Early versions of satellite and radiosonde datasets suggested that the tropical surface had warmed more than the troposphere, while climate models consistently showed tropospheric amplification of surface warming in response to human-caused increases in greenhouse gases. We revisit such comparisons here using new observational estimates of surface and tropospheric temperature changes. We find that there is no longer a serious discrepancy between modeled and observed trends in the tropics. Our results contradict a recent claim that all simulated temperature trends in (...) the tropical troposphere are inconsistent with observations. This claim was based on the use of older radiosonde and satellite datasets and on two methodological errors: the neglect of observational trend uncertainties introduced by interannual climate variability and application of an inappropriate statistical “consistency test”.This emerging reconciliation of models and observations has two primary explanations. First, because of changes in the treatment of buoy and satellite information, new surface temperature datasets yield slightly reduced tropical warming relative to earlier versions. Second, recently developed satellite and radiosonde datasets now show larger warming of the tropical lower troposphere. In the case of a new satellite dataset from remote sensing systems, enhancedRSS warming is due to an improved procedure of adjusting for inter-satellite biases. When the RSS-derived tropospheric temperature trend is compared with four different observed estimates of surface temperature change, the surface warming is invariably amplified in the tropical troposphere, consistent with model results. Even if we use data from a second satellite dataset with smaller tropospheric warming than in remote sensing systems RSS, observed tropical lapse rates are not significantly different from those in all model simulations.Our results contradict a recent claim that all simulated temperature trends in the tropical troposphere and in tropical lapse rates are inconsistent with observations. This claim was based on the use of older radiosonde and satellite datasets and on two methodological errors: the neglect of observational trend uncertainties introduced by interannual climate variability and application of an inappropriate statistical “consistency test”. (shrink)

Science naively presupposes the intelligibility of the universe, necessary laws, and a universal truth. The author reflects on these presuppositions to arrive at a demonstration of God's existence. In a vigorous and exclamatory style, he condemns the alternative views of idealism, phenomenology, and philosophies of science which cannot rationally justify their faith in a universal truth. The only rational basis for these presuppositions is a theistic God--the "Vérité mesurante" and "Pensée fondatrice" of scientific reason.--A. B. D.

The two epigraphical monuments which have preserved parts of the treaties of alliance between Athens, on the one hand, and Rhegion and Leontinoi, respectively, on the other, must be studied together, for both treaties had their old preambles erased in 433/2 and their validity reaffirmed as of that year. The new preambles, both dating from the same day, were inscribed in the erasures and juxtaposed, somewhat awkwardly, before the body of the old texts thatstill remained.

Rome and Carthage had established peaceful diplomatic relations before 300 b.c. — as early as the close of the sixth century according to Polybius, whose dating there no longer seems good cause to doubt. A second treaty was struck probably in 348. Both dealt essentially with traders' and travellers' obligations and entitlements, so any military or political terms sprang from that context. In both, the Carthaginians agreed to hand over any independent town they captured in Latium. In the first treaty (...) they were not to establish a fort in Latium either; in the second, the Romans were not to found a city in Carthaginian Africa, Spain or Sardinia. But independent military considerations are the stuff of a third treaty concluded during Rome's war with Pyrrhus. Rome and Carthage now pledged each other military aid in certain circumstances, as we shall see. And ‘geopolitical’ concerns of a very broad kind imbued a treaty which was reported by the third-century historian Philinus of Agrigentum. By this, he stated, ‘the Romans must keep out of the whole of Sicily, the Carthaginians out of Italy’ . This is Polybius' citation of Philinus' allegation; Polybius himself then roundly rejects the very existence of such a pact and declares himself at a loss to understand how his predecessor could record it, but modern scholarship is no longer all that ready to accept his view. A strong majority of historians prefer to follow the Agrigentine, and many see 306 b.c. as the likely year for the agreement because Livy records a ‘renewal’ then of a foedus with Carthage. (shrink)

Sutton ( 2010 ) claims that on our analysis (2007), the problem in the two-envelope paradox is an error in counterfactual reasoning. In fact, we distinguish two formulations of the paradox, only one of which, on our account, involves an error in conditional reasoning. According to Sutton, it is conditional probabilities rather than subjunctive conditionals that are essential to the problem. We argue, however, that his strategy for assigning utilities on the basis of conditional probabilities leads to absurdity. In addition, (...) we show that a crucial presupposition of Sutton’s argument — namely, that one can know that envelope A contains n simply on the basis of a stipulation — is mistaken. (shrink)

Our hospital routine requires that all new admissions must be asked about their code status. It is not uncommon for an otherwise healthy patient to request that a do-not-resuscitate order be placed in their chart. Presumably, these patients who wish to have a DNR order are acting on the belief that should an unforeseen, irreversible condition occur that leads to a cardiac arrest, they would not want to undergo resuscitation. Tragically, we have witnessed several instances in which potentially life-saving interventions (...) were withheld in viable patients in non-arrest settings for reversible conditions because the patients had a DNR order in the chart. Unfortunately, this happens when the treating physicians are not aware of the limited scope of a DNR order and instead use the order as a blanket prohibition against all components of resuscitation. This communication failure is due to misconceptions that patients and their physicians have with regard to such orders. The medical community is well overdue to improve the end-of-life decisions offered to patients beyond relying on the outdated term DNR.LIMITATIONS OF DNR ORDERSDespite the major advances in critical care medicine in the past few decades, doctors have not substantially improved their ability to address end-of-life decisions any better than by using the all-encompassing term DNR. Currently, the term is generally accepted as an order to prohibit the use of interventions to reverse a cardiac or pulmonary arrest.1 2 What is frequently forgotten with the DNR order is that …. (shrink)

This first article is intended as a brief introduction to the general philosophical assumptions of Newton: namely, his mathematicism, empiricism, positivism, reductionism, and dualism. These five "isms" provide an important background to the main articles that are also briefly described.

Newton's conception of time has had a profound influence upon science, particularly psychology. Five characteristics of explanation have devolved from Newton's temporal framework: objectivity, continuity, linearity, universality, and reductivity. These characteristics are outlined in the present essay and shown to be central to psychological theories and methods. Indeed, Newton's temporal framework is so central that it often goes unexamined in psychology. Examination is important, however, because recent critics of Newton's framework - including both scientists and philosophers - have questioned its (...) validity and usefulness. (shrink)

This brief work valuably shows how a distinguished historian ascertains the causes of his historical facts. Koht, a Norwegian European historian, eschews any philosophy of history, claiming only that the nature of man is permanent through historical change. Drawing from his own historical research he discusses the significance of the different forces of history. These are religion, economics, class consciousness, the power of the state, war, revolt, science, and internationalism. No one force or cause is primary.—A. B. D.

Daniel Lagache has said that the psychoanalytical experience is a moral one. It is, in Mme. Amado's words, "the drama of a subject, discovering his radical truth." The task of psychoanalysis is the demystification of the narcissistic, alienated subject who lives in a primary or primitive moment of subjectivity. The moment of cure is the recognition of the other, and simultaneously, a discovery of oneself--intersubjectivity. Mme. Amado gives an excellent phenomenology of alienation, seeing its presence both in mental disorders and (...) normal behavior.--A. B. D. (shrink)

These fragmentary and often repetitious papers-some of them published before Schutz's death--are organized under three headings: 1) On the Methodology of the Social Sciences, 2) Phenomenology and the Social Sciences, and 3) Symbol, Reality and Society. Schutz elaborates the structures of the "natural attitude," earlier described by Husserl, and defends the irreducible reality of the Lebenswelt which is necessarily presupposed by science, knowledge, language, and the interpretation of signs. Intersubjectivity is at the core of the Lebenswelt and Schutz ably criticizes (...) the inadequate work done by Husserl, Scheler and Sartre on the problem of the other. The tone of all the papers is expository and critical rather than original, as if Schutz was preparing his own views by "working through" a host of other writers.--A. B. D. (shrink)

This second, more cohesive volume of Schutz's papers goes beyond the critical and inconclusive work of Volume I, to advance, not quite a theory, but certain postulates for the interpretation of social phenomena. Schutz contends that the social scientist, normally an impartial observer, must also assume the standpoint of the subject: he must ask what is the meaning and rationality of social action for the actor himself. From such a bi-polar perspective Schutz describes the situations of "The Stranger," "The Homecomer," (...) and "The Well-Informed Citizen." In the longest paper he analyzes the meaning of equality both for those who are and for those who are not equal. These papers are perceptive—the best in the volume.—A. B. D. (shrink)

In the French unclassifiable genre, Brun explores biological evolution, poetry, philosophy, mythology, dance movements and palm-reading to unearth the significance and function of the human hand. Man does not have a hand; part of his being is being-a-hand. He is differentiated from animals not only because he is a tool-user, but because he can make tools to make other tools. Brun shows that the sense of touch overcomes the separation between man and the world in a second section dealing with (...) the erotic, cognitive and existential meanings of le toucher. A difficult, sometimes insightful study but mainly overstated.—A. B. D. (shrink)

A reprint of the book published in 1942, with the addition of an appendix and a new preface. Beginning with the concrete and conceptual aspects of the person and showing how the principles of logic are embodied in human experience, the author describes the ontological and logical connections between the world, man and God.--A. B. D.

In addition to facing the known competitors in the formal economy, entrepreneurs must also be concerned with rivalry emanating from the informal economy. The informal economy is characterized by actions outside the normal scope of commerce, such as unsanctioned payments and gift-giving, as means of influencing competition. Scholars and policy makers alike have an interest in mitigating the impacts of such informal activity in that it might present an obstacle for legitimate commerce. Received theory suggests that country institutions can enable (...) and constrain productive activity, and, in doing so, influence competitive obstacles in a country. Leveraging 13,670 responses from entrepreneurs distributed across 59 countries, we provide evidence that two particular types of enabling institutions, countries’ property rights regulations and cooperative actions, are useful for lowering the obstacles presented by informal activity. We also find evidence that two constraining institutions, economic and financial regulations lead to more obstacles presented by informal activity. We describe implications for entrepreneurs, policy makers, and future researchers stemming from these findings. (shrink)

Theories of immanence and botanical analogy dominated the work of the eighteenth-century naturalists. They believed, with little factual support, that electricity was the immanent principle of the universe and that plants and animals had truly analogical functions. When a science of biology finally came into being in the nineteenth century, the romantic poets decried the positivistic approach to nature; but it was often overlooked that their poetry voiced anew the concepts of the eighteenth-century speculation. The super-abundance of quotations makes for (...) laborious reading, although the author deftly threads his narrative through them.—A. B. D. (shrink)

A far less exhaustive work than Richardson's scholarly tome, but more focused than Vycinas' ventriloquial interpretation, Guilead's book concentrates on the theme of freedom in Sein und Zeit and in Heidegger's later works. The author is in full control of Heidegger's terminology and he succinctly reports how Heidegger uncovers and destroys the subjectivism of modern philosophy, as represented by Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Nietzsche, and Marx. Guilead contends that the germ of the "Kehre" was already present in Sein und Seit [[sic]]. (...) Heidegger's later thought shows that man is a cosmic being, a relation to Being, and his freedom can not be rooted in subjectivity but in the realization of his authentic cosmic being, in his "habitation," "dwelling," and "building." The author finds two problems in Heidegger's philosophy: a lack of real otherness in beings, and a danger of humanizing Being. But are they not one problem?—A. B. D. (shrink)

This is a compact, comparative analysis of Western and Chinese thought according to distinctive styles of thought and attitudes toward the world and what can be known of it. The model of Western Philosophy is presented as an abstract whole beyond experience—the Kantian ideal; the model of Chinese thought is a concrete whole found in experience. Chinese thought, as amply represented by passages from Confucius, Mencius and others, always has a feeling for the concrete, for a particular fact intuitively suggesting (...) a universal law; and it always has a predilection for paradox. The author thinks that abstract Western thought is still under the sway of Kant's concepts and forms of judgment, even in its current tendency toward the concrete.—A. B. D. (shrink)

Edith Stein was Husserl's student and private secretary. This study of empathy was originally her doctoral dissertation. After a reduction to pure consciousness, she describes the essence of empathy as a kind of perception sui generis, both like and unlike other acts of consciousness. Different theories of experiencing the other are briefly evaluated. The second part of the book is devoted to the role of empathy in the constitution of the psycho-physical individual and, ultimately, of the person. Written in short, (...) numbered paragraphs, the analysis tends to be jerky and without direction. But there is a sustained description of the living body, antedating Merleau-Ponty's corps vécu by thirty years. The translation seems too literal, and typographical errors abound.—A. B. D. (shrink)

First published in 1898 in Année Sociologique, this remarkable essay has long deserved English publication. Mauss and Hubert shun the myriad forms of sacrifice to concentrate on the structure or eidos uniting them all. This structure appears in certain procedures which are systematically followed, in certain relationships which are established between the sacrifier, priest and victim, and finally in the sequence of events from entrance into and exit from the sacrificial place. As an eidetic description of the form of sacrifice (...) the essay is clearly a forerunner of later structural anthropology.—A. B. D. (shrink)

This collection of Professor S. Sastri's work indicates the depth of his contribution to Indian philosophy. The reader will find his development of Bradley's Idealism in the light of the Advaita tradition to be of special philosophic interest.--D. P. B.

In his foreword, Brand Blanshard provides the suitable justification for publishing yet one more book on Berkeley: Berkeley is "curiously modern," and philosophically acute. Twelve competent essays, contributed by as many scholars, testify to the accuracy of Blanshard's judgment. These twelve scholars, all of whom rely on the Luce-Jessop definitive edition, touch upon the major issues of Berkeley's philosophy: perception, substance, spirit, and God. Differences in interpretation are everywhere evident, but Berkeley is nowhere given facile treatment or quick dismissal. Of (...) the many good essays, Ian T. Ramsey's on "Berkeley and the Possibility of an Empirical Metaphysics" deserves close attention. Ramsey argues that Berkeley's doctrine of will, soul, mind, etc., should be viewed as forms of personal activity and not on the analogy of Locke's ideas. T. E. Jessop contributes a useful bibliography as well as an essay on "Berkeley as Religious Apologist." The only, very minor, flaw in this distinguished volume is that the editor's own essay, the twelfth, "Berkeley and his Modern Critics" might have been better placed immediately following the foreward.--D. J. M. B. (shrink)

A major challenge with the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence applications is to manage the long-term societal impacts of this technology. Two central concerns that have emerged in this respect are that the optimized goals behind the data processing of AI applications usually remain opaque and the energy footprint of their data processing is growing quickly. This study thus explores how much people value the transparency and environmental sustainability of AI using the example of personal AI assistants. The results from (...) a choice-based conjoint analysis with a sample of more than 1.000 respondents from Germany indicate that people hardly care about the energy efficiency of AI; and while they do value transparency through explainable AI, this added value of an application is offset by minor costs. The findings shed light on what kinds of AI people are likely to demand and have important implications for policy and regulation. (shrink)