Monitoring and Anti-Reductionism in the Epistemology of Testimony

One of the central points of contention in the epistemology of testimony concerns the uniqueness (or not) of the justification of beliefs formed through testimony–whether such justification can be accounted for in terms of, or 'reduced to', other familiar sort of justification, e.g. without relying on any epistemic principles unique to testimony. One influential argument for the reductionist position, found in the work of Elizabeth Fricker, argues by appeal to the need for the hearer to monitor the testimony for credibility. Fricker (1994) argues, first, that some monitoring for trustworthiness is required if the hearer is to avoid being gullible, and second, that reductionism but not anti-reductionism is compatible with ascribing an important role to the process of monitoring in the course of justifiably accepting observed testimony. In this paper we argue that such an argument fails.     

BUILDING CHARACTER THROUGH SPORTS: MYTH OR POSSIBILITY?

In this article the authors ask whether striving to win in sports is compatible with the belief that participation in sports builds character. In identifying two viewpoints on winning in sports—winning as consequence and winning as experience—the authors suggest ways in which counselors might encourage athletes, coaches, and parents to perceive winning as experience so that participation in sports can foster “character” and build feelings of self-worth.     

An exploration of the Pulfrich effect

Abstract.— The existence of a Pulfrich effect based on ocular convergence was demonstrated by having subjects with a neutral density filter over one eye observe a moving rod in a homogeneous environment. This effect was found to have a smailer magnitude than a Pulfrich effect that was obtained when the rod moved optically in the plane of a dot pattern and thus formed the central equivalents of retinal disparities with the dots of the pattern. Under the latter condition, the latency of subjects' reporting the depth effect was shorter when one end of the rod was visible than when both ends of the rod were concealed. This latency difference occurred because the visible end of the rod formed the equivalent of transverse disparities with the dots surrounding it. The presence of real transverse disparities is known to shorten latencies.