The elimination of de re formulas

It is shown that de re formulas are eliminable in the modal logic S5 extended with the axiom scheme x x.     

康德哲学与广松涉"交互主体的共同主观性"理论

广松涉认为,对近代认识论基础的问题式及其构成机制和局限进行反思,首先需要将着眼点放在康德哲学的问题式及其构成机制上。康德哲学的总的问题式就是在以先验逻辑学为基础的逻辑学、认识论和本体论“三位一体”的哲学构架中,探讨人的认识以及纯粹理性的先天综合判断及其能力何以可能。这一问题式潜含着一个意义非常重大的认识论问题——即“主体际共同主观性”问题．需要我们认真地加以研究。     

Effects of Emotional Experience for Abstract Words in the Stroop Task

In this study, we examined the effects of emotional experience, a relatively new dimension of emotional knowledge that gauges the ease with which words evoke emotional experience, on abstract word processing in the Stroop task. In order to test the context‐dependency of these effects, we accentuated the saliency of this dimension in Experiment 1A by blocking the stimuli such that one block consisted of the stimuli with the highest emotional experience ratings and the other block consisted of the stimuli with the lowest emotional experience ratings. We attenuated the saliency of this dimension in Experiment 1B by intermixing the stimuli. We observed slower color naming performance for words with higher emotional experience ratings only in Experiment 1A, suggesting that the dimension of emotional experience is an aspect of semantic representation for abstract words but that its influence can be modulated by context. We interpret these results more generally using Vigliocco, Meteyard, Andrews, and Kousta's (2009) framework of semantic representation, and more specifically using Cohen, Dunbar, and McClelland's (1990) model of Stroop task performance.     

Products of modal logics and tensor products of modal algebras

One of natural combinations of Kripke complete modal logics is the product, an operation that has been extensively investigated over the last 15 years. In this paper we consider its analogue for arbitrary modal logics: to this end, we use product-like constructions on general frames and modal algebras. This operation was first introduced by Y. Hasimoto in 2000; however, his paper remained unnoticed until recently. In the present paper we quote some important Hasimoto's results, and reconstruct the product operation in an algebraic setting: the Boolean part of the resulting modal algebra is exactly the tensor product of original algebras (regarded as Boolean rings). Also, we propose a filtration technique for Kripke models based on tensor products and obtain some decidability results.     

Theism and Mathematics

The author investigates the connection between God and mathematics, and argues (1) that the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” makes much better sense from the perspective of theism than from that of naturalism, (2) that the accessibility (to us human beings) of advanced mathematics is much more likely given theism than given naturalism, (3) that the existence of sets, numbers, functions and the like fits in much better with theism than with naturalism, and (4) that the alleged epistemological obstacles to knowledge of mathematics offered by the abstract character of numbers, sets, etc., disappear from the point of view of theism.     

Global problems,globalization, and predictability

The term globalization is questioned in its validity and applicability to structures other than verbal. Globalization is a historical term which changes its meaning with time and culture. It is not only that its content changes but the validity of a globalization concept changes with the historical perspective. Morever, solution of global problems depends heavily on the correct analysis of the problem. Without such an analysis there is no possibility to find even an approximate solution. Hence, predictability is impossible. There is no trend which is sufficiently long to make any reliable prediction for global problems other than the most simple ones.     

Metaphor priming in sentence production: Concrete pictures affect abstract language production

People speak metaphorically about abstract concepts—for instance, a person can be “full of love” or “have a lot of love to give.” Over the past decade, research has begun to focus on how metaphors are processed during language comprehension. Much of this work suggests that understanding a metaphorical expression involves activating brain and body systems involved in perception and motor control. However, no research to date has asked whether the same is true while speakers produce language. We address this gap using a sentence production task. Its results demonstrate that visually activating a concrete source domain can trigger the use of metaphorical language drawn from that same concrete domain, even in sentences that are thematically unrelated to the primes, a metaphorical priming effect. This effect suggests that conceptual metaphors play a part in language production. It also shows that activation in the perceptual system that is not part of an intended message can nevertheless influence sentence formulation.     

On the historical and conceptual background of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

In this paper, we describe the development of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We trace the history of sorting tasks from the studies of Narziss Ach on the psychology of thinking, via the work of Kurt Goldstein and Adhémar Gelb on brain lesioned patients around 1920 and subsequent developments, up to the actual design of the WCST by Harry Harlow, David Grant, and their student Esther Berg. The WCST thus seems to originate from the psychology of thinking ('Denkpsychologie'), but the test, as it is used in clinical neuropsychological practice, was designed by experimenters working within the behaviorist tradition. We also note recent developments suggesting that, contrary to the general impression, implicit learning may play a role in WCST-like discrimination learning tasks.