This thesis concerns the notion of 'open texture'. Originally introduced within the philosophy of language by Friedrich Waismann in 1945, open texture referred to a special type of 'possible vagueness' in language. Then, HLA Hart referred to 'the open texture of law' in The Concept of Law (1961). Hart's notion has since caused confusion within legal scholarship, as Hart is unclear whether he is referring to the same phenomenon as Waismann - that the open texture of the language used by (...) law is what causes the open texture of law - or whether laws and rules are open-textured in a way similar to, yet distinct from, the open texture of language. In this thesis, I argue that Waismann and Hart are writing about different phenomena, for different purposes. Hart's open texture of law bears more similarity to legal scholarship about vagueness in the law generally, than to Waismann's anti-verificationist philosophy of language. Further, I argue that the confusion begins with the mistranslation of 'open texture' from the original German Porosität der Begriffe. This mistranslation fails to capture a fundamental aspect of the original phrase; that this 'porosity' is a feature of concepts in language specifically. Instead, translating Porosität der Begriffe to 'open texture' focuses on openness more broadly, thereby allowing theorists to apply the phrase to contexts beyond its original use. Thus, my thesis aims to provide clarity on open texture as a key aspect of Hart's thesis, refining its sense and scope, and counselling against its over-extension to the strict matters in question in Waismann's anti-verificationist philosophy. (shrink)

This article on raising wealthy children to be philanthropic is prompted by the £5.5Tn wealth transfer predicted to take place in the United Kingdom over the coming decades. The impending wealth transfer presents an unprecedented income opportunity for a charity sector faced with increasing societal needs and declining statutory income. Drawing on the premise that engaging children in philanthropic activities can lead to higher participation levels in adulthood, this paper examines how children from wealthy households engage with philanthropy at home (...) and school. A mixed‐methods approach involving research with and not on children is used to explore what kind of philanthropic citizen these children are becoming. Two surveys, five focus groups, and four interviews were used to generate insights from 222 ‘financially secure’ 9 to 11‐year‐old children, 113 parents and four teachers. The study, drawing on models of citizenship, finds a cohort of children exhibiting characteristics aligned with the concept of ‘personally responsible’ philanthropic citizens. This outcome is considered desirable for promoting charitable giving among a demographic likely to have the means and resources to give generously in adulthood. However, the findings suggest a lack of opportunities for children to acquire the knowledge and skills that enable informed giving decisions or the spaces in which to critically engage with charities, causes, and the issues that create the need for philanthropy in the first place. The research supports calls in the literature for a more participatory and social‐justice‐oriented approach to philanthropic education and participation in schools. The findings, of interest to scholars and practitioners alike, address a gap in empirical evidence regarding children and philanthropy in the United Kingdom. (shrink)

Neurostimulation techniques are used to study the healthy human central and peripheral nervous system non-invasively by stimulating neural tissue magnetically or electrically. Such approaches have been successfully applied to study the motor system as well as several other brain systems. This chapter will focus on stimulation of the somatosensory system. Typically, neurostimulation is applied to a certain brain area by positioning a coil (e.g., in transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS) or an electrode (e.g., transcranial electrical stimulation, TES) on the scalp location (...) over the brain area of interest. When primary motor cortex (M1) is stimulated with TMS, motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and twitches are observed in the targeted muscles of the body. However, unlike over M1, stimulation to somatosensory and other cortices does not produce immediately observable outputs. This introduces problems of localization and other challenges, such as the optimal experimental designs and behavioral tasks, when using neurostimulation to study tactile perception. This chapter will describe and evaluate these approaches. Practical and participant-specific difficulties will be noted. Neurostimulation methods offer relatively cheap and reliable means of modulating somatosensation, yet care is required to ensure that the experimental design is adequate, that the optimal location is stimulated, and that the data are able to answer your theoretical question. (shrink)

Touch is represented in multiple reference frames in the brain. On an early level of processing, tactile input is coded in a somatotopic frame preserving the neighbourhood relation of adjacent skin areas. On higher levels, touch is represented in references frames related to limb function, body orientation and external space. The goal of the present study was to infer the anatomical substrate for different reference frames using functional neuroimaging. Assuming that the processing of a stimulus is affected by a distracter (...) stimulus as long as they share a common representation, the brain areas for different reference frames can be identified by their interaction. Here, left index finger served as target location. Tactile distracters were applied to the same, the left middle, the right middle and the right index finger with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 0, 75 and 200 ms. Activation of left and right primary (SI) and secondary somatosensory (SII) cortex could be identified using neuromagnetic source imaging. On the level of SI, no effect of distracters applied to the other hand was found. Yet, SII responses to the target stimulus were diminished by stimulating fingers of the other hand. The reduction was stronger for stimulation of the non-homolog than the homolog finger. Increasing SOAs between distracters and target stimuli revealed that SII responses to the target were delayed by the previously applied distracter only for the SOA of 200 ms. Results indicate that on the level of SII, there exist shared representations integrating information from homologuous regions of the left and right half of the body implying a common reference frame for homolog limbs. Effects of SOA suggest that SII plays a role in the analysis of the temporal structure of the stimuli. (shrink)

Introduction Detecting and discriminating between sensory stimuli are fundamental functions of the nervous system. Electrophysiological and lesion studies in the macaque brain suggest that primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is critically involved in discriminating between somatosensory stimuli, but is not required simply for detecting those same stimuli. By contrast, classical studies in humans using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the sensorimotor cortex show near-complete disruption of perception when TMS is delivered around the same time as the somatosensory target. To resolve this (...) discrepancy, we used single, and dual-pulse TMS over human S1, guided by single- subject structural and functional brain images. Methods Participants (N=12 per experiment) underwent a series of MRI scans (localisers) to produce somatotopic maps of S1. The maps were used to stimulate over S1 with TMS during subsequent experiments. We measured the sensitivity and the decisional criterion of participants in a tactile detection task in which vibrotactile stimuli were presented at threshold level in a one-interval forced-choice (1IFC) design while fMRI-guided TMS was applied over S1, over a control site not activated by vibrotactile stimuli (supramarginal gyrus, SMG), or away from the head (sham) (Experiment 1). We also measured tactile thresholds using QUEST (i.e., an adaptive staircase procedure) in a series of criterion-free two-interval forced-choice (2IFC) vibrotactile detection and discrimination tasks with tactile stimuli (50ms, 200Hz sinusoidal vibration) applied to the middle and/or index fingertips of one hand (Experiments 2-7). Results Results showed that in the 1IFC design TMS increased participants' likelihood of reporting 'no' target present regardless of site (Figure 1c-d), but TMS over S1 also impaired detection only over time (i.e., in the latter half of the experiment) (Figure 1a-b). In the 2IFC design we found that thresholds for detecting vibrotactile stimuli were not influenced by single- or double-pulse TMS over S1 as compared to over SMG (Figure 2a-b). By contrast, TMS over the median nerve at the wrist increased thresholds relative to TMS over finger extensor muscles, and TMS over S1 increased thresholds in a frequency-discrimination task (Figure 2c-f). Conclusions We conclude that, in accordance with macaque studies (LaMotte and Mountcastle, 1979; Romo et al., 2012), S1 is required for discriminating between tactile stimuli, and for holding stimulus representations over time, but may not be required for simple detection of tactile stimuli at the fingers. (shrink)

Evidence-based medicine (EBM), the dominant approach to assessing the effectiveness of clinical and public health interventions, focuses on the results of association studies. EBM+ is a development of EBM that systematically considers mechanistic studies alongside association studies. In this paper we provide several examples of the importance of mechanistic evidence to coronavirus research. (i) Assessment of combination therapy for MERS highlights the need for systematic assessment of mechanistic evidence. (ii) That hypertension is a risk factor for severe disease in the (...) case of SARS-CoV-2 suggests that altering hypertension treatment might alleviate disease, but the mechanisms are complex, and it is essential to consider and evaluate multiple mechanistic hypotheses. (iii) To be confident that public health interventions will be effective requires a detailed assessment of social and psychological components of the mechanisms of their action, in addition to mechanisms of disease. (iv) In particular, if vaccination programmes are to be effective, they must be carefully tailored to the social context; again, mechanistic evidence is crucial. We conclude that coronavirus research is best situated within the EBM+ evaluation framework. (shrink)

This article explores the question of what we can consider to be real in drug policy. It examines two increasingly common aspects of drug policy analysis; radical constructionist critique and successionist data science. It shows how researchers using these assumptions have produced interesting findings, but also demonstrates their theoretical incoherence, based on their shared ‘flat ontology’. The radical constructionist claim that reality is produced within research methods – as seen in some qualitative studies - is shown to be unsustainably self-defeating. (...) It is analytically ‘paralyzing’. This leads to two inconsistencies in radical constructionist studies; empirical ambivalence and ersatz epistemic egalitarianism. The Humean successionist approach of econometric data science is also shown to be unsustainable, and unable to provide explanations of identified patterns in data. Four consequent, limiting characteristics of this type of drug policy research are discussed: causal inference at a distance, monofinality, limited causal imagination, and overly confident causal claims. The article goes on to describe the critical realist approach towards ‘depth ontology’ and ‘generative causation’. It provides examples of how this approach is deployed in critical realist reviews and discourse analysis of drug policy. It concludes by arguing that critical realism enables more deeply explanatory, methodologically eclectic and democratically inclusive analysis of drug policy development and effects. (shrink)

Spatial distortions in touch have been investigated since the 19th century. For example, two touches applied to the hand dorsum feel farther apart when aligned with the mediolateral axis (i.e., across the hand) than when aligned with the proximodistal axis (along the hand). Stimulations to our sensory receptors are usually dynamic, where spatial and temporal inputs closely interact to establish our percept. For example, physically bigger tactile stimuli are judged to last longer than smaller stimuli. Given such links between space (...) and time in touch, we investigated whether there is a tactile anisotropy in temporal perception analogous to the anisotropy described above. In this case, the perceived duration between the onset of two touches should be larger when they are aligned with the mediolateral than with the proximodistal axis of the hand dorsum. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to judge which of two tactile temporal sequences, having the same spatial separation along and across the dorsum, felt longer. A clear anisotropy of the temporal perception was observed: temporal intervals across the hand were perceived as longer than those along the hand. Consistent with the spatial anisotropy, the temporal anisotropy did not appear on the palm side of the hand, indicating that the temporal anisotropy was based on perceptual processes rather than top-down modulations such as attentional or decisional/response biases. Contrary to our predictions, however, we found no correlation between the magnitudes of the temporal and spatial anisotropies. Our results demonstrated a novel type of temporal illusion in touch, which is strikingly similar in nature to the previously reported spatial anisotropy. Thus, qualitatively similar distorted somatosensory representations appear to underlie both temporal and spatial processing of touch. (shrink)

Sacrificial moral dilemmas are widely used to investigate when, how, and why people make judgments that are consistent with utilitarianism. But to what extent can responses to sacrificial dilemmas shed light on utilitarian decision making? We consider two key questions: First, how meaningful is the relationship between responses to sacrificial dilemmas and what is distinctive of a utilitarian approach to morality? Second, to what extent do findings about sacrificial dilemmas generalise to other moral contexts where there is tension between utilitarianism (...) and common-sense intuitions? We argue that sacrificial dilemmas only capture one point of conflict between utilitarianism and common-sense morality, and new paradigms are needed to investigate other key aspects of utilitarianism, such as its radical impartiality. (shrink)

Deep learning methods have been applied to randomly generate images, such as in fashion, furniture design. To date, consideration of human aspects which play a vital role in a design process has not been given significant attention in deep learning approaches. In this paper, results are reported from a human- in-the-loop design method where brain EEG signals are used to capture preferable design features. In the framework developed, an encoder extracting EEG features from raw signals recorded from subjects when viewing (...) images from ImageNet are learned. Secondly, a GAN model is trained conditioned on the encoded EEG features to generate design images. Thirdly, the trained model is used to generate design images from a person's EEG measured brain activity in the cognitive process of thinking about a design. To verify the proposed method, a case study is presented following the proposed approach. The results indicate that the method can generate preferred designs styles guided by the preference related brain signals. In addition, this method could also help improve communication between designers and clients where clients might not be able to express design requests clearly. (shrink)

Mentalising has long been suggested to play an important role in irony interpretation. We hypothesised that another important cognitive underpinning of irony interpretation is likely to be childen’s capacity for mental set switching – the ability to switch flexibly between different approaches to the same task. We experimentally manipulated mentalising and set switching to investigate their effects on the ability of 7-year-olds to determine if an utterance is intended ironically or literally. The component of mentalising examined was whether the speaker (...) and listener shared requisite knowledge. We developed a paradigm in which children had to select how a listener might reply, depending on whether the listener shared knowledge needed to interpret the utterance as ironic. Our manipulation of requisite set switching found null results. However, we are the first to show experimentally that children as young as seven years use mentalising to determine whether an utterance is intended ironically or literally. (shrink)

Some philosophers have argued that evidence of underlying mechanisms does not provide evidence for the effectiveness of a medical intervention. One such argument appeals to the unreliability of mechanistic reasoning. However, mechanistic reasoning is not the only way that evidence of mechanisms might provide evidence of effectiveness. A more reliable type of reasoning may be distinguished by appealing to recent work on evidential pluralism in the epistemology of medicine. A case study from virology provides an example of this so‐called reinforced (...) reasoning in medicine. It is argued that in this case study, the available evidence of underlying mechanisms did in fact play a role in providing evidence in favour of a medical intervention. This paper therefore adds a novel and recent case study to the literature in support of evidential pluralism in medicine. (shrink)

This paper analyses the methods of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for evaluating the carcinogenicity of various agents. I identify two fundamental evidential principles that underpin these methods, which I call Evidential Proximity and Independence. I then show, by considering the 2018 evaluation of the carcinogenicity of styrene and styrene‐7,8‐oxide, that these principles have been implemented in a way that can lead to inconsistency. I suggest a way to resolve this problem: admit a general exception to Independence (...) and treat the implementation of Evidential Proximity more flexibly where this exception applies. I show that this suggestion is compatible with the general principles laid down in the 2019 version of IARC's methods guide, its Preamble to the Monographs. (shrink)

Applying critical sociological theory, this book explores the shortcomings of popular tactics in animal liberation efforts. Building a case for a scientifically-grounded grassroots approach, it is argued that professionalized advocacy that works in the service of theistic, capitalist, patriarchal institutions will find difficulty achieving success.

Cities Made of Boundaries presents the theoretical foundation and concepts for a new social scientific urban morphological mapping method, Boundary Line Type (BLT) Mapping. Its vantage is a plea to establish a frame of reference for radically comparative urban studies positioned between geography and archaeology. Based in multidisciplinary social and spatial theory, a critical realist understanding of the boundaries that compose built space is operationalised by a mapping practice utilising Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Benjamin N. Vis gives a precise account (...) of how BLT Mapping can be applied to detailed historical, reconstructed, contemporary, and archaeological urban plans, exemplified by sixteenth to twenty-first century Winchester (UK) and Classic Maya Chunchucmil (Mexico). This account demonstrates how the functional and experiential difference between compact western and tropical dispersed cities can be explored. The methodological development of Cities Made of Boundaries will appeal to readers interested in the comparative social analysis of built environments, and those seeking to expand the evidence-base of design options to structure urban life and development. (shrink)

Quattrocki and Friston (2014) argued that abnormalities in interoception—the process of representing one’s internal physiological states—could lie at the heart of autism, because of the critical role interoception plays in the ontogeny of social-affective processes. This proposal drew criticism from proponents of the alexithymia hypothesis, who argue that social-affective and underlying interoceptive impairments are not a feature of autism per se, but of alexithymia (a condition characterized by difficulties describing and identifying one’s own emotions), which commonly co-occurs with autism. Despite (...) the importance of this debate for our understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and of the role of interoceptive impairments in psychopathology, more generally, direct empirical evidence is scarce and inconsistent. Experiment 1 examined in a sample of 137 neurotypical (NT) individuals the association among autistic traits, alexithymia, and interoceptive accuracy (IA) on a standard heartbeat-tracking measure of IA. In Experiment 2, IA was assessed in 46 adults with ASD (27 of whom had clinically significant alexithymia) and 48 NT adults. Experiment 1 confirmed strong associations between autistic traits and alexithymia, but yielded no evidence to suggest that either was associated with interoceptive difficulties. Similarly, Experiment 2 provided no evidence for interoceptive impairments in autistic adults, irrespective of any co-occurring alexithymia. Bayesian analyses consistently supported the null hypothesis. The observations pose a significant challenge to notions that interoceptive impairments constitute a core feature of either ASD or alexithymia, at least as far as the direct perception of interoceptive signals is concerned. (shrink)

One feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a deficit in verbal reference production; i.e., providing an appropriate amount of verbal information for the listener to refer to things, people, and events. However, very few studies have manipulated whether individuals with ASD can take a speaker’s perspective in order to interpret verbal reference. A critical limitation of all interpretation studies is that comprehension of another’s verbal reference required the participant to represent only the other’s visual perspective. Yet, many everyday interpretations (...) of verbal reference require knowledge of social perspective (i.e., a consideration of which experiences one has shared with which interlocutor). We investigated whether 22 5;0- to 7;11-year-old children with ASD and 22 well-matched typically developing (TD) children used social perspective to comprehend (Study 1) and produce (Study 2) verbal reference. Social perspective-taking was manipulated by having children collaboratively complete activities with one of two interlocutors such that for a given activity, one interlocutor was Knowledgeable and one was Naïve. Study 1 found no between-group differences for the interpretation of ambiguous references based on social perspective. In Study 2, when producing referring terms, the ASD group made modifications based on listener needs, but this effect was significantly stronger in the TD group. Overall, the findings suggest that high-functioning children with ASD know with which interlocutor they have previously shared a given experience and can take this information into account to steer verbal reference. Nonetheless, they show clear performance limitations in this regard relative to well-matched controls. (shrink)

A 60-minute show written and performed by Lauren Ware. Venue: New Town Theatre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Date: Monday, 7th August 2017. Description: Two people are imprisoned for identical crimes. One finds prison life merely unpleasant, the other lives in constant fear adn distress. Have they been punished equally? Drawing on the philosophy of emotion and the impact of imprisonment on offenders and their families, this interactive show asks the audience to consider if punishment must hurt, who can be made to (...) suffer, and why. (shrink)

Some of the very best philosophy attempts to combine things that we feel are true, but that can't necessarily be true all at once. Just think of Mill: is his hedonistic and utilitarian framework re...

This chapter argues about the distinction of Ricoeur's hermeneutical philosophy as it bears on questions of socio-political import. In particular it examines how Ricoeur's dialectical approach is able to maintain a theoretical balance between antinomies, such as universality and particularity, tradition and emancipation, and relativism and absolutism. The chapter also provides an overview of each chapter contribution and how the book contents contribute to an overall thesis on Ricoeur's socio-political thought.

Book reviewed:Brian McGuinness, Approaches to Wittgenstein: Collected Papers, Routledge, 2002, xv + 299 pp, £55.00.

Democritus' theory of vision combines the notions of images (??????) streaming from objects and air imprints, which gives him the resources to account for the perception of the relative size and distance of objects, not just their characteristics. This perspectival explanation of the visual theory accommodates important but overlooked evidence from Vitruvius. By comparing Democritus' theory with ancient developments in visual representation, my analysis provides a new approach to the evidence of atomist vision. I begin with the process of vision (...) before turning to the Peripatetic objections, showing how a unified theory of vision takes into account all of the ancient testimony and provides possible atomist responses to the criticisms raised against it. I also identify the importance of vision via air imprints as an important metaphor for the conventionality of sensible qualities. Understanding these fundamental issues puts us in a better position to assess Democritus' place in the development of ancient optics and of atomist approaches to sense perception. (shrink)

The object of this study is the presence and the operation of space in the films of the Dardenne brothers. In this paper, we will examine three films - Rosetta, The Child and The Silence of Lorna - and present the argument that they depict an original account of the contemporary European city as a totality (in this case an eastern Belgian steel town). The construction of the characters, their relationships, and the moral implications of their actions are usually the (...) most discussed aspect of the Dardennes' cinema. Instead, we want to shift focus to the city, focusing on its concrete, visceral materiality. The aim of this paper is to chart out the leaden landscape of these films, by tracing the movements of the protagonists in two particular kinds of recurring spaces: the woods that lie next to motorways in Rosetta and The Silence of Lorna, and the motorways that feature prominently in The Child. Even though these spaces are the left-over spaces of the city, cut out and discarded from the inner spaces of the city, they are still heavily inscribed and symbolic sites. Not only do they move the plot forward and are expressive of the characters that inhabit them, they also engage in a sustained, though understated, political critique. (shrink)

Both modern political economy and capitalism rest on the separation of economics from ethics, which in turn can be traced to a number of shifts within philosophy and theology – notably the move away from practices of reciprocity and the common good towards the sole pursuit of individual freedom and self-interest. In his latest book, Luigino Bruni provides a compelling critique of capitalist markets and an alternative vision that fuses Aristotelian-Thomist virtue ethics with the Renaissance and Neapolitan Enlightenment tradition of (...) ‘civil economy’. The book develops three broad yet closely intertwined theses. First, that Greco-Roman Antiquity and the Christian Middle Ages invented models of civil life that transcended tribalism and political absolutism but produced sacral communities wherein the power and privilege of the ‘few’ denied freedom and equality to the ‘many’. Second, that modernity inaugurated the primacy of free and equal individuals over communities but that it undermined and destroyed the social bonds on which societies ultimately depend. Just as in Antiquity and the Middle Ages we had communities without individuals, so in the modern era we have individuals without communities. Beyond these two similarly undesirable conditions, Bruni proposes the ‘civil economy’ model as the most radical alternative – the book’s third and most important thesis. Accordingly, the ‘civil economy’ alternative combines the relationality and sociability of all human beings with the flourishing of each and everyone by fusing self-interest with wider social benefit. Crucially, the ties of public faith (fides) and friendship (philia) can overcome the false divide between egoism and altruism in the direction of a moral market that is governed not just by the pursuit of profit but also by the practice of virtue. (shrink)

While probabilistic logics in principle might be applied to solve a range of problems, in practice they are rarely applied --- perhaps because they seem disparate, complicated, and computationally intractable. This programmatic book argues that several approaches to probabilistic logic fit into a simple unifying framework in which logically complex evidence is used to associate probability intervals or probabilities with sentences. Specifically, Part I shows that there is a natural way to present a question posed in probabilistic logic, and that (...) various inferential procedures provide semantics for that question, while Part II shows that there is the potential to develop computationally feasible methods to mesh with this framework. The book is intended for researchers in philosophy, logic, computer science and statistics. A familiarity with mathematical concepts and notation is presumed, but no advanced knowledge of logic or probability theory is required. (shrink)

The sustainability of effective researcher development provision post-Roberts requires re-orientations of our thinking in a number of ways. Developers need to think from the perspective less of national policy and institutional organisation and more of the developing practitioner. Their autonomy needs to be the focus, understood in the positive, Kantian sense, freedom to explore new avenues of scientific and other enquiry and to direct their own development, underpinned by sense of value, individually and as a peer group. This emphasises the (...) place of consciousness and reason in the development process. Both proponents and opponents of the skills agenda at this level are stuck in a realist mindset which demands critique. It promotes, on the one hand, an unhelpful deficit model of skills as discrete concrete requirements and, on the other hand, gives licence to the equally unhelpful challenge that skills and academic endeavour are worlds apart. This session provides opportunity for participants to explore the implications of these lines of thinking for practice and policy, especially with the advent of the new Researcher Development Framework. (shrink)

Evidence can be complex in various ways: e.g., it may exhibit structural complexity, containing information about causal, hierarchical or logical structure as well as empirical data, or it may exhibit combinatorial complexity, containing a complex combination of...

A crow sat in a tree holding in his beak a piece of meat that he had stolen. A fox which saw him determined to get the meat. It stood under the tree and began to tell the crow what a beautiful big bird he was. He ought to be king of all the birds, the fox said, and he undoubtedly would have been made king, if only he had a voice as well. The crow was so anxious to prove (...) that he had a voice, that he dropped the meat and croaked for all he was worth. Up ran the fox, snapped up the meat, and said to him: ‘If you added brains to all your other qualifications you would make an ideal king.’. (shrink)

The Morality of Happiness By Julia Annas, Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp. x + 502. ISBN 0–19–507999‐X. £45.00 (hbk), £13.99 (pbk).Dimensions of Creativity By Margaret A. Boden (ed.) MIT Press, 1994. Pp. 242. ISBN 0–262–02368–7. £24.95.Thomas Hobbes and the Science of Moral Virtue By David Boonin‐Vail, Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 219. ISBN 0–521–46209–6. £37.50.Reason and Rhetoric in the Philosophy of Hobbes By Quentin Skinner, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. 477. ISBN 0–521–55436–5. £35.00.Being and the Between By William Desmond, State (...) University of New York Press, 1995. Pp. 557. ISBN 0–7914–2271–2. $19.95.Perplexity and Ultimacy By William Desmond, State University of New York Press, 1995. Pp. 263. ISBN 0–7914–2387–5. $19.95.Evidence and Inquiry: Towards Reconstruction in Epistemology By Susan Haack, Blackwell Publishers, 1994. Pp. x + 259. ISBN 0–631–19679‐X/£14.99 (pbk).Kant's Intuitionalism: A Commentary on the Transcendental Aesthetic By Lorne Falkenstein, University of Toronto Press, 1996. Pp. xvii + 465. ISBN 0–8020–2973–6. $70.00.The Metaphysics of Free Will By John Martin Fischer, Blackwell, 1995. Pp. ix + 273. ISBN 1–55786–8573. £14.99.Identification Papers By Diana Fuss, Routledge, 1995. Pp. 179. ISBN 0–415–90886–8. $16.95.Rorty and Pragmatism: The Philosopher Responds to his Critics Edited by Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., Vanderbilt University Press, 1995. ISBN 0–8265–1263–1 $24.95.Nietzsche's French Legacy: a Genealogy of Poststructuralism By Alan D. Schrift, Routledge, 1995. Pp. xviii + 198. ISBN 0–415–91146‐X. £40.00.Causal Cognition ‐ A Multidisciplinary Debate Edited by Dan Sperber, David Premack, and Ann James Premack, Clarendon Press, 1995. Pp. 670. ISBN 0–19–852314–9. £00.00. (shrink)

Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2003. Pp. xviii + 454. ISBN 981-238-2003 (cloth); 981-238-2062 (paperback).

One of the most significant ways in which much late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature and philosophy may be distinguished from their predecessors is in their reliance upon the notion of ‘inexpressibility’ and the limits of the sayable. In this article, I seek not only to chart the history of this tradition, but also to reflect critically upon the use it makes of the concept of ‘the nothing’. For all their differences, in both Wittgenstein and Heidegger one encounters deployments of this (...) concept in ways that determine these thinkers’ conceptions of language and literature. My aim here is to initiate a new critical reflection upon the fate of the concept of ‘the nothing’ in modern philosophy and literary theory. (shrink)

On average, groups of autistic individuals are more likely than groups of non-autistic individuals to exhibit unconventional conversational behaviours. We examined autistic and non-autistic children’s social impressions of unconventional responding, as well as actual conversational behaviours in the same participants. Across two studies, 36 autistic and 36 non-autistic matched 9-13-year-olds listened to conversational vignettes which manipulated the relevance and timing of responses produced by the speaker. They then rated the speaker’s social desirability. We also measured the content and latency of (...) the same children’s conversational responses. Autistic children aligned with their non-autistic peers in indicating that they were less likely to befriend, or enjoy interacting with, a speaker who provided off-topic or delayed responses. However, the same autistic children provided more off-topic, and fewer topic-continuing, conversational responses than their non-autistic counterparts. These findings suggest that displaying unconventional conversational behaviours may act as a barrier to friendship or inclusion for autistic children, even when socialising with other autistic peers. (shrink)

The study of intellectual humility (IH), which is gaining increasing interest among cognitive scientists, has been dominated by a focus on individuals. We propose that IH operates at the collective level as the tendency of a collective’s members to attend to each other’s intellectual limitations and the limitations of their collective cognitive efforts. Given people’s propensity to better recognize others’ limitations than their own, IH may be more readily achievable in collectives than individuals. We describe the socio-cognitive dynamics that can (...) interfere with collective IH and offer the solution of building intellectually humbling environments that create a culture of IH that can outlast the given membership of a collective. We conclude with promising research directions. (shrink)

The medium of film is used for a wide range of purposes – not only for art and entertainment, but as a tool of information dissemination, scientific enquiry, advertising, and political campaigning. While having received most attention in the context of film art, imagination and creativity are relevant to the use of film for all these purposes, because both are ubiquitously relevant to purposeful behavior and problem-solving cognition across all domains of human activity. Various modes of imagining (propositional, sensory-experiential, and (...) empathic), along with the relationship between imagination and creativity, different types of creativity, and the importance of constraints and problems in spurring creative agency, are explored in the light of their pertinence to film. The distinction and the symbiotic relationship between creative and recreative imagining are outlined. The dynamic, embedded, and extended nature of the creative imagination in the context of filmmaking is limned, and an argument concerning the authentic mark of the creative presented. (shrink)

Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The DSM criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally-fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how autistic and neurotypical children maintain a conversation topic. We also investigated within-group relationships between conversational ability and cognitive and socio-cognitive predictors. Study 1 found autistic children were more likely than neurotypical controls (...) to give off-topic and generic minimal responses (e.g. ‘mm’, ‘oh’) and were less likely to give non-verbal responses (e.g. nodding or use of facial affect to respond). Nonetheless, the autistic group provided topic-supporting responses 62% of the time, indicating some aspects of conversation topic maintenance are a relative strength. Studies 2 and 3 found large individual differences in topic-supporting conversational responding amongst both neurotypical and autistic children. These were positively related to theory of mind ability and age in both groups. Conversational skills lie on a continuum for the general population and differences by diagnostic group are a matter of degree. Given the importance for peer relationships, we suggest a whole-classroom approach to supporting conversation skills in all children. (shrink)

In the past few decades, metaphysicians have shown a great interest in the notion of fundamentality and the hierarchical structure of the world. As a result, we now have an extensive body of literature attending to the notion of fundamentality. This addresses what is meant by being fundamental, the nature of relations of fundamentality, the kinds of such relations, and how the world is structured by these relations. However, there is still a central question that has been left neglected for (...) a large part of the literature: what makes (or constitutes) one thing more, or less, fundamental than another? One of the main reasons for the lack of substantial work in regard to this question is that many philosophers of fundamentality take this notion to be primitive, and therefore not in need of explanation; as Jessica Wilson says, "Fundamental is, well, fundamental." (2014: 560) In this thesis, I reject this approach and argue that the relative fundamentality of entities in relation to other entities (or what I call the "metaphysical status of entities") can be explained in terms of degrees of being. I take an ontological approach in explaining the way the world is structured because 'being' and its features (such as degrees) are the only metaphysical notion that are truly primitive. In Chapter 1 I offer a brief exposition of the literature on fundamentality, explaining what is meant by fundamentality as well as the ways we characterise this notion, i.e. "absolute" and "relative" fundamentality. In this chapter, I explain the fruitfulness of theories of fundamentality in explaining the structure of the world, and at the end, I pose the aforementioned question: what makes something fundamental (or more or less fundamental than another)? My answer to this question is a meta-ontological one, so I first need to explain what I mean by being (or existence), which is the focus of Chapter 2. In this chapter, I discuss the benefits and shortcomings of two major meta-ontological views: equivocality of being (i.e. existence has a variety of senses) and univocality of being (i.e. there is only one sense to existence). I demonstrate that neither of these views is sufficient in accounting for how things exist, so in Chapter 3, I embark on the task of offering an alternative view, which is the theory of degrees of being. This version of the theory of degrees of being takes existence to have one sense, the referent of which comes in degrees, corresponding to different kinds of being. In Chapter 4 I make the connection between this purely meta-ontological theory and entities in the world. I argue in this chapter that reality is the manifestation of existence and as such things come in degrees of reality. I demonstrate this view in terms of the concrete-abstract divide as well as the actual-potential one. Finally, in Chapter 5 I return to the original question posed at the end of the first chapter, arguing that to be more fundamental than another entity is directly connected to the degree of being something enjoys. I also hold up my version of the theory of degrees of being to two of the strongest rival views (i.e. David Lewis' naturalness and Karen Bennett's building) to show that my version of the theory of degrees of being is a worthy addition, and indeed a powerful challenge, to existing theories of fundamentality. (shrink)

Emotional experiences deeply impact our bodily states, such as when we feel ‘anger’, our fists close and our face burns. Recent studies have shown that emotions can be mapped onto specific body areas, suggesting a possible role of the primary somatosensory system (S1) in emotion processing. To date, however, the causal role of S1 in emotion generation remains unclear. To address this question, we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on S1 at different frequencies (beta, theta and sham) while participants (...) saw emotional stimuli with different degrees of pleasantness and level of arousal. Results showed that modulation of S1 influenced subjective emotional ratings as a function of the frequency applied. While theta and beta-tACS made participants rate the emotional images as more pleasant, only theta-tACS lowered the subjective arousal ratings. Skin conductance responses confirmed a different arousal for pleasant vs unpleasant stimuli. Our study revealed that S1 has a causal role in the feeling of emotions, adding new insight into the embodied nature of emotions. Importantly, we provided causal evidence that beta and theta frequencies contribute differently to the modulation of two dimensions of emotions - arousal and valence - corroborating the view of a dissociation between these two dimensions. (shrink)

BACKGROUND: Talking Mats® is a visual communication tool which can support people to express their views. Talking Mats has been used in research as a more inclusive data collection tool, however, analysing the varied data produced by Talking Mats is challenging, and there is a lack of guidance on how to analyse and report these data. OBJECTIVE: We sought to provide an overview of ways in which Talking Mats data have been analysed and reported. METHODS: We conducted a narrative review (...) of studies that reported using Talking Mats to collect empirical data, to examine how these studies analysed and reported these data. RESULTS: Studies used qualitative analysis techniques, such as: thematic, content, conversation, and framework analysis. Studies also reported clinical and research case studies and observations of non-verbal communication. Quantitative analyses were used less often, and involved transforming qualitative data into quantitative data (e.g., observing symbol placements). Many studies did not describe their methods in sufficient depth. CONCLUSIONS: We developed the Talking Mats Reporting Criteria to support researchers and practitioners to describe their Talking Mats protocols. These Reporting Criteria were developed iteratively and collaboratively between Talking Mats experts and members of the Talking Mats Research Network. Researchers and practitioners should describe their analytical approach in further detail and report the Talking Mats Effectiveness Framework of Functional Communication. (shrink)

Visual objects in the peripersonal space (PPS), are perceived faster than farther ones, appearing in the extrapersonal space (EPS). This shows preferential processing for visual stimuli near our body. Such an advantage should favor visual perceptual learning occurring near, as compared to far from observers, but opposite evidence has been recently provided from online testing protocols, showing larger perceptual learning in the far space. Here, we ran two laboratory-based experiments investigating whether visual training in PPS and EPS has different effects. (...) We used the horizontal Ponzo Illusion to create a lateralized depth perspective while participants completed a visual search task in which they reported whether or not a specific target object orientation (e.g., a triangle pointing upward) was present amongst distractors. This task was completed before and after a training phase in either the (illusory) near or far space for one hour. In Experiment 1, the near space was in the left hemispace, whereas in Experiment 2 it was in the right. Results showed that, in both experiments, participants were more accurate after training in the far space, whereas training in the near space led to either improvement in the far space (Exp. 1), or no change (Exp. 2). Moreover, we found a larger visual perceptual learning when stimuli were presented in the left compared to the right hemispace. Differently from visual processing, visual perceptual learning is more effective in the far space. We propose that depth is a key dimension that can be used to improve human visual learning. (shrink)

This paper examines national identities and collective violence beliefs in a sample of Syrian diaspora members (N = 521). Most of the Syria diaspora fled the ongoing civil war and are therefore opposed to President Assad and his regime, which still control most of their homeland. It is therefore a compelling question if national identities, which remain strong in the diaspora despite displacement, shape attitudes towards the regime at home. To this end, we contrast national narcissism (i.e., defensive national identity), (...) an exaggerated belief in one’s national ingroup’s greatness, and national identification (i.e., secure national identity), a feeling of belonging to the nation and evaluating it positively, as differential predictors of collective violence beliefs. We find that a defensive national identity was related to support for both upward (i.e., violence targeted at regime leaders) and diffuse (i.e., violence targeted at regime supporters) collective violence. Meanwhile, secure national identity was linked to opposition to diffuse collective violence and was unrelated to upward collective violence. Thus, in a sample of displaced, non-WEIRD people, a pattern often found in similar research in the West is replicated, in that secure national identity can relate to benevolent and peaceful group processes. Meanwhile, national narcissism seems to be a driver of hostile intergroup attitudes. National sentiments should therefore be central in any discussion on diasporic attitudes towards the Syrian homeland’s regime and fellow citizens. The results could be utilised in designing interventions to promote harmony in diaspora communities around the world, and ultimately reconciliation once peace is finally restored. (shrink)

In this paper, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Child Communication Checklist-Revised (CCC-R) for the first time with an English-speaking sample. We used confirmatory application of exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) to re-evaluate the CCC-R’s psychometric properties. We found strong support for its use as an assessment for pragmatic and structural language. Our second main aim was to explore associations between pragmatic and structural language and restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs), two hallmark characteristics of autism. We used the CCC-R (...) and Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire (RBQ-2) to investigate these associations in a diverse non-clinical sample of children, taking a transdiagnostic approach. We intentionally excluded autism and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses to test, (1) the CCC-R in a broad sample and (2) the association between pragmatic language and RRB in children not already selected for that association. The sample comprised two groups of children, one was community sampled (n=123) and the other (n=143) included children with non-specific behavioural, emotional and/or cognitive difficulties referred to an assessment unit by schools. We found clear associations between pragmatic language difficulties and RRBs in both groups. Regression analysis showed that pragmatic language was the only significant contributor to RRBs even after Grammatical-Semantic score, age, sex, and socioeconomic status were controlled. The pattern was the same for both recruitment groups. However, the effects were stronger for the school-referred group which also had more pragmatic difficulties, grammatical-semantic difficulties and RRBs. A robust link between pragmatic language and RRBs, established in autism, has continuity across the broader non-clinical population. (shrink)

This article explores the waiata tangi (lament), commonly known as‘EPāTo Hau.’Written by Rangiamoa of Ngāti Apakura after theattrocities committed by British soldiers at Rangiaowhia. It seeksto describe settler colonialism in terms of elimination, greif anddispossession. It argues that the waiata understands theseconcepts in very deep ways. The research utilises WhakaaroBased Philsophy and method to dissect the waiata for itsphilosophy and theory. This is done by exploring the literature onwaiata, haka, and cultural memory as indigenous text andanalysing the famous waiata tangi (...) (lament) by Rangiamoa called‘EPāTo Hau’that was written in the aftermath of Rangiaowhia. Abackground on the events at Rangiaowhia is provided.Theoretically, it outlines the case for refering to‘settlercolonialism’as‘invader colonialism’and the relationship ofremembering to resistence. It also supports the call for termingthe events at Rangiaowhia a‘war crime’as recently discussed inthe media. (shrink)

What is the relationship between detailed critical analysis and the background assumptions made by a given theory of film spectatorship? In this article, I approach this question by looking at Vittorio Gallese and Michele Guerra's The Empathic Screen in the light of the method of triangulation—the coordination and integration of phenomenological, psychological, and neuroscientific evidence, as set out in my Film, Art, and the Third Culture. In particular, I examine Gallese and Guerra's arguments concerning the role of camera movement in (...) prompting immersive, embodied simulation, as well as critiques of these arguments from David Bordwell and Malcolm Turvey. I focus on the special, irreducible role of critical analysis in these arguments. Detailed analysis of film form and style plays an essential role, I argue, in demonstrating the plausibility (or otherwise) of the thesis advanced by Gallese and Guerra. Such analysis is where the rubber of theoretical assumptions meets the road of the material work. (shrink)

This paper examines how the Anthropocene becomes perceptible as a speculative geological future through the medium of the technofossil. Invoking plastics, Styrofoam, and other artefacts particular to the recent past, the technofossil is generative of a novel aesthetic remarkably successful at facilitating a sensitivity to geological deep time in the present. I develop an account of how the technofossil was invented, how it unfolds as an approrpriation of palaeontological techniques, and how geologists draw on fossils as at once an impartial (...) practice (the evidence is ‘set in stone’) while at once speaking ‘on behalf’ of technofossils to advance entirely political speculations about the future, as well as contemporary society. The technofossil therefore unfolds as a speculative forensics. (shrink)

The ability to engage with ease in collaborative conversation is critical for child well-being and development. While key underpinning skills are biologically enabled, children require appropriate scaffolding and practice opportunities to develop proficient social conversational ability. Teaching conversation skills is a statutory requirement of the English primary (and many other) curricula. However, currently most upper primary mainstream teachers are not trained to teach conversation skills and do not teach them in the classroom or provide time for children to practice. We (...) argue for first steps towards an evidence-based approach for a universal / Tier 1 programme, whilst fully acknowledging an ongoing need for Tier 2 and Tier 3 support as well as for further research into the strategies which are most effective in Tier 2/3 contexts. Further research is also needed to explore cultural variation in social conversation and to develop reliable, valid and brief teacher measures of child social conversational ability. (shrink)

Philosophers and other scholars have often claimed that the arts are not only cognitively valuable but also morally improving (e.g., Nussbaum, 1997). However, their arguments often proceed with little attention to empirical evidence. At the same time, filmmakers and media creators deliberately use devices to direct their audience’s attention, with the intention of impacting viewers’ cognitive, affective, and neurological responses in meaningful ways (Carroll & Seeley, 2013). Whether these devices have the desired effects, and on whom, also remains largely untested. (...) If we want to understand the ways that film and media can have moral impacts, we must step out of our disciplinary siloes. It is not enough for film experts, philosophers, and experimentalists to merely take note of each other’s work; collaborative interdisciplinary research is required, both to improve methods and to examine questions that have not yet been empirically explored. In this article we propose a model for this kind of research, focusing on how media can influence moral understanding. We first outline the challenges that must be met for such research to be successful, including clarifying and operationalizing concepts, measuring moral understanding, and applying empirical methods to media and the arts. We then describe the advantages of interdisciplinary collaboration for meeting these challenges, in the context of some recent examples of interdisciplinary projects on related themes. (shrink)

Several studies have shown that healthy individuals present large distortions across different body parts, as assessed through tactile distance estimation. Interestingly, studies have revealed that by temporarily altering visual experience of the body, the perception of tactile distances varies, suggesting that vision might play a crucial role in bodily distortions and more generally in the perception of body. This might be due to the system that tends to preserve tactile size constancy by rescaling the distorted body representation into an object-centred (...) space. This rescaling requires that the brain possesses a representation of the physical size of the stimulated body part. However, it is unclear what role vision plays in tactile size constancy. Here, we investigated the role of vision in body representation by asking blind and sighted individuals to estimate tactile distances between pairs of points on the dorsum of their hand and on their fingers. The results showed that, regardless of visual experience, both groups showed typical hand/fingers distortions, suggesting that visual information does not seem to influence body representation tested using a tactile task. Therefore, rescaling of distorted body representations induced by touch seems not to be visually-driven. (shrink)

To propose a clear psychological definition of morality is no easy task, and Dahl (2023) is to be commended here for not only doing so, but leaving an explicit paper trail of traits deemed desirable for any such proposal. However, while a rationale for calling phenomena “moral” would be useful, is it really as vital for the conduct of research as Dahl presumes? We instead argue that the definition of the term “morality” is not always a task of scientific definition (...) similar to defining “cell” or “attitude”, but rather can be seen as a meta-scientific task for organising research. When morality itself is a construct that figures in theories and hypotheses, this construct usually depends on lay views of whether the moral realm is involved. This insight, in our view, argues for a broader rather than narrower approach to defining morality, which we explain in the final section. (shrink)

The figure of form-of-life is a life lived as a ‘how’ or a mode of living, beyond every relation. Form-of-life is a form of impotent, destituent power that seeks to deactivate the biopolitics that continuously divides and separates life itself. Agamben’s work is remarkably silent on the question of reproductive rights. The pregnant woman’s life is regulated continuously by biopolitics, yet Agamben does not discuss this regulation. The woman’s relationship with her foetus is difficult to reconcile with Agamben’s philosophy that (...) seeks to think beyond every relation. In addition, the right to abortion is difficult to reconcile with form-of-life. It is not clear how a woman seeking an abortion is not exercising a sovereign decision to create bare life. I use the UK’s abortion laws as a way to interrogate Agamben’s figure of form-of-life, and to illustrate how, by not accounting for reproductive rights, Agamben’s thought remains incomplete. (shrink)

Visual shape discrimination is faster for objects close to the body, in the peripersonal space (PPS), compared to objects far from the body. Visual processing enhancement in PPS occurs also when perceived depth is based on 2D pictorial cues. This advantage has been observed from relatively low-level (detection, size, orientation) to high-level visual features (face processing). While multisensory association also displays proximal advantages, whether PPS influences visual perceptual learning remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether perceptual learning effects vary according to (...) the distance of visual stimuli (near or far) from the observer, illusorily induced by leveraging the Ponzo illusion. Participants performed a visual search task in which they reported whether a specific target object orientation (e.g., triangle pointing downward) was present among distractors. Performance was assessed before and after practising the visual search task (30 minutes/day for 5 days) at either the close (near group) or far (far group) distance. Results showed that participants that performed the training in the near space did not improve. By contrast, participants that performed the training in the far space showed an improvement in the visual search task in both the far and near spaces. We suggest that such improvement following the far training is due to a greater deployment of attention in the far space, which could make the learning more effective and generalize across spaces. (shrink)

Collective narcissism a belief in ingroup greatness which is contingent on external validation. A lack of research on collective narcissism amongst non-Western contexts and minority groups remains a challenge for the field. However, here we test two types of collective narcissism (sectarian and national) as differential predictors of two dimensions of collective violence beliefs (against outgroup members and leaders) in a large, diverse, community sample from Lebanon (N = 778). We found that sectarian narcissism (narcissism related to smaller political and (...) religious ingroup identity) predicted support for collective violence against members of different sects, while national narcissism predicted opposition to such collective violence. Neither form of collective narcissism had any significant relationship with collective violence against outgroup leaders. We controlled for both sectarian and national identification and found no significant effects in predicting either one of the two dimensions on collective violence beliefs. In this non-Western context, in which a coherent national identity is undermined by sectarianism, national narcissism seems to be a progressive motivator for unity and social change, while sectarian narcissism is rather associated with extreme attitudes, such as support for collective violence. (shrink)

We begin with an analysis of the persuasiveness of assertibles and arguments in the texts and fragments of Ancient Stoicism, with a particular focus on those in which Stoic logic is presented as the tool to avoid the persuasiveness of sophisms and the Stoic sage as the one who can efface this persuasiveness by his expertise in dialectics. We then critically assess the contemporary consensus on the interpretation of these texts (notably in Chiaradona, Sedley and Tieleman), according to which Chrysippus (...) is interested in extra-logical forms of discourse. Tieleman further argues that Chrysippus uses persuasive premises for constructive purposes. We reject the thesis concerning Chrysippus' recognition of extra-logical truths, on the basis of the Stoic ideal of the sage, concluding instead that in Stoicism, (1) pithanon refers primarily to false assertibles, arguments and presentations and (2) the Stoic sage cannot be persuaded, but he can persuade his students in order to prepare their souls to receive the Stoic doctrines. (shrink)

The Enlightenment idea of historical moral progress asserts that civil societies become more moral over time. This is often understood as an expanding moral circle and is argued to be tightly linked with language use, with some suggesting that shifts in how we express concern for others can be considered an important indicator of moral progress. Our research explores these notions by examining historical trends in natural language use during the 19th and 20th centuries. We found that the associations between (...) words denoting moral concern and words referring to people, animals, and the environment grew stronger over time. The findings support widely-held views about the nature of moral progress by showing that language has changed in a way that reflects greater concern for others. (shrink)

This research focuses on the impact of apologies and reparations on members of the perpetrator group. Seven experiments across different contexts examined three possible outcomes for the perpetrator group: satisfaction with the act, negative feelings towards the victims, and support for future assistance. This dissertation argues that perpetrator group members are satisfied with an apologetic act for two reasons: the apology improves the image of their group; and it implies an obligation for victims to "get over" the issue (obligation shifting). (...) Realistic power gains or losses for either group were unimportant to perpetrators but in the final experiment victim empowerment emerged as relating to perpetrator satisfaction in addition to obligation shifting and image improvement. Obligation shifting alone related to more negative feelings about the victims and predicted reduced support for further acts of assistance. Image improvement perceptions did not show these effects, and sometimes was related to less negative feelings about the victims. These relationships were causal (Experiment 5) and distinct from any desire to actually satisfy victims (Experiment 6). The first four experiments also tested differences between types of acts on the three outcome variables. When differences were found, obligation shifting and image perceptions mediated these relationships. Even more, if victims feel that obligation shifting is expected by perpetrators after an apology, they are less willing to forgive (Experiment 7). This research provides the first empirical investigation into the outcomes of apologies for perpetrator group members and the results underline the importance of image improvement and obligation shifting as factors in internal support for intergroup apologetic acts. (shrink)

Individual differences in children’s social communication have been shown to mediate the relationship between poor vocabulary or grammar and behavioural difficulties. Moreover, there is increasing evidence that social communication skills predict difficulties with peers over and above vocabulary and grammar scores. The essential social communicative skills needed to maintain positive peer relationships revolve around conversation. Children with weaker conversation skills are less likely to make and maintain friendships. While helping all children to participate actively in collaborative conversations is part of (...) school curricula, evidence-based training on how to achieve this is rarely provided for teachers. In this review we first provide an overview of the key components of conversation skills and the cognitive abilities required to maintain them. We then present a narrative review of randomised controlled trials and experimental studies that either trained child conversation skills or included conversation skills in both training and outcome measures. Most of the studies focussed on training conversational ability in autistic children. The general finding was that verbally-fluent autistic children improve following conversation training on blind-assessed reciprocal conversational ability. Only two studies were found that trained conversation skills in typically developing children with adequate controls and outcome measures which directly assessed conversational proficiency. Both studies focussed on typically-developing children who, at baseline, were in the weaker third of the mainstream classroom. Importantly, training not only improved the conversational ability of these children, it also improved their rates of lunchtime interaction with peers and their peer popularity ratings. We argue that there is considerable potential for supporting conversation skills in the classroom as a universal or Tier 1 intervention. Future research should explore whether conversation skills training would benefit the whole classroom. (shrink)

This thesis aims at bringing out the inadequacies of liberation theologies in responding to ecological challenges and evolving an integral ecotheology relevant for India. Chapter 1. delineates the present Indian theological context, influenced by liberation, dalit, and feminist theologies. It argues that 'ecology' as a central category can integrate these theologies, often found divided due to ideological differences. Chapter 2. analyses the Indian ecological context and concludes that the tribals, dalits, and women are the main victims of ecological crises. Chapter (...) 3. argues that liberation theology needs to revise the interpretation of its paradigm and integrate the ecologically pertinent P account of exodus into its hermeneutics. Chapter 4. identifies anthropocentrism as a major pitfall of liberation theology and revises its doctrinal explications from an integral ecological perspective. Chapter 5. critiques the Marxist social analysis in liberation theology, exposing the incapability of class perspective to address ecological concerns and suggests 'ecology', which can unite the concerns of the oppressed, be taken as the umbrella category. Chapter 6. focuses on eco-feminist theology, identifying its inadequacies such as neglect of the caste factor, and a lack of emphasis on the praxiological view of the 'women-nature conflation'. Chapter 7. points out a major weakness of dalit theology, its neglect of ecological concerns. It demonstrates how a sharper exegesis can help dalit theology uncover the ecological thrusts of its paradigm, the Deuteronomic Creed. It argues that dalit theology needs to review its antagonistic attitude towards Hindu Brahminic and Gandhian strands and incorporate their rich ecological insights. Chapter 8. considers process theology as a system with potential insights to integrate the concerns of liberation theologies and ecotheology. Chapter 9. works out, by examining the emerging ecotheology, an integral ecotheology relevant for India, combining the related concerns in liberation theologies and ecotheology. This is a doctrinal formulation with distinct Indian ecotheological perspectives. (shrink)

A growing movement in contemporary art takes legal forms and materials as its subject matter. In this article, I argue that a key strand of this ‘legal turn’ should be historicised in two entwined ways. It can be seen as an extension and re-formalisation of some central concerns of late twentieth-century contemporary art; namely relational and participatory aesthetics, and the dematerialisation of the art object. But the artworks considered here can also be analysed as a fragmentary site of ‘juristic subjectivity’ (...) in the aftermath of legal positivism. According to Carl Schmitt, the positivisation that took hold in the nineteenth century exiled the jurist from their role in formally elaborating the substantive law created by social praxis—turning the jurist into a “mere scholar” in relation to law. In this sense, the separation of juristic thought from law is the aftermath of this destructive event. Yet the etymology of aftermath also links it to a secondary growth that re-emerges after a mowing or harvest. Similarly, the ‘contract artists’ analysed here evidence a ‘regrowth’ of juristic thought that relies precisely on its position outside of law ‘properly so-called’, and inside the conditions of contemporary artistic production and consumption. Analysing contract artworks by artists Adrian Piper and A Constructed World, this article suggests that they differ markedly from the contract art, usually connected to the Siegelaub-Projansky agreement, that has received the majority of academic attention. Whereas that so-called “legal moment in artistic production” prioritises the author function, the abstraction of value, and the commodification of social relations, through the above double historicization I will argue that this ‘other’ contract art repurposes legal forms to institute a lived experience of juristic social relations, presenting a new kind of material jurisprudence. (shrink)

My thesis analyses how and why several different disciplines such as Philosophical Counselling, Philosophy for Children and for Community, Socratic Dialogue, Café Philo and Philosophy for Management, have spread in Italy in the 1990s, after being imported from the countries where they originated. These disciplines, which create a new controversial specialism, can be deployed in numerous and disparate fields, such as education, workplace, private life, and leisure. They are characterised by different methodological approaches and have multiple purposes which have been (...) defined as educational, therapeutic, conciliatory, pragmatic, or simply critical. Despite their differences, they have been grouped in Italy under the general label of ‘pratiche filosofiche’ (philosophical practices). In my thesis, I consider philosophical practices as a socio-cultural phenomenon, and as a product of a specific environment. Focusing on Philosophical counselling and Philosophy for Children, I assess the extent to which the Italian cultural, political and institutional milieu has influenced the development of a specifically Italian take on philosophical practices compared to their initial tenets. My main argument is that the introduction of these practices in Italy has represented a partially unsuccessful response to the crisis of institutional philosophy and humanistic culture that is raging not only in Italy but also across the globe. I show that the Italian institutional and cultural context has favoured the emergence of these disciplines as a product to be marketed to an audience of aspiring practitioners and potential users, which jeopardizes their innovative drive. Lastly, I acknowledge the potential of philosophical practices in the country by articulating them to the currents of ‘Italian Theory’, thus highlighting the political value ofsome original applications of these disciplines in the Italian context. (shrink)

The guiding problem of the thesis is how to reconcile immanence with feminism through the development of the idea of feminist immanent critique. Beginning with Judith Butler's account of the constitution of gender through institutions, and the possibilities of its immanent subversion through a-subjective parodic politics, it is shown that this approach to the problem needs to be augmented by Johanna Oksala's investigation of the way in which the gap between experience and language serves to challenge conceptual schema that organise (...) our experience of the world. However, it is argued that both Butler and Oksala end up reinstating a dogmatic image of the critical subject, although in different manners, thereby forestalling the search for a fully realised response to the problem of feminist immanent critique. Given the return of a dogmatic image of the critical subject, I turn to the most rigorous account of immanence in contemporary philosophy through a reconstruction of key aspects of the work of Gilles Deleuze, one that places ethics at the centre of his thought. It will be shown that the development of immanence with Deleuze provides an account of the subject that does not rely upon dogmatism or abstract from situated forms of social criticism but rather invites such engagement in ways that generate a fruitful encounter with feminism. As the argument is drawn together, it is concluded that feminist immanent critique is a positive conception of critique that requires careful consideration of the ways in which the subject is continually constituted, undone and reconstituted, without reinstating a dogmatic image of the critical subject. Feminist immanent critique embraces an asubjective and, therefore, demoralised version of becoming without losing ethical responsiveness to the present, to ourselves, and to others. That said, it is a positive conception of critique that does not reintroduce transcendence by surreptitiously relying upon a presentist view of time and, as such, it frees becoming from a sense of pre-given direction or telos. (shrink)

The question of political agency with respect to artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly relevant insofar as we can observe efforts to regulate it. Some policy proposals link the problem of the advance of AI to the concept of technological evolution. However, it is still not quite clear what they mean by this concept. This paper explores conceptualisations of technological agency and evolution in Bernard Stiegler’s general organology and Friedrich Schelling’s universal organicism. I argue that organicism proposes a more ‘naturalised’ (...) approach to agency formation and a more ‘organic’ explanation of technology than general organology. General organology considers technological evolution from a human perspective, whereas universal organicism can accommodate a theory of technological evolution independently from its social dimensions. While technology already has a strong impact on the organisation of our societies, recognition of technological agency as at least partially independent serves to recognise them as non-human beings that impact politics. (shrink)

In this paper, I provide an introduction for biostatisticians and others to some recent work in the philosophy of medicine. Firstly, I give an overview of some philosophical arguments that are thought to create problems for a prominent approach towards establishing causal claims in medicine, namely, the Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) approach. Secondly, I provide an overview of further recent work in the philosophy of medicine, which argues that mechanistic studies can help to address these problems. Lastly, I describe a novel (...) approach for establishing causal claims in medicine that has been informed by this recent work in the philosophy of medicine, namely, the EBM+ approach. (shrink)

Detecting and discriminating touches on your fingertip and other highly sensitive body parts has been a paradigm in somatosensory science since the birth of psychophysics in the nineteenth century. By isolating a body part and applying discrete stimuli over many repetitions, the limits of somatosensation and bodily perception can be discovered. This chapter will focus on two methods of studying discriminative touch in the temporal and spatial domains: vibrotactile perception and spatial acuity. Different psychophysical approaches and experimental designs will be (...) described and evaluated in terms of their validity, efficiency, and reliability. Practical and participant-specific difficulties will be noted. Vibrotactile and spatial acuity methods offer relatively cheap and reliable measures of somatosensation, often suitable for undergraduate student projects. Yet care and experimentation is required to ensure that the experimental design is adequate, and the data collection is sufficient to answer your theoretical question. (shrink)

Prof Matthew Longo gave his inaugural lecture about “Spatial Distortions in Perception and Cognition” on June 4th. He has been a lecturer in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London, since 2010, and has recently been appointed Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the same Department.This post was contributed by Elena Azañón and Luigi Tamè, postdoctoral fellows in Birkbeck’s BodyLab.

A tactile stimulus at the fingers can be encoded according to multiple reference frames (hand-, body- or space-specific). We examined the relative importance of these reference frames by adapting a tactile masking paradigm for stimuli at the index or middle fingers of either hand (unseen). In Exp.1, participants performed a go-no-go task to detect a vibrotactile target at a pre-specified finger (e.g., right index), when this was presented alone or with a concurrent distractor either on the same hand (right middle (...) finger), or on the opposite hand (at homologous or non-homologous locations with respect to the target finger; e.g., left index or left middle finger, respectively). Tactile masking emerged under double stimulation, both for a distractor within the target-hand and for distractors at the non-homologous location on the opposite hand. This suggests use of hand-specific (than body- or space-specific) reference frames when solving this task. In Exp.2, one hand rotated by 180° around the wrist in half of the trials. Masking effects changed only between-hands. Intriguingly, masking from the non-homologous finger reduced only when the hand that changed posture contained the target. This suggests that spatial coding for touches at the fingers depend upon the behavioural relevance of tactile stimuli. (shrink)

When two repeating stimuli activate the same neuronal population, a decreased overall neural response is observed. This neurophysiological response is detectable by functional magnetic resonance imaging, and has been termed fMRI adaptation. Following this logic, when two tactile events are repeated on exactly the same region of skin, all neurons that have a strictly somatotopic response should reduce their activity. Here we used fMRI adaptation to address the issue of reference frames for touch. In particular, we asked if there exist (...) neuronal populations that adapt to stimulation that repeats over distinct regions of skin when some other aspect of spatial coding of touch is identical (e.g., homologous finger stimulated between the two hands). We examined this question for SI and SII, measuring the blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) effect to touches delivered in sequence within or between hands, to homologous or non-homologous fingers. The results showed stronger adaptation (i.e., a lower BOLD effect) at the level of SI when stimulation repeated over same (i.e., homologous) in comparison to different (i.e., non-homologous) fingers, regardless of whether stimulation occurred within or between hands. This pattern of results is less clear in SII. These results suggest a bilateral representation for touch in human SI, in agreement with neurophysiological data on monkeys. (shrink)

An increasing amount of evidence in animals, as well as behavioural and neuroimaging studies in humans has documented the involvement of primary somatosensory cortices in coding the tactile stimuli coming from the two sides of the body. Using fMRI adaptation, we have shown in a previous experiment that the primary somatosensory cortex can homotopically integrate somatosensory inputs from the two sides of the body, despite its prominent contralateral response. However, the low temporal resolution of fMRI does not allow determining the (...) time course of the interaction between contralateral and ipsilateral hemispheres. The aim of the present study, using magnetoencephalography together with an adaptation paradigm, is to track the tactile information flow across the two hemisphere in the primary (SI) and secondary (SII) somatosensory cortices. We measured the relative changes in neuromagnetic responses evoked by the test stimulus (i.e., always the left index finger) alone and the test stimulus presented together with a conditioning stimulus simultaneously, 25 ms or 125 ms before the test stimulus, respectively. The rational for this manipulation was to explore how the neuromagnetic activity of the test stimulus can be modulated by the conditioning stimulus delivered to different body parts (i.e., same or different fingers within and between the hands) with different timing, compared to the test stimulus presented alone. Results showed the presence of an adaptation effect selective for the stimulation onset asynchrony (25 ms). Moreover, the effect was selective for the pairs of fingers stimulated (i.e., homologous vs non-homologous) and for the side of stimulation (unilateral vs bilateral). Finally, the left index finger (test) showed a special response characteristic in the tested brain areas that differ from all the other fingers. We can conclude that tactile stimuli on the fingers are integrated, at an early stage in the somatosensory cortices following different neural pathways. (shrink)

We used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to study sensorimotor integration in humans in the context of a tactile adaptation paradigm. When two identical successive stimuli activate the same neuronal population a decrease in the overall neural response is observed. This type of neurophysiological response is known as an adaptation effect. Thus, when two tactile events are repeated on exactly the same skin region those neurons that have a strictly somatotopic response should show less activity. Moreover, previous reports suggest that the (...) neurophysiological response of the primary motor cortex (M1) can be inhibited when a single tactile stimulus is presented 20 - 100 ms before a TMS pulse. This inhibition is measured as a decrease in the amplitude of the motor evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded from a given muscle. This phenomenon has been named short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI). Given this, we reasoned that repeating tactile events on the same finger (e.g. the index) should produce more adaptation in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) than presenting stimuli to the middle and then index finger, which should in turn result in weaker inhibition of M1. Here, we tested whether SAI is sensitive to tactile adaptation effects and if so, whether these effects vary as a function of the stimulated finger pairs. We presented two consecutive electrocutaneous stimuli on homologous (i.e., left index finger stimulated twice) and non-homologous fingers (i.e., left middle and left index fingers) with fixed inter-stimulus intervals. Our results show a smaller reduction in the amplitude of MEPs recorded from the first dorsal interrosseus of the hand that received the tactile stimuli when stimuli were delivered to the same finger than to two different fingers. We interpret the presence of less SAI during same-finger than different-finger tactile stimulation as evidence that the excitability of the primary motor cortex can be differentially modulated by tactile adaptation effects that occur primarily within S1. (shrink)

Introduction Many studies have investigated interactions in the processing of tactile stimuli presented at different fingers [1]. In a previous study [2] a Bayesian adaptive staircase procedure (QUEST) [3] and a two-interval forced-choice design was used in order to establish threshold for detecting a 200ms, 100Hz sinusoidal vibration applied to the left or right index fingertip (target). This was done either when the target was presented in isolation or concurrently with a distractor stimulus on another finger of the same or (...) a different hand. We systematically varied the distractor finger (index, middle, ring or little finger of either hand), while also controlling the spatial location of the stimuli. The threshold for detecting the target was lower when it was presented in isolation, as compared to when a concurrent distractor was present. Moreover, detection thresholds varied as a function of the distractor finger stimulated both within (Fig. 1) and between (Fig. 2) the hands. However, the precise time-course of these interactions when stimuli arrive on opposite sides of the body remains uncertain. Specifically, it is not clear how, when, or by which anatomical pathway tactile stimulation of different fingers of the same and different hands interact. The aim of the present study is to address this issue by combining the QUEST threshold estimation method with MRI-guided single pulse TMS (spTMS). Here we will present some preliminary results. Methods Participants (N=2) underwent a series of MRI scans (localisers) to produce somatotopic maps of SI and SII cortices. The localiser included MRI-compatible piezoelectric vibrotactile stimulation of each digit on each hand in separate runs (10 conditions, 12s ON, 12s OFF, 10 blocks per digit). Data acquisition was optimised for the peri-rolandic, insular, and parietal cortices. During the scan, participants fixated a cross in the middle of a screen. The data were analysed in FSL by contrasting all stimulation blocks against rest. The peak activation focus in SI was used to position the spTMS during a modified version of the behavioural task described above. Results The results of this preliminary study show an increase of vibrotactile detection thresholds for the index finger when spTMS was applied to the contralateral SI with respect to the locus of stimulation, as compared to when spTMS was not present. Conclusions These preliminary data show that it is possible to modulate vibrotactile target detection thresholds at the fingers at an early level of somatosensory processing. This study lays the foundation for future research aiming to investigate low level interactions occurring between multiple tactile stimuli on the body surface. The differential effect of the distractor finger on target detection thresholds [2] is consistent with the segregation of different fingers in early somatosensory processing, from the periphery to S1 [4]. In this respect, it would be interesting to test whether TMS over somatosensory cortices would affect equally homologous and non-homologous finger pairs stimulated of the two sides of the body. References [1] Tamè L, Farnè A, & Pavani F (2011). Spatial coding of touch at the fingers: Insights from double simultaneous stimulation within and between hands. Neuroscience Letters, 487(1): 78-82. [2] Tamè L, Johnstone T, Vig M, & Holmes NP (in preparation). Vibrotactile detection thresholds between fingers on the two hands reflect somatosensory receptive field organisation. [3] Watson AB, & Pelli DG (1983). QUEST: A Bayesian adaptive psychometric method. Perception & Psychophysics, 33(2): 113-120. [4] Nelson AJ, & Chen R (2008). Digit somatotopy within cortical areas of the postcentral gyrus in humans. Cerebral Cortex, 18: 2341-2351. (shrink)

Many studies have investigated interactions in the processing of tactile stimuli presented at different fingers. However, the precise time-scale of these interactions when stimuli come on opposite sides of the body remains uncertain. Specifically, it is not clear how tactile stimulation of different fingers of the same and different hands can interact with each other. The aim of the present study was to address this issue using a novel approach combining the QUEST threshold estimation method with single pulse TMS (spTMS). (...) First, QUEST was used in a two-interval forced-choice design in order to establish threshold for detecting a 200ms, 100Hz sinusoidal vibration applied to the index fingertip (target finger threshold). This was done either when the target was presented in isolation and concurrently with a distractor stimulus on another finger of the same or a different hand. We systematically varied the distractor finger (index, middle, ring or little finger of either hand) and kept constant the target finger (left or right index), while also controlling the spatial location of the stimuli. Second, the same participants underwent a series of MRI scans (localisers) to produce somatotopic maps of SI and SII cortices. These maps were used to stimulate over SI with spTMS during a subsequent behavioural task, with the aim of modulating the behavioural interactions between the different fingers. The results showed that the threshold for detecting the target was lower when it was presented in isolation, as compared to when a concurrent distractor was present. Moreover, detection thresholds varied as a function of the distractor finger stimulated. These preliminary data support a number of recent findings from behavioural, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological studies. The differential effect of the distractor finger on target detection thresholds is consistent with the segregation of different fingers in early somatosensory processing, from the periphery to S1. (shrink)

Background The present study, by using a novel approach combining the efficiency of the QUEST threshold estimation method with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), aims to investigate whether tactile detection and discrimination thresholds at the fingers can be modulated by TMS on SI. Method Participants underwent a series of MRI scans (functional localisers) to produce somatotopic maps of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). These maps were used to stimulate over SI with TMS during subsequent behavioural tasks. The threshold estimation method QUEST (...) was used in a two-interval forced-choice design in order to establish threshold, respectively for detection and frequency discrimination, for a tactile stimulus of 50 ms, 100Hz sinusoidal vibration applied to the middle and/or index fingertips of one hand. This was done either when a single or a double pulse of TMS was applied over the SI (target site), or over the supramarginal gyrus (control site), or without applying TMS. Results The results showed that vibrotactile frequency discrimination thresholds at the fingers are increased by TMS over SI when two pulses are applied at 25 and 75ms after the onset of the vibrotactile stimulus. Moreover, preliminary data from two further experiments indicate that vibrotactile detection threshold is not modulated by TMS over SI. Take home message SI is required for discrimination, but may not be for detection, of tactile stimuli at the fingers. (shrink)

We used the QUEST threshold estimation method to investigate whether tactile detection and discrimination thresholds at the fingers can be modulated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over primary somatosensory cortex (SI). Participants underwent a series of functional MRI localiser scans with vibrotactile stimulation to produce somatotopic maps of SI for each participant separately. These maps were used to stimulate over SI with TMS during subsequent behavioural tasks. The threshold estimation method QUEST was used in a two-interval forced-choice design in order (...) to establish threshold for detecting and discriminating a tactile stimulus (50ms, 200Hz sinusoidal vibration) applied to the middle and/or index fingertips of one hand. This was done either when a single (75ms after stimulus onset) or a double pulse of TMS (25 and 75ms after onset) was applied over the contralateral SI (target site), or over the supramarginal gyrus (control site), or with sham TMS (no brain stimulation). The results showed that frequency discrimination thresholds at the fingers were increased by paired-pulse TMS over SI. By contrast, detection thresholds at the fingers were not increased by either single or paired pulse TMS over SI. The present findings suggest that SI is required for discrimination, but may not be for detection, of tactile stimuli at the fingers. (shrink)

Animal, as well as behavioural and neuroimaging studies in humans have documented integration of bilateral tactile information at the level of primary somatosensory cortex (SI). However, it is still debated whether integration in SI occurs early or late during tactile processing, and whether it is somatotopically organized. To address both the spatial and temporal aspects of bilateral tactile processing we used magnetoencephalography in a tactile repetition-suppression paradigm. We examined somatosensory evoked-responses produced by probe stimuli preceded by an adaptor, as a (...) function of the relative position of adaptor and probe (probe always at the left index finger; adaptor at the index or middle finger of the left or right hand) and as a function of the delay between adaptor and probe (0, 25, or 125 ms). Percentage of response-amplitude suppression was computed by comparing paired (adaptor1probe) with single stimulations of adaptor and probe. Results show that response suppression varies differentially in SI and SII as a function of both spatial and temporal features of the stimuli. Remarkably, repetition suppression of SI activity emerged early in time, regardless of whether the adaptor stimulus was presented on the same and the opposite body side with respect to the probe. These novel findings support the notion of an early and somatotopically organized inter-hemispheric integration of tactile information in SI. (shrink)

Patients with lesions of the left posterior parietal cortex commonly fail in identifying their fingers, a condition known as finger agnosia, yet are relatively unimpaired in skilled action. Such dissociations have classically been taken as evidence that representation of body structure is distinct from sensorimotor representations, such as the body schema. Here, we investigated whether the representations of finger numerosity is modulated by the internal posture of the hand. We used the ‘in between’ test in which participants estimate the number (...) of unstimulated fingers between two touched fingers. Across blocks, the fingers were placed in three postures: (1) with fingers touching each other, (2) fingers separated by one centimetre, (3) fingers spread to the maximum comfortable splay. Participants judged the number of unstimulated fingers ‘in between’ the two touches and responded vocally as quickly and accurately as possible. Critically, participants gave larger numerosity estimates when the fingers were positioned far apart compared to when they were close together or touching. Our results demonstrate that increasing the spatial distance between the fingers makes participants experience the fingers as more numerous. These results show that there are dynamic functional links between offline representations of body structure and online representations of body posture. (shrink)