Duhem–Quine virtue epistemology

The Duhem?CQuine Thesis is the claim that it is impossible to test a scientific hypothesis in isolation because any empirical test requires assuming the truth of one or more auxiliary hypotheses. This is taken by many philosophers, and is assumed here, to support the further thesis that theory choice is underdetermined by empirical evidence. This inquiry is focused strictly on the axiological commitments engendered in solutions to underdetermination, specifically those of Pierre Duhem and W. V. Quine. Duhem resolves underdetermination by appealing to a cluster of virtues called ??good sense??, and it has recently been argued by Stump (Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci, 18(1):149?C159, 2007) that good sense is a form of virtue epistemology. This paper considers whether Quine, who??s philosophy is heavily influenced by the very thesis that led Duhem to the virtues, is also led to a virtue epistemology in the face of underdetermination. Various sources of Quinian epistemic normativity are considered, and it is argued that, in conjunction with other normative commitments, Quine??s sectarian solution to underdetermination amounts to a skills based virtue epistemology. The paper also sketches formal features of the novel form of virtue epistemology common to Duhem and Quine that challenges the adequacy of epistemic value truth-monism and blocks any imperialist naturalization of virtue epistemology, as the epistemic virtues are essential to the success of the sciences themselves.     

Children and Adults Use Gender and Age Stereotypes in Ownership Judgments

In everyday life, we are often faced with the problem of judging who owns an object. The current experiments show that children and adults base ownership judgments on group stereotypes, which relate kinds of people to kinds of objects. Moreover, the experiments show that reliance on stereotypes can override another means by which people make ownership judgments—inferring ownership from first possession. Experiment 1 replicates previous findings in showing that children and adults are strongly biased to assume that the first person to possess an object is its owner, while also demonstrating that the first-possession bias shows specificity to ownership. Experiment 2 shows that preschoolers and adults used gender stereotypes to make ownership judgments, and they do this even when stereotypes conflict with first possession. Experiment 3 reports similar findings but with age stereotypes. These findings reveal that stereotypes are a powerful means for making ownership judgments.     

From Ethics to Aesthetics: A Reconsideration of Buddhist Monastic Rules in the Light of Michel Foucault's Work on Ethics

This article considers the recent debate over the nature of Buddhist ethics largely conducted by scholars who have argued in different ways that Buddhist ethics may be assimilated to or may correspond with different forms of western ethical theory.

I argue that the interpretation of Buddhist texts, and in particular the Vinaya, in light of western ethical theory creates misunderstanding. I argue that in each case of a supposed ethical dilemma, Buddhist ethics should be seen as empirical, since the ultimate point of reference for the choices involved in a proposed action lies in the purity and wholesomeness of each individual action.

My approach follows Foucault's argument for scepticism with regard to the notions of a universal nature or of a universal rationality. I argue that it is not instructive to read Buddhist texts against generalized standards. Rather, it is more productive to regard ethics as creating a space for the ethical, not in a normative sense but one arising from personal practice as related to individual circumstances.

At the same time, this article outlines the role of beauty and its role in ethical formation. I suggest that one interpretation of Theravada Buddhism has regarded beauty as a form of sensuous pleasure, which is seen as a danger for someone on the spiritual path. However, an alternative reading of such texts is more sympathetic to the educative role of beauty.     

PREGNANCY: AN UNTHINKABLE REALITY

A therapist's pregnancy is bound to provoke profound conflicts in all patients, particularly those relating to envy, exclusion and loss as infantile aspects of the patient and their relation to the maternal object are revived. This paper explores the impact of the therapist's pregnancy on two patients for whom the experience was felt to be catastrophic. I suggest that in their early efforts to adapt to an inaccessible, disturbed and disturbing object who could not face reality or cope with life, these patients were compromised in their own ability to accept the facts of life and moreover to bear the frustration of exclusion, representing for them as it did, total inaccessibility. The pregnancy was so hated and distorted that it seemed to take on the meaning for them of a cruel ‘mad’ idea.     

The Role of Hofstede's Individualism in National-Level Creativity

It is a widely held belief that culture is a factor that influences creativity. The influence of culture on creativity is, however, relatively understudied and the majority of creativity research focuses on creativity at the level of the individual or organization. In this article, the relationship between Hofstede's cultural values (individualism, power distance and uncertainty avoidance) and national level scores on two separate creativity indexes—the Global Creativity Index (GCI) and the Design and Creativity Index (DCI) was examined. A multivariate multiple linear regression analyses showed a strong positive relationship between individualism and national ranking on the GCI and DCI. No significant relationship was found between the creativity measures and Hofstede's power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The positive relationship between individualism and creativity suggests that autonomy, independence, and freedom—beliefs associated with individualism—are needed for a nation to be creative.     

Stacking fault and dislocation glide on the basal plane of graphite

Generalized stacking-fault energies for the basal plane of graphite are calculated from first principles for slip along two high-symmetry directions. The rhombohedral fault energy compares well with experiment and the anisotropy in behaviour is consistent with observed dislocation network geometry. Utilizing these calculated fault energies within a modified Peierls-Nabarro model, we estimate the barrier for basal dislocation motion based on lattice friction. This is found to be extremely small, from which we conclude that dislocation network interaction and pinning, rather than the Peierls barrier, must determine the practical shear strength of graphite. However, at low dislocation densities or over small crystallite regions, the shear strength should tend to this lower limit. We discuss the relevance of this to the mechanism of lubrication.     

Reviews

The Gulag Archipelago (Vols. 1 and 2) by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Collins, 1974 and 1975, 600 pp. and 712 pp. £3.50 and £4.95.

Arkhipelag Gulag (Vols. 1, 2 and 3) YMCA Press, Paris, 1973, 1974 and 1976, 606 pp., 657 pp. and 581 pp. No price.

A Marxist Looks at Jesus by Milan Machovec, Darton Longman & Todd, 1976, 220 pp. £2.95.

White Book on Restrictions of Religion in the USSR by Michael Bourdeaux, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in the USSR, Brussels, 1976, 66 pp., 65p.

Religious Liberty in the Soviet Union: WCC and USSR—A Post‐Nairobi Documentation edited by Michael Bourdeaux, Hans Hebly and Eugen Voss, Keston College (CSRC), 1976, 96 pp., £1.50.