Distinguishing Agent-Relativity from Agent-Neutrality

The agent-relative/agent-neutral distinction is one of the most important in contemporary moral theory. Yet providing an adequate formal account of it has proven to be difficult. In this article I defend a new formal account of the distinction, one that avoids various problems faced by other accounts. My account is based on an influential account of the distinction developed by McNaughton and Rawling. I argue that their approach is on the right track but that it succumbs to two serious objections. I then show how to formulate a new account that follows the key insights of McNaughton and Rawling's approach yet avoids the two objections.     

Second-Order Quantifier Elimination in Higher-Order Contexts with Applications to the Semantical Analysis of Conditionals

Second-order quantifier elimination in the context of classical logic emerged as a powerful technique in many applications, including the correspondence theory, relational databases, deductive and knowledge databases, knowledge representation, commonsense reasoning and approximate reasoning. In the current paper we first generalize the result of Nonnengart and Szałas [17] by allowing second-order variables to appear within higher-order contexts. Then we focus on a semantical analysis of conditionals, using the introduced technique and Gabbay’s semantics provided in [10] and substantially using a third-order accessibility relation. The analysis is done via finding correspondences between axioms involving conditionals and properties of the underlying third-order relation. Presented by Wojciech Buszkowski     

为“金规则”辨

学界近年在对“己所不欲,勿施于人”这个中国式的“金规则”的议论中,存在不少误读、误解。择要言之,一是将“金规则”之“金”理解为“道德价值最高”;二是用“知道做不到”质疑、贬低“金规则”;三是以“不同”的存在否证“金规则”：四是认为“金规则”不适合现代社会。然而经过仔细辨析可以发现,这些其实都是不确之语。     

Rules Versus Principles in Psychotherapy: Implications of the Quest for Universal Guidelines in the Movement for Empirically Supported Treatments

In this article we briefly review the mission and criteria of the EST movement and several of its criticisms. We question an often-unacknowledged feature of the EST initiative—its foundation in a rule-governed approach to the regulation of psychotherapy—and argue that this approach encounters significant problems that are better resolved through an alternative, principle-based approach. The contrast between these perspectives is illustrated by presenting results of a qualitative research project identifying the implicit principles actually used by expert therapists across psychotherapy orientations to regulate values and interventions within their practice.     

Aspiration-Based and Reciprocity-Based Rules in Learning Dynamics for Symmetric Normal-Form Games

Psychologically based rules are important in human behavior and have the potential of explaining equilibrium selection and separatrix crossings to a payoff dominant equilibrium in coordination games. We show how a rule learning theory can easily accommodate behavioral rules such as aspiration-based experimentation and reciprocity-based cooperation and how to test for the significance of additional rules. We confront this enhanced rule learning model with experimental data on games with multiple equilibria and separatrix-crossing behavior. Maximum likelihood results do not support aspiration-based experimentation or anticipated reciprocity as significant explanatory factors, but do support a small propensity for non-aspiration-based experimentation by random belief and non-reciprocity-based cooperation.     

Re-Examination of Classroom Rules

Abstract

This article provides a contemplative, research-based discussion of classroom management by examining classroom rules. The introduction contains a discussion establishing the importance of effective classroom management strategies. The article also provides a consideration of the literature to gain a better understanding of ineffective and effective rules.     

References to social norms by preschool children and their linguistic expression

The study is based on the domain approach to the social norms and it investigated whether preschool children's references to social norms are related to their language expression. Children aged 3;8–7;5 years (N = 73; 35 boys and 38 girls) participated and were video-recorded playing in triads for 20 minutes. The norms mentioned were coded as moral or conventional rules according to Piotrowski's (1997 Piotrowski, C. 1997. Rules of everyday family life: The development of social rules in mother–child and sibling relationships. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21: 571–598. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) coding system. Older children and more talkative children mention more conventional rules (p < .05 and p < .001, respectively); boys tend to refer to moral rules more often than girls, yet the use of moral rules was not influenced by age or talkativeness of the child. This supports the idea that children treat social norms of different domains differently: the use of moral rules does not seem to be influenced by the characteristics of the child, while the references to conventional rules depend on the age and talkativeness of the child.     

Critical Notices

Abstract

I argue that a practice can only be taken to be one of apparent rule following if it contains a practice of policing moves within the practice. So the existence of an apparently rule‐governed practice entails the existence of, what I call, a policing practice. I then argue that this entailment cannot be reconciled with a non‐factualist construal of the policing practice. Thus non‐factualism about the policing practice is false. Factualism about the policing practice entails realism about rules. So I conclude that we ought to be realists about rules. Finally I distinguish a position which I call ultra‐realism about rules and note that this too is a casualty of the view developed here.     

A social-psychological perspective on tacit coordination: How it works,when it works, (and when it does not)

We present a programmatic line of experimental studies which focus on the how and when of tacit coordination (i.e., the phenomenon that people can successfully coordinate their decisions without communication). We investigated this phenomenon using different types of economic games (i.e., social dilemmas as well as coordination games). Our studies broadly cover three themes: (a) fairness as a coordination rule, (b) uncertainty and common understanding, (c) social information as a cue. By focusing on these themes we have obtained several new insights on the prerequisites and boundary conditions of tacit coordination. We conclude that tacit coordination is often facilitated by mutual adherence to social norms (e.g., fairness rules, rules of deference, etcetera), but that in order to employ such norms people need sufficient environmental and/or social information.     

The Romanian version of the multidimensional driving style inventory: Psychometric properties and cultural specificities

The multidimensional driving style inventory (MDSI), assessing four broad dimensions of driving styles, was originally built in Israel. In line with other previous adaptations of this instrument in different cultural contexts (such as Argentina), our research aimed to develop a valid and reliable Romanian version of the MDSI and to evaluate its external and construct validity. We conducted two studies aimed at this objective. Study 1 (n = 1237) first tested the factorial adequacy of the previous MDSI versions in our Romanian sample. Then, the culture-specific version of the MDSI that emerged from the factor analysis was examined in terms of its structure, internal consistency, item proprieties, and associations to socio-demographic variables and self-reported traffic crashes and offenses. Study 2 (n = 835) examined the associations between the driving styles assessed by this newly developed measure and several relevant personality traits: sensation seeking (both general and in traffic), desire for control, driving anger, normlessness, dutifulness and frustration discomfort. The results of the two studies support the validity and reliability of this culture-specific version of the MDSI. In comparison to the previous versions, the Romanian MDSI version addresses a supplementary driving style, concerning the violation of rules perceived as irrational in the respective situation. The reasons for the emergence of this distinct driving style in the Romanian driving context, as well as its relationships to the high traffic crashes rate in this country are discussed.