Class,mass and mereology

LeSniewski’s systems of Ontology and Mereology, considered from a purely formal point of view, possessstriking algebraic parallels, ascan be seen in their respective relations to Boolean algebra. But there are alsoimportant divergences, above all that general Mereology is silent, where Ontology is not, on the existenceof ‘atoms’ (individuals). By employing plural terms, LeSniewski sought to accommodate talk of (distributive)classes, without according these an autonomous ontological status. His logic also – like predicate logic– has no place for mass predication in its raw state. It is argued that reference both to pluralities and tomasses is ineliminable, and that one must therefore separate the grammatical distinction singular/pluralfrom the ontological distinction individual/class/mass. A kind of language, modelled on kiniewski’s, issuggested which enables these distinctions to be held apart and at the same time, building on the work ofRichard Sharvy, allows us to express the most important relationships between individuals, classes andmasses.     

Leibniz,Whitehead and the Metaphysics of Causation

Medieval Thought: The Western Intellectual Tradition from Antiquity to the Thirteenth Century by Michael Haren Second Edition. Macmillan 1992. Pp. ix + 315.

Being a Philosopher: The History of a Practice by D. W. Hamlyn London and New York: Roudedge 1992. Pp. x + 187. ISBN 0–415–02968–6.

A History of Western Philosophy Vol. 3, Renaissance Philosophy by Brian B. Copenhaver and Charles B. Schmitt Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. 450. Hb £30.00. Pb £8.99.

La Scepsi moderna. Interpretazioni dello scetticismo da Charron a Hume by Gianni Paganini Pp. 528. Cosenza: Edizioni Il Busento 1991. L 60,000.

A History of Modern Political Thought 185 A History of Modern Political Thought, Major Political Thinkers from Hobbes to Marx by Iain Hampsher‐Monk Oxford: Blackwell 1992 Pp. xiii + 609 Paperback, £14.99.

Malebranche and Ideas 189 Malebranche and Ideas by Steven M. Nadler New York: Oxford University Press 1992. Pp. 192. ISBN 0–19–507724–5. £35.00

Kantian Aesthetics Pursued by Anthony Savile Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 1993, ISBN 0–7486–0439–1

Philosophy and Logic in Central Europe from Bolzano to Tarski by Peter Simons Kluwer 1992     

Unskilled and optimistic: Overconfident predictions despite calibrated knowledge of relative skill

Those who are less skilled tend to overestimate their abilities more than do those who are more skilled—the so-called Dunning–Kruger effect. Less-skilled performers presumably have less of the knowledge needed to make informed guesses about their relative performance. If so, the Dunning–Kruger effect should vanish when participants do have access to information about their relative ability and performance. Competitive bridge players predicted their results for bridge sessions before playing and received feedback about their actual performance following each session. Despite knowing their own relative skill and showing unbiased memory for their performance, they made overconfident predictions consistent with a Dunning–Kruger effect. This bias persisted even though players received accurate feedback about their predictions after each session. The finding of a Dunning–Kruger effect despite knowledge of relative ability suggests that differential self-knowledge is not a necessary precondition for the Dunning–Kruger effect. At least in some cases, the effect might reflect a different form of irrational optimism.     

Health-Related Quality of Life and Perceived Need for Mental Health Services in Adolescent Solid Organ Transplant Recipients

The purpose of the current investigation was to assess interest in mental health services among parents of adolescent solid organ transplant recipients and the relationship between parent perceived need for mental health services and patient health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Sixty-three parents rated interest in receiving 10 mental health services, and patient HRQOL ratings were gathered from adolescent transplant recipients and their parents. Ninety-four percent of parents expressed some level of interest in at least one of the proposed services, with over 40 % indicating maximum interest. Parents’ perceived need for mental health services was inversely related to adolescent and parent reports of HRQOL on the behavior, mental health, family cohesion, and parental impact-emotional domains. Results suggest that parents of adolescent solid organ transplant recipients are interested in receiving mental health services for their families. Assessment of need for mental health services and HRQOL may inform the medical team of families requiring intervention.     

WRITING THE LAND: LANGUAGE AND TERRITORY IN MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE

This essay examines one of the greatest ambitions of the Hebrew cultural revival––the creation of a modern and distinct Hebrew national culture by rewinding history and reconnecting the indeterminate Jewish subject to a determinate Hebrew soil. The essay looks at three writers from three distinct periods in the last century, S. Yizhar, Amos Oz and Orly Castel-Bloom, whose works are deeply concerned with this connection between man and land, and who demonstrate that concern through a particular use of language. The essay shows how each of these writers uses the Hebrew language to comment on these relations in the last 50 or so years and tell us something about the state of Israeli Hebrew culture in the so-called post-national age. The article looks at Yizhar's careful creation of a language-land bond, at the way Amos Oz warns against the excesses of these bonds, and at Orly Castel-Bloom's critical attempt to undermine these bonds half a century after they have been created.     

Changes are not localized before they are explicitly detected

Change detection is in many ways analogous to visual search. Yet, unlike search, successful detection depends not on the salience of features within a scene, but on the difference between the original and modified scene. If, as in search, pre-attentive mechanisms guide attention to the change location, the change itself must produce a preattentively detectable signal. Despite recent evidence for implicit representation of change in the absence of conscious detection, few studies have yet explored whether attention is guided to a change location prior to explicit detection. In four “change blindness” experiments using several variants of the “flicker” task, we tested the hypothesis that implicit or preattentive mechanisms guide change localization prior to explicit detection. None of the experiments revealed improved localization of changes prior to explicit reports of detection, suggesting that implicit detection of change does not contribute to the eventual explicit localization of a change. Instead, change localization is essentially arbitrary, driven by the salience of features within scenes.     

How much can you bend before you break: An experience of using constructionist consulting as a tool for organizational learning in the corporate world

This article reflects upon the experience the authors had in the process of designing and facilitating a year-long leadership development class within a division of a high-tech manufacturing corporation in the USA. The design reflected narrative (Simons, 1997; Epston & White, 1990), feminist (Ferguson, 1984; Ramsey & Calvert, 1994), and constructionist principles, and was implemented as a “learning-in-organizing process” (Abma, this issue). We have structured the article to capture the dynamic nature of this process. This includes a discussion of how we as “outsider” class instructors and “insider” participants negotiated and renegotiated the design of the class as well as the effects of these “relational negotiations” on our collective learning. We end with a consideration of the implications of our “learning-in-organizing” for other constructionist consultants (Campbell, Caldicott, & Kinsella, 1994) who are translating organizational learning theories into practice.     

Recruiting through advertising or employee referrals: Costs,yields, and the effects of geographic focus

Research on recruiting has generally considered the effects of recruiting source on employee tenure or performance, and has argued that formal employment ads are inferior to informal sources, notably employee referrals. We test two dimensions for evaluating the effects of recruiting sources on the recruiting process—cost per new hire and yield ratio. We also suggest a new dimension for distinguishing between different types of employment ads—geographical focus—which we define as the clarity and distinctiveness of the labour market that an ad is likely to reach. Geographically focused ads are shown to cost less and yield more appropriate applicants than unfocused ads. Considering the cost, yield, and focus of ads can promote the effectiveness of recruiting processes. The study therefore has both practical applications and implications for further research on recruiting sources.     

Distressing Relationships,Anger, and Stress Amplification in a Sample of Young Adult African Americans

This study examined the impact of relationship distress in a sample of 637 African American young adults from the Family and Community Health Study. Using data from privately collected, in-depth interviews, we assessed how distress in nonmarital romantic partnerships and best friendships influence anger. While social support researchers have examined the stress buffering influence of supportive relationships, we utilized the principle of negative potency to test the stress amplification effect of relationship distress through an assessment of stressful life events and racial discrimination. Our analysis showed that distress in relationships was associated with anger, while the presence of these relationships was not. Support for the stress amplification hypothesis was found as men and women who experience intense racial discrimination coupled with a more hostile best friend had elevated levels of anger. Gender differences were also evident and discussed.