Book reviews and notes

THE RUSHDIE FILE. By L. Appignanesi and S. Maitland. London: Fourth Estate, 1989. 258pp. £5.95. ISBN 0–947795–84–7.

BE CAREFUL WITH MUHAMMAD! — THE SALMAN RUSHDIE AFFAIR. By S.Akhtar. London: Bellew, 1989. 136pp. £6.95. ISBN 0–947792–27–9.

A SATANIC AFFAIR: SALMAN RUSHDIE AND THE RAGE OF ISLAM. By M. Ruthven. London: Chatto & Windus, 1990. 184pp. £14.95. ISBN 0–7011–3591–3.

LES NOMS DIVINS EN ISLAM. By Daniel Gimaret. Collection Patrimoines. Paris: Cerf, 1988. 448pp. FF295.00. ISBN 2–204–02828–2.

DIE FESTUNG DES GLAUBENS: TRIUMPH UND SCHEITERN DES ISLAMISCHEN RATIONALISMUS IM 11. JAHRHUNDERT. By Tilman Nagel. München: Beck, 1988. 423pp. Hardback, DM94.00. ISBN 3–406–33280–3.

ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY FOUNDATIONS. Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987. 450pp. Hardback, £39.50. ISBN 0–7102–1097–3.

ALLÄH TRANSCENDENT: STUDIES IN THE STRUCTURE AND SEMIOTICS OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND COSMOLOGY. By Ian Richard Netton. London and New York: Routlege, 1989. xiii + 383pp. Hardback, £45.00. ISBN Hb. 0–415–01893–5.

MUSLIM PREACHER IN THE MODERN WORLD. By Richard T. Antoun. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1989. 289pp. Hardback, $49.50; paperback, £15.95. ISBN Hb. 0–691–09441–1; Pb. 0–691–02847.

DISCOVERING ISLAM: MAKING SENSE OF MUSLIM HISTORY AND SOCIETY. By Akbar S. Ahmed. London: Routledge, 1988. 251pp. Hardback £25.00; paperback £9.95. ISBN Hb. 0–7102–1049–3; pb. 0–415–03930–4.

OUVERTURES SUR L'ISLAM. (New Perspectives on Islam). By Mohammad Arkoun. Paris: Jacques Grancher, 1989. 189pp. FF69.00. ISSN 0993–5754.

AL MUWATTA OF IMAM MALIK IBN ANAS: THE FIRST FORMULATION OF ISLAMIC LAW. Translated by Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley. London: Kegan Paul International, 1989. xxxvii + 464pp. ISBN 07103–0351–0.

ARAB HISTORY AND THE NATION‐STATE: A STUDY IN MODERN ARAB HISTORIOGRAPHY 1820–1980. By Youssef M. Choueiri. London: Routledge, 1989. 238pp. Hardback, n.p. ISBN 0–415–13113–3.

ÇABRA HACHMA: SEXUALTTE ET TRADITION. By Lilia Labidi. Tunis: Dar Annawras, 1989. 427pp. FF130.00. ISBN 9–973–733–00–2.

THE ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK: A CASE STUDY OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION. By S.A. Meenai. London: Kegan Paul International, 1989. xii + 226pp. Hardback, £65.00. ISBN 0–7103–0329–7.

THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF JUSTICE: LAW AS CULTURE IN ISLAMIC SOCIETY. By Lawrence Rosen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 101pp. Paperback, £7.50. ISBN 0–521–36740–9.

THE QUR’ Än IN ISLAM: ITS IMPACT AND INFLUENCE ON THE LIFE OF MUSLIMS. By ‘Allämah Sayyid M. H. Tabätabä'i. London: Zahra Publications, 1987. 118pp. n.p. ISBN 0–7103–0266–5.

JOURNEY OF THE UNIVERSE AS EXPOUNDED IN THE QUR’ ÄN. By SHAYKH FADHLALLA HAERI. London: KPI and Zahra Publications, 1985.102pp. Hardback £15.00. ISBN 0–7103–0149–9.

THE CIRCLING SONG. By N. El Saadawi. London: Zed Books, 1989. 88pp. Hardback, £7.95; paperback, £3.95. ISBN Hb. 0–86232–816–0; Pb. 0–86232–817–9.

MYSTICAL ISLAM: AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFISM. By J. baldick. London: I.B. Tauris, 1989. 192pp. Hardback, £24.95. ISBN 1–85043–137X.

THE MUSLIM CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF NORTH AFRICA AND SPAIN. By A. D. Taha. London: Routledge, 1989. 280pp. Hardback, £49.50. ISBN 0–415–00474–8.

WA AND THE WALA: ISLAM AND POLITY IN NORTHWESTERN GHANA. By I. Wilks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 256pp. Hardback, £27.50. ISBN 0–521–36210–5.

LIBYA, CHAD AND THE CENTRAL SAHARA. By John Wright. London: Hurst, 1989. 168pp. Hardback, £23.00. ISBN 1–85065–050–0.

PRELUDE TO THE MAHDIYYA: PEASANTS AND TRADERS IN THE SHENDI REGION. By A. Bj?rkelo. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 192pp. Hardback £25.00. ISBN 0–521–35336‐X.

RELIGION IN CALABAR: THE RELIGIOUS LIFE AND HISTORY OF A NIGERIAN TOWN. By R. I. J. Hackett. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1989. 481pp. DM158.00. ISBN 0–89925–394–6.

FRANCE AND ISLAM IN WEST AFRICA, 1860–1960. By Christopher Harrison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 242pp. £25.00. ISBN 0–521‐ 35230–4.

ROOTS OF NORTH INDIAN SHT'ISM IN IRAN AND IRAQ: RELIGION AND STATE IN AWADH 1722–1859. By J. R. I. COLE. Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies, vol. 6. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988. xiv + 32pp. $38.00. ISBN 0–520–05641–8.

ISLAM IN ASIA: RELIGION, POLITICS AND SOCIETY. By John L. Esposito. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. 272pp. n.p. ISBN 0–19–504082–3.

THE CRESCENT IN THE EAST: ISLAM IN ASIA MAJOR. Edited by Raphael Israeli. London: Curzon Press, 1989 (rpt. of the first ed.: Curzon Press, 1981). 245pp. £6.75. ISBN O‐7007–0219–9. In the USA: Riverdale, MD 20737: The Riverdale Company, 1989. ISBN 0–913215–45–7.

THE POLITICS OF COMMUNITY: THE BANGLADESHI COMMUNITY IN EAST LONDON. By John Eade. London: Gower, 1989. xii + 213pp. Hardback, £24.00. ISBN 0–566–05717–4.

THE SOVIET EMPIRE: ITS NATIONS SPEAK OUT. By OLEG GLEBOV and JOHN CROWFOOT. Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1989. 189pp. n.p. Pb. ISBN 3–7186–5017–7; Hb. ISBN 3–7186–5000–2.

THE TURBAN FOR THE CROWN: THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN IRAN. By Arjoman Said Amir. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. 283pp. $21.95. ISBN 0–19–504257–5.

LAW OF DESIRE: TEMPORARY MARRIAGE IN SHII IRAN. By Shahla Haeri. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1989. 256pp. Paperback $14.95. ISBN 0–8156–2483–2.

PALESTINE AND ISRAEL: THE UPRISING AND BEYOND. By David Mcdowall. London: I.B.Tauris, 1989. xiii + 322pp. Hardback, £14.95. ISBN 1–85043–131–0

RELIGION AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN MODERN TURKEY: THE CASE OF BEDIÜZZAMAN SAID NURSI. By Serif Mardin. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989. 267pp. Hardback, n.p. ISBN 0–88706–996–7.

ISLAM, THE PEOPLE AND THE STATE: ESSAYS ON POLITICAL IDEAS AND MOVEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. By Sami Zubaida. London: Routledge, 1989. 192pp. Hardback, £27.95. ISBN 0–415–01277–5.

ENCOUNTER IN THE SPIRIT: MUSLIM‐CHRISTIAN MEETINGS IN BIRMINGHAM. By A. WINGATE. Risk Book Series, no. 29. Geneva: WCC Publications: 1988. 86pp. £3.50. ISBN 2–8254–0944–8.

MEETING IN FAITH. Compiled by Stuart E. Brown. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1989. 181pp. £6.50. ISBN 2–8524–0949–9.

A TREATISE ON THE UNITY AND TRINITY OF GOD BY Israel of Kashkar. (d.872). By B. HOLMBERG. Lund: Plus Ultra, 1989. 290 pp. n.p. ISBN 99–86668–28–5.

WELTRELIGIONEN UND FRIEDENSERZIEHUNG: WEGE ZUR TOLERANZ: SCHWERPUNKT: CHRISTENTUN‐ISLAM. Edited by J. LÄHNEMANN. Hamburg: EB‐Verlag Rissen, 1989. 450pp. DM42.00. ISBN‐3–923002–47–5.     

Searles Kritik am Funktionalismus — Eine Untersuchung des Chinesischzimmers

Searle claims that for a machine to have intentional states it is not sufficient that a formal programme be instantiated. Various types of objections to this claim have been brought up by Searle's critics. Searle's replies to some of these objections are analysed. It turns out that it is more to these objections than Searle wants to make us believe. What is crucial, however, is that Searle's Gedankenexperiment results in a dilemma. At the outset of the dilemma there are two ways of not understanding. According to one of these ways a person (Searle's homunculus) does not understand something without knowing that s/he does not understand. While in the other mode the person knows that s/he doesn't understand. In the first case the inference from facts about the homunculus to facts about the computer is not valid whereas in the second case one would attribute mental states to the computer. Thereby Searle's claim turns out to be unfounded.     

Considerations on Therapy: Theoretical, Theo-Radical, Theor-Ethical?

The author describes changes in his thinking over the past 20 years regarding therapy. Language is now the main tool of his approach. The author discusses such ideas as those of language-bound, from being to doing, from doing to possibilities, from possibilities to cooperating, from cooperating to experts using expertise, from expertise to forming frames.     

Therapiewechsler

At least 30% of the patients, currently in psychotherapy, have been in one or more psychotherapeutic treatments before the beginnig of the actual treatment. A great number of these patients decided as a consequence of their experiences with the former therapeutic treatments to change not only the therapist but also the form of the psychotherapy. The task was to find out the reasons for this. 25 patients who had changed from one of the Guideline Therapies into a client-centred therapy (CCT) were interviewed about their reasons for this change. It was assumed, that the failing of earlier therapies was caused by a lack of matching between patient and therapist, treatment and disorder in the sense of the Generic Model of Psychotherapy (GMP) conceptualized by Orlinsky and Howard. The results support this hypotheses: For most of these patients CCT turned out to be a necessary and successful alternative to the previous treatments. Most of the patients reported that they responded better to the therapeutic offer of CCT. The reasons mentioned for choosing another form of psychotherapy support the necessity of a differential indication for psychotherapy on the basis of the GMP.     

Language specific prosodic preferences during the first half year of life: Evidence from German and French infants

There is converging evidence that infants are sensitive to prosodic cues from birth onwards and use this kind of information in their earliest steps into the acquisition of words and syntactic regularities of their target language. Regarding word segmentation, it has been found that English-learning infants segment trochaic words by 7.5 months of age, and iambic words only by 10.5 months of age [Jusczyk, P. W., Houston, D. M., & Newsome, M. (1999). The beginnings of word segmentation in English-learning infants. Cognitive Psychology, 39, 159–207]. The question remains how to interpret this finding in relation to results showing that English-learning infants develop a preference for trochaic over iambic words between 6 and 9 months of age [Jusczyk, P. W., Cutler, A., & Redanz, N. (1993). Preference for the predominant stress patterns of English words. Child Development, 64, 675–687]. In the following, we report the results of four experiments using the headturn preference procedure (HPP) to explore the trochaic bias issue in German- and French-learning infants. For German, a trochaic preference was found at 6 but not at 4 months, suggesting an emergence of this preference between both ages (Experiments 1 and 2). For French, 6-month-old infants did not show a preference for either stress pattern (Experiment 3) while they were found to discriminate between the two stress patterns (Experiment 4). Our findings are the first to demonstrate that the trochaic bias is acquired by 6 months of age, is language specific and can be predicted by the rhythmic properties of the language in acquisition. We discuss the implications of this very early acquisition for our understanding of the emergence of segmentation abilities.     

Test of Nyborg's General Trait Covariance (GTC) model for hormonally guided development by means of structural equation modeling

Nyborg's General Trait Covariance (GTC) model for hormonally guided development investigates the influence of gonadal hormones and fluid intelligence on body build, achievement, and socioeconomic variables. According to the model, testosterone should be negatively related to height, fat/muscle ratio, intelligence, income, and education. It is conceived that this influence should be determined to a great extent by mutual relationships between these variables. The model was tested by means of structural equation modeling (SEM) in a sample of 4375 males who had served in the United States Armed Forces. The results largely confirm Nyborg's androtype model but in addition reflect the relationships between the variables included in a quantitative causal manner. It could be shown that testosterone has a negative influence on crystallized intelligence and that this effect is mainly mediated by the negative influence of testosterone on education. An additional multiple group analysis testing for structural invariance across age groups revealed that the mediating role of education is more pronounced in old veterans. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large numbers,Knuth's arrow notation,and Ramsey theory

Synthese - In the children's book ``The Phantom Tollbooth'' by Norton Juster one can find the following passage: ``Yes, please,'' said Milo. ``Can you show me the biggest number...     

Reinforcement sensitivity of sex offenders and non‐offenders: An experimental and psychometric study of reinforcement sensitivity theory

This study tested predictions of Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) in subgroups of sex offenders and male non‐offenders using an experimental choice task consisting of a reward and a non‐reward phase. In addition, RST‐related psychometric measures were used. Both experimental and psychometric data were of interest to determine whether sex offenders could be reliably differentiated from non‐offenders. Paraphilic (N=50) and impulse control‐disordered (N=48) sex offenders showed greater sensitivity to continuous reward than male non‐offenders (N=51). Impulse control‐disordered sex offenders showed less behavioural adaptation under non‐reward than both paraphilic sex offenders and male non‐offenders. In addition, reward sensitivity, rash‐spontaneous impulsivity, and anxiety measures discriminated sex offenders from male non‐offenders. The results suggest that reinforcement sensitivity is a promising personality trait for differentiating subgroups of sex offenders from non‐offenders. The experimental and psychometric results illustrate that predictive accuracy in forensic settings could be improved by combining several types of data.     

Fairness,Self‐Interest,and Cooperation in a Real‐Life Conflict1

Effects of procedural fairness and self‐interest on cooperation vs. hardness in an urban planning conflict were examined in a questionnaire study. The self‐interest perspective posits that people seek to maximize their outcomes and, therefore, cooperate only when they can gain advantages or avoid disadvantages by doing so, while fairness models of cooperation view cooperative actions as based mainly on justice motives. The data give strong support for the fairness hypothesis, showing that self‐interest accounts only for hard strategies, whereas justice motives explain a considerable part of cooperation. The impact of the results on further research on social conflicts and their settlement, as well as the elaboration of models of fairness in the social psychology of conflicts are discussed.     

ON EXPLICATING THE CONCEPT THE POWER OF AN ARITHMETICAL THEORY

In this paper I discuss possible ways of measuring the power of arithmetical theories, and the possiblity of making an explication in Carnap’s sense of this concept. Chaitin formulates several suggestions how to construct measures, and these suggestions are reviewed together with some new and old critical arguments. I also briefly review a measure I have designed together with some shortcomings of this measure. The conclusion of the paper is that it is not possible to formulate an explication of the concept.