A Note on the Aesthetics of Mirror Reversal

According to Roy Sorensen [Philosophical Studies 100 (2000) 175–191] an object cannot differ aesthetically from its mirror image. On his view, mirror-reversing an object – changing its left/right orientation – cannot bring about any aesthetic change. However, in arguing for this thesis Sorensen assumes that aesthetic properties supervene on intrinsic properties alone. This is a highly controversial assumption and nothing is offered in its support. Moreover, a plausible weakening of the assumption does not improve the argument. Finally, Sorensen’s second argument is shown to be formally flawed. As a result, the case for the aesthetic irrelevancy of orientation seems still open.     

A Bayesian Semiparametric Latent Variable Model for Mixed Responses

In this paper we introduce a latent variable model (LVM) for mixed ordinal and continuous responses, where covariate effects on the continuous latent variables are modelled through a flexible semiparametric Gaussian regression model. We extend existing LVMs with the usual linear covariate effects by including nonparametric components for nonlinear effects of continuous covariates and interactions with other covariates as well as spatial effects. Full Bayesian modelling is based on penalized spline and Markov random field priors and is performed by computationally efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. We apply our approach to a German social science survey which motivated our methodological development. We thank the editor and the referees for their constructive and helpful comments, leading to substantial improvements of a first version, and Sven Steinert for computational assistance. Partial financial support from the SFB 386 “Statistical Analysis of Discrete Structures” is also acknowledged.     

Ethical and Religious Aspects of Gamete and Embryo Donation and Legislation in Iran

During recent decades, new assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have improved significantly, but their ethical, social, psychological, religious and legal aspects are blurred and need further research. New techniques using donor sperm or egg allow for third party involvement in the procreation process, which has created new hope for infertile couples. The corresponding clinical applications also raise new religious questions, which require appropriate interpretation in order to make their use possible, particularly in religious communities. In this paper, we discuss the most important ethical issues and the Islamic view of third party reproduction. Likewise, the current method of third party reproduction in Iran will be described, and the advantages and disadvantages of the Act of Embryo Donation to Infertile Spouses will be stated. Consideration of this outlook could generate inspiration in many Islamic countries.     

Parent Beliefs about Treatment Credibility and Effectiveness: Assessment and Relation to Subsequent Treatment Participation

We assessed parents’ beliefs about treatment credibility and effectiveness and examined the influence of these beliefs on subsequent treatment participation. Seventy-six parents completed the Credibility/Expectancies Questionnaire—Parent Version (CEQ-P), and subsequently participated in treatment for their child's clinically referred conduct problems. The key findings were that: (a) the CEQ-P is composed of two components that measure parents’ treatment credibility and expectancies; (b) the total scale and each component are internally consistent and have strong test-retest reliability; (c) scores on the CEQ-P are significantly associated with scores on a measure of parent motivation for treatment, supporting the construct validity of this measure; and (d) scores on the CEQ-P at the first clinic visit significantly predict subsequent adherence to treatment procedures above and beyond demographic variables and parent motivation for treatment. This study provides an efficient and psychometrically sound measure of parent beliefs about treatment and demonstrates the importance of such beliefs for subsequent treatment adherence.     

Ministers’ Perceptions of Depression: A Model to Understand and Improve Care

While depression is a significant worldwide health problem, fewer than half of individuals seek care. Faith-based communities may play an important role in improving the knowledge of and linkage to depression care. Focus groups of Caucasian and African-American clergy were conducted to explore these issues. Using a grounded theory approach five themes emerged, including explanatory models of depression, barriers and facilitators to care, and recommendations for involving religious communities. A model of depression care pathways was constructed that integrates secular and spiritual approaches. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to build trust between clergy and mental health professionals. Teresa L. Kramer, Ph.D., is Chief Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She has conducted research in child, adolescent and adult mental health assessment, outcomes, and quality of care. Her current research on adolescent depression is funded through a Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. She is currently developing faith-based programs to educate ministers and their congregations about depression-related illness. Dean Blevins, Ph.D., teaches in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, at the university and is associated with the Center for Mental Health & Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and the South Central Mental Illness, Research, and Clinical Center in Little Rock. Terri L. Miller, Ph.D., also teaches in the Department of Psychiatry. Martha Phillips, Ph.D., is at the Department of Human Services in Little Rock. Vanessa Davis and Billy Burris are employed at the Division of Behavioral Health Services, also in Little Rock.     

What might philosophy of science look like if chemists built it?

Had more philosophers of science come from chemistry, their thinking would have been different. I begin by looking at a typical chemical paper, in which making something is the leitmotif, and conjecture/refutation is pretty much irrelevant. What in fact might have been, might be, different? The realism of chemists is reinforced by their remarkable ability to transform matter; they buy into reductionism where it serves them, but make no real use of it. Incommensurability is taken without a blink, and actually serves. The preeminence of synthesis in chemistry could have led philosophers of science to take more seriously questions of aesthetics within science, and to find a place in aesthetics for utility. The necessary motion twixt macroscopic and microscopic views of matter in modern chemistry leads to the coexistence of symbolic and iconic representations. And in another way to the deliberate, creative violation of categories.     

Croatia founded a national body for ethics in science

The Committee for Ethics in Science and Higher Education (CESHE) was created in Croatia as a national body appointed by the Parliament. Thus Croatia became one of a handful of countries with national means of responding to allegations of scientific misconduct. The Committee’s duties, with the help of the Ethics Code, include promotion of ethical norms and values in science and higher education. The CESHE will work on cases of possible research misconduct and alleged disregard for the ethical norms associated with research.     

Likelihoodism,Bayesianism, and relational confirmation

Likelihoodists and Bayesians seem to have a fundamental disagreement about the proper probabilistic explication of relational (or contrastive) conceptions of evidential support (or confirmation). In this paper, I will survey some recent arguments and results in this area, with an eye toward pinpointing the nexus of the dispute. This will lead, first, to an important shift in the way the debate has been couched, and, second, to an alternative explication of relational support, which is in some sense a “middle way” between Likelihoodism and Bayesianism. In the process, I will propose some new work for an old probability puzzle: the “Monty Hall” problem. Thanks to the participants of the Philosophy, Probability, and Modeling (PPM) Seminar at the University of Konstanz (especially Stephan Hartmann, Franz Huber, Wolfgang Spohn, and Teddy Seidenfeld), for a very fruitful discussion of an early draft of this paper in July, 2004. Since then, discussions and correspondences with Prasanta Bandyopadhyay, Luc Bovens, Alan Hájek, Jim Hawthorne, Jim Joyce, Jon Kvanvig (and other participants of his “Certain Doubts” blog, which had a thread on a previous draft of this paper), Patrick Maher, Sherri Roush, Richard Royall, Elliott Sober, Dan Steel, and an anonymous referee of Synthese has been very valuable.     

Animal Rights and Animal Experiments: An Interest-Based Approach

This paper examines whether non-human animals have a moral right not to be experimented upon. It adopts a Razian conception of rights, whereby an individual possesses a right if an interest of that individual is sufficient to impose a duty on another. To ascertain whether animals have a right not to be experimented on, three interests are examined which might found such a right: the interest in not suffering, the interest in staying alive, and the interest in being free. It is argued that while the first two of these interests are sufficient to ground animal rights against being killed and made to suffer by experiments, the interest in freedom does not ground a general animal right not to be used in experimentation. Winner of the second annual Res Publica Postgraduate Essay Prize, 2006.