Questions of times: Conflicting time scales in historical perspective

The idea of ``Jewish' time highlights many problems related to the conflict between Judaism and Christianity. This paper focuses on two points: the reckoning of the Jewish era and the interpretation of the notion of time in the Bible. Jewish time pulsates to a rhythm of temporal markers which also divide it into secular and religious time. This division, however, this dual register of temporality, also enables Jews to alternate a ``Jewish' register with a ``universal' one. Traditional Jewish sources indicate that the principle of determining the date by calculating from the creation of the world (anno mundi) appeared during the period of the Second Temple. The question of elapsed time, deduced from different readings of the Biblical text, launched Jews and Christians on parallel lines of time. The history of the genesis of the notion of time asserts that the circular representation of temporality, sometimes called indigenous to ancient societies, was replaced by a representation that was vertical, then linear. These stages served as a scale for measuring the progress and evolution of societies. The Christian notion was supposed to characterize European time as an ``infinite line' along which events are placed, in contrast to Israelite time, identifiable through its contents, and in which time is ``full' and concrete, with no room for (re)ordering or arranging its episodes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Nicotine and familial vulnerability to schizophrenia: a discordant twin study

Tobacco use is significantly associated with schizophrenia. However, it is not clear if smoking is associated with the illness itself, treatment, or underlying vulnerability to the disease. Smoking was studied in a sample of schizophrenic probands (n = 24), their unaffected co-twins (n = 24), and controls (n = 3,347). Unaffected co-twins had higher rates of daily smoking than controls. Probands and co-twins were more frequently unsuccessful in attempts to quit than controls. Probands reported shaky hands and depression following smoking cessation more often than controls, whereas unaffected co-twins reported difficulty concentrating, drowsiness, nervousness, and headache following smoking cessation more often than controls. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that nicotine use is influenced by familial vulnerability to schizophrenia, not just clinical schizophrenia per se.     

A twin study of the association between pathological gambling and antisocial personality disorder

Many individuals with a history of pathological gambling (PG) also have a history of engaging in antisocial behaviors, and this has often been interpreted as a result of the former causing the latter. In a sample of 7,869 men in 4,497 twin pairs from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry, the authors examined (a) the association between PG and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), (b) the extent to which PG might be differentially associated with childhood conduct disorder (CD) and adult antisocial behavior (AAB), and (c) the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB. PG was significantly associated with all 3 antisocial behavior disorders, and the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB was predominantly explained by genetic factors. The results of this study suggest that the greater-than-chance co-occurrence of PG and antisocial behavior disorders is partially due to their sharing a common genetic vulnerability. The antisocial behavior observed among many individuals with PG probably cannot be interpreted as being simply a consequence of the PG.     

Atypical maternal behavior toward feeding‐disordered infants before and after intervention

The display of atypical behaviors and disrupted communication during parent–infant interactions, as assessed by the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification (AMBIANCE), has been linked to disorganized infant attachment, which, in turn, has been linked to psychopathology. The present study examined the usefulness of the AMBIANCE as an indicator of the efficacy of two brief interventions in reducing atypical behaviors and disrupted communication during play interactions. Twenty‐eight mother–infant dyads participated (14 per intervention). All infants had feeding problems. One intervention, Interaction Guidance, focused on training caregivers to respond sensitively to their infants (play‐focused intervention). The other intervention focused on training mothers to use new feeding techniques (feeding‐focused intervention). Results showed a significant decrease in AMBIANCE scores in the play‐focused group from pre‐ to postintervention, but not in the feeding‐focused group. There was a significant decrease in the level of disrupted communication from pre‐ to postintervention sessions in the play‐focused group but not in the feeding‐focused group. 73% of mothers from the play‐focused group and 17% of mothers from the feeding‐focused group initially classified as “disrupted” attained a classification of “nondisrupted” at the postintervention session. Some limitations of the study include small sample size, differences in timing of assessment for each intervention, and use of samples of convenience. Nonetheless, these findings provide preliminary evidence both of the usefulness of AMBIANCE as an instrument for assessing clinical efficacy and the efficacy of Interaction Guidance. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Testimonially based Knowledge from False Testimony

I provide an example to illustrate the contention that there are cases in which a recipient can acquire testimonially based knowledge from false testimony. The example involves a case in which the proposition believed by the recipient, though derived in a testimonially based way, is not identical with the proposition attested to. I conclude by suggesting that if we are to make sense of such cases as cases of testimonially based knowledge, we need to make some revisions both in our conception of the ways in which testimonially-grounded warrant can accrue to a belief and in our conception of what 'testimonial authority' can apply to.     

How lucky can you get?

In this paper, I apply Duncan Pritchard’s anti-luck epistemology to the case of knowledge through testimony. I claim (1) that Pritchard’s distinction between veritic and reflective luck provides a nice taxonomy of testimony cases, (2) that the taxonomic categories that emerge can be used to suggest precisely what epistemic statuses are transmissible through testimony, and (3) that the resulting picture can make clear how testimony can actually be knowledge-generating.