Ramseyan Humility, scepticism and grasp

In ‘Ramseyan Humility’ David Lewis argues that a particular view about fundamental properties, quidditism, leads to the position that we are irredeemably ignorant of the identities of fundamental properties. We are ignorant of the identities of fundamental properties since we can never know which properties play which causal roles, and we have no other way of identifying fundamental properties other than by the causal roles they play. It has been suggested in the philosophical literature that Lewis’ argument for Humility is merely an instance of traditional scepticism, to which traditional responses to scepticism are applicable. I agree that in ‘Ramseyan Humility’ Lewis does present an argument to which it is appropriate to consider the applicability of responses to traditional scepticism—he argues that we irredeemably lack the evidence to rule out possibilities in which different properties occupy the causal roles described by our best physical theory. And prima facie this is just the kind of argument responses to traditional scepticism are designed to tackle. However, I will argue that Lewis bolsters this argument with a second. This second argument serves to deepen Lewis’ case and cannot be met with a response to traditional scepticism. For Lewis argues that not only do we lack evidence for which properties play which roles, we lack the ability to grasp any such proposition about role-occupancy. And if we cannot grasp any such proposition we cannot know it.     

Prompt Density,Rate of Reinforcement,and the Persistence of Manding

The Psychological Record - Previous research has documented the effects of prompting mands at a relatively high rate (i.e., rich schedule) or low rate (i.e., lean schedule). These previous studies...     

Why reliabilism does not permit easy knowledge

Reliabilism furnishes an account of basic knowledge that circumvents the problem of the given. However, reliabilism and other epistemological theories that countenance basic knowledge have been criticized for permitting all-too-easy higher-level knowledge. In this paper, I describe the problem of easy knowledge, look briefly at proposed solutions, and then develop my own. I argue that the easy knowledge problem, as it applies to reliabilism, hinges on a false and too crude understanding of ‘reliable’. With a more plausible conception of ‘reliable’, a simple and elegant solution emerges.     

The Social Construction of Deviance,Conflict and the Criminalization of Midwives,New Orleans: 1940s and 1950s

Midwives in mid-twentieth-century New Orleans went from practicing unhindered to being demonized in the media and targeted by the criminal justice system, thanks to the actions of three concerned groups. After the prosecution of female midwives began and their practice was suppressed, male medical doctors gained control over the provision of abortions in the city as well as the supervision of midwifery. Employing content analysis, we find that the historic record largely supports an interpretation of these events from a conflict theory, a radical feminist, and a social constructionist perspective.     

Guards as Embezzlers: The Consequences of “Nonshareable Problems” in Prison Settings

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pandering activities of pimps and to formulate a critique of the concept of pandering. First, popular perceptions of the phenomenon are described in terms of a case story. Information on preferred recruitment sites (e.g., bus terminals) and standard modes of operation (talk, drugs, and violence) is provided. Next, the results of two exploratory studies are reported. Police perspectives are revealed through a survey of Port Authority police officers. An attempt to generate pandering is carried out by means of participant observation. These studies yield contradictory information, and an attempt to institute a compromise moves the analysis to the question of control, specifically whether prostitutes are victims or volunteers. Upon analysis, the relationships that previously constituted the process of pandering and the activities that usually characterized the pimp's role are reversed. Finally, perspectives on the social construction of the pandering reality are summarized.     

Choice biases in delayed matching-to-sample duration with pigeons: Manipulations of ITI and delayillumination

Two experiments investigated the effects of similarity between intertrial interval (ITI) and delay illumation on the choose-short effect. Different groups of pigeons learned to match 'short' (2 s) and 'long' (6 or 8 s) food samples to green and red test stimuli in a matchingto-sample procedure with a 5-s training delay.Subsequent 10- and 20-s delay tests revealed choose-short effects if the ITI and delay were both illuminated (i.e., group ON-ON), if the ITI and delay were both dark (i.e., group OFF-OFF), and if the ITI was illuminated and the delay was dark (i.e., group ON-OFF). In addition, either a choose-short effect or a chooselong effect was observed if the ITI was dark and the delay was illuminated (i.e., group OFFON). Results are incompatible with the confusion/instructionalfailure viewof the choose-short effect.