Is Natural Selection in Trouble? When Emotions Run High in a Philosophical Debate

This paper deals in detail with a fairly recent philosophical debate centered around the ability of the theory of natural selection to account for those phenotypical changes which can be argued to make organisms better adapted to their environments. The philosopher and cognitive scientist Jerry Fodor started the debate by claiming that natural selection cannot do the job. He follows two main lines of argumentation. One is based on an alleged conceptual defect in the theory, the other on alleged empirical problems in it as well as empirical alternatives to it. Four philosophers and two biologists respond in a way that displays what might easily be described as fallacious. The paper relies on the ideal model of critical discussion of pragma-dialectics to offer a step-by-step analysis of the whole debate, which extended for four issues of the London Review of Books, from October 2007 through January 2008. This pragma-dialectical analysis is carried out by constant reference to the various questions (problems, issues) that arise in the debate. The analysis includes as much detail as possible both in Fodor’s original argument and in the critics’ various comments as well as Fodor’s replies along two rounds of debate. Since a simple negative evaluation in terms of fallacies is out of the question in view of the proved argumentative accomplishments of the participants, an alternative explanation is offered: the undeniable derailments in strategic maneuvering are due to the fact that, whilst ostensibly discussing the theory of natural selection, Fodor’s detractors are worried by an underlying issue, namely, the dangers of discussing the merits and demerits of natural selection as a theory of evolution in a venue as exposed to the general public as the London Review of Books, given the religiously inspired movements that threaten the teaching of evolutionary biology in schools.

     

Contingency is used to prepare for outcomes: Implications for a functional analysis of learning

It is generally assumed that the function of contingency learning is to predict the occurrence of important events in order to prepare for them. This assumption, however, has scarcely been tested. Moreover, the little evidence that is available suggests just the opposite result. People do not use contingency to prepare for outcomes, nor to predict their occurrence, although they do use it to infer the causal and predictive value of cues. By using both judgmental and behavioral data, we designed the present experiments as a further test for this assumption. The results show that—at least under certain conditions—people do use contingency to prepare for outcomes, even though they would still not use it to predict their occurrence. The functional and adaptive aspects of these results are discussed in the present article.     

A 2-categorial Generalization of the Concept of Institution

After defining, for each many-sorted signature Σ = (S, Σ), the category Ter(Σ), of generalized terms for Σ (which is the dual of the Kleisli category for \mathbb T_S{\mathbb {T}_{\bf \Sigma}}, the monad in Set ^S determined by the adjunction T_S \dashv G_S{{\bf T}_{\bf \Sigma} \dashv {\rm G}_{\bf \Sigma}} from Set ^S to Alg(Σ), the category of Σ-algebras), we assign, to a signature morphism d from Σ to Λ, the functor d_à{{\bf d}_\diamond} from Ter(Σ) to Ter(Λ). Once defined the mappings that assign, respectively, to a many-sorted signature the corresponding category of generalized terms and to a signature morphism the functor between the associated categories of generalized terms, we state that both mappings are actually the components of a pseudo-functor Ter from Sig to the 2-category Cat. Next we prove that there is a functor Tr^Σ, of realization of generalized terms as term operations, from Alg(Σ) × Ter(Σ) to Set, that simultaneously formalizes the procedure of realization of generalized terms and its naturalness (by taking into account the variation of the algebras through the homomorphisms between them). We remark that from this fact we will get the invariance of the relation of satisfaction under signature change. Moreover, we prove that, for each signature morphism d from Σ to Λ, there exists a natural isomorphism θ ^d from the functor Tr^L °(Id ×d_à){{{\rm Tr}^{\bf {\bf \Lambda}} \circ ({\rm Id} \times {\bf d}_\diamond)}} to the functor Tr^S °(d^* ×Id){{\rm Tr}^{\bf \Sigma} \circ ({\bf d}^* \times {\rm Id})}, both from the category Alg(Λ) × Ter(Σ) to the category Set, where d* is the value at d of the arrow mapping of a contravariant functor Alg from Sig to Cat, that shows the invariant character of the procedure of realization of generalized terms under signature change. Finally, we construct the many-sorted term institution by combining adequately the above components (and, in a derived way, the many-sorted specification institution), but for a strict generalization of the standard notion of institution.     

Overlap and correlates of different types of aggression among adults: Results from a cross‐sectional survey in Bogotá, Colombia

Our objective is to establish the prevalence and overlap among different forms of violence and the importance of known correlates of aggression in Bogotá, Colombia. Our method is a cross‐sectional household survey of violence amongst a random sample (n=3007) of the general population between the ages of 15 and 60. In this population the more severe forms of aggression tend to appear concurrently with the less severe forms. Multivariate analyses of the data show that a family history of crime, physical aggression among family members, lack of clarity of parental norms, beliefs justifying the use of violence, and alcohol consumption are the main correlates of verbal and physical aggression independent of age, gender and social class. Although the findings are limited by the cross‐sectional design, exclusion of the institutionalized population, and reliance on retrospective self‐reports, they provide population‐based estimates of different forms of aggression and support for known correlates of aggression in a Latin American context. Aggr. Behav. 29:191–201, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The number 747 is named faster after seeing Boeing than after seeing Levi's: Associative priming in the processing of multidigit Arabic numerals

Two experiments are reported in which naming multidigit Arabic numerals was shown to depend on the context in which the numbers were presented. Number naming and number decisions were faster after an associative prime (e.g., 747 preceded by the word Boeing) than after an unre- lated prime, both in unmasked and masked priming conditions. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that number naming is not always based on a quantity-based semantically mediated pathway.     

The dynamics of work-family relationships in managerial lives

This article will focus on the relationship between professional and private life among successful managers, people who live outwardly meaningful work lives. We wish to report some findings from a broader study, showing the dynamic nature of this relationship which changes during the course of adult life. The latter part of the paper assesses those dynamics and their implications.