Frege's Logic

MEDIEVAI AND RENAISSANCF LOGIC

WILLIAM OFOCKHAM, Ockham's theory of propositions. Part I1 of Summa logicae. Translated by Alfred J. Freddoso and Henry Schuurman, with an introduction by Alfred J. Freddoso. University of Notre Dame Press, 1980. viii + 212 pp. £ 12.00.

WILHELM RISSE, Bibliagraphia Logica. Verzeichnis der Handschriften zur Logik. Band IV. Hildesheim, New York: Georg 0lm.s Verlag, 1979. vii + 390pp. DM 98.

G. W .F. H EGEL, Wissenschaft der Logik. Erster Band. Die objektive Logic (l812/1813) (Gesammelte Werke, Hand 11) Herausegeben von F. Hogemannund W. Jaeschhc. Hamburg: Felix hleiner Verlag, 1978. xii + 441 S. DM 118.

G.W.F. HEGEI., Wissenschaft der Logik. Zweiter Band. Die subjektive Logik (1816). (Gesammelte Werke, Band 12.) Herausgegeben von F. Hogemann und W. Jaeschke. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1981. viii + 358 S. DM 122.

G. GUNTHER, Idee und Grundriss einer nicht-aristotelischen Logik. Die Idee und ihre philosophischen Voraussetzungen. Appendix by R. Kaehr. Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag,1978,xxx + 417 + 117 pp. DM 84.

LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY

BFN-AMI SCHARFSTEI N, The philosophers: their lives and the nature of their thought. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980. x + 486 pp. £18.00.

DESMONDLEE (ed.), Wittgenstein's lectures: Cambridge 1930 - 1932. From the notes of John King and Desmond Lee. Oxford: Blackwell, 1980. xix + 124 pp. £7.95.

0. HANFLING, Logical positivism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981. viii + 181 pp. £14.00 (cloth)/£5.50 (paper).

0. HANFLING(ed.),Essenliai readings in iogicai podivihrn. Oxford: Basil Biackwell, 1981. viii + 248 pp. £5.95(paper).     

Field's Paradox and Its Medieval Solution

Hartry Field's revised logic for the theory of truth in his new book, Saving Truth from Paradox, seeking to preserve Tarski's T-scheme, does not admit a full theory of negation. In response, Crispin Wright proposed that the negation of a proposition is the proposition saying that some proposition inconsistent with the first is true. For this to work, we have to show that this proposition is entailed by any proposition incompatible with the first, that is, that it is the weakest proposition incompatible with the proposition whose negation it should be. To show that his proposal gave a full intuitionist theory of negation, Wright appealed to two principles, about incompatibility and entailment, and using them Field formulated a paradox of validity (or more precisely, of inconsistency).

The medieval mathematician, theologian and logician, Thomas Bradwardine, writing in the fourteenth century, proposed a solution to the paradoxes of truth which does not require any revision of logic. The key principle behind Bradwardine's solution is a pluralist doctrine of meaning, or signification, that propositions can mean more than they explicitly say. In particular, he proposed that signification is closed under entailment. In light of this, Bradwardine revised the truth-rules, in particular, refining the T-scheme, so that a proposition is true only if everything that it signifies obtains. Thereby, he was able to show that any proposition which signifies that it itself is false, also signifies that it is true, and consequently is false and not true. I show that Bradwardine's solution is also able to deal with Field's paradox and others of a similar nature. Hence Field's logical revisions are unnecessary to save truth from paradox.     

Recalling more childhood events leads to judgments of poorer memory: Implications for the recovered/false memory debate

Dissociative disorders that are believed to develop from childhood sexual abuse are often considered to include amnesia for childhood events, particularly the events that involve the abuse itself. One unresolved issue is the extent to which memory recovery attempts can contribute to claims of having amnestic symptoms. Experiments with undergraduate subjects reveal that requiring more reports of childhood events will increase judgments of having poorer memory of one’s childhood. The results are consistent with the use of heuristics when one is reasoning under conditions of uncertainty, as experienced difficulty in remembering more experiences is attributed to the incompleteness of childhood memory. The findings challenge the validity of reports of childhood amnesia that follow memory recovery attempts.     

The role of traditionality in the relationships among parental support,career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability

Integrating career construction (Savickas, 2013) and cognitive evaluation (Ryan & Deci, 2002) theories, we examined the moderating role of traditionality beliefs in the indirect relationships among parental support, career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability among Chinese university students. Data were collected from 731 undergraduate students in China at two measurement periods, 18 months apart. Results showed that Time 1 parental support was associated positively with Time 1 career decision-making self-efficacy and Time 2 career adaptability. In addition, the conditional indirect effects of Time 1 parental support in predicting Time 2 career adaptability via Time 1 career decision making self-efficacy were stronger among students with low as opposed to high traditionality beliefs. The implications of the results in terms of theory and practice are discussed.     

Mixing virtue and vice: combining the immediacy effect and the diversification heuristic

Many of the most significant choices that people make are between vices, which exchange small immediate rewards for large delayed costs, and virtues, which exchange small immediate costs for large delayed rewards. We investigate the consequences of making a series of such choices either simultaneously or sequentially. We made two predictions. First, because many alternatives chosen under simultaneous choice will only be experienced following a delay, and because hyperbolic time discounting predicts that people will prefer delayed virtues but immediate vices, we predicted that people would choose more virtues in simultaneous than sequential choice. Second, due to the tendency to diversify portfolios of choices, we predicted a greater mix of virtues and vices in simultaneous than sequential choice. These predictions were confirmed in two experiments involving real choices; one between ‘highbrow’ and ‘lowbrow’ movies, and the other between ‘instant‐win’ and ‘prize‐draw’ lottery tickets. We conclude by posing the question of whether simultaneous or sequential choice results in decisions that more closely approximate what people ‘really’ want. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adults' memories of childhood: Affect,knowing, and remembering

Adult questionnaire respondents reported, for each of a number of events, if they had experienced that event during childhood and, if so, if they remembered the experience or merely knew it had happened. Respondents also rated the emotion of each event and judged whether they would remember more about each reportedly experienced event if they spent more time trying to do so. Study 1 respondents were 96 undergraduates, whereas Study 2 tested 93 community members ranging widely in age. Respondents often reported no recollections of reportedly experienced events. Reportedly experienced events rated as emotional were more often recollected than those rated as neutral, and those rated as positive were more often recollected than those rated as negative. Predicted ability to remember more was related to current memory. Claims of remembering reportedly experienced events increased with age, but predicted ability to remember more about them declined with age.     

Genetic Counseling Assistants: an Integral Piece of the Evolving Genetic Counseling Service Delivery Model

This study explores the potential impact of the genetic counseling assistant (GCA) position on the efficiency of the genetic counseling field, evaluates attitudes regarding expansion of the genetic counseling field to include the GCA, and presents data on GCA endeavors and GCA job tasks as reported by GCAs, certified genetic counselors (CGCs), and program directors (PDs). Data on GCA roles and attitudes toward different aspects of the GCA position were collected via surveys of CGCs who have worked with GCAs, PDs who have and have not had experience with GCAs in their programs, and GCAs. We analyzed responses from 63 individuals: 27 PDs, 22 CGCs, and 14 GCAs. GCAs’ impact on efficiency was calculated via internal analysis of genetic patient volume per genetic counselor within the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) patient database prior to, and since the addition of, a GCA to the practice. The response rates for PDs, CGCs, and GCAs were 27 %, 79 %, and 61 %, respectively. Every CGC stated the GCA increased their efficiency. CGCs with a GCA reported a 60 % average increase in patient volume. This figure was congruent with internal data from the UTSW cancer genetics program (58.5 % increase). Appropriate responsibilities for GCAs as reported by CGCs and PDs (>90 %) include: data entry, shipping tests, administrative tasks, research, and ordering supplies. Regarding GCAs delivering test results, there was response variation whether this should be a job duty: 42 % of CGCs agreed to GCAs delivering negative results to patients, compared to 22 % of program directors. Twenty-two percent of PDs expressed concern about the job title “Genetic Counseling Assistant.” Ninety percent of CGCs felt that GCA was a career path to becoming a CGC, compared to 42 % of PDs. Eighty-three percent of GCAs who decided to apply to CGC graduate programs were accepted. We conclude the addition of a GCA to a genetic counseling practice contributes to increased efficiency and is one way to expand the reach of the profession.     

A general connectionist model of attitude structure and change: the ACS (Attitudes as Constraint Satisfaction) model

A localist, parallel constraint satisfaction, artificial neural network model is presented that accounts for a broad collection of attitude and attitude-change phenomena. The network represents the attitude object and cognitions and beliefs related to the attitude, as well as how to integrate a persuasive message into this network. Short-term effects are modeled by activation patterns due to parallel constraint satisfaction processes, and long-term effects are modeled by weight changes due to the settling patterns of activation. Phenomena modeled include thought-induced attitude polarization, elaboration and attitude strength, motivated reasoning and social influence, an integrated view of heuristic versus systematic persuasion, and implicit versus explicit attitude change. Results of the simulations are consistent with empirical results. The same set of simple mechanisms is used to model all the phenomena, which allows the model to offer a parsimonious theoretical account of how structure can impact attitude change. This model is compared with previous computational approaches to attitudes, and implications for attitude research are discussed.