Indexicals: what they are essential for

Abstract

Cappelen and Dever have recently defended the view that indexicals are not essential: They do not signify anything philosophically deep and we do not need indexicals for any important philosophical work. This paper contests their view from the point of view of an account of intentional agency. It argues that we need indexicals essentially when accounting for what it is do something intentionally and, as a consequence, intentional action, and defends a view of intentional action as a possible conclusion of practical reasoning where the indexical is essential for the content of such a conclusion.     

Validation of the NEO Personality Inventory and the five-factor model. Can findings from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis be reconciled?

The aims of the study were (i) to analyse a Norwegian version of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), using both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); (ii) to compare the results of the two factor analytic strategies, both within the present study and across different studies; and (iii) to discuss possible causes of discrepant findings (across factor-analytic methods and across samples). The sample comprised 961 subjects representative of the non-institutionalized Norwegian adult population. Using an EFA strategy, very high coefficients of factor comparability (r=0.93–0.99) across sexes were found. None of the five main domains turned out to be as homogeneous as suggested by the original five-factor model, but most of the deviations from the assumed simple structure were comparable to results from recent American studies. However, none of the revised EFA-based models were supported using CFA methods. Moreover, a large number of modifications were necessary to obtain a model with acceptable fit. It is argued that these discrepant findings can be accounted for, at least in part, by (i) consequences of different model acceptance criteria in the EFA and CFA tradition, (ii) the inherent logical–semantical structure of the NEO-PI, and (iii) consequences of selection effects (factorial invariance problem). © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Motivational predictors of learning strategies,participation, exertion,and performance in physical education: A randomized controlled trial

Teachers’ support of student autonomy in physical education (PE) is believed to be important for students’ motivation and outcomes in PE. We tested the hypothesis that an intervention designed to help teachers to be more autonomy supportive in teaching their students to use learning strategies (relative to standard teaching) would increase students’ perceived autonomy support from the teachers, perceived competence, autonomous motivation, use of learning strategies and their exertion, participation, and grades in PE over a school year. We also tested a self-determination theory (SDT) process model. Experimental effects of the intervention yielded significant positive effects on changes in perceived autonomy support, learning strategies defined as absorption and effort regulation, as well as for performance (i.e., grades). In testing the SDT process model with SEM, most of the predicted paths were significantly supported.     

Deconstructing ‘Western esotericism’: on Wouter Hanegraaff's Esotericism and the Academy

This paper discusses a number of consequences that – although not always intended by the author – can be drawn from the radically historicist approach adopted by Wouter J. Hanegraaff in his monograph Esotericism and the Academy. These consequences are the atomization of ‘esotericism’ into a disparate range of ideas, practices, and currents with few if any shared elements; a better approximation to contemporary anthropological views of culture and cultural innovation; a focus on polemical strategies rather than substantive contents and a concomitant possibility of cross-cultural comparison; a reluctance to engage with theories of broader scope; and a vacillation between seeing ‘esotericism’ as merely a waste-basket category and attempting nonetheless to salvage a minimal substantive definition.     

Neuroticism and self-reported somatic health: a twin study

Using a twin sample (N?=?188; 53 monozygotic and 39 dizygotic twin pairs, and 4 single twins whose co-twin did not participate), this study sought (1) to estimate heritabilities of neuroticism and of somatic complaints rated on the basis of two different time frames ('the last week' vs. 'in general'); (2) to estimate the genetic association between neuroticism and the complaints indices and (3) to examine to what extent somatic complaints are aetiologically distinct from neuroticism. Using models with common additive genetic (A) and individual-specific environmental (E) factors, the heritabilities for neuroticism and complaints 'in general' and during 'the last week' were 0.46 (0.20-0.65), 0.44 (0.22-0.62), and 0.45 (0.22-0.63), respectively. Nearly 60% of the phenotypic correlation between neuroticism and somatic complaints were accounted for by A. Furthermore, a substantial part of the variance in somatic complaints was due to unique genetic and individual-specific environmental influences unrelated to neuroticism. These results suggest that somatic complaints are moderately heritable and that a considerable portion of the covariance between neuroticism and complaints measures is due to genetic factors. Yet, the findings also suggest that these two attributes are distinct entities with overlapping, but not identical, underlying genetic and environmental influences.     

The Lutheran Confessions in Western Europe: Past and Future

Abstract: The idea of a church uniting confession began with the Lutherans in the late 1520s; and with translations of the Augsburg Confession (AC) it spread throughout Europe with the advance of the Reformation. As European culture slips further toward postmodern relativism, the absolute nature of divine claims reflected in confessions will seem odd and unwelcome. Christians must take up the challenge of developing a hermeneutic for interpreting the confessions so that the Truth of God can be respected.