WITTGENSTEIN AND STRONG MATHEMATICAL VERIFICATIONISM

Wittgenstein is accused by Dummett of radical conventionalism, the view that the necessity of any statement is a matter of express linguistic convention, i.e., a decision. This conventionalism is alleged to follow, in Wittgenstein's middle period, from his 'concept modification thesis', that a proof significantly changes the sense of the proposition it aims to prove. I argue for the assimilation of this thesis to Wittgenstein's 'no-conjecture thesis' concerning mathematical statements. Both flow from a strong verificationist view of mathematics held by Wittgenstein in his middle period, and this also explains his views on the law of excluded middle and consistency. Strong verificationism is central to making sense of Wittgenstein's middle-period philosophy of mathematics.     

Assigning vicarious responsibility

An experiment tested three hypotheses about the conditions under which someone can be held vicariously responsible for the actions of another. Two of the hypotheses received empirical support: that the vicariously responsible person is in a superior relationship to the person who caused the damage and is able to control that person's causing of the damage. A third hypotheis, that a person is held vicariously responsible because of a relatively greater ability to pay compensation to the victim, was not supported.     

PyEPL: A cross-platform experiment-programming library

PyEPL (the Python Experiment-Programming Library) is a Python library which allows cross-platform and object-oriented coding of behavioral experiments. It provides functions for displaying text and images onscreen, as well as playing and recording sound, and is capable of rendering 3-D virtual environments forspatial-navigation tasks. It is currently tested for Mac OS X and Linux. It interfaces with Activewire USB cards (on Mac OS X) and the parallel port (on Linux) for synchronization of experimental events with physiological recordings. In this article, we first present two sample programs which illustrate core PyEPL features. The examples demonstrate visual stimulus presentation, keyboard input, and simulation and exploration of a simple 3-D environment. We then describe the components and strategies used in implementing PyEPL.     

Fathering Self-Efficacy, Marital Satisfaction and Father Involvement in Hong Kong

We examined the predictability of fathering self-efficacy and marital satisfaction on father involvement. The moderating effect of marital satisfaction on the relationship between father efficacy and father involvement was also explored. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the convenience sampling method. A total of 2,029 valid questionnaires were collected from fathers with children aged 2–6 from 48 nurseries in Hong Kong. The fathers’ mean age is 39.1. 72.9 % of the fathers graduated from secondary school and 86 % had full-time jobs. Measures including self-efficacy subscale in the Parenting Sense of Competency Scale, the Index of Marital Satisfaction, the Inventory of Father Involvement were adopted in the present study. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that fathering self-efficacy and marital satisfaction were significant positive predictors of father involvement, whereas marital satisfaction moderated the effect of fathering self-efficacy on father involvement. It is thus important to improve martial satisfaction and enhance fathering self-efficacy for promoting father involvement. To gain a more comprehensive picture, future studies of father involvement may benefit by adopting a longitudinal research design, including the mothers and children as informants, and addressing other parenting correlates such as parenting stress and spousal support.     

A sociological view of delinquency and implications for the ministry

Conclusions With respect to the problem of delinquency, we have presented a sociological view of causation, i.e.,we have implicitly suggested that the attempt to control delinquency by dealing with the individual must be balanced by dealing with the conditions in our society which breed alienation and crime. Massive changes are needed in our society at the present time if future problems traceable to alienation and apathy are to be averted. The changes, we believe, are possible if enough people are brought to the point of concern. We do not think we should attempt to be too specific about the changes needed.In general, however, we suggest that ministers must get out of their own churches or parishes and find out what is going on in the surrounding neighborhoods, especially those which are facing problems of poverty, of delinquency, and of ethnic discrimination. It will not do for them to wait until a dramatic event occurs at home before they begin to move. In this regard, we think ministers should make every effort tojoin and/or form pressure and action groups which work to bring about social action at the point of need.     

Racial Identity Development in Middle School: A Case for School Counselor Individual and Systemic Intervention

In middle school, counselors should promote optimal development as students navigate the formative stage of puberty. A search for identity is an important developmental task in early adolescence, but school counselors often neglect racial identity development. Through an actual case of an 8th‐grade student, both individual and systemic strategies that can promote racial identity development are highlighted.     

Subitizing and counting in typical and atypical development

Enumeration performance in standard dot counting paradigms was investigated for different age groups with typical and atypically poor development of arithmetic skills. Experiment 1 showed a high correspondence between response times and saccadic frequencies for four age groups with typical development. Age differences were more marked for the counting than the subitizing range. In Experiment 2 we found a discontinuity between subitizing and counting for dyscalculic children; however, their subitizing slopes were steeper than those of typically developing control groups, indicating a dysfunctional subitizing mechanism. Across both experiments a number of factors could be identified that affect enumeration in the subitizing and the counting range differentially. These differential patterns further support the assumption of two qualitatively different enumeration processes.