A simple trade-off condition for additive multiattribute utility

We show that only two simple trade-off judgments are sufficient to determine whether the multiplicative multiattribute model assumes its additive form, regardless of the number of attributes in the model. This additivity condition offers a useful alternative to the test based on multiattribute lotteries commonly presented in textbooks. It can make the determination of additivity easier and more reliable. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infantile Sexuality, Primary Object-Love and the Anthropological Signifi Cance of the Oedipus Complex: Re-Reading Freud's 'Female Sexuality'

The author attempts to show why and in what respect Freud's famous article 'Female sexuality' can still be a source of inspiration for a contemporary metapsychology. In this text, Freud acknowledges the importance of the child's tie to its mother for the fi rst time. Both Balint and Bowlby consider this text to be a distant forerunner of their own theories on primary object-love and attachment respectively. At the same time, Freud's text contains some elements of a 'theory of generalized seduction' as it was developed in the last decades by Jean Laplanche. 'Female sexuality' therefore presents itself as the perfect point of departure for a discussion of the relation between primary object-love (and attachment) and sexuality. Based on his reading of Freud's text, the author argues that human subjectivity is characterized by the lack of attunement between the world of the adult and the world of the child. This insight allows for a reformulation of the anthropological signifi cance of the Oedipus and castration complexes. They are no longer interpreted as universal problems that every child has to face, but as historical and contingent solutions to the lack of attunement between the child and the adult that is essential to human subjectivity.     

Gadamer and Theology

Abstract:  This article examines the role of theology in Gadamer and what theology can learn from it. Gadamer owes a great deal to theology for his account of understanding, but the few times he reveals his own theology he does not apply to it the insights he gleaned from theology. This article proposes to open more fully the door back to theology Gadamer left ajar.
Following a middle-voiced reading of understanding as standing under, it articulates theology in terms of a middle-voiced process in and of which we partake when we get involved in it.     

WALKING THE TIGHTROPE: THE COMMITTEE ON THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES AND ACADEMIC CULTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, 1949–1955

The Chicago Committee on the Behavioral Sciences occupies a special place in the eponymous movement. Involving prominent figures such as psychologist James G. Miller and neurophysiologist Ralph W. Gerard, this committee embodied the common belief among behavioral scientists that a cross‐disciplinary approach using natural science methods was key to understanding major issues facing mid‐century American society. This interdivisional committee fell under the jurisdiction of both the natural and social sciences. As such, its flagship project, an institute of mental sciences, had to face the reluctance both of natural scientists who thought it inadequately scientific and of social scientists who regard its efforts as too narrow in scope and too biological in orientation. Though it failed in its main objective to create an institute, the committee was a formidable instrument of intellectual stimulation and socialization for its members. It provided them with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with each other's scientific backgrounds, practices and jargons, realize the significance of academic cultural differences and learn ways to accommodate them.     

Ranking Alternatives on the Basis of Preference Relations: A Progress Report with Special Emphasis on Outranking Relations

This paper is devoted to the study of techniques allowing one to rank order the elements of a finite set on the basis of a non-necessarily complete or transitive binary relation. In the area of MCDM, such a problem occurs with outranking methods. We review a number of theoretical results concerning this problem and show how they may be useful in order to guide the choice of a particular technique. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indirect interception actions by blind and sighted perceivers: The role of modality and tau

Vernat, J.‐P. & Gordon, M.S. (2011). Indirect interception actions by blind and sighted perceivers: The role of modality and tau. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 83–92. Acoustic and visual interceptive actions were tested in this research by comparing the performance of blind, blind‐folded, and sighted individuals. An indirect interception method was employed in which the participant had to roll an intercepting ball towards a moving target on a perpendicular track. The interception task used conditions that varied the speed, rolling distance, and target size/intensity. While performance was highly consistent and accurate for visual participants in this research, the blind and blind‐folded participants demonstrated much more performance variability in response to changes in speed and distance. Manipulation of target size and intensity did not affect judgments, however performance tended to be more accurate at shorter distances and with faster target speeds. Results from this research are discussed in terms of their implications for tau in acoustic interception, and the use of spatial and temporal cues for guiding interceptive actions.