This paper presents a new formal model for D–N explanation that gives intuitive criteria of acceptability, avoids the known trivializations, and links explanation with confirmation theory. Although set in the twenty-five year tradition of attempts to formalize D–N explanation, it proposes a new direction for the model that is to be distinguished from the syntactical and informational approaches by its introduction of restrictions which derive from the use which the D–N model can have in hypothesis testing. This model, illustrating the (...) verificational approach, revises the classic H–O requirements and amends the notion of partial self-explanation to meet a criticism to which the H–O notion is vulnerable. (shrink)

The problem of freedom and determinism is one of the most enduring, and one of the best, problems in philosophy. One of the best because it so tenaciously resists solution while yet always seeming urgent, and one of the most enduring because it has always been able to present itself in different ways to suit the preoccupations of different ages. This book, first published in 1980, sets out to defend free will: it elaborates a sober and systematic case for libertarianism (...) in the face of the overwhelming threat that is posed by the scientific study of the brain. (shrink)

Le lecteur attentif du traité De l'âme et des Parva naturalia sera troublé par une ambiguïté profonde sous-jacente à toute la longue discussion de la perception dans ces œuvres. Il s'agit de savoir si la théorie d'Aristote se veut une théorie d'ordre physiologique prise au sens littéral, ou si elle se veut plutôt une théorie métaphysique, qui doit donc être prise au sens métaphorique. La doctrine en question se résume comme suit: un sens, en percevant, reçoit en lui-même la forme (...) de l'objet perçu sans la matière. Selon l'interprétation physiologique, il faudrait entendre par là que lorsqu'un homme regarde, sent, et écoute un âne, par exemple, il y aurait dans un endroit près de son cœur – dans l'organe central de la perception – une petite poupée d'âne qui braie et qui pue. Cette poupée serait reconstruite dans l'organe central à partir des composants sensoriels qui y seraient amenés des organes spéciaux: de l'œil la forme et la couleur, de l'organe olfactif l'odeur, et, de l'oreille le son. Un chirurgien qui ouvrirait la poitrine de l'homme percevant y verrait la poupée, la sentirait, et l'entendrait. La poupée serait comme celle de la princesse Leia dans le film Star Wars, à cette différence qu'elle jouirait non seulement de propriétés visuelles et auditives, mais aussi de propriétés olfactives et tactiles. (shrink)

The work of psychiatrist R. D. Laing deserves recognition as a key contribution to sociological theory, in dialogue with the interactionist and interpretivist sociological traditions. Laing encourages us to identify meaningful social action in what would otherwise appear to be nonsocial phenomena. His interpretation of schizophrenia as a rational strategy of withdrawal reminds us of the threat that others can pose to the self and how social relations are implicated in even the most "private" and "internal" of experiences. He developed (...) a far-reaching critical theory of the self in modern society, which challenges the medicalization and biochemical reduction of human problems. Using the case of shyness as an example, the article seeks to demonstrate the importance of Laing's theories for examining the fragility of the self in relation to contemporary social order. (shrink)

A well-known biologist tries to show in this book that the effort to understand living things mechanistically is utterly frustrated by new discoveries in genetics and ethology. In opposition to Jacques Monod, Thorpe argues that purpose and mind rather than chance and necessity rule the world. His last chapter is called "The Primacy of ‘Mind’ in Nature"—a title somewhat out of keeping with that of the book as a whole. The latter seems to set the problem, the former the (...) solution. (shrink)

The author has recently shown that a mathematical question regarding the fundamental constituents of hardrons cannot be resolved unless the classical axioms of nonfinite mathematics are revised in such a way as to produce a new theory of particle motion in continuous space-time. Under this new theory, the instantaneous position of a moving object has a magnitude that is increasing as the object's velocity. The purpose of this paper is to show that, quite apart from the question of Cantorian axiomatics, (...) the new theory of motion is more consistent with what physicists really believe than the traditional theory of motion. (shrink)

This article considers the issues of adaptation and organization of the educational process, barrier-free environment and readiness for professional activity of students with disabilities in inclusive education in conditions of inclusive education in a medical university. The relevance of this work is determined by one of the priority areas of state policy in the field of higher education – access to higher education for people with disabilities in inclusive education. Inclusive education at the university is designed to ensure not only (...) the realization of the right of students with disabilities in inclusive education to higher education, but also to solve the problems of socialization and professional demand for such people. In order to improve the process of introducing inclusive education at the Ryazan State Medical University named after Academician I.P. Pavlov, a study was conducted, the main problems and ways of solving them were identified, related to the organization of the educational process, the conditions of the barrier-free environment and the readiness for professional activity of students with disabilities in inclusive education. An increase in the proportion of university teachers who have undergone advanced training in inclusive education also contributes to solving problems. Adaptation of educational programs and educational and methodological support for persons with disabilities includes psychological, pedagogical and tutor support etc. The organization of the educational process using distance education technologies is one of the priority conditions for teaching students with disabilities and/or HIA. The use of this technology makes it possible to significant-ly expand and modify some educational standards for students with disabilities in inclusive education, namely, to create an individual way for each student with disabilities in inclusive education in a medical university. It is proposed to use training techniques such as: online consultation of teachers; VR technologies; availability of training materials 24/7; online webinars that facilitate the inclusion of such students in the educational and research activities of the university. The professionally organized educational space and educational process of the university provide not only a high level of mastery of professional competencies, but also contribute to the formation of personal qualities of students with disabilities in inclusive education, necessary for their successful socialization, life and activity in society. (shrink)

Signals to the brain from the flows of energy around the body, varied primarily by declining amounts of food energy in the stomach, can explain the pattern of meals in the laboratory rat, the differences between dark and light phases, and the development of obesity ion the rat wioth VMH lesions but normal sating.

On Sir Muhammad Iqbal, 1877-1938, Urdu poet.

The concept of information has not only a narrowly specific but also a broadly philosophical, epistemological content. In published writings discussing the nature of information and its interrelation with other categories of science, a number of interesting philosophical problems have been raised. The following questions, in particular, are being discussed: What property of matter is reflected by the concept of information? Is this property possessed by all matter or only by certain of its forms? What follows is an attempt to (...) answer these questions. (shrink)

Sooner or later there comes a time in the history of a science when it pauses from dealing with its innumerable special problems and returns to the study of first principles and the foundations that delimit its particular field of inquiry. The result is usually a radical revision of a number of established basic ideas, the discovery of some hitherto unknown dimension in the field, and the emergence of an appropriate paradigm for investigating the field. It was the fate of (...) logic to be one of the first fields to undergo such a reformation, which lasted more than two centuries. Its instigators were Rene Descartes and Benedict Spinoza. (shrink)

There is a short answer to the question, whether scientific method can be applied to the study of the social relations of men, or, whether social sciences are possible; it is that these sciences exist and are in fact among the most ancient. Their success has perhaps been less startling than that of the physical sciences and they have perhaps been pursued with less enthusiasm. But there are reasons for this inherent in the nature of the social sciences, as I (...) shall try to show. (shrink)

In response to the continued expansion of “red flag” laws allowing broader classes of people to petition a court for the removal of firearms from individuals who exhibit dangerous conduct, this paper argues that state laws should adopt a double-filter provision that balances individual rights and government public safety interests. The main component of such a provision is a special statutory category — “reporting party” — that enables a broader social network, such as co-workers or school administrators, to request that (...) a law enforcement officer file a petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. A double-filter provision would not give reporting parties a right to file a court petition directly. Instead, parties would file a request for petition with law enforcement officers, who must seek an ERPO from the court if they find the reporting party's information credible. That information is then transmitted to the court as a sworn affidavit of the reporting party. The goal is to facilitate a balanced policy model that widens the reporting circle in order to feed more potentially life-saving information into the system, mitigates the risk of erroneous deprivation of constitutionally protected due process and Second Amendment rights. (shrink)