Memory aids and the Cartesian circle

ABSTRACT

In answering the circularity charge, Descartes consistently distinguished between truths whose demonstrations we currently perceive clearly and distinctly (call these ‘C-truths’) and truths whose demonstrations we merely remember having perceived clearly and distinctly (call these ‘R-truths’). Descartes uses C-truths to prove God’s existence, thus validating R-truths. While avoiding one form of circularity (using C-truths to validate C-truths), this introduces another circle, for Descartes believes that God’s existence validates R-truths even when itself an R-truth. I consider Newman and Nelson’s grounds enhancement strategy according to which this problem is solved when God’s existence is rendered axiomatic. I argue that since it is still possible to doubt axioms when not directly apprehending them, this strategy cannot work; having to reproduce the argument for God’s existence in face of sceptical doubt is unavoidable. Drawing both on Newman and Nelson’s notion of grounds enhancement and on reproducibility interpretations, I argue that reproducibility can be enhanced via memory aids. Although discussion of memory and the Cartesian circle has been sidelined since Frankfurt’s 1962 refutation of Doney’s memory interpretation, I argue that memory is at the heart of the matter after all (though not in the same way Doney thought).     

Psychosynthesis of the brain and mind: Comments on a new intellectual framework in psychiatry and psychotherapy

Abstract

Eric R. Kandel, the Nobel Prize winner of 2000 in physiology and medicine, emphasises five scientific principles of which psychiatrists must be aware and which are presented and critically analysed in this article. Kandel states that professional requirements for future psychiatrists will impose a greater knowledge of the structure and functioning of the brain, and that the rationale for the unique domain that psychiatry occupies within academic medicine is the analysis and understanding of the interaction between the social and biological determinants of behaviour. The work of a psychotherapist is based both on scientific knowledge and, to a large extent, on an empathic understanding of the patient's history as well as his or her verbal and non-verbal expressions – as a consequence, the orientation of hermeneutic philosophy and semiotics should also be included in the intellectual framework. The aim of this paper is to update the channels of communication between modern neurobiology, psychoanalysis, semiotics and philosophy to the best advantage for their multidisciplinary, holistic cooperation.     

外圆内方,刚柔相济——试论《周易》塑造的理想人格模式

《周易》作为五经之首,对于中华民族性格有着重要的影响,其中很重要的一个方面是通过诠释古老的天圆地方宇宙观,塑造了中华民族外圆内方的理想人格模式:效法天道,刚健自强,圆转不穷;效法地道,守正固本,崇德广业;刚柔立本,变通趋时,方智圆神。但是,中国人在现实生活中却很难实现外圆内方、圆神方智的理想,总是处于非圆即方的状态:多数人却走向了世故圆滑,那些始终坚持内在品质和理想的少数人才是中华民族的脊梁。     

广场舞组织氛围和老年人主观幸福感的关系:组织认同和自尊的中介作用

以366名参加广场舞活动的老年人为研究对象,探讨广场舞组织氛围对老年人主观幸福感的影响及其作用机制。结果表明：广场舞组织氛围能通过组织认同和自尊的中介作用对主观幸福感产生影响,且该中介作用包含了两条路径——自尊的单独中介作用以及组织认同—自尊的链式中介作用。因此可以通过改善广场舞组织氛围增强老年人主观幸福感,以促进老年人成功老化、积极老化、健康老化。     

结构方程模型常用拟合指数检验的实质

拟合指数检验是评价结构方程模型(SEM)的重要环节。从协方差结构分析的角度将SEM与传统的回归模型比较,容易理解为什么SEM需要拟合指数。揭示了目前几种流行的拟合指数检验的实质:基于卡方的绝对拟合指数(如RMSEA)检验的实质是重新设定卡方检验的显著性水平(不同于通常的.05),相对拟合指数(如NNFI和CFI)检验的实质是基于虚模型设定均方(卡方与自由度之比)降低到的比例;在NNFI大于临界值后,报告和检验CFI是不必要的。根据研究结果提出了一些方便实用的拟合检验建议。     

Dodecagonal quasicrystal in Mn-based quaternary alloys containing Cr,Ni and Si

A dodecagonal quasicrystal showing 12-fold symmetry forms in Mn-rich quaternary alloys containing 5.5 or 7.5 at.% Cr, 5.0 at.% Ni and 17.5 at.% Si. After annealing at 700 °C for 130 h, the quasicrystal precipitated in a matrix of β-Mn-type crystalline phase. The shape of the quasicrystal is needle-like having a length of several tens of micrometres. Electron diffraction as well as powder X-ray diffraction experiments has revealed the following characteristics of the quasicrystal: diffraction symmetry 12/mmm, the presence of systematic extinction for h₁h₂h₂h₁h₅-type reflections with odd h₅ index, and then five-dimensional space group P12₆/mmc. Indexing of the reflections indicated that the dimension of the common edge in the equilateral triangle–square tiling is 4.560 Å, and the periodicity is 4.626 Å along the 12-fold axis. This is the first example of the dodecagonal quasicrystal synthesized by ordinary metallurgical method in 3-d transition-metal alloys.     

Edge-induced illusory contours and visual detection: Subthreshold summation or spatial cueing?

Findings that illusory contours can facilitate visual detection of a subthreshold real line (Dresp & Bonnet, 1995) were not replicated, when line-induced instead of edge-induced illusory contour stimuli were used (Salvano-Pardieu et al., 2006). Rather, the results of the latter study supported the importance of spatial cues. The present study was designed to investigate whether spatial cueing might also facilitate detection of targets superimposed on edge-induced illusory contours. In Experiment 1, a target line was superimposed on the illusory contour of a Kanizsa square, presented between dots with a precise or distant location to the target, or on a homogeneous field (control). Detection of the target was poorest for the control, followed by the distant-dots and Kanizsa conditions, whereas it was best for precisely cueing dots. Experiment 2 replicated the conditions in Experiment 1 (Kanizsa, precisely cueing dots, and control) with additional controls for possible luminance effects. The two new conditions matched the Kanizsa condition for overall luminance and preciseness of spatial cueing without generating illusory contours. Performance was best in the dot condition and worst in the control, but the same across the Kanizsa and matched luminance conditions. In Experiments 3 and 4, the stimuli presented were matched more closely to those used by Dresp and Bonnet, but still the results confirmed those obtained in our Experiments 1 and 2. Together, these experiments strongly suggest that detection is also facilitated by spatial cueing rather than subthreshold summation, in the case of edge-induced illusory contours.     

The Problem with Having Two Watches: Assessment of Fit When RMSEA and CFI Disagree

The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the comparative fit index (CFI) are two widely applied indices to assess fit of structural equation models. Because these two indices are viewed positively by researchers, one might presume that their values would yield comparable qualitative assessments of model fit for any data set. When RMSEA and CFI offer different evaluations of model fit, we argue that researchers are likely to be confused and potentially make incorrect research conclusions. We derive the necessary as well as the sufficient conditions for inconsistent interpretations of these indices. We also study inconsistency in results for RMSEA and CFI at the sample level. Rather than indicating that the model is misspecified in a particular manner or that there are any flaws in the data, the two indices can disagree because (a) they evaluate, by design, the magnitude of the model's fit function value from different perspectives; (b) the cutoff values for these indices are arbitrary; and (c) the meaning of “good” fit and its relationship with fit indices are not well understood. In the context of inconsistent judgments of fit using RMSEA and CFI, we discuss the implications of using cutoff values to evaluate model fit in practice and to design SEM studies.     

Efficacy of standard deviational ellipses in the application of criminal geographic profiling

The premise for this study is that the physical and cultural landscape has a deterministic effect on the location and distribution of serial crime. As a consequence, the distribution of linked crime scenes should exhibit a shape and orientation that is consistent with the underlying landscape. Geographic Profiling models that are able to account for these effects will provide more accurate results than those models that do not. Utilizing basic geographic principles of central tendency and spatial diffusion, this research first analyzed the output of circular and elliptical profile models generated for 30 serial burglaries (n = 164) and 67 serial robberies (n = 370) in Baltimore, Maryland between 1994 and 1997. A comparative analysis of the model output reveals that the Standard Deviational Ellipse is significantly (p = 0.000) better able to predict the home location of a serial offender than profiles generated from circles. Next, the relationship between the orientation of elliptical profiles and the mean linear orientation of the corresponding landscape was assessed to reveal a moderate but significant correlation (r = 0.511, p < 0.001). Together, these findings demonstrate that landscape does impact the locations of crime, and is a measurable parameter that can improve the efficacy of geographic profiling. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.