John Hawthorne in a recent paper takes issue with Lewisian accounts of counterfactuals, when relevant laws of nature are chancy. I respond to his arguments on behalf of the Lewisian, and conclude that while some can be rebutted, the case against the original Lewisian account is strong.I develop a neo-Lewisian account of what makes for closeness of worlds. I argue that my revised version avoids Hawthorne’s challenges. I argue that this is closer to the spirit of Lewis’s first (non-chancy) proposal (...) than is Lewis’s own suggested modification. (shrink)

Comparative overall similarity lies at the basis of a lot of recent metaphysics and epistemology. It is a poor foundation. Overall similarity is supposed to be an aggregate of similarities and differences in various respects. But there is no good way of combining them all.

We present a model of similarity‐based retrieval that attempts to capture three seemingly contradictory psychological phenomena: (a) structural commonalities are weighed more heavily than surface commonalities in similarity judgments for items in working memory; (b) in retrieval, superficial similarity is more important than structural similarity; and yet (c) purely structural (analogical) remindings e sometimes experienced. Our model, MAC/FAC, explains these phenomena in terms of a two‐stage process. The first stage uses a computationally cheap, non‐structural matcher to (...) filter candidate long‐term memory items. It uses content vectors, a redundant encoding of structured representations whose dot product estimates how well the corresponding structural representations will match. The second stage uses SME (structure‐mapping engine) to compute structural matches on the handful of items found by the first stage. We show the utility of the MAC/FAC model through a series of computational experiments: (a) We demonstrate that MAC/FAC can model patterns of access found in psychological data; (b) we argue via sensitivity analyses that these simulation results rely on the theory; and (c) we compare the performance of MAC/FAC with ARCS, an alternate model of similarity‐based retrieval, and demonstrate that MAC/FAC explains the data better than ARCS. Finally, we discuss limitations and possible extensions of the model, relationships with other recent retrieval models, and place MAC/FAC in the context of other recent work on the nature of similarity. (shrink)

In ordinary language, “calmness”, “melancholy”, “cheerfulness”, and “sadness” are employed to describe affective states experienced by sentient beings. More precisely, these terms are used to report instances of moods. Yet, the very same terms are used to describe what seem to be properties of certain objects (e.g., things, situations) which, unlike sentient beings, are unable to feel. We usually describe atmospheres employing these terms: We speak about the calmness of a forest, the melancholy of a painting, the cheerfulness of a (...) field of flowers and the sadness of a landscape. Are we in fact referring to the same phenomenon? If not, why then do we employ the same terms? (shrink)

If connectionism is to be an adequate theory of mind, we must have a theory of representation for neural networks that allows for individual differences in weighting and architecture while preserving sameness, or at least similarity, of content. In this paper we propose a procedure for measuring sameness of content of neural representations. We argue that the correct way to compare neural representations is through analysis of the distances between neural activations, and we present a method for doing so. (...) We then use the technique to demonstrate empirically that different artificial neural networks trained by backpropagation on the same categorization task, even with different representational encodings of the input patterns and different numbers of hidden units, reach states in which representations at the hidden units are similar. We discuss how this work provides a rebuttal to Fodor and Lepore's critique of Paul Churchland's state space semantics. (shrink)

In their article on the limited duty to reinterpret genetic variants, Watts and Newson argue that clinical labs are not morally obligated to conduct routine reinterpretation despite its potential clinical and personal value.1 We endorse the authors’ argument for a circumscribed duty to reclassify genomic variants in certain cases, including to promote diagnostic equity for racial and ethnic minority populations that have been historically excluded from and exploited by genomic research and medicine. However, given the history and resilience of scientific (...) racism, the use of socially constructed racial and ethnic categories to enhance diagnostic equity raises several ethical and practical challenges. In the short term, using socially constructed racial and ethnic categories to identify patients for variant reclassification is a practical approach for addressing concerns of diagnostic equity. In contrast, diagnostic accuracy depends on patients’ genetic similarity to reference genomes, rather than their socially determined race or ethnicity.2 Thus, in the long term, securing both diagnostic equity and diagnostic accuracy through targeted variant reclassification will require a shift away from relying on race and ethnicity and towards assessing genetic similarity. Critically, the identification of patients for genomic variant reclassification using socially constructed race or ethnicity runs the risk of perpetuating the harmful …. (shrink)

If we speak of degrees of similarity, what kinds of judgment are we assuming to make sense? It will be argued that the necessary and sufficient condition for there to be degrees of similarity is that there should be a four-termed relation of comparative similarity — w resembles x at least as much as y resembles z—obeying certain constraints. Of course, nothing turns on how we use the words 'degree of similarity'. Rather, the point is to (...) distinguish the different levels of ideologicalcommitment which different kinds of judgment of similarity involve. (shrink)

Clustering plays an important role in data mining, pattern recognition, and machine learning. Single-valued neutrosophic sets are useful means to describe and handle indeterminate and inconsistent information that fuzzy sets and intuitionistic fuzzy sets cannot describe and deal with. To cluster the data represented by single-valued neutrosophic information, this article proposes single-valued neutrosophic clustering methods based on similarity measures between SVNSs. First, we define a generalized distance measure between SVNSs and propose two distance-based similarity measures of SVNSs. Then, (...) we present a clustering algorithm based on the similarity measures of SVNSs to cluster single-valued neutrosophic data. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the application and effectiveness of the developed clustering methods. (shrink)

Previous studies making use of indirect processing measures have shown that perceptual grouping can occur outside the focus of attention. However, no previous study has examined the possibility of subliminal processing of perceptual grouping. The present work steps forward in the study of perceptual organization, reporting direct evidence of subliminal processing of Gestalt patterns. In two masked priming experiments, Gestalt patterns grouped by proximity or similarity that induced either a horizontal or vertical global orientation of the stimuli were presented (...) as masked primes and followed by visible targets that could be congruent or incongruent with the orientation of the primes. The results showed a reliable priming effect in the complete absence of prime awareness for both proximity and similarity grouping principles. These findings suggest that a phenomenal report of the Gestalt pattern is not mandatory to observe an effect on the response based on the global properties of Gestalt stimuli. (shrink)

Advances in research on human cerebral organoids (HCOs) call for a critical review of current research policies. A challenge for the evaluation of necessary research regulations lies in the severe uncertainty about future trajectories the currently very rudimentary stages of neural cell cultures might take as the technology progresses. To gain insights into organotypic cultures, ethicists, legal scholars, and neuroscientists rely on resemblances to the human brain. They refer to similarities in structural or functional terms that have been established in (...) scientific practice to validate organotypic cultures as models for brain research. In ethical discourse, however, such similarities are also used to justify assumptions about the potential risk to cause harm to HCOs. Ethicists assume that as the technology advances, organotypic cultures will increasingly resemble the human brain, raising more complex ethical issues. I argue that such reasoning is not justified given the heterogeneity of HCOs that have been modified to enable scientists to pursue their research goals. I then discuss the implications this line of thought has for advocates of the precautionary principle, focussing on those suggestions which propose adopting research regulations to the presence of bodily warning signs deemed worthy of protection. In doing so, I illustrate that the prevalent assumptions on similarity in ethical discourse ultimately risk disproportionately restricting research. I conclude that given the severe uncertainty about the technology’s future development, ethical discourse might benefit from narrowing the time frame for anticipation. (shrink)

The literature contains a disconnect between accounts of how humans learn lexical semantic representations for words. Theories generally propose that lexical semantics are learned either through perceptual experience or through exposure to regularities in language. We propose here a model to integrate these two information sources. Specifically, the model uses the global structure of memory to exploit the redundancy between language and perception in order to generate inferred perceptual representations for words with which the model has no perceptual experience. We (...) test the model on a variety of different datasets from grounded cognition experiments and demonstrate that this diverse set of results can be explained as perceptual simulation (cf. Barsalou, Simmons, Barbey, & Wilson, 2003) within a global memory model. (shrink)

We propose and investigate an Analogy Principle in the context of Unary Inductive Logic based on a notion of support by structural similarity which is often employed to motivate scientific conjectures.

In the field of psychology, it has been well established that there are two types of motor imagery such as kinesthetic motor imagery (KMI) and visual motor imagery (VMI), and the subjective evaluation for vividness of motor imagery each differs across individuals. This study aimed to examine how the motor imagery ability assessed by the psychological scores is associated with the physiological measure using electroencephalogram (EEG) sensorimotor rhythm during KMI task. First, 20 healthy young individuals evaluated subjectively how vividly they (...) can perform each of KMI and VMI by using the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ). We assessed their motor imagery abilities by summing each of KMI and VMI scores in KVIQ (KMI total and VMI total ). Second, in physiological experiments, they repeated two strengths (10 and 40% of maximal effort) of isometric voluntary wrist-dorsiflexion. Right after each contraction, they also performed its KMI. The scalp EEGs over the sensorimotor cortex were recorded during the tasks. The EEG power is known to decrease in the alpha-and-beta band (7–35 Hz) from resting state to performing state of voluntary contraction (VC) or motor imagery. This phenomenon is referred to as event-related desynchronization (ERD). For each strength of the tasks, we calculated the maximal peak of ERD during VC, and that during its KMI, and measured the degree of similarity (ERD sim ) between them. The results showed significant negative correlations between KMI total and ERD sim for both strengths ( p total, the smaller the ERD sim ). These findings suggest that in healthy individuals with higher motor imagery ability from a first-person perspective, KMI efficiently engages the shared cortical circuits corresponding with motor execution, including the sensorimotor cortex, with high compliance. (shrink)

Michael Weisberg has given us a lovely book on models. It has very broad coverage of issues intersecting the nature of models and their use, an extensive consideration of long ignored “concrete” models with a rich case study, a discussion and classification of the many diverse kinds of models, and a particularly groundbreaking and innovative discussion of similarity concerning how models relate to the world. Included are insightful discussions of increasingly used “agent based” models, and the conjoint use of (...) multiple models in looking for robust results. Weisberg fills in some discussions with modeling and simulation results of his own.In addition, he considers and critiques other recent competing views on models, including the increasingly popular “models as fictions” account. His discussion is clear and technically precise without being needlessly so, and his distinctions are useful. The scientist is more likely to recognize his objects than the semantic theorist, and that is how it .. (shrink)

Mucoidy and cytotoxicity arise from two independent modifications of the phenotype of the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa that contribute to the mortality and morbidity of cystic fibrosis. We show that, even though the transcriptional regulatory networks controlling both processes are quite different from a molecular or mechanistic point of view, they may be identical from a dynamic point of view: epigenesis may in both cases be the cause of the acquisition of these new phenotypes. This was highlighted by the identity of (...) formal graphs modelling these networks. A mathematical framework based on formal methods from computer science was defined and implemented with a software environment. It allows an easy and rigorous validation and certification of these models and of the experimental methods that can be proposed to falsify or validate the underlying hypothesis. (shrink)

칸트의 ‘도덕적 행복’과 ‘최고선’은 행복을 잉태하고 있다는 차원에서 일부 칸트 주석가들에게 부정되어온 개념이다. 두 개념은 칸트 자신의 학설과 모순을 일으키기에 폐기되어야 할 개념으로 간주된다. 칸트 자신은 두 개념이 자신의 윤리론과 정합적으로 이해될 수 있음을 자신의 저서 여러 곳에서 피력하지만, 주석가들로부터 합의된 설명이 제시되지 못하고 있는 게 현실이다. 이러한 문제점을 고찰해본다는 목적 아래 논문은 플라톤의 대화편과 칸트의 도덕적 행복, 최고선 개념 간의 유사성에 주목하며 칸트의 도덕과 행복을 이해하고자 한다. 플라톤은 여러 저서에서 ‘즐거움’과 관련된 논의를 펼쳐보였지만, 그 가운데에서도 말년의 작품인 『필레보스』의 대화편은 (...) 칸트의 도덕적 행복과 최고선 논의와의 유사성을 띤다. 이와 같은 관점의 논거는 다음과 같은데, 첫째, 칸트의 도덕적 행복은 『필레보스』에서 말하는 ‘순수한 즐거움’과 유비적인 유사성을 지니며, 둘째, 도덕적 행복의 가능성과 함께 『필레보스』에서 나타난 ‘우주론적 네 가지 분류’의 논의는 칸트의 최고선에서 행복과 덕의 결합이 지성을 통해 ‘가능한 현실세계’로서 이해되도록 도움을 준다는 사실이다. 고대와 근대를 대표하는 두 철학자의 유사성을 살펴봄으로써 논문은 칸트의 도덕적 행복과 최고선이 칸트 자신의 학설에서 중요한 의미를 지닌다는 사실을 드러낸다. 결국 칸트의 윤리론은 행복이라는 감정을 끌어들임으로써 그 의의를 갖는다고 할 수 있다. (shrink)