Kant and Kantians on “the Normative Question”

After decades of vigorous debate, many contemporary philosophers in the Kantian tradition continue to believe, or at least hope, that morality can be given a firm grounding by showing that rational agents cannot consistently reject moral requirements. In the present paper, I do not take a stand on the possibility of bringing out the alleged inconsistency. Instead I argue that, even if a successful argument could be given for this inconsistency, this would not provide an adequate answer to “the normative question” (i.e., “why should I be moral?”). My defense of this claim emerges from a defense of a claim about Kant, namely, that he did not attempt to answer the normative question in this way. After carefully articulating Kant’s answer to the normative question, I argue that his answer to this question contains a lesson about why we should not embrace the approach that is popular among many contemporary Kantians.     

Intracerebral scopolamine administration attenuates Pavlovian heart rate conditioning in the rabbit

Scopolamine hydrobromide was injected into the a) septum, b) dorsal hippocampus, or c) lateral ventricles of conscious rabbits via bilateral chronic indwelling cannulas. The cardiac orienting reflex (OR) and heart rate (HR) classical conditioning were assessed. A fourth group of animals received injections of the vehicle solution into these same brain areas and were otherwise similarly trained. Scopolamine had no effect on the cardiac OR produced by unreinforced tone stimuli. The OR consisted of pronounced bradycardia that habituated over successive trials in all groups. The HR change during classical conditioning also consisted of bradycardia. However, these conditional HR changes were attenuated by scopolamine injected into the septum and lateral ventricles, but were not affected by injections into the dorsal hippocampus. These results suggest that centrally applied scopolamine may affect a central nervous system associative process, and not a mechanism directly involved in primary bradycardia.     

Kinetic output: A conceptual, dimensional and empirical analysis

A dimensional analysis permitted behavioral frequency, duration and available time to be collapsed into a singular dimensionless expression called Kinetic output (K(o)). An empirical analysis across several behaviors in some human subjects showed that the derived index of behavioral output, K(o), was more likely to exhibit less variability than rate or duration measures of the behavior. As a reduction in variability is synonymous with finding an increased order, the results tentatively support the notion that behavior may exhibit conformity at a previously undetected level. One major implication of the K(o) formulation is that divergent frequency and duration performances are interpretable as reflecting alternate forms of the same equivalence.     

Lingual vibrotactile screening: an investigation of normal sensitivity based on multiple threshold determinations

This report describes a standardized training and sensory screening procedure which was used to obtain 7 separate lingual vibrotactile thresholds for each of 5 normal subjects during a 30-day interval. Baseline observations of lingual sensitivity were highly consistent and occurred within a narrow range of contractor displacements. The authors conclude that the screening method provides a quick and reliable clinical tool for general diagnostic use and discuss directions for continued research applications.     

Effects of massed practice and cue-controlled relaxation on tic frequency in Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome

The effects of massed practice (MP) and cue-controlled relaxation on tic frequency were assessed in three single-case studies. Measures of tic frequency, subjective tension and fatigue, and physiological arousal were obtained throughout treatment.MP failed to produce any reduction in tic frequency in the three Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome patients studied. Cue-controlled relaxation resulted in a moderate decrease in tic frequency in only one patient.Tic frequency was related to physiological arousal, as assessed by skin conductance response frequency. No evidence was obtained in support of the suggestion that ticquers demonstrate a deficit in their habituation to sensory stimulation.     

Power spectral density analysis of lateral human standing sway

A number of investigators have used power spectral density (PSD) analysis to try to identify and quantify various sensory systems which are involved in upright standing. Using PSD analysis, over a frequency range from 0.02-2.5 Hz, the present study examined two trials of lateral sway in each of 80 men. The results showed that little change occurred in PSD values between the first and second trials. Exponential curves were fit to the averaged trials data of each subject. The values of the parameter estimates obtained from the curve-fitting were regressed on the values of various direct, and derived anthropometric variables to try to explain the variance of the parameter estimates in terms of the anthropometrics. The subject's center of gravity location accounted for no more than 15.8% of the parameter variance, whereas the remaining anthropometrics explained even less. The overall averaged data suggest that three functions (related to visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive processes) may underlie the sway pattern over this frequency range. PSD curves of individuals with a history of high-level athletic activity clearly differed from those of sedentary subjects.     

Effects of stimulus control and deprivation upon discriminative responding

Discriminative responding in pigeons was studied under multiple variable-interval extinction schedules in which extinction was correlated with either a tone or a white keylight. The two procedures resulted in weak and strong stimulus control, respectively. In the first experiment, there was no interaction between schedule components when stimulus control was strong and reinforcement was omitted under the previously reinforced component. However, there was marked induction between components when stimulus control was weak and responding was extinguished under the previously reinforced component. In the second experiment, hours of food deprivation was varied under two levels of stimulus control. Deprivation mainly influenced response rates under the extinction stimulus, with greater absolute rate increases occurring the lower the existing level of stimulus control. Increases in responding during the extinction stimulus were four times as great from 24 to 72 hours of deprivation as from 24 to 48 hours under conditions of both high and low stimulus control.     

Running-wheel activity and avoidance in the mongolian gerbil

In the first of two experiments, running-wheel activity and unsignaled (Sidman) avoidance were studied in gerbils and albino rats. All gerbils ran at higher rates than any of the four rats studied. Under the avoidance procedure, four rats developed effective responding; the other two performed much less successfully. While avoidance developed more slowly in the gerbils, all showed asymptotic performance as effective as the four superior rats. The rats showed a consistent warm-up effect, receiving 60% to 80% of the total shocks in the initial third of the session. The gerbils displayed no warm-up, with shocks being evenly distributed over the session. Warm-up in the rats was not related to either response rate or to how effectively the animal was avoiding. When shock was removed, extinction occurred more rapidly in the rats than the gerbils. In the second experiment, which involved two-way shuttle avoidance, gerbils and albino mice quickly acquired the response. All animals met a criterion of 90% avoidance over 80 trials.     

Continuous punishment of free-operant avoidance in the rat

Three groups of albino rats were trained under a free-operant avoidance (Sidman) procedure with equal shock-shock and response-shock intervals. After stable performance was achieved, the animals were concurrently exposed to a brief electric shock after each response. The procedures were as follows: Punishment Schedule I: punishment shock was introduced at an intensity approximately one quarter that of avoidance shock; increments of nearly this same size were made as stable performance was achieved at succeeding punishment shock intensities. Punishment Schedule II: punishment shock was introduced at approximately one-half the intensity of avoidance shock; after stable performance, punishment shock was increased to the same intensity as avoidance shock. Punishment Schedule III: punishment shock was introduced and maintained at the same intensity as avoidance shock. Punishment was continued for all groups until one of two suppression criteria was attained. All animals made fewer responses and received more avoidance shocks as a function of increasing punishment shock. Half of the animals under Punishment Schedule I required punishment shock higher than avoidance shock to meet their assigned suppression criterion. A comparison of all procedures showed that suppression was greater when punishment shock was initially at high intensity.