Knowledge from Falsehood and Truth-Closeness

Philosophia - The paper makes two points. First, any theory of knowledge must explain the difference between cases of knowledge from falsehood (provided there are any) and Gettier cases where the...     

Acculturation,self‐construal,mental and physical health: An explorative study of East Asian students in Germany

The present study explores acculturation and its associated aspects of two East Asian student groups with different levels of exposure to German culture (100 international students from East Asian countries [IS]; 61 second generation students of East Asian descent [SGS]). First, we investigated the relationships between acculturation, self‐construal, depressive and somatic symptoms, and differences between the student groups in these variables. Second, the four acculturation types (integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization) were examined regarding their relationship to self‐construal and health outcomes. The results showed that the acculturation dimensions (mainstream, heritage) were relevant to the level of depressive symptoms for IS which was not the case for SGS. Furthermore, IS reported more somatic symptoms whereas there was no difference between the two groups in the level of depressive symptoms. In the analysis of acculturation types, assimilated and integrated students were characterized by high independent self‐construal, while separated and integrated students showed high interdependent self‐construal. Assimilated students displayed the least depressive symptoms of all acculturation groups. This study highlights different characteristics of East Asian students in acculturation, self‐construal and health outcomes, and discusses the complexity of the relationships between acculturation types and health.     

Willusionism,epiphenomenalism, and the feeling of conscious will

While epiphenomenalism—i.e., the claim that the mental is a causally otiose byproduct of physical processes that does not itself cause anything—is hardly ever mentioned in philosophical discussions of free will, it has recently come to play a crucial role in the scientific attack on free will led by neuroscientists and psychologists. This paper is concerned with the connection between epiphenomenalism and the claim that free will is an illusion, in particular with the connection between epiphenomenalism and willusionism, i.e., with the thesis that there is empirical evidence for a thoroughgoing skepticism with regard to free will that is based on the claim that mental states are epiphenomena. The paper discusses four arguments for willusionism that in some form or other appeal to epiphenomenalism and argues that three of them can be discarded relatively easily. The fourth one, based on Daniel Wegner’s theory of apparent mental causation and his claim that free will is an illusion because the feeling of conscious will is epiphenomenal with regard to the corresponding voluntary actions, is dealt with in more detail. The overall verdict is negative: there is no empirical evidence for any kind of epiphenomenalism that would warrant the claim that free will is an illusion. Whatever it is that makes free will the object of contention between neuroscience and philosophy, epiphenomenalism provides no reason to think that free will is an illusion.     

An Evaluation of Spearman's Hypothesis by Manipulating g Saturation

Spearman's Hypothesis holds that the magnitude of mean White–Black differences on cognitive tests covaries with the extent to which a test is saturated with g. This paper evaluates Spearman's Hypothesis by manipulating the g saturation of cognitive composites. Using a sample of 16,384 people from the General Aptitude Test Battery database, we show that one can decrease mean racial differences in a g test by altering the g saturation of the measure. Consistent with Spearman's Hypothesis, the g saturation of a test is positively and strongly related to the magnitude of White–Black mean racial differences in test scores. We demonstrate that the reduction in mean racial differences accomplished by reducing the g saturation in a measure is obtained at the cost of lower validity and increased prediction errors. We recommend that g tests varying in mean racial differences be examined to determine if the Spearman's Hypothesis is a viable explanation for the results.     

The Moral Oracle’s Test

When presented with a situation involving an agent’s choice between alternative actions, a moral oracle says what the agent is allowed to do. The oracle bases her advice on some moral theory, but the nature of that theory is not known by us. The moral oracle’s test consists in determining whether a series of questions to the oracle can be so constructed that her answers will reveal which of two given types of theories she adheres to. The test can be applied to moral theories in order to determine if they differ in their recommendations for action. Based on this test, a terminology is developed to specify different forms and degrees of distinguishability between moral theories, or types of theories, in terms of their recommendations for action. In conclusion, the test is applied to consequentialism and utilitarianism.     

The spatial Stroop effect: A comparison of color-word and position-word interference

The Stroop effect is one of the most famous examples of interference in human perception. The present study demonstrates that a position Stroop paradigm, comparable to the classical color-word interference paradigm, resulted in the same pattern of interference for the spatial dimension; however, the interference was significantly weaker. By exchanging the original oral response for a manual response in the spatial paradigm, we showed that the verbal component is crucial for the Stroop effect: Manual responses lead to a disappearance of the interference effect. Moreover, with manual responses word position was recognized at the same speed for the baseline condition and for words that were incongruent as well as congruent with the spatial position. The results indicate (1) that the Stoop effect depends heavily on verbal components and (2) that differing processing speeds between reading and position recognition do not serve as a proper explanation for the effect. In addition, the provided paradigm plausibly transfers the classical color-word interference to the spatial dimension.     

Faceting of a rough solid–liquid interface of a metal induced by forced convection

The solid–liquid interface of metallic systems of small entropy of fusion is characterized by a rough interface and dendritic morphology. In contrast, systems of high entropy of fusion like semimetals and semiconductors show smooth interfaces and facetted interfaces. The present work demonstrates that, in an undercooled melt of a metal–metalloid alloy Ni₂B of intermediate entropy of fusion, a transition from a rough to a smooth interface is induced by forced convection of the melt. Electrostatic levitation is used to container-less undercool droplets in a quiescent state with no convection while electromagnetic levitation (EML) is used to undercool droplets with forced convection. The growth velocity of the solid phase is monitored as a function of undercooling by a high-speed video camera. The data are analysed within dendrite growth theory. In the case of EML, a transition from a rough to a smooth interface is indicated during dendrite growth in the undercooled melt. This is confirmed by facetted microstructures of samples solidified upon undercooling by EML. Hopper-like crystals are formed like in non-metals as bismuth, halite and ice.     

European Functionalism

Functionalism about mental phenomena must account for their multiple realizability. According to standard doctrine, this can be achieved by allowing our folk theory's realization formula to be multiply satisfied by distinct physical properties. If at all, uniqueness can then be restored by suitable relativization to populations or worlds. Recent arguments suggest that this is a dead end. Here the attempt is made to devise a novel type of functionalism that accounts for multiple realizability but rejects the standard doctrine and thus proves immune to those arguments. The distinctive feature of this novel type of functionalism is its use of plural quantification in ramsification, which allows it to retain uniqueness of satisfaction despite multiple realizability while respecting naturalness requirements on physical properties.     

Maximal and perimaximal contraction

Generalizations of partial meet contraction are introduced that start out from the observation that only some of the logically closed subsets of the original belief set are at all viable as contraction outcomes. Belief contraction should proceed by selection among these viable options. Several contraction operators that are based on such selection mechanisms are introduced and then axiomatically characterized. These constructions are more general than the belief base approach. It is shown that partial meet contraction is exactly characterized by adding to one of these constructions the condition that all logically closed subsets of the belief set can be obtained as the outcome of a single (multiple) contraction. Examples are provided showing the counter-intuitive consequences of that condition, thus confirming the credibility of the proposed generalization of the AGM framework.