Economic,Environmental and Moral Acceptance of Renewable Energy: A Case Study—The Agricultural Biogas Plant at Pěčín

The production of renewable energy in agricultural biogas plants is being widely criticized because—among other things—most of the feedstock comes from purpose-grown crops like maize. These activities (generously subsidized in the Czech Republic) generate competitive pressure to other crops that are used for feeding or food production, worsening their affordability. Unique pretreatment technology that allows substitution of the purpose-grown crops by farming residues (such as husk or straw) was built 6 years ago on a commercial basis in Pě?ín (Czech Republic) under modest funding and without publicity. The design of the concept; financial assessment and moral viewpoint were analyzed based on practical operating data. It showed that the apparatus improves economic, environmental and moral acceptance as well. However, according to the government’s view, public funding for this type of processing was shortened, “because waste materials represent a lower cost”. The impact of such governance was analyzed as well.     

Particularity of Content and Illusions of Identity

This paper argues that the accuracy of perceptual experiences cannot be properly characterized by using the particular notion of content without breaking one of the three plausible assumptions. On the other hand, the general notion of content is not threatened by this problem. The first assumption is that all elements of content determine the accuracy conditions of an experience. The second states that objects needed for the accuracy of experiences are physical entities that stand in a perceptual relation to a subject. According to the third assumption, common experiences do not have accuracy conditions that are impossible to satisfy. The above point is demonstrated by analysing illusions of identity in which the number of objects is represented incorrectly. In the concluding parts of the paper, I investigate how an alternative account of particular content can be developed by rejecting the first assumption.     

The Institution of Life in Gehlen and Merleau-Ponty: Searching for the Common Ground for the Anthropological Difference

The goal of our article is to review the widespread anthropological figure, according to which we can achieve a better understanding of humans by contrasting them with animals. This originally Herderian approach was elaborated by Arnold Gehlen, who characterized humans as “deficient beings” who become complete through culture. According to Gehlen, humans, who are insufficiently equipped by instincts, indirectly stabilize their existence by creating institutions, i.e., complexes of habitual actions. On the other hand, Maurice Merleau-Ponty shows that corporeal relationship to the world is already indirect because it is based on preestablished and readjusted “standards” or “norms” of interaction with the environment. Merleau-Ponty then calls these norms “institutions” and views culture as readjustment of institutions which operate already on the level of corporeal existence. The anthropological figure of confronting humans and animals thus cannot produce, as in Gehlen, a contrast between an allegedly “direct” relationship to the world in animals and a supposedly “indirect” relationship to the world in humans. The Herderian approach can be meaningfully retained only if interpreted as an invitation to confront the norms of indirect interaction with the world in animals and in people, that is, if viewed as a comparison of their respective institutions.     

Test-dependent expression of behavioral syndromes: A study of aggressiveness,activity, and stress of chub

Aggressiveness has been one of the behavioral traits most examined with various standard testing methods. We used two distinct methods (the mirror and the real opponent tests) to evaluate individual aggression and relate it to the activity and individual stress of chub (Squalius cephalus L.). Three hypotheses were formulated and tested: (a) there is a significant positive relationship between the aggressiveness of individuals measured with the mirror and the real opponent tests, indicating their convergent validity; (b) the irregularities in response to the aggressiveness and activity tests lead to the context-specific expression of the behavioral syndromes; and (c) there is a significant positive relationship between the stress induced in individuals by both tests of aggressiveness, demonstrating individually consistent stress-coping strategies. The first and the second hypothesis were confirmed, while the third hypothesis was rejected. Our results suggest that particular tests of aggressiveness could act as a situation with high strength, leaving little variation between individual responses. Thus, we propose that for the proper interpretation of various studies using different tests to study identical behavioral traits, it is important to consider the convergent validity of not only the tested behavioral traits but also the individual stress responses. The chub also showed stress relieve through aggressiveness, suggesting the species as a prospective animal model to the study interaction between the stress and the aggressiveness. A detailed aggression ethogram of chub was provided to facilitate the use of this specie in future studies.     

Perceptual Kinds as Supervening Sortals

It seems intuitive that in situations of perceptual recognition, additional properties are represented. While much has been written about the significance of such properties for perceptual phenomenology, it is still unclear (a) what the relation between recognition‐based properties and lower‐level perceptual properties is and (b) whether it is justified to classify them as kind properties. Relying on results in cognitive psychology, I argue that recognition‐based properties (I) are irreducible, high‐level properties, and (II) are kind properties by virtue of being sortal properties but (III) supervene on lower‐level properties and so are unlikely to be natural kind properties.     

Will Bootstrap Clustering Resuscitate Repertory Grid Assessment of Cognitive Complexity? Convergence with Integrative and Dialogical Complexity Suggests It Could

This article is concerned with an introduction and examination of a new cognitive complexity index derived from repertory grid data. Our approach follows Heckmann's and Bell’s introduction of bootstrap clustering of grid data. In order to examine the validity of the new index, we reanalyze data from an older study. The reanalysis showed that the new index correlated significantly with other independent complexity indices: integrative complexity and dialogical complexity. The directions of correlations were in accordance with complexity theories that underlie the indices. These findings support the validity of the cognitive complexity index based on bootstrap clustering.