined how firms' socialization tactics help establish person-organization fit between newcomers and organizations. We used a 3-wave longitudinal design that followed individuals over 2 years: we distributed the first survey before their job search began and the last survey 18 months after their college graduation. Results indicated that newcomers' subjective fit perceptions, as well as changes in their values, were associated with two types of socialization tactics: content (i.e., tactics that are sequential and fixed vs. variable and random) and social aspects (i.e., tactics that emphasize serial and investiture processes rather than disjunctive and divestiture processes). The context dimension of socialization tactics, where socialization is collective and formal (vs. individualized and informal) , was not related to P-O fit in this study.     

RORTY VERSUS HARTSHORNE,OR, POETRY VERSUS METAPHYSICS

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the thought of Richard Rorty and that of his former teacher, Charles Hartshorne. There are important similarities between the two, but ultimately the differences are more readily apparent, especially in terms of the battle between poetry (in the wide sense of the term conceived by Rorty) and (Hartshornian) metaphysics. Hartshorne is defended against Rorty.     

Systemic Practice

In this paper we propose to develop a methodology, based on a set of isomorphic patterns of practice, for studying the operational competencies of systemic therapists. By attending to the therapists' actions at the level of practice, we have identified unifying principles that run across the different models of systemic family therapy. This is a pattern of action that we call "systemic practice." In order to show the application of this methodology in the art of practice, we have analyzed excerpts from two videotaped sessions.