Logic Games are Complete for Game Logics

Game logics describe general games through powers of players for forcing outcomes. In particular, they encode an algebra of sequential game operations such as choice, dual and composition. Logic games are special games for specific purposes such as proof or semantical evaluation for first-order or modal languages. We show that the general algebra of game operations coincides with that over just logical evaluation games, whence the latter are quite general after all. The main tool in proving this is a representation of arbitrary games as modal or first-order evaluation games. We probe how far our analysis extends to product operations on games. We also discuss some more general consequences of this new perspective for standard logic.     

How To Engage With Experimental Practices? Moderate Versus Radical Constructivism

A central question in constructivist studies of science is how the analyst should deal with the material objects handled by scientific practitioners in laboratories. Representatives of ‘radical constructivism’ such as Knorr-Cetina and Latour have gone furthest in exploring the role of these ‘non-humans’ but have also maneuvered themselves in untenable positions due to a fatal conflation of different meanings of the term ‘construction’. The epistemological and ontological commitments of ‘moderate constructivism’ especially of the Strong Program defended by Barnes and Bloor, are more suitable for dealing with the task at hand. While radical constructivists treat the domains of nature and human society as largely coterminous, an alternative ontology stresses that natural reality is never fully absorbed into the world of culture but only interacts with the latter at localizable interfaces such as practices and artifacts. This perspective promises a more relaxed relationship with current forms of scientific realism. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Introduction: Surveying Solov'ëviana

Studies in East European Thought -     

The Development of the Pragma-dialectical Approach to Argumentation

This paper describes the development of pragma-dialectics as a theory of argumentative discourse. First the development of the pragma-dialectical model of a critical discussion is explained, with the rules that are to be complied with in order to avoid fallacies from occurring. Then the integration is discussed of rhetorical insight in the dialectical framework. In this endeavour, the concept of strategic manoeuvring is explained that allows for a more refined and more profoundly justified analysis of argumentative discourse and a better identification of fallacies. The paper ends with a brief overview of current research projects.     

Erna and Melanie Klein

Erna was one of the child patients treated by Melanie Klein in Berlin, employing her recently discovered play technique. Since Erna died in Chile, the authors considered the IPA Congress in Santiago an opportunity to present a paper as a homage both to Erna and, especially, to Klein. She learned much from that very disturbed child, which she later used to sustain the ongoing development of her theories. The paper explores biographic data relevant to understanding both the case and the theories. It analyses the case material to follow Klein in the discovery and the handling of the child's transference and the harsh expressions of hate, jealousy and envy, which are brought in, with sad consequences, by strong persecutory feelings. Klein's comparison of this case with that of Freud's Wolf-man is also considered, mostly to show that the similarities were less than originally claimed, and that Klein, perhaps, was introducing a theoretic shift which led her technique to gradually change from ' Nachträglichkeit ' to the 'signification-resignification' pair, akin to Strachey's concept of the mutative interpretation. Lastly, the comprehension of Erna's strong psychotic traits and the links with later developments of the theory on psychosis are studied.     

Communication constraints on the linguistic intergroup bias

We examined whether the linguistic intergroup bias (LIB) is a context-free, invariant process or influenced by communicative purpose. The reported experiment shows that biased language use (positive behaviors of a partner and negative behaviors of an opponent are described with abstract predicates, negative partner and positive opponent behaviors are described with concrete predicates) occurs only when the communication has a clear purpose, but not when it does not. The implications of communicative purpose as a constraint on the psychological processes driving the LIB are discussed as well as the possible impact of biased language use upon recipients.     

Preferences for leadership in social dilemmas: Public good dilemmas versus common resource dilemmas

It has been argued that a structural solution to social dilemmas is to install a leader, but here we consider the possibility that group members will oppose giving up their decisional freedom. Previous studies have shown that feedback indicating collective failure results in a stronger preference for the leadership option. We argue that preferences for the leadership option depend not only on the feedback group members receive, but also on the type of dilemma they are facing. The results of our experiment, in which we manipulated dilemma type as well as feedback, corroborate our reasoning. The distribution of initial property in public good and common resource dilemmas helps to explain these findings.     

Job Level and National Culture as Joint Roots of Job Satisfaction

Pour examiner les variations de la satisfaction au travail dans une perspective transculturelle et interfonctions, des donées d'enquête d'une compagnie internationale auprès de 129,087 répondants de 39 pays ont été analysées. Des analyses à plusieurs niveaux ont montré que la satisfaction au travail est positivement liée au statut et au niveau de l'emploi exercé dans les pays individualistes sans que soit le cas dans les pays collectivistes. De plus, la relation positive entre la satisfaction au travail et le niveau de l'emploi exercé ne se marque que pour les emplois offrant l'opportunité d'exercer ses compétences dans les pays individualistes. Le niveau de l'emploi est même négativement liéà la satisfaction au travail pour des emplois offrant peu d'opportunité d'exercer ses compétences dans les pays collectivistes.
To examine cross-cultural and cross-occupational variations in job satisfaction, data from a multinational company survey with 129,087 respondents from 39 countries was analysed. Multilevel analyses showed that job level is positively related to job satisfaction in individualistic countries but not in collectivistic countries. Moreover, the positive relationship between job level and job satisfaction holds only for jobs with much opportunity to use one's skills and abilities, especially in individualistic countries. Job level is even negatively related to job satisfaction in jobs with little opportunity to use one's skills and abilities in collectivistic countries.