Cartwright On Explanation And Idealization

Nancy Cartwright (1983, 1999) argues that (1) the fundamental laws of physics are true when and only when appropriate ceteris paribus modifiers are attached and that (2) ceteris paribus modifiers describe conditions that are almost never satisfied. She concludes that when the fundamental laws of physics are true, they don't apply in the real world, but only in highly idealized counterfactual situations. In this paper, we argue that (1) and (2) together with an assumption about contraposition entail the opposite conclusion — that the fundamental laws of physics do apply in the real world. Cartwright extracts from her thesis about the inapplicability of fundamental laws the conclusion that they cannot figure in covering-law explanations. We construct a different argument for a related conclusion — that forward-directed idealized dynamical laws cannot provide covering-law explanations that are causal. This argument is neutral on whether the assumption about contraposition is true. We then discuss Cartwright's simulacrum account of explanation, which seeks to describe how idealized laws can be explanatory. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

MİLLİ İNKILAP AND THE THRACE INCIDENTS OF 1934

While anti-Semitism had been manifested in Europe since the Middle Ages, the emergence of the Nazi regime raised that phenomenon to a new level. Some publications supported by Nazi Germany tried to effect public opinion in Turkey regarding “scientific” anti-Semitism. The authors of this study support the view that this ideology has not been able to achieve broad support from the Turkish nation or its government. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism did reach Turkey through foreign publications. The specific anti-Semitic events that occurred in the Thrace Region of Turkey in 1934 and the anti-Semitic Milli ?nk?lap (National Revolution), which had a pivotal role in those events, were inspired by Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, Germany does not seem to have played an active role during the events. This article will examine the issues of the openly anti-Semitic Milli ?nk?lap, published from 1 May 1934 to 1 July 1934 and try to compare the influence of Julius Streicher's infamous Der Stürmer on the ideology and content of Milli ?nk?lap.     

Psychotropic Medication Patterns in Medicaid-Insured Youth Based on Clinician-Reported Maltreatment Status

The main objective of this study is to explore the relationship of psychotropic medication use patterns and clinician-reported maltreatment status in Medicaid-insured youth. This cross-sectional study analyzed computerized outpatient claims for youth aged 2–17 years who were continuously enrolled for ≥10 months in a mid-Atlantic state Medicaid program in 2006. Bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic modeling were employed to assess patterns of any psychotropic drug use, and specifically for antipsychotics, antidepressants, and stimulants by clinician-reported maltreatment status and according to other study covariates. Child maltreatment status was assessed using ICD-9 codes for maltreatment. Other covariates included age group, gender, race/ethnicity, region, Medicaid-eligibility categories, and clinician-reported psychiatric diagnostic groups. Among 274,490 youth, 901 had a clinician-reported child maltreatment indicator for a prevalence of 3.3 per 1,000. These youth were more likely to be older, female, African American, and Medicaid eligible by foster care or disability. Youth with clinician-reported maltreatment compared to youth without identified maltreatment had a significantly higher prevalence of antipsychotic use (14.1 vs. 3.4 %), antidepressant use (12.1 vs. 3.4 %) and stimulant use (15.8 vs. 7.8 %). After adjusting for the study covariates, the odds of antipsychotic use (2.6 [2.0, 3.2]), antidepressant use (2.0 [1.6, 2.6]), and any psychotropic use (1.5 [1.3, 1.9]) were comparatively higher among youth with clinician-reported maltreatment. By contrast, the adjusted-odds of stimulant use was comparable between the groups. The findings from this exploratory study from one state’s Medicaid outpatient data suggest that youth with maltreatment indicators have an increased likelihood of antipsychotic and antidepressant medication dispensings.     

How Could There Be True Causal Claims Without There Being Special Causal Facts in the World?

Some philosophers of physics recently expressed their skepticism about causation (Norton 2003b, 2007). However, this is not new. The view that causation does not refer to any ontological category perhaps can be attributed to Hume, Kant and Russell. On the other hand, some philosophers (Wesley Salmon and Phil Dowe) view causation as a physical process and some others (Cartwright) view causation as making claims about capacities possessed by objects. The issue about the ontological status of causal claims involves issues concerning the ontological status of capacity, modality and dispositional claims. In this paper, my goal is to show that without engaging metaphysical debates about the ontological status of causal claims, it can be shown that we can objectively assign truth values to these statements. I argue that for causal claims to be objective we don't need to postulate the existence of special facts (specific to causal claims) in addition to ordinary physical facts described by physical theories. This, I think, is enough to justify the usefulness of this concept in certain branches (may be all) of science. Once this is achieved, there is no need to engage in unnecessary metaphysical debates. So, even if advanced physical theories don't mention this notion, causal reasoning can still be important in understanding the world not in the sense that science discovers special ontological category called causation but in the sense that we come to know certain facts about the world.     

Factors predicting the probability of initiating sexual intercourse by context and sex

Despite men initiating sex more than women there is considerable variance within the sexes. This study is the first to consider the impact of multiple predictors from the literature, and investigates how factors, such as relationship length, sociosexuality, and different aspects of self‐perceived mate value among others, independently and interactively predict initiation of sexual intercourse in both short‐term sexual and long‐term romantic mating contexts, testing predictions from Sexual strategies theory. For long‐term relationships, positive partner bond increased initiative to sexual intercourse for women. For men, self‐perceived independence increased probability of taking the initiative, while relationship attachment decreased probability. For short‐term relations, the desire component of the sociosexual orientation inventory increased probability of initiation for both sexes, while male initiative was increased by pleasure reasons for sex. The impact of individual predictors on initiating intercourse is influenced by being included in a multidimensional model, and relationship context affects the impact of the predictors.     

The Self‐enhancement Function of Autobiographical Memory

The self‐enhancement function of autobiographical memory was examined by assessing the psychological distance of adults' most important memories. Participants (N = 445, ages 18–80) reported the seven most important events from their lives on an online survey and rated the memories in terms of valence, emotionality, importance, vividness, reliving, rehearsal, novelty, and psychological distance. Participants also completed the Rosenberg Self‐esteem Scale. Regression analyses showed that participants felt psychologically closer to positive memories than to negative memories, independent of the actual age of the memories. The self‐enhancement function was unrelated to participants' age but was related to their self‐esteem: Higher self‐esteem was associated with feeling closer to positive memories. Finally, a moderated multiple‐mediation model showed that memories' importance and rehearsal mediated the relation between one's self‐esteem and the psychological distance of their positive versus negative memories. Findings are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Knowledge and Attitudes of the Faculty of Theology Students on Organ Transplantation

Journal of Religion and Health - The objective in this study is to determine the knowledge and attitudes of the Faculty of Theology students on organ transplantation. The study that was planned as...