Logic,Logic, and Logic

In his recent paper in History and Philosophy of Logic, John Kearns argues for a solution of the Liar paradox using an illocutionary logic (Kearns 2007 Kearns, J. 2007. ‘An illocutionary logical explanation of the Liar Paradox’. History and Philosophy of Logic, 28: 31–66. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Paraconsistent approaches, especially dialetheism, which accepts the Liar as being both true and false, are rejected by Kearns as making no ‘clear sense’ (p. 51). In this critical note, I want to highlight some shortcomings of Kearns' approach that concern a general difficulty for supposed solutions to (semantic) antinomies like the Liar. It is not controversial that there are languages which avoid the Liar. For example, the language which consists of the single sentence ‘Benedict XVI was born in Germany’ lacks the resources to talk about semantics at all and thus avoids the Liar. Similarly, more interesting languages such as the propositional calculus avoid the Liar by lacking the power to express semantic concepts or to quantify over propositions. Kearns also agrees with the dialetheist claim that natural languages are semantically closed (i.e. are able to talk about their sentences and the semantic concepts and distinctions they employ). Without semantic closure, the Liar would be no real problem for us (speakers of natural languages). But given the claim, the expressive power of natural languages may lead to the semantic antinomies. The dialetheist argues for his position by proposing a general hypothesis (cf. Bremer 2005 Bremer, M. 2005. An Introduction to Paraconsistent Logics, Bern: Lang.  [Google Scholar], pp. 27–28): ‘(Dilemma) A linguistic framework that solves some antinomies and is able to express its linguistic resources is confronted with strengthened versions of the antinomies’. Thus, the dialetheist claims that either some semantic concepts used in a supposed solution to a semantic antinomy are inexpressible in the framework used (and so, in view of the claim, violate the aim of being a model of natural language), or else old antinomies are exchanged for new ones. One horn of the dilemma is having inexpressible semantic properties. The other is having strengthened versions of the antinomies, once all semantic properties used are expressible. This dilemma applies, I claim, to Kearns' approach as well.     

Developmental intelligence: From empirical to hidden constructs

This article answers some of the criticisms and suggestions of the three commentaries. We showed, in agreement with Coyle, that (i) variability is indeed distinct from speed, (ii) they both additively reflect processing efficiency and (iii) that they differentially relate to WM and gf during development. In agreement with Kail, we showed that developmental intelligence and psychometric intelligence are (i) related but distinct, they additively contribute to school learning and (iii) their role varies with developmental phase. Finally, in agreement with Pascual-Leone, we proposed a number of higher level hidden constructs to account for the data patterns observed between empirical constructs, such as speed, variability, WM, and reasoning.     

Celebrazioni di Giuseppe Peano nel 150° della nascita e nel 100° del Formulario Mathematico

After an introduction which demonstrates the failure of the equational analogue of Beth’s definability theorem, the first two sections of this paper are devoted to an elementary exposition of a proof that a functional constant is equationally definable in an equational theory iff every model of the set of those consequences of the theory that do not contain the functional constant is uniquely extendible to a model of the theory itself.Sections three, four and five are devoted to applications and extensions of this result.Topics considered here include equational definability in first order logic, an extended notion of definability in equational logic and the synonymy of equational theories.The final two sections briefly review some of the history of equational logic     

Trends and Patterns Among Music Pirates

The current work, based on data from a cross-sectional sample of approximately 2,000 randomly selected university students, seeks to clarify exactly who is most likely to engage in online music piracy. The extant knowledgebase on why individuals take part in this form of intellectual property is growing, but little is known about the type and background of those involved. This study therefore seeks to construct a profile of the typical music pirate by measuring the salience of demographic characteristics and the respondent's scope of overall participation in cyberspace-based activities. Findings indicated that respondents’ differentially participated in music piracy based on their gender, race, type of college major, proficiency in using the Internet, and variety of online participation. Policy solutions based on an attempt to clearly specify, reinforce, and enforce definitions of appropriate Internet use are consequently suggested to reduce the prevalence of piracy among a university population.     

A Wild West of the Mind

§258 of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is often seen as the core of his private language argument. While its role is certainly overinflated and it is a mistake to think that there is anything that could be called the private language argument, §258 is an important part of the private language sections of the Philosophical Investigations. As with so much of Wittgenstein's work, there are widely diverse interpretations of why exactly the private diarist's attempted ostensive definition fails. I argue for a version of the no-stage-setting interpretation of the failure of private ostension. On this interpretation, the reason why the diarist cannot establish a meaning for ‘S’ is that she lacks the conceptual-linguistic stage-setting needed to disambiguate the concentration of her attention (the private analogue of an ostensive definition). Thus, the problem with any subsequent use of ‘S’ is not that there is no criterion of correctness for remembering the meaning of ‘S’ correctly, or for re-identifying S correctly in the future. Rather, it is because of the initial failure to define ‘S’ that there is nothing that could count as a criterion of correctness for the future use of ‘S’; there is nothing to remember or re-identify. My argument for the no-stage-setting interpretation consists in showing how well it fits into the rest of the Philosophical Investigations and in defending it against objections from Robert J. Fogelin, Anthony Kenny, and most recently John V. Canfield. Kenny's and Canfield's objections are found to suffer from problems regarding memory scepticism.     

Pharmacological Shock Therapy as a Psycho-Biological Problem

Five mothers of 50 newborn rat pups were maintained on either standard lab chow or a diet composed of the same chow with onion powder added. Taste preference tests administered during weaning indicated that the pups whose mother was fed the onion chow showed a preference for onion diet, but that such preference dissipated across the five day testing period. A control group of pups who were exposed to any onion diet cues available through channels other than the mother's milk did not show a preference for onion diet. It was concluded that exposure to onion taste in mother's milk was responsible for an initial preference for onion diet.     

Monitoring the effects of adult psychotherapy in routine practice in Switzerland: A feasibility trial

Background: Several studies have been published on the effects of psychotherapy in routine practice. Complementing traditional views summarised as ‘dose‐effect models’, Stiles et al. put forward data consistent with the responsive regulation model underlining the importance of the client's active participant role in defining length of treatment. One may ask what level of change reached by a patient is considered to be the ‘good enough level’ (GEL) and if it is related to the duration of psychotherapy. Aims: The main objective of the present feasibility trial was to monitor the patient's session‐by‐session evolution using a self‐report questionnaire in order to define the GEL, i.e. the number of sessions necessary for the patient to reach significant change. Method: A total of N=13 patients undergoing psychotherapy in routine practice participated in the study, completing the Outcome Questionnaire – 45.2 (OQ‐45), which assesses the symptom level, interpersonal relationships and social role after every psychotherapy session. The data was analysed using multi‐level analyses (HLMs). Results: High feasibility of fine‐grained assessment of effects of psychotherapy in routine practice in Switzerland was shown; response rates being acceptable; however, detailed analysis of the GEL was not feasible within the short study time‐frame. Conclusions: Reflections on the political context of monitoring in the specific case of routine psychiatric practice in Switzerland are discussed.