The normativity of Lewis Conventions

David Lewis famously proposed to model conventions as solutions to coordination games, where equilibrium selection is driven by precedence, or the history of play. A characteristic feature of Lewis Conventions is that they are intrinsically non-normative. Some philosophers have argued that for this reason they miss a crucial aspect of our folk notion of convention. It is doubtful however that Lewis was merely analysing a folk concept. I illustrate how his theory can (and must) be assessed using empirical data, and argue that it does indeed miss an important aspect of real-world conventions.     

Psychological wellbeing and quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A review

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with a progressive and rapid course that, so far, cannot be stopped or reversed. The psychological impact of the disease is huge, on both patients and caregivers. This review summarizes studies that have investigated quality of life, depression, anxiety, pain, spiritual and existential issues, hope, and hopelessness in the ALS field, with attention to both patients and their caregivers. Psychological support and the possible role of psychologists in the ALS field are also discussed.     

The Gettier Intuition from South America to Asia

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - This article examines whether people share the Gettier intuition (viz. that someone who has a true justified belief that p may nonetheless fail...     

Lateral head turning affects temporal memory

Spatial attention is a key factor in the exploration and processing of the surrounding environment, and plays a role in linking magnitudes such as space, time, and numbers. The present work evaluates whether shifting the coordinates of spatial attention through rotational head movements may affect the ability to estimate the duration of different time intervals. A computer-based implicit timing task was employed, in which participants were asked to concentrate and report verbally on colour changes of sequential stimuli displayed on a computer screen; subsequently, they were required to reproduce the temporal duration (ranging between 5 and 80 sec.) of the perceived stimuli using the computer keyboard. There was statistically significant overestimation of the 80-sec. intervals exclusively on the rightward rotation head posture, whereas head posture did not affect timing performances on shorter intervals. These findings support the hypothesis that the coordinates of spatial attention influence the ability to process time, consistent with the existence of common cortical metrics of space and time in healthy humans.     

Religious Belief and Mental Health in Lay and Consecrated Italian Teachers

There is compelling evidence that teachers and clergy are stressful occupations. This study aimed to compare the rate of job strain and burnout among lay and consecrated teachers and to study the effect of religious coping on the mental health of these two groups. A cross-sectional survey study was carried out in Catholic kindergarten, preschool and primary schools of an Italian Congregation of nuns, in South Italy. The Italian versions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educator Survey (MBI-ES) scale, of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and a study-specific questionnaire with sociodemographic variables and indicators of subjective (self-reported religiosity) and objective (prayer personal and church attendance) religiousness were used. Data were analyzed according to the guidelines for data processing and an analysis of the scales used. The participation rate of this study was 88 %. There was a significant difference between two groups in religiousness and job strain/burnout scores (lay teachers were the most affected group). Moreover, religiousness scores had a positive correlation with personal accomplishment, job satisfaction and perceived performance and a negative correlation with emotional exhaustion, turnover intention and morbidity psychiatric. Therefore, according to religious coping’s research, prayer personal and church attendance can be recommended as two of the ways to prevent job strain and burnout in the teacher work.     

On inconsistent entities. A reply to Colyvan

In a recent article M. Colyvan has argued that Quinean forms of scientific realism are faced with an unexpected upshot. Realism concerning a given class of entities, along with this route to realism, can be vindicated by running an indispensability argument to the effect that the entities postulated by our best scientific theories exist. Colyvan observes that among our best scientific theories some are inconsistent, and so concludes that, by resorting to the very same argument, we may incur a commitment to inconsistent entities. Colyvan’s argument could be interpreted, and in part is presented, as a reductio of Quinean scientific realism; yet, Colyvan in the end manifests some willingness to bite the bullet, and provides some reasons why we shouldn’t feel too uncomfortable with those entities. In this paper we wish to indicate a way out to the scientific realist, by arguing that no indispensability argument of the kind suggested by Colyvan is actually available. To begin with, in order to run such an indispensability argument we should be justified in believing that an inconsistent theory is true; yet, in so far as the logic we accept is a consistent one it is arguable that our epistemic predicament could not be possibly one in which we are justified in so believing. Moreover, also if our logic admitted true contradictions, as Dialetheism does, it is arguable that Colyvan’s indispensability argument could not rest on a true premise. As we will try to show, dialetheists do not admit true contradictions for cheap: they do so just as a way out of paradox, namely whenever we are second-level ignorant as to the metaphysical possibility of evidence breaking the parity among two or more inconsistent claims; Colyvan’s examples, however, are not of this nature. So, even under the generous assumption that Dialetheism is true, we will conclude that Colyvan’s argument doesn’t achieve its surprising conclusion.     

Caregiver burden and family functioning in different neurological diseases

Aim of this study is to examine caregiver burden and family functioning in different neurological conditions. Forty-two primary caregivers of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementia (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) were administered scales for the evaluation of caregiver burden (CBI) and family functioning (FACES IV). Caregiver burden was overall high, with caregivers of patients with ALS and ABI having exceeded the CBI cut-off score for possible burn-out. The average scores of caregivers of patients with AD or other dementia and PD were close to the cut-off score, whereas those of caregivers of patients with MS were significantly lower than the others. Family cohesion, family satisfaction and the quality of family communication were associated with reduced levels of caregiver burden, whereas disengagement was associated with a higher burden. The data from the present study confirm that caregiver burden is a relevant issue in the context of neurological diseases, especially for those causing higher degrees of impairment. Significant correlations with family functioning emerged as well, highlighting the importance of studying and treating caregiver burden within the context of family relations.