Imagine you are casually browsing an online bookstore, looking for an interesting novel. Suppose the store predicts you will want to buy a particular novel: the one most chosen by people of your same age, gender, location, and occupational status. The store recommends the book, it appeals to you, and so you choose it. Central to this scenario is an automated prediction of what you desire. This article raises moral concerns about such predictions. More generally, this article examines the ethics (...) of artificial social cognition—the ethical dimensions of attribution of mental states to humans by artificial systems. The focus is presumptuous aim attributions, which are defined here as aim attributions based crucially on the premise that the person in question will have aims like superficially similar people. Several everyday examples demonstrate that this sort of presumptuousness is already a familiar moral concern. The scope of this moral concern is extended by new technologies. In particular, recommender systems based on collaborative filtering are now commonly used to automatically recommend products and information to humans. Examination of these systems demonstrates that they naturally attribute aims presumptuously. This article presents two reservations about the widespread adoption of such systems. First, the severity of our antecedent moral concern about presumptuousness increases when aim attribution processes are automated and accelerated. Second, a foreseeable consequence of reliance on these systems is an unwarranted inducement of interpersonal conformity. (shrink)

BackgroundEthics in biomedical research is still a fairly new concept in Africa. This work aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and experiences of Beninese researchers with regard to the national ethical regulatory framework of biomedical research in Benin.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional and descriptive study, involving all the researchers fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview using a questionnaire and analysed. Proportions and means were calculated with their confidence intervals and standard deviations, respectively.ResultsOf the 110 participants included (...) in the study, 40.9% were medical lecturers and 71.1% had been involved in more than 10 biomedical research as researcher. Less than three quarters were able to correctly quote the basic principles from Belmont report. The quarter of them knew the attributions of the National Ethics Committee for Health Research and 38.2%, the content of the legislation on health research ethics in Benin. The common ethical rules were known by 69.1% of the participants. A quarter of participants said they always present the study’s briefing note to their study participants and 62.7% said they systematically request informed consent. For those who do not present the briefing note to participants, the main reasons provided were the researchers’ difficulties in writing the note in plain language and the participants’ limitation in understanding it.ConclusionsThe foundations of a good ethical framework for health research exist in Benin. However, the deployment and use of the various legal texts deserve to be improved. (shrink)

Parallel attribute reduction is one of the most important topics in current research on rough set theory. Although some parallel algorithms were well documented, most of them are still faced with some challenges for effectively dealing with the complex heterogeneous data including categorical and numerical attributes. Aiming at this problem, a novel attribute reduction algorithm based on neighborhood multigranulation rough sets was developed to process the massive heterogeneous data in the parallel way. The MapReduce-based parallelization method for attribute reduction was (...) proposed in the framework of neighborhood multigranulation rough sets. To improve the reduction efficiency, the hashing Map/Reduce functions were designed to speed up the positive region calculation. Thereafter, a quick parallel attribute reduction algorithm using MapReduce was developed. The effectiveness and superiority of this parallel algorithm were demonstrated by theoretical analysis and comparison experiments. (shrink)

In this book I address a dichotomy that is as central as any in ontology - that between ordinary objects or substances and the various attributes (Le., properties, kinds, and relations) we associate with them. My aim is to arrive at the correct philosophical account of each member of the dichotomy. What I shall argue is that the various attempts to understand substances or attri butes in reductive terms fail. Talk about attributes, I shall try to show, is just that (...) - talk about attributes; and, likewise, talk about substances is just tha- talk about substances. The result is what many will find a strange combina tion of views - a Platonistic theory of attributes, where attributes are univer sals or multiply exemplifiable entities whose existence is independent of "the world of flux", and an Aristotelian theory of substance, where substances are basic unities not reducible to metaphysically more fundamental kinds of things. Part One is concerned with the ontology of attributes. After distinguishing three different patterns of metaphysical thinking about attributes, I examine, in turn, the phenomena of predication, resemblance, and higher order quanti fication. I argue that none of these phenomena by itself is sufficient to establish the inescapability of a Platonistic interpretation of attributes. Then, I discuss the phenomenon of abstract reference as it is exhibited in the use of abstract singular terms. (shrink)

Background: The opinions of students regarding the attributes of a good nurse can make a major contribution to the planning and the conducting of professional education. There are few studies which aim at identifying the qualifications of a good nurse from the perspectives of nursing students. Objectives: To determine the opinions of first- and fourth-year nursing students concerning the ‘attributes of a good nurse’, and whether and how their views change depending on their year of study. Research design: Descriptive research. (...) Participants and research context: This study was conducted in the nursing department of a vocational school of health in the 2010/2011 academic year. The study participants consisted of first-year and intern students. A survey form was used to identify characteristics of participants, and students were asked the following open-ended question about their opinions related to the attributes of a good nurse. Ethical considerations: The permission was taken from the school administration. Informed consent was obtained, and anonymity was ensured for participating students. Findings: A total of 120 students participated in this study. Most frequently expressed attributes were ‘professional competence’ in first-year and ‘responsibility’ in fourth-year students. While first-year students placed a greater emphasis on the attributes of ‘geniality’, ‘patience’, ‘calmness’, ‘love of nursing’, ‘loyalty to nursing’ and ‘not attaching importance to material values’, fourth-year students emphasized the attributes of ‘empathy’, ‘honesty’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘scientific curiosity’ significantly more. Discussion and conclusion: Fourth-year students placed a greater emphasis on the attributes which the students are expected to acquire through a nursing program and clinical experience. However, they mentioned the attributes related to a good nurse–patient relationship and communication significantly less. Appropriate ethical training methods and good role models can help students acquire attributes that are important for the nursing profession and combine them with the attributes they already have. (shrink)

This work has four aims: (i) to provide an overview of the current debate about the semantics of knowledge attributions, i.e. sentences of the form ⌜S knows that Φ⌝; (ii) to ground the debate in a single semantic-pragmatic framework; (iii) to identify a methodology for describing the semantics of knowledge attributions; (iv) to go some way towards describing the semantics of knowledge attributions in light of this methodology, and in particular to defend moderate invariantist semantics against its main current rivals. (...) Aims (i) and (ii) are largely clarificatory; in §1 I set out a single semantic-pragmatic framework and over the course of this work show that it can be modified to explain and distinguish the various theories of the semantics of knowledge attributions currently on offer. Aim (iii) is also met in §1. I argue that a theory of the semantics of knowledge attributions T must be able to account for at least some ordinary speakers’ intuitions about the felicity or infelicity of utterances of the sentence ⌜S knows that Φ⌝ (felicity intuitions) purely in terms of its semantics. I also identify a number of theoretical considerations about knowledge and argue that if T conflicts with any one of these considerations, we should presume that T is false. Aim (iv) is met over the course of this work. According to moderate invariantism ⌜S knows that Φ⌝ is true if and only if S confidently believes the proposition expressed by Φ, this proposition is true and S’s epistemic position with respect to this proposition meets a moderately high epistemic standard. In §§2 – 5 I argue that the main current rivals to moderate invariantism – attributor contextualism, contrastivism, subject-sensitive invariantism and assessor relativism – conflict with at least one of the theoretical considerations identified in §1. In §6 I argue that moderate invariantism accounts for some ordinary speakers’ felicity intuitions purely in terms of the semantics of ⌜S knows that Φ⌝; I also argue that it is consistent with all of the theoretical considerations identified in §1. Moreover, in §§2 – 6 I argue that no theory is capable of accounting for all felicity intuitions purely in terms of the semantics of ⌜S knows that Φ⌝, and that only moderate invariantism can successfully explain why speakers have all of these intuitions. In §7 I conclude that moderate invariantism correctly describes of the semantics of knowledge attributions, or at least does so better than its main current rivals. (shrink)

The aim of this volume is to investigate the topic of Substance and Attribute. The way leading to this aim is a dialogue between Islamic and Western Philosophy. Most of the collected papers in our book are results of contributions to a workshop, organized by the editors of the volume, as an integrated part of the 29th International Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium in Kirchberg, Lower Austria, taking place in August 2006. The general theme of this conference was Cultures: Conflict, Analysis, Dialogue. (...) The organizational frame of the workshop and also of this edition is the partnership between the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qom, Iran, and the University of Innsbruck in Austria, the first formal high level academic partnership between an Iranian Institution and a European University. Dialogue is our aim, but not speaking about dialogue. Our dialogue shall be a work in practice; and our practice is a philosophical one. Our project is motivated by the observation that the roots of Islamic and of Western Philosophy are very similar. There is a strong consensus among historians of philosophy that these roots are the same in substance, and the differences are only of accidental importance. Some of the articles in this volume are dedicated to the history of philosophy, in Islamic thinking as well as in Western traditions. Avicenna and Thomas Aquinas are authors to whom reference is made in most of the historical contributions. Through their elaborations, these contributions will make clear what is mentioned here roughly. (shrink)

Recent developments in agriculture have stirred up interest in the concept of “sustainable” farming systems. Still it is difficult to determine the extent to which certain agricultural practices can be considered sustainable or not. Aiming at identifying the necessary attributes with respect to sustainability in Dutch dairy farming in the beginning of the third millennium, we first compiled a list of attributes referring to all farming activities with their related side effects with respect to economic, internal social, external social, and (...) ecological sustainability. A wide range of people (i.e., experts and stakeholders) were consulted to contribute to our list of attributes. Our consultation showed that only one attribute was selected for economic and internal social sustainability: profitability and working conditions, respectively. The list for external social sustainability contained 19 attributes and the list for ecological sustainability contained 15 attributes. To assess their relative importance, the same experts and stakeholders ranked the attributes for external social and ecological sustainability by using a questionnaire. The most important attributes for external social sustainability were food safety, animal health, animal welfare, landscape quality, and cattle grazing. For ecological sustainability they were eutrophication, groundwater pollution, dehydration of the soil, acidification, and biodiversity. The present method for identifying and ranking attributes is universal and, therefore, can be used for other agricultural sectors, for other countries, and for other time periods. (shrink)

The huge differences characterizing the main editions of the Greek epic poets of the Archaic period are well known. The sparse amount of information available poses serious problems; so too does the lack of unanimous acceptance of the same methodological principles with respect to the attribution of a citation to a given author and poem. The case of theTelegonyis typical: Bernabé lists five fragments, Davies two (only one in common with Bernabé), and West six (four in common with Bernabé, (...) one in common with Davies, and one published by Livrea ten years after the appearance of the editions of Bernabé and Davies). To alert the reader that the attribution of fragments 1 and 2 to theTelegonyis conjectural and not based on ancient evidence, West attaches an asterisk to them. My aim is to discuss both what certain scholars have taken as one (and, for exactly 110 years, the only) of the two surviving lines from Eugammon'sTelegony, that is fr. 1 (PEG1, Bernabé = *1 West) = fr. 2 (Allen), and also what appears as fr. *2 in West's Loeb edition. (shrink)

Network Analysis is considered as a new method that challenges Latent Variable models in inferring psychological attributes. With Network Analysis, psychological attributes are derived from a complex system of components without the need to call on any latent variables. But the ontological status of psychological attributes is not adequately defined with Network Analysis, because a psychological attribute is both a complex system and a property emerging from this complex system. The aim of this article is to reappraise the legitimacy of (...) latent variable models by engaging in an ontological and epistemological discussion on psychological attributes. Psychological attributes relate to the mental equilibrium of individuals embedded in their social interactions, as robust attractors within complex dynamic processes with emergent properties, distinct from physical entities located in precise areas of the brain. Latent variables thus possess legitimacy, because the emergent properties can be conceptualized and analyzed on the sole basis of their manifestations, without exploring the upstream complex system. However, in opposition with the usual Latent Variable models, this article is in favor of the integration of a dynamic system of manifestations. Latent Variables models and Network Analysis thus appear as complementary approaches. New approaches combining Latent Network Models and Network Residuals are certainly a promising new way to infer psychological attributes, placing psychological attributes in an inter-subjective dynamic approach. Pragmatism-realism appears as the epistemological framework required if we are to use latent variables as representations of psychological attributes. (shrink)

Cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) allow classifying respondents into a set of discrete attribute profiles. The internal structure of the test is determined in a Q-matrix, whose correct specification is necessary to achieve an accurate attribute profile classification. Several empirical Q-matrix estimation and validation methods have been proposed with the aim of providing well-specified Q-matrices. However, these methods require the number of attributes to be set in advance. No systematic studies about CDMs dimensionality assessment have been conducted, which contrasts with the (...) vast existing literature for the factor analysis framework. To address this gap, the present study evaluates the performance of several dimensionality assessment methods from the factor analysis literature in determining the number of attributes in the context of CDMs. The explored methods were parallel analysis, minimum average partial, very simple structure, DETECT, empirical Kaiser criterion, exploratory graph analysis, and a machine learning factor forest model. Additionally, a model comparison approach was considered, which consists in comparing the model-fit of empirically estimated Q-matrices. The performance of these methods was assessed by means of a comprehensive simulation study that included different generating number of attributes, item qualities, sample sizes, ratios of the number of items to attribute, correlations among the attributes, attributes thresholds, and generating CDM. Results showed that parallel analysis (with Pearson correlations and mean eigenvalue criterion), factor forest model, and model comparison (with AIC) are suitable alternatives to determine the number of attributes in CDM applications, with an overall percentage of correct estimates above 76% of the conditions. The accuracy increased to 97% when these three methods agreed on the number of attributes. In short, the present study supports the use of three methods in assessing the dimensionality of CDMs. This will allow to test the assumption of correct dimensionality present in the Q-matrix estimation and validation methods, as well as to gather evidence of validity to support the use of the scores obtained with these models. The findings of this study are illustrated using real data from an intelligence test to provide guidelines for assessing the dimensionality of CDM data in applied settings. (shrink)

In this paper my aim is to approach the referential–attributive distinction in the interpretation of definite descriptions, originally discussed by Donnellan, from a cognitive perspective grounded in Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory. In particular, I argue that definite descriptions encode a procedural semantics, in the sense of Blakemore, which is neutral as between referential and attributive readings. On this account, the distinction between referential and attributive readings arises as a result of the differing links that exist between different types of (...) mental representation and the world, rather than as a result of the differing links between language and mental representations. (shrink)

Based on calls to an outsourced call centre in Moldova, where the agents have received training in Swedish, this article deals with some cases when agents are attributed categorical belonging associated with the issue of outsourcing. The aim of the study is to examine how these challenges are handled within interaction. The analysis is implemented by a combination of conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, primarily through the notion of omnirelevance, used to demonstrate the participants’ orientation to social contexts. A (...) main result is the subtle forms of resistance that agents exhibit when they respond to various category-based compliments, oriented to the location and language skills of the agent. One form of resistance is giving minimal responses and another is to return to the transactional procedure. The calls are part of a corpus of 800 calls. A comparative analysis also includes a call to a centre in Sweden. (shrink)

Does it matter morally whether a bomber who kills civilians in a raid intends to do so as a means to weakening the enemy or merely foresees he will do so in his attempt to destroy a munitions factory? Does it matter morally whether a nurse who gives a terminally ill patient a lethal dose of painkiller intends to do so as a means to ending the patient's life or merely foresees she will do so in her attempt to alleviate (...) the patient's pain? Those who answer affirmatively rest moral weight on the notion of intending to do something as a means. But giving an adequate analysis of this notion has proved difficult. In ‘Intending as a Means,’ Kwong-Loi Shun criticizes two attempts at analyzing this notion, one which he attributes to Jonathan Bennett and the other which he attributes to Thomas Nagel. Shun thinks both Bennett's and Nagel's analyses identify intending to bring about S as a means with aiming at S and offers examples which he believes show ‘an agent need not aim at what he intends to bring about.’ In making his objection to Bennett and Nagel, Shun introduces his own criterion for intending as a means. (shrink)

The aim of this contribution is to investigate certain selected parts of the extended evolutionary synthesis which all have a common denominator, namely evolution by meaning attribution. We start by arguing that living organisms can manipulate and interpret their genetic script via epigenetic modifications in a semiotic manner, that is, by meaning attribution. Genes do not build living beings to be transmitted to future generations. Genes have been shaped by evolution as a memory medium that is transmitted from (...) one generation to the next, but the actual reading of such scripts is modified by momentary contexts. Secondly, we show that phenotypic evolution variously re-uses already existing homologies which in evolving systems acquire a new meaning. We also suggest that the ways in which organisms perceive their environment and other living beings is an important but still largely neglected evolutionary force. Variations in perception influence the direction and intensity of sexual selection and some behaviourally mediated regimes of natural selection. Thirdly, we point out that especially if we want to study their evolution, living beings should not be considered in isolation but in their mutual coexistence, in their historically established being together. Recent attempts to view living beings as constructors of niches and holobionts seem compatible with the classical Umwelt theory. This approach seems capable of accounting for both competitiveness and cooperation, thus making the overall image of evolution more comprehensive. And finally, we argue that if we want to expand our understanding of biological evolution, in addition to variation, selection, and inheritance we also need to take into account processes which participate in meaning attribution. (shrink)

This essay offers a new reading of Heidegger’s early “formally indicative” view of religious life as a broad critique of popular representations of religious life in the human sciences and public discourse. While it has frequently been understood that Heidegger’s work aims at the “enactment” of religious life, the logic and implications of this have been rather unclear to most readers. Presenting that logic, I argue that Heidegger’s point parallels that of Alfred Schutz in suggesting that typical academic discussions of (...) religion constitute a determinate, deficient way of relating to religious individuals and groups and their concerns. Those concerns appear to the researcher herself in a way that they would not if the theorist were actually entertaining them as states of affairs in the real world, leading her to attribute beliefs to a hypothetical “nobody.” Heidegger’s early notion of formal indication explains the logic behind our lack of “realism” toward certain topics of research, and his comments on the study of religious life are a paradigm case for the descriptive fallacies that phenomenology can help to address. (shrink)

In recent years, political theorists have begun to systematically consider the concept and justification of territorial rights, and advance rival theories of state’s (or nation’s) rights over territory. This article aims to advance our understanding of the challenge facing territorial rights theories, by closely analysing one of the most developed and important theories of territory, viz., the nationalist theory. It argues that nationalist theory, which employs a quasi-Lockean argument for territorial rights, faces a problem of attribution: What value-adding activities (...) can be attributed to a cultural nation, which is viewed as the primary holder of territorial rights by the theory? It proceeds to examine three approaches to solve the problem of attribution – but argues that all of them fail. In the concluding section, the paper explores the potential implications of this largely critical argument for all attempts to develop a coherent and plausible normative theory of territory. (shrink)

In ‘A modal theory of function’, I gave an argument against all existing theories of function and outlined a new theory. Karen Neander and Alex Rosenberg argue against both my negative and my positive claim. My aim here is not merely to defend my account from their objections, but to (a) very briefly point out that the new account of etiological function they propose in response to my criticism cannot avoid the circularity worry either and, more importantly, to (b) highlight, (...) and attempt to make precise, an important feature of my modal theory that may have been understated in the original paper – that function attributions depend on the explanatory project at hand. (shrink)

Background: It is of importance to understand and communicate caring ethics as a ground for qualitative caring environments. Research is needed on nursing attributes that are visible in nursing leadership since it may give bases for reflections related to the patterns of specific contexts. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of crucial attributes in nursing leadership toward an ethical care of patients in psychiatric in-patient settings. Research design: The design of the study was descriptive and (...) qualitative with a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. Participants and research context: The study comprised focus group interviews with nurses working in indoor psychiatric care who participated after giving informed consent. Ethical considerations: Since the topic and informants are not labeled as sensitive and subject to ethical approval, it is not covered by the ethics committee’s aim and purpose according to Swedish law. However, careful procedures have been followed according to ethics expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. Findings: When identifying the thematic structures, analysis resulted in three major themes: To supply, including the following aspects: to supply evidence, to supply common space, and to supply good structures; To support, including the following aspects: to be a role model, to show appreciation and care, and to harbor; To shield, including the following aspects: to advocate, to emit non-tolerance of unethical behavior, and to reprove. Discussion: Leadership is challenging for nurses and plays an important role in ethical qualitative care. These findings should not be understood as a description about nurse manager’s role, which probably has different attributes and more focus on an organizational level. Conclusion: Making the understanding about crucial attributes explicit, the nurse may receive confirmation and recognition of crucial attributes for ethical care in order to move toward an ethical care. (shrink)

This paper aims to contribute to the growing discussion about leadership in the contemporary Church of England with a particular interest in the complex interaction between social context and leadership practices. Implicit leadership theory is used to explore mutual expectations around distributed models of lay and ordained leadership as well as ‘ordinary’ members’ of congregation. Applying a qualitative research method, we conducted 32 semi-structured interviews in 6 Church of England parishes. Through the systematic analysis of relevant contextual factors at multiple (...) levels, we identify limited congruence between ideal leadership attributes and actual behavior. We contribute to the ILT literature by identifying ethical attributes, such as the ability to help others flourish, as particularly pertinent to the religious setting. We also identify the malleability of some leadership attributes. We further contribute to the literature on organizational studies in faith-based organizations by offering novel insights into the relationship between leadership, followership and contextual factors at local parish level which have significant practical implications for recruiting and training church leaders and followers. (shrink)

Any account of Spinoza's understanding of attribute must be able to satisfy his definition criterion; that is, it must coherently accommodate the elements involved in his definition of attribute as “what the intellect perceives of a substance as constituting its essence” (E1d4). But this is not enough. There are several available readings that satisfy this criterion and are mutually incompatible. To know what Spinoza means we must supplement his definition criterion with a criterion aiming at consistency with other principles in (...) his system. With the definition and consistency criteria in the backdrop, the aim of this paper is to offer a critical overview of the current state of the debate on Spinoza's theory of attributes. (shrink)

Background: It is of importance to understand and communicate caring ethics as a ground for qualitative caring environments. Research is needed on nursing attributes that are visible in nursing leadership since it may give bases for reflections related to the patterns of specific contexts. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of crucial attributes in nursing leadership toward an ethical care of patients in psychiatric in-patient settings. Research design: The design of the study was descriptive and (...) qualitative with a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. Participants and research context: The study comprised focus group interviews with nurses working in indoor psychiatric care who participated after giving informed consent. Ethical considerations: Since the topic and informants are not labeled as sensitive and subject to ethical approval, it is not covered by the ethics committee’s aim and purpose according to Swedish law. However, careful procedures have been followed according to ethics expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki. Findings: When identifying the thematic structures, analysis resulted in three major themes: To supply, including the following aspects: to supply evidence, to supply common space, and to supply good structures; To support, including the following aspects: to be a role model, to show appreciation and care, and to harbor; To shield, including the following aspects: to advocate, to emit non-tolerance of unethical behavior, and to reprove. Discussion: Leadership is challenging for nurses and plays an important role in ethical qualitative care. These findings should not be understood as a description about nurse manager’s role, which probably has different attributes and more focus on an organizational level. Conclusion: Making the understanding about crucial attributes explicit, the nurse may receive confirmation and recognition of crucial attributes for ethical care in order to move toward an ethical care. (shrink)

This research aims to explore the influence of Islamic tourism destination attributes on support for heritage tourism, focusing on the mediating roles of Islamic heritage proximity and cultural identity, as well as the moderating role of cultural tendency within the context of heritage sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A quantitative approach was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire to gather data from 267 tourists visiting various heritage sites. Measurement scales were adapted from established literature to ensure validity and reliability. (...) Data analysis was conducted using ADANCO software for Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that Islamic tourism destination attributes significantly influence support for heritage tourism. Additionally, Islamic heritage proximity and cultural identity were found to mediate this relationship effectively, while cultural tendency served as a significant moderator, enhancing the connection between tourism attributes and support for heritage tourism. This study contributes to the understanding of how cultural and religious elements shape tourism dynamics in Islamic contexts. The implications for practitioners and policymakers highlight the importance of enhancing destination attributes to foster greater support for heritage tourism, ultimately promoting sustainable cultural preservation. (shrink)

In this paper we argue that Steglich-Petersen’s response to Owens’ Exclusivity Objection does not work. Our first point is that the examples Steglich-Petersen uses to demonstrate his argument do not work because they employ an undefended conception of the truth aim not shared by his target (and officially eschewed by Steglich-Petersen himself). Secondly we will make the point that deliberating over whether to form a belief about p is not part of the belief forming process. When an agent enters into (...) this process of deliberation, he has not, contra Steglich-Petersen, already adopted the truth aim with regard to p. In closing, we further suggest that proponents of the truth aim hypothesis need to focus on aim-guidance, not mere aim attribution, for their approach to have explanatory utility so underlining the significance of Owens’ argument. (shrink)

Peace encourages humans to eliminate the impulse of violence within themselves. Peace in students can drive the development of peace in their social environment. Educators should be able to play the role of peace educators to take part in creating true peace. This study aims to identify the attributes of peace educators through the life experiences of KH Ahmad Dahlan, as narrated in the novel Sang Pencerah (The Enlightener). This qualitative research employs the hermeneutic approach. The research stages include overall (...) understanding (whole), understanding of parts and obtaining an understanding of the underlying meaning. The results indicate that the attributes of peace educators, according to KH Ahmad Dahlan, include showing affection, being sincere, having a good attitude, performing practices aligning with the educators’ knowledge and teaching knowledge based on tolerance and empathy. Those attributes of peace educators can be used as a guide for developing the competencies of educators to encourage students to achieve peace-loving characters. This character supports the emergence of a culture of peace in their environment.Contribution: This research has contributed to the successful implementation of education through teachers who have the attributes of peace educators. The characteristics of peace educators based on KH Ahmad Dahlan are a reference for teachers to become educators who can create peace through school settings. (shrink)

According to Naming and Necessity, proper names usually work referentially as rigid designators. In this paper, I argue that proper names have also attributive uses that systematically emerge in particular contexts. Attributive uses are then exploited to show that simple identity claims (such as “Hesperus is Phosphorus”) are open to a double interpretation. The main aim of the paper is arguing that the impression that certain true identities are a posteriori is mostly due to one of the two readings, a (...) reading according to which, however, the expressed truth is only contingently true. (shrink)

The distinction between the essential and non-essential attributes of material objects is one that can be traced back to Aristotle. It is the distinction between those attributes or things true of objects that need not be true of them in order for them to endure or persist and those attributes or things true of objects that must remain true of them as long as they can be said truly to exist. ;The claim that individuals themselves have essential and non-essential attributes (...) is one that has been subject to much modern and contemporary criticism. In this work I have defended the distinction between essential and non-essential attributes against its contemporary opponents. Critics have maintained that upholding the distinction invariably leads to inconsistency, contradiction or nonsense. They have argued that whether or not an object has an attribute essentially or non-essentially depends, not upon the object itself, but upon human interests or conventions. Further, they have argued that whether or not an object has an attribute essentially or non-essentially would be relative to our conceptualizations of the object, to a specific language, to our interest in the object or to the way in which one referred to the object. ;In considering the logical objections aimed at upholding the distinction I have shown that the arguments that are purported to demonstrate that the essential/non-essential distinction can be maintained only at the cost of contradiction, inconsistency or nonsense are convincing only if one either fails to heed various distinctions that we, upon reflection, ordinarily make or acknowledge or is guilty of using certain terms equivocally, or else equivocates in the treatment of specific examples and analyses of certain sentences and statements. . . . UMI. (shrink)

Analytical philosophers of religion widely assume that God is a person, albeit immaterial and of unique status, and the divine attributes are thus understood as attributes of this supreme personal being. Our main aim is to consider how traditional divine attributes may be understood on a non-personal conception of God. We propose that foundational theist claims make an all-of-Reality reference, yet retain God’s status as transcendent Creator. We flesh out this proposal by outlining a specific non-personal, monist and ‘naturalist’ conception (...) of God, which we call the ‘euteleological’ conception of God, and then considering euteleological interpretations of omnipotence, omniscience and divine goodness. (shrink)

Is there a distinction between referential and attributive uses of definite descriptions? I think most philosophers who approach Donnellan’s distinction from the point of view of the theory of speech acts, those who see reference as a type of speech act, would say that there is no such distinction and that the cases he presents can be accounted for as instances of the general distinction between speaker meaning and sentence meaning: both alleged uses are referential in the sense that they (...) are cases of referring to objects, the only difference is in the degree to which the speaker makes his intentions fully explicit in his utterance. Such objections are in fact quite commonly made, both in the literature and in the oral tradition, but I have never seen a version of the objection I was fully satisfied with and the main aim of this article is to attempt to provide one. (shrink)

University Campuses remain important settings for nurturing and supporting student health and quality of life (QoL). Research shows the health benefits of nature experiences may be facilitated by campus spaces and activities that afford connectedness. Connectedness to nature, others, and self may allow students to cope with mental fatigue, stress, and a constant need for restoration. Despite recent encouraging trends, we still lack an integrative conceptual framework to describe the mechanisms involved in achieving connectedness for making recommendations for campus design. (...) In this conceptual review, we examine students’ connectedness in campus settings in relation to biophilic elements and attributes. We aim to understand how both direct and indirect pursuits in nature and also place-based experiences on campus foster connectedness and consequently impact students’ health and QoL. Our analysis shows that connectedness seen through the lens of Kellert’s biophilic design principles and aided by Alexander’s pattern language provides a relational and long-term perspective on recommending strategies for connecting students to nature, to others, and to themselves in campus settings. (shrink)

In this book, Michael Blome-Tillmann offers a critical overview of the current debate on the semantics of knowledge attributions. The book is divided into five parts. Part 1 introduces the reader to the literature on 'knowledge' attributions by outlining the historical roots of the debate andproviding an in-depth discussion of epistemic contextualism. After examining the advantages and disadvantages of the view, Part 2 offers a detailed investigation of epistemic impurism, while Part 3 is devoted to a careful examination of epistemic (...) relativism and Part4 to two different types of strict invariantism. The final part of the book explores Presuppositional Epistemic Contextualism - a version of contextualism that is argued to provide a more powerful and elegant account of the semantics of 'knowledge' attributions thanmany of its competitors. A clear and precise account is provided of the main principles underlying each view and of how they aim to explain the pertinent data and resolve philosophical puzzles and challenges. The book also provides charts outlining the relations between the positions discussed andoffers suggestions for further reading. (shrink)

Prior studies have extensively explored factors that drive misselling behavior in life insurance markets, but considered little the influences of attributes of clients (particularly vulnerable clients) on unethical sales. Our study that is based on the neoclassical theory of the firm aims to investigate the relationships between attributes of life insurance clients and unethical selling behavior of salespeople. Applying logit and probit models to a sample of 35,075 observations from a Chinese life insurance company, our study finds that salespeople are (...) more likely to perform unethical selling to ill-educated clients. Further, when salespeople’s sex and education are considered, the result shows that male or poorly-educated salespeople are more likely to make unethical selling. These findings enrich the literature of misselling of life insurance and offer some practical implications for both insurers and regulators to manage life insurance markets and control misselling behaviors. (shrink)

This volume aims to investigate the topic of Substance and Attribute. The way leading to this aim is a dialogue between Islamic and Western Philosophy. Our project is motivated by the observation that the historical roots of Islamic and of Western philosophy are very similar. Thus some of the articles in this volume are dedicated to the history of philosophy in Islamic thinking as well as in Western traditions. But the dialogue between both philosophies is not only an historical issue, (...) it also has systematic relevance for actual philosophical questions. The topic Substance and Attribute particularly has systematic relevance for the actual ontological debate. (shrink)

This study focuses on al-Taftāzānī’s discussion of the ontological status of divine attributes in his Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid and aims to demonstrate that al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) reluctantly and ambiguously proposed formula that divine attributes are possible by themselves and necessary by God, which itself is an adaptation of Avicennian formula about the ontological status of the divine intellects, received much more recognition after a more sophisticated and advanced version of it was introduced to Sunnī kalām tradition by al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390). His (...) improvements generated a considerable amount of intellectual interest within the subsequent commentary and super-commentary tradition and were then refined by the later commentators, a crucial development which has been almost entirely neglected in the modern scholarship. This study further argues that the orientation of post-classical kalām extends to the point where it embraces a specific formula promoted by the Falāsifa to refine Sunnī theory about the ontological status of the divine attributes. Consequently, Sunnī theology deliberately adapted a previously rejected theory to one of its most exclusive and core subjects, that is the discussion of the divine attributes. This study will also show that dramatic transformations in the approach and the structure indicate that Sunnī kalām, especially in Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid commentaries and super-commentaries, was significantly influenced by philosophical theories and was required to adopt both the vocabulary and the framework fashioned in philosophical debates on a greater scale after its first transformation due to al-Rāzī’s influence. Because of the voluminous commentaries and super-commentaries on Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid and their extended coverage of a variety of subjects, the current study limits itself to al-Taftāzānī’s Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid and its super-commentaries by Musa Khayālī (d. 862/1457) and Ramazan Efendi al-Ḥanafī (d. 1025/1616?). (shrink)

This paper is driven by the idea that the contextualism-relativism debate regarding the semantics of value-attributions turns upon certain extra-semantic assumptions that are unwarranted. One is the assumption that the many-place predicate of truth, deployed by compositional semantics, cannot be directly appealed to in theorizing about people's assessments of truth value, but must be supplemented (if not replaced) by a different truth-predicate, obtained through certain "postsemantic" principles. Another is the assumption that semantics assigns to sentences not only truth values (as (...) a function of various parameters, such as contexts, worlds and times), but also semantic contents, and that what context-sensitive expressions contribute to content are certain contextually determined elements. My first aim in this paper will be to show how the two assumptions have shaped two ways of understanding the debate between contextualism and relativism, as regards value-attributions. My second aim will be to show that both assumptions belong outside semantics, and are moreover questionable. (shrink)

Although much has been written about the property of rationality, its requirements, and whether it is normative, rationality attributions themselves have not received much attention. The main aim of this paper is to address this oversight by focussing directly on rationality attributions and their complexities. After offering a diagnosis for why attributions have been largely overlooked, the paper introduces three problems that have plagued the rationality debate as a result: implausible symmetry, conflicts within rationality, and with reasons. Brunero’s (2012) answer (...) to the symmetry problem provides the beginnings of a solution but makes it harder to compare the rationality of agents. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to spelling out the new approach: to understand rationality attributions as relative to specific sets of attitudes. This approach circumvents the previous problems and meets a number of desiderata, resulting in a more nuanced and complete understanding of rationality that can enhance our practices of praising or criticising agents based on their rational performance. (shrink)

Space configuration of industrial heritage sites, which have been adaptively reused, are modeled in the depth map. Simultaneously, by using in-situ observation the actual patterns of pedestrian movement in these sites are captured. Finally, the results of simulated patterns and actual patterns are compared and interpreted. Findings show a notable impact of built heritage on the natural movement's patterns. Consequently, the significance of determinative factors of natural movement in these sites differs from regular sites. Therefore, this exception could develop a (...) tourism policy towards these sites. By acknowledging the fact that the functions of selected case studies are not the same, yet those are the only adaptive reuse practice of industrial heritage in that region. This paper aims to assess the possible impact of built heritage as an influential attraction on distribution patterns of natural movement and develop natural movement theory in these sites. The use of natural movement theory, which provides accurate data that proves the impact of industrial heritage scientifically, is the main indicator of this research. this theory has not been used as an exact tool to identify the behavioral-movement attributes of heritage and needs some consideration to be applied in cultural heritage sites. (shrink)

The expressivist account of knowledge attributions, while claiming that these attributions are nonfactual, also typically holds that they retain a factual component. This factual component involves the attribution of a belief. The aim of this work is to show that considerations analogous to those motivating an expressivist account of knowledge attributions can be applied to belief attributions. As a consequence, we claim that expressivists should not treat the so-called factual component as such. The phenomenon we focus on to claim (...) that belief attributions are non-factual is that of normative doxastic disagreement. We show through several examples that this kind of disagreement is analogous to that of the epistemic kind. The result will be a doxastic expressivism. Finally, we answer some objections that our doxastic expressivism could seem to face. (shrink)

Modern societies increasingly show more egalitarian attitudes related to sexism and gender equality. However, there is still an important gender gap in wages and professions as well as in expectations surrounding male and female characteristics. Developmental studies carried out from an ecological perspective confirm that these influences come from the closest environments (mainly family and school) but also from more distant systems such as media or cultural values. As children are socialized in these norms and values, they increasingly internalize those (...) schemes and use them to judge others, to choose friends and playmates, and to construct expectations of them. On this basis, the aim of this study was to examine the degree of gender bias internalization in a group of Spanish children. Two tasks were applied to a group of 149 public school boys and girls (aged 4–9 years). Results showed that, already from an early age, the participants had internalized traditional gender roles, especially when asked to assign masculine attributes. Moreover, group differences were found given that boys seemed to be more aware of expectations surrounding masculinity and girls assigned the attributes associated with femininity to women more often than boys. Furthermore, a developmental pattern similar to one obtained in previous studies was observed. Younger children already apply gender roles as part of their increasing acquisition of knowledge in the social field, but there is a big increase in the strength of this bias as they grow older. Psychological and educational implications of these findings are discussed, especially considering that the male gender role seems to be more rigid and less malleable. In this regard, developmental and environmental studies should be considered when designing early intervention programs to reduce sexism and to promote equity in schools and families. As research has already shown what type of environments affect children’s acquisition of traditional gender roles, society must make an effort to promote more egalitarian environments that will serve as protective factors in their future psychological, social and professional development. (shrink)

The problem of divine attributes was one of the most intensely debated topics in the 17-18th century Irish philosophy. Simply put, the problem revolves around the ontological question (i) whether human and divine attributes differ in degree or in kind, and the semantical (ii) how we ought to describe these divine attributes by means of our human language. While there was a consensus that analogies play a key role in solving the semantical problem there was a controversy about the kind (...) of speech they allow for. Especially, it was contested if using analogies for divine predication allows for a separate kind of speech, i.e. allows us to speak neither literally nor metaphorically but analogically. The aim of my paper is to contextualize George Berkeley's position on the problem of divine attributes as developed in § 21 of the IV. Dialogue in Alciphron.More specifically and contrary to what most scholars hold, I argue Berkeley fails to follow Cardinal Cajetan with remarkable closeness. Despite paraphrasing parts of Cajetan's De Nominum Analogia in § 21, the solution Berkeley advances is closer to the position of John Duns Scotus – and hence, ironically, with the position Cajetan aimed to reject. (shrink)

This paper aims to study the impact of Crowdfunding financial attributes on entrepreneurship risk taking. This study was applied on Arabic Crowdfunding platforms from all crowdfunding models. The population of the study consists of individuals, entrepreneurs, investors, employees at electronic-crowd funding Arabic platforms. According to last statics at (2018), there are (12) legit Arabic platforms working in this field. Several statistical tools were used for data analysis and hypotheses testing, including reliability Correlation using Cronbach’s alpha, “ANOVA”, Simple Linear Regression. The (...) overall findings of the current paper show that there is a significant statistical impact for financial properties on entrepreneurship and this effect around (25%). Furthermore, the current paper is unique by topic and population as it is the first study on Arabic crowdfunding platforms. (shrink)

It is often said that belief aims at truth. I argue that if belief has an aim then that aim is knowledge rather than merely truth. My main argument appeals to the impossibility of forming a belief on the basis of evidence that only weakly favours a proposition. This phenomenon, I argue, is a problem for the truth-aim hypothesis. By contrast, it can be given a simple and satisfying explanation on the knowledge-aim hypothesis. Furthermore, the knowledge-aim hypothesis suggests a very (...) plausible account of what it takes for evidence to be sufficiently good to make belief possible. I offer several further considerations in favour of the knowledge-aim hypothesis, and deal with objections. Although the main point of the paper is not to defend the view that belief has an aim, but to adjudicate between accounts of what that aim is, my argument nevertheless requires some attention to the motivation for attributing an aim to belief in the first place. In particular, I will explain an important advantage that this view has over the view that belief is not aim-directed, but only subject to a constitutive norm. (shrink)

This study focuses on al-Taftāzānī’s discussion of the ontological status of divine attributes in his _Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid_ and aims to demonstrate that al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) reluctantly and ambiguously proposed formula that divine attributes are possible by themselves and necessary by God, which itself is an adaptation of Avicennian formula about the ontological status of the divine intellects, received much more recognition after a more sophisticated and advanced version of it was introduced to Sunnī _kalām_ tradition by al-Taftāzānī (d. 792/1390). His (...) improvements generated a considerable amount of intellectual interest within the subsequent commentary and super-commentary tradition and were then refined by the later commentators, a crucial development which has been almost entirely neglected in the modern scholarship. This study further argues that the orientation of post-classical _kalām_ extends to the point where it embraces a specific formula promoted by the _Falāsifa_ to refine Sunnī theory about the ontological status of the divine attributes. Consequently, Sunnī theology deliberately adapted a previously rejected theory to one of its most exclusive and core subjects, that is the discussion of the divine attributes. This study will also show that dramatic transformations in the approach and the structure indicate that Sunnī _kalām_, especially in _Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid_ commentaries and super-commentaries, was significantly influenced by philosophical theories and was required to adopt both the vocabulary and the framework fashioned in philosophical debates on a greater scale after its first transformation due to al-Rāzī’s influence. Because of the voluminous commentaries and super-commentaries on _Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid_ and their extended coverage of a variety of subjects, the current study limits itself to al-Taftāzānī’s _Sharḥ al-ʿAqāid_ and its super-commentaries by Musa Khayālī (d. 862/1457) and Ramazan Efendi al-Ḥanafī (d. 1025/1616?). (shrink)

Background: Maintaining dignity is important for successful aging, but there is lack of validated research instruments in the nursing literature to investigate dignity as perceived by the old people. Objective: This is a methodological study aiming to investigate the psychometric properties of the Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale as translated in the Greek language. Research design: A methodological approach consisting of translation, adaptation, and cross-cultural validation. A sample of 188 Greek-speaking old Cypriot persons drawn from the Hospital outpatient (...) departments was asked to complete the Greek versions of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale and the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. Data analyses included internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient), item analysis, and exploratory factor analysis using principal component method with orthogonal varimax rotation. Ethical considerations: The study protocol was approved by the National Bioethics committee according to the national legislation. Permission to use the research instrument was granted from the author. Information about the aim and the benefits of the study was included in the information letter. Findings: Cronbach’s alpha for Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale was 0.90. Four factors emerged explaining 65.28% of the total variance, and item to total correlation values ranged from 0.25 to 0.74 indicating high internal consistency and homogeneity. Mean item score in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living was 5.6 (standard deviation = 1.7) for men and 6.7 (standard deviation = 1.7) for women, and the correlations between demographics, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, and the four factors of the Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale were low; also in multiple linear regression, the values of R2 are presented low. Discussion: Demographic characteristics and degree of functionality seem to be associated with some of the dimensions of dignity but with low correlations; therefore, they cannot predict attributed dignity. Conclusion: The Greek version of Jacelon Attributed Dignity Scale is a valid and reliable tool to measure attributed dignity in Greek-speaking older adults, but further testing of the psychometric properties and other potential factors that may affect the attributed dignity is needed. (shrink)

IntroductionGlobally, 15% of adolescents give birth before turning 18, leading to considerable personal, social, and medical impacts on adolescents and to the general society.ObjectiveThis study aimed at exploring and comparing three psychological attributes between parents and teachers for the phenomena.Method672 teachers and 690 parents participated in the study.ResultsThe results indicated a significant mean difference between parents and teachers on empathy, attribution of blame, and feelings of responsibility. Except for attribution of blame, parents’ mean scores of other variables were (...) higher than that of teachers.DiscussionTeachers’ higher attribution of blame to pregnant adolescents and lower empathetic concern raises a prominent concern over students’ healthy environment at school.ConclusionUnderstanding social feelings about responsibilities over adolescents’ general health is very essential, especially for fighting against the problem of early pregnancy. (shrink)

Previous studies have focused on the relationship between imaginary companions (ICs) and children’s social developments. As far as we know, few studies have focused on the relationship between ICs and children’s agency attributions. This study aimed to explore the potential differences in agency attributions between children with and without ICs, children with egalitarian IC relationships and hierarchical IC relationships. Children’s agency attributions were measured by two experiments. One was based on behavioral cues (Random animations/ToM animations) and the other was based (...) on appearance characteristics (ball/doll). The results revealed that children with ICs attributed more cognitive properties to Random and ToM animations than children without ICs. Compared with children without ICs, children with ICs attributed marginally more biological properties to a ball and more psychological properties to a ball and a doll. However, children with egalitarian and hierarchical IC relationships did not differ in their agency attributions. The results suggest that children with ICs are more likely to attribute agencies to non-human items with behavioral cues or appearance characteristics than children without ICs. Compared with child-IC relationship qualities, IC status may be more related to children’s agency attributions. However, only a correlation between IC status and children’s agency attributions was found in this study and it is interesting for future researchers to investigate the potential causal directions between children’s IC status and their agency attributions. If one of the causal directions or both the causal directions exist, future researchers can further explore the underlying mechanism. (shrink)

ObjectivesHostile attribution bias is reportedly common from non-clinical population to those with serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, and is known to be closely related to theory of mind. This study aimed to investigate whether ToM skills mediate the relationship among neurocognitive ability, personality traits, and attribution bias.MethodsA total of 198 non-clinical youths were recruited. To assess their neurocognitive ability and ToM skills, the participants were asked to complete Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices and the Korean version of the (...) Reading the Mind in Eyes Test. To determine their personality traits, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and interpersonal reactivity index were used. To evaluate hostile attribution bias, the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire was administered. Path analysis and bias-corrected percentile bootstrap methods were used to estimate model fit and the parameters of the mediating effects.ResultsBased on model comparison, the best model characterized two direct pathways from psychoticism and the K-RMET to hostility attribution bias and three indirect pathways, wherein SPM, perspective taking, and psychoticism influenced hostile attribution bias through K-RMET. The final model fit indices were good [x2/df = 1.126; comparative fit index = 0.996; root mean square error of approximation = 0.026; standard root mean square residual = 0.026 and Akaike information criterion = 28.251] and the K-RMET fully mediated the association between SPM, perspective taking, psychoticism, and hostile attribution bias.ConclusionThe main findings suggested that ToM skills, such as the RMET, play an important role in explaining the relationship among neurocognitive ability, personality traits, and hostile attribution bias. ToM skills and a remediation strategy may need to be developed to balance the enhanced hostility bias that underlies the paranoia. (shrink)

My aim in this paper is to consider the question ‘Why is belief in God not a delusion?’. In the first half of the paper, I distinguish two kinds of religious belief: institutional and personal religious belief. I then review how cognitive science accounts for cultural processes in the acquisition and transmission of institutional religious beliefs. In the second half of the paper, I present the clinical definition of delusion and underline the fact that it exempts cultural beliefs from clinical (...) diagnosis. Finally, I review cognitive models of the intuitive attribution of mental disorders and how they support cultural exemption. Through the comparison of the models of cultural acquisition of religious beliefs and of cultural exemption in the attribution of delusion I intend to make it clear that we can provide an answer to our motivating question: even though some institutional religious beliefs may seem as strange as the most florid delusions, humans can readily recognize that they are not the product of mental dysfunction due to the fact that their acquisition and transmission is embedded within a cultural context. (shrink)

I argue in favor of the Minimal Approval account, an original account of an agent’s moral responsibility for her actions, understood as the conditions that must be met so that an agent’s actions speak for her such that she can appropriately be blamed on their basis. My account shares a general theoretical orientation with Deep Self views, but diverges in several respects. I argue that Deep Self views tend to seriously over-generate exemptions, such that agents are exempt from responsibility even (...) from ordinary weak-willed actions. Accordingly, much of my focus is on giving a more nuanced, and in certain senses narrower, explanation of genuine exemption cases. While I address the advantages the Minimal Approval account has over competing accounts throughout these chapters, the account also aims to provide an empirically informed response to a certain sort of skeptical worry about how it could be the case that anyone is ever responsible for what they do at all. One commonplace thought is that when agents’ behaviors are due to compulsion their “brains make them do it.” But, in a literal sense, it might seem that our brains make all of us do everything that we do. In this dissertation I head off this worry by directly addressing both what the difference is, and what it should mean for our practices. (shrink)

Stephen Mumford develops his view of sport spectatorship partly through a rejection of an argument he attributes to Best, which distinguishes between two categories of sports, the ‘purposive’ and the ‘aesthetic’, on the basis of the claim that they have different principal aims. This paper considers the principal aim argument and one feature of Mumford’s rejection of that argument, namely, Best’s observation that the distinctions to which he draws attention are based on logical differences. The paper argues that Mumford misconstrues (...) Best’s argument by taking it to be about the intentions of players and athletes, while it is actually about a specific feature of the rules of each sport. (shrink)