Badici on Inclosures and the Liar Paradox

Badici [2008] criticizes views of Priest [2002] concerning the Inclosure Schema and the paradoxes of self-reference. This article explains why his criticisms are to be rejected.     

Creative value

Free agents can create and destroy value, for how much value is realized may well depend on what such agents choose to do. Not only may such agents create and destroy value, but such creation and destruction seem to involve a dimension of value: I call it creative value. An explication of the twin concepts of creating value and creative value is given, motivated by two desiderata. It is then shown that creative value turns out to be equivalent to what Nozick has dubbed originative value, when his suggestive remarks are given a rigorous, although very natural, interpretation. Thus two highly plausible, but quite different, ways of characterizing creative value converge on a single concept. Furthermore, the account throws considerable light on two further areas of moral theory (namely, moral satisficing and the comparison principle) which turn out, rather unexpectedly, to be linked.     

I. Epistemological relativism in its latest form

Gerald Doppelt's recent ‘Kuhn's Epistemological Relativism: An Interpretation and Defense’ (Inquiry, Vol. 21 [1978], pp. 33–86) offers a reconstruction of Thomas Kuhn's views concerning theory choice in science in which Kuhn's ‘incommensurability thesis’, and his epistemological relativism, are defended. It is argued that Doppelt's reconstruction fails to provide an adequate defense, and that both Kuhn's incommensurability thesis, and his epistemological relativism, as reconstructed by Doppelt, remain philosophically unacceptable.     

Bulimia Nervosa: Professional and Lay People's Beliefs About the Causes

This study examined the explanatory models of bulimia nervosa (BN) held by members of professionals in the medical, psychological, and allied health fields; the general public; and female university students. The participants (N = 787) were presented with 44 potential causal explanations for BN and were asked to rate the importance of each in the development of this condition on a 5‐point rating scale (“unimportant” to “extremely important”). Principal component analysis identified four causal components. These were interpreted as corresponding to (1) socio‐cultural pressure, (2) eating and dieting practices, (3) family dynamics, and (4) psychological vulnerability. A high degree of consistency in the mean ratings for the four causal components was observed among the professional groups. However, important differences were found between the professional and the lay respondents in their beliefs about the role of socio‐cultural pressure, eating and dieting practices, and family dynamics in the development of BN. The congruence in beliefs among the professionals groups would contribute to the ease of interdisciplinary collaboration required in the multi‐modal treatment approach to BN. However, the differences observed between the professional and lay groups may have implications for educational and preventative strategies for BN.     

The Visibility Curve of the White Rat as Determined by the Electrical Retinal Response to Lights of Different Wave-Lengths

The relative influence of three degrees of instance contiguity (mixed, mixed-by-dimension, and nonmixed) and two orders of presentation (simple-to-complex, and complex-to-simple) on subject's proficiency at identifying nine concepts was examined. The concepts could be classified along one of three relevant dimensions (object, form, and number) and varied in difficulty so that object concepts were easier than forms, and forms were easier than numbers.

Forty-eight college students served as subjects, and were presented 18 positive instances of each concept in one of six treatment combinations. Performance across three trial blocks (each block encompassing concept instances relevant to one dimension) was examined in conjunction with contiguity and presentation order.

Analysis of variance revealed significance for order (p < .001), trials (p < .025), Trials x order (p < .001), and the residual (p < .05). Order differences within each trial block were greatest under nonmixed and least under mixed-by-dimension contiguity conditions. A two-stage mediation hypothesis was advanced to account for these results.     

Feature Independence and the Recovery of Feature Conjunctions

Recent neurophysiological and behavioral evidence suggests that in both perception and memory the differing attributes of multidimensional stimuli are retained independently of one another in the visual system. The phenomenal unity of visual cognition seems to be dependent on the recovery of feature conjunctions. A major objective for research in this area is to identify the mechanism(s) responsible for re-establishing appropriate feature combinations. Recent findings indicate that spatial location may play a mediative role in the feature integration associated with perceptual processing; however, whether location continues to provide the basis for the recovery of feature conjunctions from memory is unknown. This article provides an overview and critique of current research and offers a theoretical model of memorial feature processing.