Against the conditional correctness of scepticism

Stroud has argued for many years that scepticism is conditionally correct. We cannot, he claims, both undergo a Cartesian-style examination of the extent of our knowledge as well as avoid scepticism. One reason Stroud's position appears quite plausible is the so-called ‘totality condition’ imposed for this kind of examination: as enquiring philosophers we are called upon to assess all of our knowledge, all at once. However, in this paper I argue that Stroud's apparent understanding of the totality condition is mistaken. Evidently, Stroud thinks that honouring the totality condition amounts to imposing the strong requirement that we initially assume that we do not know anything about external reality. However, there is a weaker requirement available: that we initially not assume that we know anything about external reality. I argue i) that the weaker conception of the totality condition is most suitable for the kind of philosophical examination that Stroud seems to have in mind; and ii) that according to this same conception, scepticism is not conditionally correct.     

The Relationship Between Gender Social Identity and Support for Feminism

This study is an application of social identity theory to feminist consciousness and activism. For women, strong gender identifications may enhance support for equality struggles, whereas for men, they may contribute to backlashes against feminism. University students (N = 276), primarily Euroamerican, completed a measure of gender self-esteem (GSE, that part of one's self-concept derived from one's gender), and two measures of feminism. High GSE in women and low GSE in men were related to support for feminism. Consistent with past research, women were more supportive of feminism than men, and in both genders, support for feminist ideas was greater than self-identification as a feminist.     

Prototypes,Location, and Associative Networks (PLAN): Towards a Unified Theory of Cognitive Mapping

An integrated representation of large-scale space, or cognitive map, colled PLAN, is presented that attempts to address a broader spectrum of issues than has been previously attempted in a single model. Rather than examining way-finding as a process separate from the rest of cognition, one or the fundamental goals of this work is to examine how the wayfinding process is integrated into general cognition. One result of this approach is that the model is “heads-up,” or scene-based, because it takes advantage of the properties of the human visual system and, particularly, the visual system's split into two pathways. The emphasis on the human location or “where” system is new to cognitive mapping and is port of an attempt to synthesize prototype theory, associative networks and location together in a connectionist system. Not all of PLAN is new, however. Many of its parts have analogues in one or another preexisting theory. What makes PLAN unique is integrating the various components into a coherent whole, and the capacity of this resulting system to speak to a wide range of constraints. Our approach emphasizes adaptiveness; thus, our focus on such issues as ease of use and efficiency of learning. The result is a model that has a stronger relationship both to the environment, and to the ways that humans interact with it, compared with previous models. The resulting model is examined in some detail and compared to other systems.     

Force versus fury: Sex differences in the relationships among physical and psychological threat potential,the facial width‐to‐height ratio,and judgements of aggressiveness

Individuals with larger facial width‐to‐height ratios (FWHRs) are judged as more threatening, and engage in more threat‐related behavior, than do individuals with smaller FWHRs. Here we identified components of threat potential that are related to the FWHR. In Study 1, the FWHR was correlated positively with physical threat potential (bicep size) in women and with both physical and psychological (anger proneness) threat potential in men. Behavioral aggression was measured in a subset of these participants using the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (costly aggression) and a Money Allocation Task (non‐costly aggression). Psychological (but not physical) threat potential predicted non‐costly aggression and physical (but not psychological) threat potential predicted costly aggression. In Study 2, a separate set of participants judged the anger proneness, strength, or aggressiveness of male participants photographed in Study 1. Participants’ judgements of all three characteristics were associated with the FWHR, and there were sex differences in how aggressiveness was conceptualized (for women, aggressiveness was associated with anger proneness, for men, aggressiveness was associated with strength). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the FWHR may be an adaptation to cue the threat potential of men.

     

Translations Between Gentzen–Prawitz and Jaśkowski–Fitch Natural Deduction Proofs

Two common forms of natural deduction proof systems are found in the Gentzen–Prawitz and Ja?kowski–Fitch systems. In this paper, I provide translations between proofs in these systems, pointing out the ways in which the translations highlight the structural rules implicit in the systems. These translations work for classical, intuitionistic, and minimal logic. I then provide translations for classical S4 proofs.

     

The Bibimbap Migration Theory? Challenges of Korea’s Multicultural Mix and Social Integration Development

Migration was never a brand new phenomenon in South Korea, but its migration pattern has been redirected, migrant size has been amplified, and migrant ethnicity has been diversified in recent years. Korea is undergoing dramatic changes in its demographic composition with an increasing presence of foreigners since the 1990s. Traditionally known for its cultural uniqueness and ethnic homogeneousness, the ongoing inflow of foreigners has presented new challenges, as to who the Koreans are and how the modern Korean society should be defined. Some Koreans even raise concern over migration inflow as a threat to its nationhood purity. This research examines the shifting trend of immigration in Korea with a focus on the new social development of multiculturalism, while assessing the level of social integration and multicultural discourses of the public. In addition to those widely discussed marriage immigrants and foreign labor workers in the existing literature, the recent surge of professional expats, foreign teachers, and international students is becoming evident in Korea’s multicultural mix. Moreover, there is still a lack of literature on foreign migrants in Korea, including the US military service personnel, the foreign professional sports players, non-North Korean international refugees, and the latest, permanent residency immigrants through property investment in Korea. Despite the noted increasing inflow of a variety of immigrant residents, who are constantly shaping the new faces of Korea, the acceptance of ethnic diversity and cultural integration has yet to secure its solid place in the Korean society for multiculturalism to be truly embraced and flourished.     

Family Resource Allocation after Firstborns Leave Home: Implications for Secondborns' Academic Functioning

This study assessed secondborn adolescents' perceptions of changes in the allocation of family resources following their firstborn siblings' departure from home after high school, and whether perceived changes were related to changes over 1 year in secondborns' academic functioning. Participants were secondborn siblings (mean age = 16.58, SD = 0.91) from 115 families in which the older sibling had left the family home in the previous year. Allocation of resources was measured via coded qualitative interviews. Most (77%) secondborns reported increases in at least one type of family resource (i.e., parental companionship, attention, material goods), and many reported an increase in multiple types of resources in the year following their older sibling's departure. Consistent with resource dilution theory, perceptions of increases in fathers' companionship, fathers' attention, and mothers' companionship were related to improvements over time in secondborns' academic functioning.     

Latent inhibition and asymmetrical visual-spatial attention in children with ADHD.

The research was designed to determine whether the purported hemispheric asymmetries that are associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect performance on a selective attention visual search task, and whether any obtained asymmetry will be modulated by methylphenidate. Two groups of children (8-15 years) with ADHD, one with methylphenidate treatment (ADHD+) and one without (ADHD+), were compared to matched controls on a two-stage visual search task. The task assessed right-left visual field asymmetries and the effects of changing a previous distractor into a target. Such a procedure, related to latent inhibition (LI; poorer performance to a previously irrelevant stimulus than to a novel one), can provide evidence for dysfunctional processing of irrelevant stimuli. All three groups exhibited the LI effect. The ADHD group, however, exhibited less LI for left- than right-side targets, an effect absent in the control and ADHD+ groups, suggesting a lateralized attentional deficit for ADHD+ that was normalized by methylphenidate.