We investigate the geometry of forking for SU-rank 2 elements in supersimple ω-categorical theories and prove stable forking and some structural properties for such elements. We extend this analysis to the case of SU-rank 3 elements.

Music offers a unique opportunity to better understand the organization of the human brain. Like language, music exists in all human societies. Like language, music is a complex, rule-governed activity that seems specific to humans, and associated with a specific brain architecture. Yet unlike most other high-level functions of the human brain - and unlike language - music is a skill at which only a minority of people become proficient. The study of music as a major brain function has for (...) some time been relatively neglected. Just recently, however, we have witnessed an explosion in research activities on music perception and performance and their correlates in the human brain. This volume brings together an outstanding collection of international authorities - from the fields of music, neuroscience, psychology, and neurology - to describe the amazing advances being made in understanding the complex relationship between music and the brain. Aimed at psychologists and neuroscientists, this is a book that will lay the foundations for a cognitive neuroscience of music. (shrink)

The idea that knowledge can be extended by inference from what is known seems highly plausible. Yet, as shown by familiar preface paradox and lottery-type cases, the possibility of aggregating uncertainty casts doubt on its tenability. We show that these considerations go much further than previously recognized and significantly restrict the kinds of closure ordinary theories of knowledge can endorse. Meeting the challenge of uncertainty aggregation requires either the restriction of knowledge-extending inferences to single premises, or eliminating epistemic uncertainty in (...) known premises. The first strategy, while effective, retains little of the original idea—conclusions even of modus ponens inferences from known premises are not always known. We then look at the second strategy, inspecting the most elaborate and promising attempt to secure the epistemic role of basic inferences, namely Timothy Williamson’s safety theory of knowledge. We argue that while it indeed has the merit of allowing basic inferences such as modus ponens to extend knowledge, Williamson’s theory faces formidable difficulties. These difficulties, moreover, arise from the very feature responsible for its virtue- the infallibilism of knowledge. (shrink)

Harman and Lewis credit Kripke with having formulated a puzzle that seems to show that knowledge entails dogmatism. The puzzle is widely regarded as having been solved. In this paper we argue that this standard solution, in its various versions, addresses only a limited aspect of the puzzle and holds no promise of fully resolving it. Analyzing this failure and the proper rendering of the puzzle, it is suggested that it poses a significant challenge for the defense of epistemic closure.

According to the thesis of transparency, subjects can attend only to the representational content of perceptual experience, never to the intrinsic properties of experience that carry this representational content, i.e., to “mental paint.” So far, arguments for and against transparency were conducted from the armchair, relying mainly on introspective observations. In this paper, we argue in favor of transparency, relying on the cognitive neuroscience of attention. We present a trilemma to those who hold that attention can be directed to mental (...) paint. Such attention is either first-order sensory, higher-order cognitive, or higher-order sensory attention. We argue that the notion of first-order sensory attention to mental paint is incompatible with the neuroscience of sensory attention; that higher-order cognitive attention to mental paint is irrelevant to transparency; and that the notion of higher-order sensory attention to mental paint has an apparently incoherent prediction. Via elimination, these considerations support the thesis of transparency. (shrink)

The history of productivity of the κ-chain condition in partial orders, topological spaces, or Boolean algebras is surveyed, and its connection to the set-theoretic notion of a weakly compact cardinal is highlighted. Then, it is proved that for every regular cardinal κ > א1, the principle □ is equivalent to the existence of a certain strong coloring c : [κ]2 → κ for which the family of fibers T is a nonspecial κ-Aronszajn tree. The theorem follows from an analysis of (...) a new characteristic function for walks on ordinals, and implies in particular that if the κ-chain condition is productive for a given regular cardinal κ > א1, then κ is weakly compact in some inner model of ZFC. This provides a partial converse to the fact that if κ is a weakly compact cardinal, then the κ-chain condition is productive. (shrink)

Illness narratives invite practitioners to understand how biomedical and traditional health information is incorporated, integrated, or otherwise internalized into a patient’s own sense of self and social identity. Such narratives also reveal cultural values, underlying patterns in society, and the overall life context of the narrator. Most illness narratives have been examined from the perspective of European-derived genres and literary theory, even though theorists from other parts of the globe have developed locally relevant literary theories. Further, illness narratives typically examine (...) only the experience of illness through acute or chronic suffering (and potential recovery). The advent of biomedical disease prevention methods like post- and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PEP and PrEP) for HIV, which require daily pill consumption or regular injections, complicates the notion of an illness narrative by including illness prevention in narrative accounts. This paper has two aims. First, we aim to rectify the Eurocentrism of existing illness narrative theory by incorporating insights from African literary theorists; second, we complicate the category by examining prevention narratives as a subset of illness narratives. We do this by investigating several narratives of HIV prevention from informants enrolled in an HIV prevention trial in Kenya and Uganda in 2022. (shrink)

The paper argues that knowledge is not closed under logical inference. The argument proceeds from the openness of evidential support and the dependence of empirical knowledge on evidence, to the conclusion that knowledge is open. Without attempting to provide a full-fledged theory of evidence, we show that on the modest assumption that evidence cannot support both a proposition and its negation, or, alternatively, that information that reduces the probability of a proposition cannot constitute evidence for its truth, the relation of (...) evidential support is not closed under known entailment. Therefore the evidence-for relation is deductively open regardless of whether evidence is probabilistic or not. Given even a weak dependence of empirical knowledge on evidence, we argue that empirical knowledge is also open. On this basis, we also respond to the strongest argument in support of knowledge closure. Finally, we present a number of significant benefits of our position, namely, offering a unified explanation for a range of epistemological puzzles. (shrink)

European Journal of Political Theory, Volume 21, Issue 2, Page 230-252, April 2022. The apparent inconsistency between Locke’s commitment to legalism and his explicit endorsement of the extra-legal power of prerogative has confounded many readers. Among those who don’t ignore or dismiss it, the common approach is to qualify the role or scope of prerogative. The article advocates the opposite approach. It argues that Locke’s legalism should be understood within the context of his oft neglected conception of political liberty in (...) terms of self-government. This not only allows for the reconciliation of Locke’s legalism with his endorsement of extra-legal powers, but also provides a fuller, more accurate account of the role of law and of political liberty in Locke’s theory. (shrink)

According to an influential philosophical view I call “the relational properties view”, “perspectival” properties, such as the elliptical appearance of a tilted coin, are relational properties of external objects. Philosophers have assessed this view on the basis of phenomenological, epistemological or other purely philosophical considerations. My aim in this paper is to examine whether it is possible to evaluate RPV empirically. In the first, negative part of the paper I consider and reject a certain tempting way of doing so. In (...) the second, positive part of the paper I suggest a novel way of evaluating RPV empirically, relying on the influential object files framework. (shrink)

What is a veteran teacher, and how do veteran teachers contribute to schools and education? This international volume contributes to our understanding of veteran teachers with new conceptual studies and empirical research from different countries around the world. It is explores what we mean by a ‘veteran teacher’; the factors that encourage teachers to remain in the profession; the characteristics of a successful veteran teacher; and the values with which veteran teachers associate themselves. Rather than supporting stereotypes about teachers at (...) different stages in their professional lives, this book both scrutinises prevalent stereotypes and explores the great variety of veteranship in teaching, in different cultures and different subject matter domains. Teacher retention is an increasingly difficult issue and there are severe problems of high staff turnover and attrition in many countries - so recognition of the qualities of more experienced teachers is timely, as well as valuing the potential contributions of veteran teachers in schools. The book also addresses broader issues about teachers’ lives and identities, the vulnerability of different groups of teachers to the effects of change and reform, and the various forms of teacher knowledge and teacher development. This book was previously published as a Special Issue of _Teachers and Teaching_. (shrink)

In these pages we seek to integrate two claims. First, we argue that, taken to their logical conclusions, the considerations that support a strict form of protection for tangible property rights do not call for a similar form of protection when applied to the case of copyright. More dramatically, these considerations demand, on pain of glaring inconsistency, a substantially weaker protection for copyright. In pursuing this claim, we show that the form of protecting property rights is, to an important extent, (...) a feature of certain normal, though contingent, facts about the human world. Second, the normative question concerning the selection of a desirable protection for creative works is most naturally pursued from a tort law perspective, in part because the normative structure of copyright law simply is that of tort law. (shrink)

It takes courage to characterize feminist writings on tort law as "thin." Indeed, Professor Schwartz in his provocative and challenging article examines feminist writings in a unique and innovative way. In his analysis of a number of such writings, he attempts to demonstrate that they either have not done enough or could have done better. His provocative analysis of many issues invites vigorous discussion. One could write a separate comment on each and every one of the issues he raises; however, (...) I will limit my comment to two: the tension between the "reasonable man" and the "reasonable woman" standard and the duty to rescue rule. It takes courage to characterize feminist writings on tort law as "thin." Indeed, Professor Schwartz in his provocative and challenging article examines feminist writings in a unique and innovative way. In his analysis of a number of such writings, he attempts to demonstrate that they either have not done enough or could have done better. His provocative analysis of many issues invites vigorous discussion. One could write a separate comment on each and every one of the issues he raises; however, I will limit my comment to two: the tension between the "reasonable man" and the "reasonable woman" standard and the duty to rescue rule. (shrink)

Une analyse de la philosophie religieuse de Levinas, que celui-ci puise dans l'étude du Talmud plutôt que dans la lecture de la Bible. L'auteur présente cette pensée sous forme thématique, abordant notamment l'éthique, les commandements, le rite, la fraternité ou la prophétie, et confronte les thèses levinassiennes à celles des grands penseurs de la tradition juive.

König, Larson and Yoshinobu initiated the study of principles for guessing generalized clubs, and introduced a construction of a higher Souslin tree from the strong guessing principle.Complementary to the author’s work on the validity of diamond and non-saturation at the successor of singulars, we deal here with a successor of regulars. It is established that even the non-strong guessing principle entails non-saturation, and that, assuming the necessary cardinal arithmetic configuration, entails a diamond-type principle which suffices for the construction of a (...) higher Souslin tree.We also establish the consistency of GCH with the failure of the weakest form of generalized club guessing. This, in particular, settles a question from the original paper. (shrink)

Timothy Williamson has famously argued that the principle should be rejected. We analyze Williamson's argument and show that its key premise is ambiguous, and that when it is properly stated this premise no longer supports the argument against. After canvassing possible objections to our argument, we reflect upon some conclusions that suggest significant epistemological ramifications pertaining to the acquisition of knowledge from prior knowledge by deduction.

This paper proposes and develops the feelings of goals hypothesis (FGH). It has two aims: first, to describe the evolutionary function of emotional feelings (EFs), and second, to describe the content and the format of EFs. According to FGH, the evolutionary function of EFs is to enable motoric flexibility. Specifically, EFs are a component of a psychological mechanism that permits differential motoric reactions to the same stimulus. Further, according to FGH, EF is a special type of mental representation with the (...) content of an action goal, and with a non-motoric, non-conceptual format. This paper thoroughly clarifies the assumptions underlying FGH and discusses its theoretical implications and empirical predictions. (shrink)

There are few indulgences academics can crave more than to have their work considered and addressed by leading researchers in their field. We have been fortunate to have two outstanding philosophers from whose work we have learned a great deal give ours their thoughtful attention. Grappling with Stephen Yablo’s, and Juan Comesaña’s comments and criticisms has helped us gain a better understanding of our ideas as well as their shortcomings. We are extremely grateful to them for the attentiveness and seriousness (...) with which they have considered our arguments and to philosophical studies for giving us this opportunity. Given the substantive difference between the two response papers, there is not much beyond sincere gratitude that we can covey to them jointly. We will therefore address them in turn. (shrink)

Let λ denote a singular cardinal. Zeman, improving a previous result of Shelah, proved that $\square _{\lambda}^{\ast}$ together with 2 λ = λ⁺ implies $\lozenge _{S}$ for every S ⊆ λ⁺ that reflects stationarily often. In this paper, for a set S ⊆ λ⁺, a normal subideal of the weak approachability ideal is introduced, and denoted by I[S; λ]. We say that the ideal is fat if it contains a stationary set. It is proved: 1. if I[S; λ] is fat, (...) then $\text{NS}_{\lambda ^{+}}$ ↾ S is non-saturated; 2. if I[S; λ] is fat and 2 λ = λ⁺, then $\lozenge _{S}$ holds; 3. $\square _{\lambda}^{\ast}$ implies that I[S; λ] is fat for every S ⊆ λ⁺ that reflects stationarily often; 4. it is relatively consistent with the existence of a supercompact cardinal that $\square _{\lambda}^{\ast}$ fails, while I[S; λ] is fat for every stationary S ⊆ λ⁺ that reflects stationarily often. The stronger principle $\lozenge _{\lambda ^{+}}^{\ast}$ is studied as well. (shrink)

Perception can’t have disjunctive content. Whereas you can think that a box is blue or red, you can’t see a box as being blue or red. Based on this fact, I develop a new problem for the ambitious predictive processing theory, on which the brain is a machine for minimizing prediction error, which approximately implements Bayesian inference. I describe a simple case of updating a disjunctive belief given perceptual experience of one of the disjuncts, in which Bayesian inference and predictive (...) coding pull in opposite directions, with the former implying that one’s confidence in the belief should increase, and the latter implying that it should decrease. Thus, predictive coding fails to approximately implement Bayesian inference across the interface between belief and perception. (shrink)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique with a rapidly expanding application range. This methodology, which relies on quantum physics and substance magnetic properties, is now being routinely used in the clinics and medical research. With the advent of measuring functional brain activity with MRI (functional MRI), this methodology has reached a larger section of the neuroscience community (e.g. psychologists, neurobiologists). In the past, the use of MRI as a biomarker or as an assay to probe tissue pathophysiological condition (...) was limited. However, with the new applications of MRI: molecular imaging, contrast‐enhanced imaging and diffusion imaging, MRI is turning into a powerful tool for in vivo characterization of tissue pathophysiology. This review focuses on the diffusion MRI. Although it only measures the averaged Brownian translational motion of water molecules, using different analysis schemes, one can extract a wide range of quantitative indices that represent tissue morphology and compartmentalization. Statistical and visualization routines help to relate these indices to biologically relevant measures such as cell density, water content and size distribution. The aim of this review is to shed light on the potential of this methodology to be used in biological research. To that end, this review is intended for the non‐MRI specialists who wish to pursue biological research with this methodology. We will overview the current applications of diffusion MRI and its relation to cellular biology of brain tissue. BioEssays 30:1235–1245, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

We construct a strongly minimal set which is not a finite cover of one with DMP. We also show that for a strongly minimal theory T, generic automorphisms exist iff T has DMP, thus proving a conjecture of Kikyo and Pillay.

We show that any structure of finite Morley Rank having the definable multiplicity property has a rank and multiplicity preserving interpretation in a strongly minimal set. In particular, every totally categorical theory admits such an interpretation. We also show that a slightly weaker version of the DMP is necessary for a structure of finite rank to have a strongly minimal expansion. We conclude by constructing an almost strongly minimal set which does not have the DMP in any rank preserving expansion, (...) and ask whether this structure is interpretable in a strongly minimal set. (shrink)

This paper provides an economic justification for the exemption from liability for omissions in torts and for the exceptions to this exemption. It interprets the differential treatment of acts and omissions under tort law as a proxy for a more fundamental distinction between harms caused by multiple injurers, where each one can single-handedly prevent the harm, and harms caused by a single injurer. Since the overall cost to which a group of injurers is exposed is constant, attributing liability to many (...) injurers reduces the part each has to pay and, consequently, reduces each one’s incentives to take precautions. Broad exemption from liability for omissions is a way of carving a simple, practical rule to distinguish between the typical cases in which an agent can be easily selected and provided with sufficient incentives and cases in which there is a serious problem of dilution of liability. The exceptions to the rule exempting from liability for omissions are explained in terms of efficiency. The imposition of liability for omissions depends on the ability to identify a salient agent, i.e., to single out one or few liable agents and differentiate their role from that of others. Tort law designs three types of "salience rules." It either creates salience directly, or it can exploit salience created "naturally," or it can induce injurers to create salience voluntarily. (shrink)

Despite the demonstrated utility of intersectionality, research on men allied with women’s rights movements has largely focused on white, heterosexual, middle-class, young men. This study illustrates the importance of attending to men’s intersecting identities by evaluating the applicability of existing knowledge about men’s engagement pathways to the predominantly African American members of a Muslim men’s anti–domestic violence group and a gay/queer men’s gender justice group. Findings from a year-long qualitative study highlight how these men’s experiences differ from those in the (...) literature. While the Muslim men’s experiences add dimension to the existing knowledge—especially regarding age and parenthood, online interactions, and formal learning opportunities—the gay/queer men’s experiences are not accurately represented within it. Their pathways begin earlier, do not rely on women’s input, do not create a shift in gendered worldview, and lack a pathway narrative because they connect to gender justice through their own intersecting identities and experiences. This suggests that a marginalized identity is not in itself sufficient to alter engagement pathways; the particular type of marginalization matters. (shrink)

A commonly-discussed feature of perceptual experience is that it has ‘assertoric’ or ‘phenomenal’ force. We will start by discussing various descriptions of the assertoricity of perceptual experience. We will then adopt a minimal characterization of assertoricity: a perceptual experience has assertoric force just in case it inclines the perceiver to believe its content. Adducing cases that show that visual experience is not always assertoric, we will argue that what renders these visual experiences non-assertoric is that they are penetrated by belief-like (...) imaginings. Lastly, we will explain why it is that when belief-like imaginings—as opposed to beliefs (and other cognitive states)—penetrate visual experience, they render visual experiences non-assertoric. (shrink)

This paper proposes a novel experimental approach that would help to determine whether perspectival shapes, such as the elliptical profile of a tilted plate or coin, are part of perceptual experience. If they are part of perceptual experience, then it should be possible to identify these shapes simply by attending appropriately to them. Otherwise, in order to identify perspectival shapes they must first be constructed in the visual imagination. We propose that these accounts of perspectival identification can be tested by (...) measuring the interference between visual and verbal working memory load, respectively, and the identification of perspectival shapes in the appearance of a 3D object. (shrink)

We study the behaviour of stable types in rosy theories. The main technical result is that a non-þ-forking extension of an unstable type is unstable. We apply this to show that a rosy group with a þ-generic stable type is stable. In the context of super-rosy theories of finite rank we conclude that non-trivial stable types of U þ -rank 1 must arise from definable stable sets.

It is relatively consistent with the existence of two supercompact cardinals that a special Aronszajn tree of height ${\aleph_{\omega_1+1}}$ is introduced by a cofinality-preserving forcing of size ${\aleph_3}$.

European Journal of Philosophy, EarlyView.

Generalising Hrushovski's fusion technique we construct the free fusion of two strongly minimal theories T₁, T₂ intersecting in a totally categorical sub-theory T₀. We show that if, e.g., T₀ is the theory of infinite vector spaces over a finite field then the fusion theory Tω exists, is complete and ω-stable of rank ω. We give a detailed geometrical analysis of Tω, proving that if both T₁, T₂ are 1-based then, Tω can be collapsed into a strongly minimal theory, if some (...) additional technical conditions hold—all trivially satisfied if T₀ is the theory of infinite vector spaces over a finite field Fq. (shrink)