Combinator Logics

Combinator logics are a broad family of substructual logics that are formed by extending the basic relevant logic B with axioms that correspond closely to the reduction rules of proper combinators in combinatory logic. In the Routley-Meyer relational semantics for relevant logic each such combinator logic is characterized by the class of frames that meet a first-order condition that also directly corresponds to the same combinator's reduction rule. A second family of logics is also introduced that extends B with the addition of propositional constants that correspond to combinators. These are characterized by relational frames that meet first-order conditions that reflect the structures of the combinators themselves.     

A Sequent Formulation of Conditional Logic Based on Belief Change Operations

Peter Gärdenfors has developed a semantics for conditional logic, based on the operations of expansion and revision applied to states of information. The account amounts to a formalisation of the Ramsey test for conditionals. A conditional A > B is declared accepted in a state of information K if B is accepted in the state of information which is the result of revising K with respect to A. While Gärdenfors's account takes the truth-functional part of the logic as given, the present paper proposes a semantics entirely based on epistemic states and operations on these states. The semantics is accompanied by a syntactic treatment of conditional logic which is formally similar to Gentzen's sequent formulation of natural deduction rules. Three of David Lewis's systems of conditional logic are represented. The formulations are attractive by virtue of their transparency and simplicity.     

Quantized Linear Logic,Involutive Quantales and Strong Negation

A new logic, quantized intuitionistic linear logic (QILL), is introduced, and is closely related to the logic which corresponds to Mulvey and Pelletier's (commutative) involutive quantales. Some cut-free sequent calculi with a new property quantization principle and some complete semantics such as an involutive quantale model and a quantale model are obtained for QILL. The relationship between QILL and Wansing's extended intuitionistic linear logic with strong negation is also observed using such syntactical and semantical frameworks.     

2003年诺贝尔医学奖给科学界的多重启示(上)

2003年诺贝尔医学奖授予了两位美英物理学家,劳特布尔和曼斯菲尔德,表彰他们在磁共振成像方面的发现.这些发现导致现代磁共振技术的开发,这一技术标志着医学诊断学和科学研究中的一项突破.该项发现建筑在核磁和核磁共振现象被发现的基础之上.核磁现象的发现及其应用导致了1943、1944和1952年诺贝尔物理学奖的获得.核磁共振现象的发现及其应用导致了1991年和2002年诺贝尔化学奖的获得.这意味着,2003年诺贝尔医学奖是该系列发现中第六个诺贝尔科学奖.     

Meaning in life,emotional distress,suicidal ideation,and life functioning in an active duty military sample

The present study examined the relationship of meaning in life with emotional distress, suicidal ideation, and life functioning in a sample of 273 active duty Security Forces personnel assigned to two US Air Force bases. Results of regression analyses indicated that stronger meaning in life was significantly associated with less severe emotional distress (p?<?0.001, ΔR ²?=?0.047) and suicidal ideation (p?=?0.043, ΔR ²?=?0.017), and better functioning at work and in intimate relationships, nonfamily relationships, and recreational activities (p?<?0.001, ΔR ²?=?0.073). Meaning in life showed stronger associations with outcomes relative to other predictors and covariates and explained the relationship between belonging and life functioning. Findings suggest that meaning in life is associated with less emotional distress and suicide risk, and greater success and performance across multiple domains in life among military personnel.     

Revisiting desirable response bias in well-being reports

Growing popular interest in positive psychology may have important implications for the measurement of well-being. Five studies tested the prediction that well-being ratings are influenced by desirability bias. In Study 1, participants (N?=?176) instructed to fake good endorsed higher well-being; those instructed to fake bad endorsed lower well-being, compared to controls. In Studies 2 and 3 (N’s?=?111, 121), control participants endorsed higher levels of well-being compared to those attached to a bogus pipeline. These differences were mediated by desirability bias. In Study 4 (N?=?417), instruction manipulations did not affect well-being levels, but presenting a desirability measure prior to well-being measures attenuated the correlations between them. In Study 5 (N?=?391), however, this order effect did not replicate. We discuss the importance of continued vigilance for desirability bias in well-being research as a ready solution to this clear problem remains elusive.     

Creating a ‘psychological nest’ for vulnerable infants and children: an interview with Annette Mendelsohn

This is an edited version of a recent interview with Annette Mendelsohn, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist at the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK. It aims to make available in published form Mendelsohn's thinking and approach in relation to her work with traumatised children in a hospital setting. Mendelsohn also discusses her work in a neonatal intensive care setting and the way in which approaches to psychosocial care in the hospital setting have changed over the course of her professional life.     

Putnam, Peano, and the Malin Génie: could we possibly bewrong about elementary number-theory?

This article examines Hilary Putnam's work in the philosophy of mathematics and - more specifically - his arguments against mathematical realism or objectivism. These include a wide range of considerations, from Gödel's incompleteness-theorem and the limits of axiomatic set-theory as formalised in the Löwenheim-Skolem proof to Wittgenstein's sceptical thoughts about rule-following (along with Saul Kripke's ‘scepticalsolution’), Michael Dummett's anti-realist philosophy of mathematics, and certain problems – as Putnam sees them – with the conceptual foundations of Peano arithmetic. He also adopts a thought-experimental approach – a variant of Descartes' dream scenario – in order to establish the in-principle possibility that we might be deceived by the apparent self-evidence of basic arithmetical truths or that it might be ‘rational’ to doubt them under some conceivable (even if imaginary) set of circumstances. Thus Putnam assumes that mathematical realism involves a self-contradictory ‘Platonist’ idea of our somehow having quasi-perceptual epistemic ‘contact’ with truths that in their very nature transcend the utmost reach of human cognitive grasp. On this account, quite simply, ‘nothing works’ in philosophy of mathematics since wecan either cling to that unworkable notion of objective (recognition-transcendent) truth or abandon mathematical realism in favour of a verificationist approach that restricts the range of admissible statements to those for which we happen to possess some means of proof or ascertainment. My essay puts the case, conversely, that these hyperbolic doubts are not forced upon us but result from a false understanding of mathematical realism – a curious mixture of idealist and empiricist themes – which effectively skews the debate toward a preordained sceptical conclusion. I then go on to mount a defence of mathematical realism with reference to recent work in this field and also to indicate some problems – as I seethem – with Putnam's thought-experimental approach as well ashis use of anti-realist arguments from Dummett, Kripke, Wittgenstein, and others.     

The Kindness of Mothers: Ideals and Practice of Buddhist Filial Piety

This article introduces a Buddhist Sutra about filial piety. The Sutra has been widely recited, upheld, and endeared by East Asian people for centuries. It teaches the importance of understanding parents' kindnesses, particularly the mother's, and repaying their kindnesses. It explains the difficulty of repaying parents' kindnesses, unfilial behaviors of children, the mystical hell into which unfilial children are doomed to fall, and the way in which they can repay their parents' kindnesses. The mother (woman), aging, and related issues in Buddhism are discussed.