Before Analogy: Recovering Barth'sOntological Development

What is the nature of Barth's development over the 1920s? Barth himself understood this period as his "apprenticeship," and cites his 1931 book on Anselm as a significant juncture in moving beyond this stage in his thinking. Barth's emphasis upon both change and continuity lies at the heart of the discrepancy between two prominent interpreters of his theology, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Bruce McCormack. On the surface it appears as though their disagreement centers around Barth's employment of dialectic and analogy in his theology. However, our thesis is that this focus conceals the ontological strategies Barth's multifarious uses of analogy and dialectic always implied. Although McCormack is right to suggest that Balthasar's depiction of a shift from dialectic to analogy is inadequate, in the end McCormack's account of Barth's development over the 1920s conceals as much as it reveals. The following essay attempts to demonstrate the kinds of insights which can be made of the past accounts of Barth's development which focused on the transition from dialectic to analogy. Far from relegating these accounts to the sidelines, McCormack's work helps us see all the more clearly just what was at stake in figures like Balthasar's work. By looking past McCormack and Balthasar's respective periodizations of Barth's development, a clearer focus upon Barth's theological ontology can begin to take place.     

Solving geometric analogy problems through two-stage analogical mapping

Evans' 1968 ANALOGY system was the first computer model of analogy. This paper demonstrates that the structure mapping model of analogy, when combined with high-level visual processing and qualitative representations, can solve the same kinds of geometric analogy problems as were solved by ANALOGY. Importantly, the bulk of the computations are not particular to the model of this task but are general purpose: We use our existing sketch understanding system, CogSketch, to compute visual structure that is used by our existing analogical matcher, Structure Mapping Engine (SME). We show how SME can be used to facilitate high-level visual matching, proposing a role for structural alignment in mental rotation. We show how second-order analogies over differences computed via analogies between pictures provide a more elegant model of the geometric analogy task. We compare our model against human data on a set of problems, showing that the model aligns well with both the answers chosen by people and the reaction times required to choose the answers.     

Orthographic analogy use and phonological priming effects in non-word reading

The orthographic analogy effect for rime-based analogies has been debated, and theoretical arguments relating to the role of rhyme awareness in reading development have been questioned. This study assessed whether children beginning to read are able to make genuine orthographic analogies based on rime similarity. A non-word version of the clue word task was used to compare children’s performance at reading orthographically and phonologically similar target items and phonologically similar items only. They were also assessed on their ability to make analogies between the beginnings and endings of words. The results were consistent with the suggestion that orthographic analogy use is available to beginning readers as a reading strategy, and that rime-based analogies are easier to make than analogies at the beginning of words. However, rhyme awareness was found to account for variance in orthographic analogy use between the beginnings of words, but not for rime-based analogies. The implications of this for the theoretical role of rhyme awareness in reading development are discussed.     

Domestic Violence

Summary

In this paper, the authors outline their experience in incorporating a curriculum on domestic violence into an urban family practice residency program. Based on the concept that in order to successfully develop such a curriculum, it is necessary to address the “culture of the organization,” joint educational strategies that in-elude resident education as well as faculty development were considered. A research question was designed to inquire as to the difference in the level of knowledge about domestic violence in family practice faculty as compared to residents prior to the introduction of educational strategies. The authors describe curriculum goals and objectives and outline specific teaching methods as well as the evaluation instrument utilized in the study to measure actual difference in knowledge between faculty and residents about domestic violence with a focus specifically on spousal abuse. Their conclusions point to the need for an educational strategy that includes emphasis on the faculty-resident interface which utilizes both traditional and non-traditional integrated formats in order to successfully train residents in the identification and treatment of domestic violence.     

‘Torturing things until they confess’: Günther Anders' critique of technology

ELSI (Ethical, Legal and Social Implications) initiatives are frequently attached to major science programmes. The expectation is that ELSI research will produce a practical advanced assessment of the impacts of technological development. Williams' overview of the field demonstrates that this encourages a mechanistic understanding of technological development leading to compressed foresight, i.e. the notion that the future is imminent in the present. The development of the ELSI domain in Canada has been characterised by an affinity between the types of knowledge valorised by the field and modes of legal reasoning, suggesting a legal variant of compressed foresight. The concept of juridification and an analysis of two related modes of legal reasoning (analogy and reflective equilibrium) shed light on the connection between legal reasoning and the ELSI field in Canada. The deployment of the aforementioned modes of legal reasoning enables law to define and operationalise difficult questions by drawing on currently existing principles and precedents. Thus, when legal modes of reasoning are brought to bear on ELSI questions, the future is made a calculable and manageable extension of the present, dovetailing with the ELSI field's requirement of pragmatic, advanced assessment.     

《周易·说卦传》中的类问题

论文通过对<说卦>中纷繁的类现象的讨论,旨在说明周易观象取类思维的规律,从而接通中国学术中类思维的规律,指出类思维是贯穿在古代思想学说中最一般的规则.     

儿童在生词阅读中对类推策略应用的研究现状

字形与字音对应关系的类推策略在儿童开始学习阅读时是否已经存在;如果存在,类推发生于单词的什么位置;另外,这种类推能力是逐渐增长的,还是保持不变的。上述问题是20年来关于生词阅读策略研究的核心问题。从2位代表性人物Goswami和Bowey的研究入手,文章回顾并分析了针对上述问题的研究历程,展示了现有争论的方法论根源,同时对一些新的研究趋势进行了分析和展望。     

Relating derived relations as a model of analogical reasoning: reaction times and event-related potentials

The current study aimed to test a Relational Frame Theory (RFT) model of analogical reasoning based on the relating of derived same and derived difference relations. Experiment 1 recorded reaction time measures of similar-similar (e.g., "apple is to orange as dog is to cat") versus different-different (e.g., "he is to his brother as chalk is to cheese") derived relational responding, in both speed-contingent and speed-noncontingent conditions. Experiment 2 examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with these two response patterns. Both experiments showed similar-similar responding to be significantly faster than different-different responding. Experiment 2 revealed significant differences between the waveforms of the two response patterns in the left-hemispheric prefrontal regions; different-different waveforms were significantly more negative than similar-similar waveforms. The behavioral and neurophysiological data support the RFT prediction that, all things being equal, similar-similar responding is relationally "simpler" than, and functionally distinct from, different-different analogical responding. The ERP data were fully consistent with findings in the neurocognitive literature on analogy. These findings strengthen the validity of the RFT model of analogical reasoning and supplement the behavior-analytic approach to analogy based on the relating of derived relations.     

Argument by Analogy

In this essay I characterize arguments by analogy, which have an important role both in philosophical and everyday reasoning. Arguments by analogy are different from ordinary inductive or deductive arguments and have their own distinct features. I try to characterize the structure and function of these arguments. It is further discussed that some arguments, which are not explicit arguments by analogy, nevertheless should be interpreted as such and not as inductive or deductive arguments. The result is that a presumed outcome of a philosophical dispute will have to be reconsidered.