Two hundred and sixty-three subjects each gave examples for one of five geographic categories: geographic features, geographic objects, geographic concepts, something geographic, and something that could be portrayed on a map. The frequencies of various responses were significantly different, indicating that the basic ontological terms feature, object, etc., are not interchangeable but carry different meanings when combined with adjectives indicating geographic or mappable. For all of the test phrases involving geographic, responses were predominantly natural features such as mountain, river, lake, (...) ocean, hill. Artificial geographic features such as town and city were listed hardly at all for geographic categories, an outcome that contrasts sharply with the disciplinary self-understanding of academic geography. However, geographic artifacts and fiat objects, such as roads, cities, boundaries, countries, and states, were frequently listed by the subjects responding to the phrase something that could be portrayed on a map. In this paper, we present the results of these experiments in visual form, and provide interpretations and implications for further research. (shrink)

Two hundred and sixty-three subjects each gave examples for one of five geographic categories: geographic features, geographic objects, geographic concepts, something geographic, and something that could be portrayed on a map. The frequencies of various responses were significantly different, indicating that the basic ontological terms feature, object, etc., are not interchangeable but carry different meanings when combined with adjectives indicating geographic or mappable. For all of the test phrases involving geographic, responses were predominantly natural features such as mountain, river, lake, (...) ocean, hill. Artificial geographic features such as town and city were listed hardly at all for geographic categories, an outcome that contrasts sharply with the disciplinary self-understanding of academic geography. However, geographic artifacts and fiat objects, such as roads, cities, boundaries, countries, and states, were frequently listed by the subjects responding to the phrase something that could be portrayed on a map. In this paper, we present the results of these experiments in visual form, and provide interpretations and implications for further research. (shrink)

Under the assumption that all "rules" are recursive (ECT) the statement $\operatorname{Cont}(N^N,N)$ that all functions from N N to N are continuous becomes equivalent to a statement KLS in the language of arithmetic about "effective operations". Our main result is that KLS is underivable in intuitionistic Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory + ECT. Similar results apply for functions from R to R and from 2 N to N. Such results were known for weaker theories, e.g. HA and HAS. We extend not only (...) the theorem but the method, fp-realizability, to intuitionistic ZF. (shrink)

Three new versions of Wason’s 2-4-6 rule discovery task incorporating error rates or feedback of uncertainty reduction, inspired by the error-statistical account in philosophy of science, were employed. In experiments 1 and 2, participants were instructed that some experimenter feedback would be erroneous. The results showed that performance was impaired when there was probabilistic error. In experiment 3, participants were given uncertainty reduction feedback as they generated different number triples and the negative effects of probabilistic error were not observed. These (...) findings are informative not only about rule discovery tasks in general but also about contexts of inference under uncertainty. (shrink)

Since its development in the middle of the 20th century, H.L.A. Hart’s oeuvre has become a beacon for the jurisprudential community. Hart turned out to be a giant on whose shoulders many have stood. Yet the significance in its own right of Hart’s work has been neglected in recent years because his work has too often been discussed in the context of the Hart-Dworkin-debate. Hopefully, Nicola Lacey’s recent biography of Hart,which is discussed in this review-article, will contribute to redress this (...) omission. Three aspects of the biography are discussed here: 1) Hart’s life; 2) the relation between his life and work; 3) his academic work. (shrink)

Wittgenstein's treatment of private language is the dissolution of some of the major problems in traditional philosophy. Philosophical problems, for Wittgenstein, are the conceptual confusion arising due to the abuse of language. They can be fully dispensed with by commanding a clear view of language. Language, for Wittgenstein, is on the one hand, the source of philosophical problems while, on the other hand, it is a means to dispense with them. Private language is one such issue which is ultimately rooted (...) I a mistaken conception of language and is the sources of various philosophical problems/ puzzles. (shrink)

In teaching introductory ethics courses it is a struggle to find ways to ground the theoretical approach in a context accessible to students. Two way to provide this context are to use feature films and service learning. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. Feature films provide students with a consistentnarrative, the filmmaker’s intentions, and identical experiences. Service learning provides students with an open encounter with uncertain meaning, concrete human problems, and at best similar experiences. The benefits and weaknesses of each (...) approach depend upon the objectives of the course. Films allow for greater clarity in interpretation of ethical theory, while service makes possible an appreciation of the ambiguities of ethical actions. (shrink)

In a survey of newspaper staff members shows that, although implementation of public journalism projects is widespread at U.S. daily newspapers, tibe majority of jou!rnalists still adhere to traditional values in journalism practice and do not support public journalism values that depart from traditional journalism. Criticism of public journalism is that it poses a danger to traditional professional values of independence and objectivity. In the great majority of comparisons, we found thot journalists supporting certain public journalism practices were at least (...) as sensitive to traditional ethical concerns as those who did not support public journalism. (shrink)

In this article, I draw on my fieldwork creating protein models of hepatitis B at a biotech laboratory to think through how to approach the body and disease from ontological and phenomenological perspectives. I subsequently draw on Mariella Pandolfi’s work on how bodies can be made to suffer history and Paul Farmer’s work on global tuberculosis disparities to explore ways of analysing embodied activity as a means of identifying and clinically addressing enactments of social inequality and disease. I also introduce (...) Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological concept of ‘flesh’ as a conceptual heuristic that allows us to understand the meaningful structuring of ontological worlds beyond our own. As I argue, bringing these perspectives together not only allows us to re-envision what an effective disease treatment should be in diverse medical contexts, but also how to better understand health disparities and the nature of disease itself. (shrink)

In this commentary on the previous paper it is explained that screen-detected Duct Carcinoma In Situ is effectively a new disease of unknown natural history. It is therefore impossible that 'the doctor knows best' and it is therefore both in the patient and the public's best interests that such cases are submitted to the rigours of the randomised controlled trial. Inevitably this brings the ethical dilemma of how to explain to patients the uncertainty and how to involve them in a (...) rational decision to take part in the randomised controlled trial. It is argued that as well as there being a collective benefit for future generations of women, that we should resolve this problem now, the individual woman is likely to benefit from being treated according to a strict protocol. Nevertheless the time of diagnosis is paradoxically not the best time for a patient to become aware of these matters and it is about time that the lay public and the opinion formers recognized their responsibility to become acquainted with the benefits and the needs of the randomised controlled trial in anticipation of the day when they themselves will be patients. (shrink)

The literary interior, carrying out the most important function in the text of any literary work, plays a key role in revealing the author’s intention and in the narration strategy. Unlike the landscape and nature description, the interior is a depiction of the “closed space” where the protagonist lives. This space keeps traces of the hero’s habits, psychological state, and other features. As the literary-aesthetic trends replaced each other, the interior’s variety also changed, and over the time, it attained literary (...) functions namely in the establishment of the text and in revealing the author’s idea and intention. The description of any space in the text of a literary work is not casual, as after this description we are witness to the depiction of hero living in this space; the matter is that these two successive depictions are not forgotten and stimulate the revealing of various significance levels occurring in the literary text. There are explicit and implicit interiors. The successive description of the space in the literary text is of symbolic meaning and serves to reveal its functionality. If, say, a carpet is described in the space of an artistic work, or its existence is confirmed in this space, it is necessarily related to the meanings hidden in the inner world of the hero. (shrink)

(No abstract is available for this citation).

Open peer commentary on the article “Constructivism and Computation: Can Computer-Based Modeling Add to the Case for Constructivism?” by Manfred Füllsack. Upshot: Füllsack’s article offers many interesting ideas but falls short of elucidating the relationship between constructivism and computation. It could profit by taking into consideration stronger constructivist foundations such as the distinction between machine and organism, the relationship between reality and the observer, and Ceccato’s theory of attention.

Open peer commentary on the article “A Computational Constructivist Model as an Anticipatory Learning Mechanism for Coupled Agent–Environment Systems” by Filipo Studzinski Perotto. Upshot: Interaction-based models of cognition force anticipatory and constructivist models. The CALM model offers significant development of such models within a machine learning framework. It is suggested that moving to an entirely interactive-based model offers still further advantages.