De Finetti's earliest works on the foundations of probability

Bruno de Finetti's earliest works on the foundations of probability are reviewed. These include the notion of exchangeability and the theory of random processes with independent increments. The latter theory relates to de Finetti's ideas for a probabilistic science more generally. Different aspects of his work are united by his foundational programme for a theory of subjective probabilities.This work would not have been possible in its present form without the generous help of Prof. Maria Carla Galavotti. For several years, she has unfailingly answered all my requests for papers difficult of access, and discussed the details of interpretation as well as the philosophy of probability in general. To her I express my gratitude for everything.     

Compassion: An east‐west comparison

Compassion is an emotion that occupies a central position in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy while it is often a neglected subject in contemporary western philosophy. This essay is a comparison between an Eastern view of compassion based upon Mahāyāna Buddhist perspectives and a western view of the same emotion. Certain principles found in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy such as the Bodhisattva Ideal, and suffering (dukkha) to name two, are explored for the information they contain about compassion. An essay by Lawrence Blum is taken as representative of a Western view (but not exclusively) and it is analyzed for its shortcomings in light of the Buddhist view. The conclusion briefly describes the value of understanding an eastern view on compassion as a means of filling the void one finds in western medical ethics discourse which focuses so heavily, and redundantly, upon issues such as patient autonomy and paternalism.     

A new computational method to fit the weighted euclidean distance model

This paper describes a computational method for weighted euclidean distance scaling which combines aspects of an analytic solution with an approach using loss functions. We justify this new method by giving a simplified treatment of the algebraic properties of a transformed version of the weighted distance model. The new algorithm is much faster than INDSCAL yet less arbitrary than other analytic procedures. The procedure, which we call SUMSCAL (subjectivemetricscaling), gives essentially the same solutions as INDSCAL for two moderate-size data sets tested.Comments by J. Douglas Carroll and J. B. Kruskal have been very helpful in preparing this paper.     

THE SKILL OF PICTORIAL PERCEPTION: AN INTERPRETATION OF CROSS-CULTURAL EVIDENCE*

A theoretical framework is proposed for understanding perceptual skills in their functional context. Pictorial perception is construed as a functionally specialised skill whose pervasive importance in modern education derives from the proliferation of pictorial materials in Western culture. Drawing on cross-cultural research, the major components of the skill are identified as (1) detection of appropriate contexts for its application, (2) selection of a limiting frame of reference, (3) use of conventional criteria of fidelity to recognise depicted items, (4) sensitivity to impoverished depth cues, (5) an expectation of finding in the picture most of the information necessary for its disambiguation, and (6) various assumptions about the range of cognitive inferences that may legitimately be made ‘beyond the information given’. Training studies are interpreted as suggesting that the skill can be enhanced through guided experience.     

暗示感受性和针刺对痛刺激引起的大脑诱发电位影响的关系

本工作的目的为继续探讨皮肤感觉(电感受性、电痛觉)的暗示感受性和针刺镇痛的关系。被试为30例正常人。方法:针刺镇痛的效果是通过观察针刺对痛刺激引起的大脑诱发电位的抑制效应,以第一体感区的P_2次波幅变化为客观指标。暗示实验重复过去方法。主要结果:1)针刺能镇痛,针刺对多数被试(21/3D)能抑制痛刺激引起的大脑诱发电位。2)暗示后电感受性和痛阈均有提高(分别为31.26％和18.37％)3)暗示感受性高低和针刺抑制痛刺激引起的大脑诱发电位没有相关(P>0.50)。还看到被试对针刺能镇痛的信任程度与针效无关,提示暗示在针刺镇痛中不起主要作用。