The Mereological Foundation of Megethology

In Mathematics is megethology (Lewis (1993). Philosophia Mathematica, 1(1), 3–23) David K. Lewis proposes a structuralist reconstruction of classical set theory based on mereology. In order to formulate suitable hypotheses about the size of the universe of individuals without the help of set-theoretical notions, he uses the device of Boolos’ plural quantification for treating second order logic without commitment to set-theoretical entities. In this paper we show how, assuming the existence of a pairing function on atoms, as the unique assumption non expressed in a mereological language, a mereological foundation of set theory is achievable within first order logic. Furthermore, we show how a mereological codification of ordered pairs is achievable with a very restricted use of the notion of plurality without plural quantification.     

Overlapping Consensus Thin and Thick: John Rawls and Simone Weil

John Rawls and Simone Weil presented two distinct conceptions of political justice, aimed at articulating a common ethos in an inherently heterogeneous society. The terms of the former, chiefly concerned with the distribution of primary goods, underwrite much of today's Western democracies political liberalism. The terms of the latter, chiefly concerned with the way interaction is organised in social activities in view of the body and soul's balancing pairs of needs, are less well known. We explain the sense in which the overlapping consensus in Weil's notion of political justice is “thicker”, and may thus deserve more attention – alongside that of Rawls – for substantiating a democratic ethos within political liberalism.     

DLEAC: A Dialetheic Logic with Exclusive Assumptions and Conclusions

Topoi - This paper proposes a new dialetheic logic, a Dialetheic Logic with Exclusive Assumptions and Conclusions ( $$\mathsf {DLEAC}$$ ), including classical logic as a particular case. In...     

Longitudinal associations between mindfulness and well-being in people with multiple sclerosis

Background/Objective: Depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep problems are typical conditions reported in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), often resulting in a reduction of their quality of life (QOL) and well-being. Mindfulness is a multifaceted and complex construct that has been increasingly explored for its correlated to well-being. Despite preliminary evidence, longitudinal data about the impact of mindfulness on QOL in MS remain limited. In addition, Langerian mindfulness, one of the prominent approaches to mindfulness, is yet unexplored in this field. The study aims to examine the longitudinal relationships between two forms of mindfulness (Langerian and contemplative) and QOL, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep. Method: Within a larger randomized controlled trial of an online mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention, a cohort of 156 people with MS was recruited and assessed for both mindfulness constructs, QOL, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep problems. Assessments were repeated after 2 and after another 6 months. Results: Both mindfulness constructs were highly correlated with all investigated outcomes. Both Langerian and contemplative mindfulness predicted higher QOL, lower anxiety, depression, fatigue, and sleep, over time. Conclusions: In both approaches dispositional mindfulness is a protective factor against depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep in people with MS.     

Selective reaching in macaques: evidence for action-centred attention

Animal Cognition - When a monkey selects a piece of food lying on the ground from among other viable objects in the near vicinity, only the desired item governs the particular pattern and direction...     

Is there a Science of the Processes Underlying Health and Illness Behaviors? A Comment on Maes and Karoly

Maes and Karoly (2005) provide thorough overview of many of the current theoretical models and much of the empirical data describing application of self-regulation concepts to chronic illness management. They make clear that much of theory and data focuses on remote and proximal goals involved in the self-regulation process. The review makes clear, however, that few models and studies conceptualise and examine how individuals create goals and evaluate progress. Knowledge of these processes is essential for the development of effective interventions. We argue that understanding these processes is essential for understanding the interplay of concrete experience and conceptual processes. Concepts in this area are central for understanding how top-down and bottom-up processes integrate in generating self-regulatory behaviors to affect somatic experience. We discuss theoretical frameworks that can generate research paths that will lead to effective interventions.     

Visual judgments of kinship: an alternative perspective

Following other researchers, we investigated the premise that visual judgment of kinship might be modelled as a signal-detection task, strictly related to similar facial features. We measured subjects' response times to face-pair stimuli while they performed visual judgments of kinship, similarity, or dissimilarity, and examined some priming effects involved. Our results show that kinship judgment takes longer on average than either similarity or dissimilarity judgment-which is compatible with existing models, yet might also suggest that kinship judgments are of a more complex character. In our priming study we observed selective suppression/enhancement of the efficacy of dissimilarity judgments whenever they followed similarity and kinship judgments. This finding confounds the notion, inherent in previous models, of resemblance cues signalling for kinship, since similarity and dissimilarity cannot be considered just as opposite concepts, and observed priming effects need to be explicitly modelled, including dissimilarity cues. To model kinship judgments across faces that are perceived as dissimilar, a new framework may be required, perhaps accepting the perspective of a task-driven use of the visual cues, modulated by experience and cultural conditioning.     

Reducing Measurement Error in Student Achievement Estimation

The achievement level is a variable measured with error, that can be estimated by means of the Rasch model. Teacher grades also measure the achievement level but they are expressed on a different scale. This paper proposes a method for combining these two scores to obtain a synthetic measure of the achievement level based on the theory developed for regression with covariate measurement error. In particular, the focus is on ordinal scaled grades, using the SIMEX method for measurement error correction. The result is a measure comparable across subjects with smaller measurement error variance. An empirical application illustrates the method.     

Schönberg’s Judaism from Notes to Thought and from Thought to Notes

What concept of Judaism is present in Schönberg’s philosophy of music? It is impossible to separate the musical texture from his experience of reconciliation with Judaism, and his new idea of musical drama is a confirmation that the dodecaphonic structure of musical thinking connects with Schönberg’s idea of the Jewish ethical and religious point of view. A comparative analysis of some essays with some operas shows the internal tie between music and Judaism in dodecaphony.