Plantinga’s Reformed Epistemology: What’s the Question?

Alvin Plantingas Warranted Christian Belief is without questionone of the central texts of the Reformed epistemology movement. Critiques of Plantingas defence have been both multiple and varied. As varied as these responses are, however, it is my contention that many of them amount to the same thing. It is the purpose of this paper to offer an overview of the main lines of attack that have been directed as Plantingas project, and thereafter to show how many, if not most, of these objections can be understood as versions or aspects of the same criticism, what I call the Inadequacy Thesis.     

Bioethics and Christian Theology

The authors of this essay suggest that the field of bioethics and Christian theology have a great deal to offer to each other. The authors first argue that representatives from both fields must first make sure that they fully and correctly represent their respective position. In other words, scientists, ethicists, and theologians alike must make sure that they present their fields and not use their knowledge merely for personal gain at the stake of misguiding people. Once this is established, the authors then proceed to show the intimate relationship between Christianity and medicine that has existed throughout the ages. It is a call for a continuation of such a relationship that the authors suggest between bioethics and theology. Through an integration of bioethics and Christian theology, both scientists/physicians and theologians are able to gain greater insight into the human person—a focus in both fields.     

Concordant Spiritual Orientations as a Factor in Physician--Patient Spiritual Discussions: A Qualitative Study

Objectives: To understand the impact of physicians and patients religious/spiritual orientation on discussions of spiritual issues. Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews of 10 Missouri family physicians and 10 patients of these physicians, selecting subjects nonrandomly to represent a range of demographic factors, practice types, and chronic or terminal illness. We coded and evaluated transcribed interviews for themes. Results: Respondents expressed that similar belief systems facilitate patient–physician spiritual interactions and bring confidence to their relationships. Those holding dissimilar faiths noted limited ability to address spiritual questions directly. They cited significant barriers to spiritual interaction but considered that ecumenism, use of patient-centered care, and negotiation skills lessen these barriers. Conclusions: Our respondents view spirituality similarly to other aspects of the physician–patient relationship involving differing viewpoints. Where discordance exists, cross-cultural, patient-centered, diplomatic approaches facilitate spiritual discussions.     

Sex and generational differences in desired characteristics in mate selection

This study compared the ranking of 18 personal characteristics or qualities which college students might use in selecting a future mate and builds on six other assessment periods from 1939-1996 which dealt with this issue. Among the most consistent findings for all seven assessment periods is the high value both sexes place on dependable character, emotional stability/maturity, pleasing disposition, and mutual attraction/love. Men across all assessment periods placed a higher value than women on good health, good cook/housekeeper, and good looks, while women placed a higher value on ambitious/industrious, similar educational background, and good financial prospect. These trends could go along with ethological theory. For both sexes chastity and similar religious background gained value; however, this may be an artifact of the current sample of 100 students.     

Context effects on lexical choice and lexical activation

Speakers are regularly confronted with the choice among lexical alternatives when referring to objects, including basic-level names (e.g., car) and subordinate-level names (e.g., Beetle). Which of these names is eventually selected often depends on contextual factors. The present article reports a series of picture-word interference experiments that explored how the designated target name (basic level vs. subordinate level) and contextual constraints rendering the name alternative either appropriate or inappropriate affect lexical activation and lexical choice. The experimental data demonstrate clear context effects on the eventual lexical choice. However, they also show that alternative nonselected object names are phonologically activated, even if a constraining context makes these alternative names currently inappropriate.     

From <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pintele Yid to Racenjude</Emphasis>: Chaim Zhitlovsky and racial conceptions of Jewishness

The Russian Jewish intellectual, Chaim Zhitlovsky (1865–1943), a leading architect of secular Jewish culture and thought, was a central figure in the progressive Jewish intelligentsia of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In an essay written in 1927, Yidn un Yiddishkayt (Jews and Jewishness), he sought to define the secular essence of what he calls Yiddishkayt. This essay is not the first in Zhitlovskys long publicistic career in which he searches for new, secular definitions of Jewish identity and culture. But this essay differs, since it is marked by Zhitlovskys use of contemporary social scientific notions of race and racial traits to conceptualize what he believes constitutes Jewishness in a non-religious context, along with his adoption of the mystical Jewish concept of the pintele yid, the theory of an innate Jewishness embodied by a Jewish spark. Zhitlovskys desire to craft a truly secular theory of Jewish identity led him ironically to accept models of Jewish identity at odds with his stated larger vision. In turning to contemporary racial theory, as well as long nurtured mystical models of Yiddishkayt, Zhitlovsky reveals the wide range of ideological discourses that led him to innovative and controversial notions of modern Jewish identity.     

Disseminating a smokeless tobacco cessation intervention model to dental hygienists: a randomized comparison of personalized instruction and self-study methods.

This study evaluated 2 methods of disseminating an empirically validated smokeless tobacco intervention delivered during routine dental care. Twenty cities within 12 states were stratified and then randomized to 1 of 3 groups: personalized instruction (PI), self-study (SS), or delayed training (DT) control. Dental hygienists in the SS condition were sent a manual and video. Those in the PI condition were recruited to attend a workshop. Thirty-seven percent of eligible hygienists agreed to participate. At 12 months postenrollment, hygienists in the SS and PI conditions significantly increased their "Assist" behaviors (discuss cessation techniques, help patient set a quit date, and provide cessation materials) and reported fewer perceived barriers to delivering the intervention as compared with hygienists in DT. An economic analysis suggests that SS is more cost-effective than PI.     

Kindling-induced changes in plasticity of the rat amygdala and hippocampus

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is often accompanied by interictal behavioral abnormalities, such as fear and memory impairment. To identify possible underlying substrates, we analyzed long-term synaptic plasticity in two relevant brain regions, the lateral amygdala (LA) and the CA1 region of the hippocampus, in the kindling model of epilepsy. Wistar rats were kindled through daily administration of brief electrical stimulations to the left basolateral nucleus of the amygdala. Field potential recordings were performed in slices obtained from kindled rats 48 h after the last induced seizure, and in slices from sham-implanted and nonimplanted controls. Kindling resulted in a significant impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) in both the LA and the CA1, the magnitude of which was dependent on the number of prior stage V seizures. Saturation of CA1-LTP, assessed through repeated spaced delivery of high-frequency stimulation, occurred at lower levels in kindled compared to sham-implanted animals, consistent with the hypothesis of reduced capacity of further synaptic strengthening. Furthermore, theta pulse stimulation elicited long-term depression in the amygdala in nonimplanted and sham-implanted controls, whereas the same stimulation protocol stimulation caused LTP in kindled rats. In conclusion, kindling differentially affects the magnitude, saturation, and polarity of LTP in the CA1 and LA, respectively, most likely indicating an activity-dependent mechanism in the context of synaptic metaplasticity.     

Bayesian eggs and Bayesian omelettes: reply to Stern (2005)

In this response to Stern's (2005) discussion of Klugkist, Laudy, and Hoijtink (2005), model inference based on posterior probabilities on the parameter space is discussed. Furthermore, the authors respond to Stern's example in which all possible orderings are included via a short discussion of exploratory versus theory-based modeling. Finally, the authors show that the Bayesian approach is flexible and can deal with many types of constraints. This is illustrated using a model with constraints on the differences between means.