Truth and Objectivity in Perspectivism

I investigate the consequences of Nietzsche's perspectivism for notions of truth and objectivity, and show how the metaphor of visual perspective motivates an epistemology that avoids self-referential difficulties. Perspectivism's claim that every view is only one view, applied to itself, is often supposed to preclude the perspectivist's ability to offer reasons for her epistemology. Nietzsche's arguments for perspectivism depend on “internal reasons”, which have force not only in their own perspective, but also within the standards of alternative perspectives. Internal reasons allow a perspectivist argument against dogmatism without presupposing aperspectival criteria for theory choice. Nietzsche also offers “internal” conceptions of truth and objectivity which reduce them to a matter of meeting our epistemic standards. This view has pluralistic implications, which conflict with common sense, but it is nevertheless consistent and plausible. Nietzsche's position is similar to Putnam's recent internalism, and this is due to their common Kantian heritage. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fighting Igor: Exposing and Resisting the Irrational Side Using Cognitive-Behavioral Principles in Group Therapy

A visual cognitive behavioral framework developed, with indirect literature support, from the author's practice depicts a polarized conflict between a rational side and an irrational side, named Igor. Each side's characteristics, reasoning, and methods of dealing with thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in panic/phobic disorders are described. Techniques of a group therapy approach include members sharing symptoms, fears, and escape behaviors; the therapist providing corrective information and role playing of each side; and therapist/members monitoring and supporting behavioral homework. Outcome measures appear to support desired simplicity, palatability, efficiency, and effectiveness.     

Modularity,mental retardation and speed of processing

This paper briefly outlines Anderson's (1992) theory of the minimal cognitive architecture underlying intelligence and development and briefly discusses its application to understanding mental retardation and specific cognitive deficits. An experiment on the relationship between face perception and mental retardation serves as an illustration of how the theory might be informative about the relationship between intelligence and cognitive architecture.     

Stereovision: beyond disparity computations

One of the most powerful sources of information about three-dimensional (3-D) structure is provided by stereovision (or stereopsis). For over a century, theoretical and empirical investigations into this ability have focused on the role of binocular disparity in generating percepts of 3-D structure. Recent work in image segmentation demonstrates that stereovision can cause large changes in perceptual organization that cannot be understood on the basis of binocular disparity alone. It is argued that these phenomena reveal the need for theoretical tools beyond those that have dominated the study of visual perception over the past three decades.     

Retrieval of propositional information from long-term memory

Three experiments are reported in which subjects learn propositions like A hippie is in the park. The experiments manipulate the number of such propositions involving a particular person (e.g., hippie) or a particular location (e.g., park). After learning the material, subjects are asked to judge whether particular probe propositions are from the study set. Times to make these judgments about probe propositions increase with the number of study propositions involving the person or location used in the probe proposition. A model is presented which assumes a subject simultaneously accesses memory from all concepts in a probe proposition and serially searches through all study propositions involving each concept. Search of memory terminates as soon as one search process from a concept finds the probe proposition or exhausts the study propositions attached to that concept.     

The elusive homosexual: a reply to Stone and Schneider

Summary: In a rebuttal of the Stone and Schneider validation study of the Wheeler signs of homosexuality in the Rorschach, it was argued that (a) homosexuality is not a proper clinical diagnosis, (b) homosexuals do not differ in psychological functioning from hetereosexuals, and (c) the Wheeler signs represent an atomistic approach of use only to those defensive clinicians unwilling to encounter the unique character of their clients.