It is a hallmark of a good model to make accurate a priori predictions to new conditions (Busemeyer & Wang, 2000). This study compared 8 decision learning models with respect to their generalizability. Participants performed 2 tasks (the Iowa Gambling Task and the Soochow Gambling Task), and each model made a priori predictions by estimating the parameters for each participant from 1 task and using those same parameters to predict on the other task. Three methods were used to evaluate the (...) models at the individual level of analysis. The first method used a post hoc fit criterion, the second method used a generalization criterion for short‐term predictions, and the third method again used a generalization criterion for long‐term predictions. The results suggest that the models with the prospect utility function can make generalizable predictions to new conditions, and different learning models are needed for making short‐versus long‐term predictions on simple gambling tasks. (shrink)

One of the major concerns of advocates of common morality is that respect for cultural diversity may result in moral relativism. On their part, proponents of culturally responsive bioethics are concerned that common morality may result in moral imperialism because of the asymmetry of power in the world. It is in this context that critics argue that global bioethics is impossible because of the difficulties to address these two theoretical concerns. In this paper, I argue that global bioethics is possible (...) if we adopt a culturally responsive and self-critical attitude towards our moral values and those of others. I use the example of women’s reproductive autonomy in indigenous African culture to show that the difference between the leading Euro-American and indigenous African construal of autonomy is that the former ascribes greater weight on individual self-determination while the latter emphasizes responsibilities towards the community. One develops dignity in virtue of their capacity for communing with others. Hence, women have rights, but as members of the community, they also have obligations including the duty to procreate. The involvement of the family in reproductive decisions does not contravene women’s dignity and human rights. In applying the principle of autonomy in this communitarian context, one has to be sensitive to these ontological and moral specificities. The aim of global bioethics should not be to reach common grounds at all costs; any common norms should be the result of a negotiated democratic dialogue between cultures and not the result of imposition by the preponderant culture(s). (shrink)

In this paper we continue our study, begun in [5], of the connection between ultraproducts and saturated structures. IfDis an ultrafilter over a setI, andis a structure, the ultrapower ofmoduloDis denoted byD-prod. The ultrapower is important because it is a method of constructing structures which are elementarily equivalent to a given structure. Our ultimate aim is to find out what kinds of structure are ultrapowers of. We made a beginning in [5] by proving that, assuming the generalized continuum hypothesis, for (...) each cardinalαthere is an ultrafilterDover a set of powerαsuch that for all structures,D-prodisα+-saturated. (shrink)

In Swiss semi-direct democracy, citizens are often summoned to the polls. To vote reasonably, they need to be properly informed. The media therefore have the responsibility to provide them with arguments for and against each issue of voting. Here, we focus on argumentation in a television ‘civic debate’ about abolishing compulsory military service. To provide a unified and integrated overview of the debate dynamics, we combine the Dialogical Model of Argumentation and the Argumentum Model of Topics, which share a similar (...) emphasis on the discursive dimension of argumentation. This analysis underlines the importance of linguistic and communicative resources and procedures, without neglecting the macro socio-political environment of the debate. (shrink)

A general metatheorem is proved which reduces a wide class of statements about continuous time stochastic processes to statements about discrete time processes. We introduce a strong language for stochastic processes, and a concept of forcing for sequences of discrete time processes. The main theorem states that a sentence in the language is true if and only if it is forced. Although the stochastic process case is emphasized in order to motivate the results, they apply to a wider class of (...) random variables. At the end of the paper we illustrate how the theorem can be used with three applications involving submartingales. (shrink)

Shows the inseparability of textuality, materiality, and history in discussions of the body.

In this paper we present some benefits of semantic minimalism. In particular, we stress how minimalism allows us to avoid cognitive overloading, in that it does not posit hidden indexicals or variables at the LF or representational level and it does not posit the operation of free enrichment processes when we produce or hear a sentence. We nonetheless argue that a fully adequate semantic minimalism should embrace a form of relativism—that is, the view that semantic content must be evaluated, pace (...) Cappelen and Lepore, vis-à-vis a given situation, the latter being a fragment of a possible world or a partial world. In so doing we shall show how Cappelen and Lepore damage the insight of semantic minimalism insofar as they insist that the semantic content should be evaluated with respect to a whole possible world. This move fails to capture the powerful contextualist intuition that it does not make much sense to evaluate the content of, say, Naomi is rich, or Jon is tall, with respect to, for instance, the actual world. (shrink)

Almost a philosopher -- First embrace of science -- Between scientific and sectarian medicine -- The ancient art of natural grace -- Crises and construction -- An earnestly inquiring state.

Based on readings of the Syrian revolution which undermines as a simple riot or viewed it through the religious prism, this work shows how the 2011 events in the different territories of this country have aimed the individual and collective emancipation, and that such an impulse towards freedom and dignity can be objectively described as through the category of “revolution”. The article focuses on the vision of politics in the Arab world as reflected in some work of historians, sociologists or (...) political scientists, but focuses on the approach of Michel Seurat (specially his book, L’État de barbarie) mobilizing paradigms such as tribalism and sectarianism to approach the Syrian society. This point of view is still at work in the analysis of the historical phase that this country is going through. (shrink)

John Dewey's analyses of the relationships among ethical theory, intellectual-growth, and the nature of democratic societies are of continuing interest to social and political philosophers, especially those who hold an evolutionary view of these inquiries. The ontological analysis of society and social facts, recently advanced by John Searle, provides us with an alternative way to approach Dewey's thought that is at variance with traditional Deweyan scholarship. While Dewey's arguments are not changed, through Searle's social ontology we can see them differently, (...) which further reveals the complex nature of democratic intentionality. (shrink)

Il n’est pas de discipline qui ait, autant que la psychanalyse, inquiété la philosophie de Paul Ricoeur. Elle accompagne tout son chemin de pensée et ne cesse d’en troubler le cours. On aurait tort cependant de croire que ce long compagnonnage soit marqué avant tout par l’hostilité ou la polémique. Même dans l’Essai sur Freud, où elle incarne l’«herméneutique du soupçon», la psychanalyse est rencontrée non comme une ennemie certaine mais comme une alliée possible. Elle est le miroir que la (...) philosophie se tend et où elle se voit elle-même comme une autre. C’est un véritable dialogue qui est ainsi noué entre elles. L’enjeu n’en est rien de moins que la compréhension de l’homme. (shrink)

This book is a call to educators everywhere to recognize and resist the global forces which are driving educational policy deeper and deeper into narrow discourses of performance, accountability and e~certaintiese(tm) about what works.

This article explores the debate that has surrounded the use of analogies in coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, analyzing in depth two ‘analogy affairs’ on the basis of a LexisNexis corpus: the 2002 Auschwitz-Saramago affair and the 2006–2007 Apartheid-Carter affair. Using the classic Aristotelian tripartition of logos, ethos, and pathos, the article unfolds the argumentative structure of the controversies. Carter and Saramago used the combination of their own personal status and the controversial nature of their analogies to trigger a debate. (...) Commentators focused very much on the ethos and the pathos, and tended to ignore the logos. Opponents, who made up the majority of commentators, considered analogies as a way of passing judgment on and mobilizing against one of the actors in the conflict. This analysis suggests that despite the call for a more cautious use of the analogies discussed, participants in the debate on the Israeli–Palestinian conflicts are bound to resort to them – even if only to condemn them. (shrink)

The Local Computation Framework has been used to improve the efficiency of computation in various uncertainty formalisms. This paper shows how the framework can be used for the computation of logical deduction in two different ways; the first way involves embedding model structures in the framework; the second, and more direct, way involves embedding sets of formulae. This work can be applied to many of the logics developed for different kinds of reasoning, including predicate calculus, modal logics, possibilistic logics, probabilistic (...) logics and non-monotonic logics. (shrink)

Ambient assisted living systems are based on sensors and actuators, with a diversity of network protocols and vendors. This commonly leads to the introduction of gateways or middlewares into the technical infrastructure in order to address interoperability issues. The xAAL framework presented in this paper aims to provide interoperability and to redesign such “gateways” into well-defined functional entities communicating with each other via a lightweight message bus over IP. Each entity may have multiple instances, may be shared between several boxes, (...) and may be physically located in any box. Thanks to the distributed architecture of the system, each home automation vendor may peacefully provide its own xAAL box without revealing details of its technology. Also, several applications may be plugged together on the xAAL bus without getting bored with underlying heterogeneity. Moreover, the management of the dynamicity allows sensors or applications to enter and leave the system at any time. (shrink)

Comment caractériser les contradictions entre l’État et la nation, tout en tenant compte du fait que la société réelle est divisée en classes? Ces éléments sont abordés sous l’angle des implications d’une politique de plein emploi, à partir des analyses de l’économiste marxiste polonais Michal Kalecki. L’idée d’une double nature de l’État, dont on trouve les prémisses chez Marx, est ensuite mobilisée pour articuler les notions d’État, de nation et de classes sociales. Enfin on s’interroge sur les enjeux actuels de (...) la politique économique face aux tendances qui sont censées éroder le rôle de l’État et des nations. (shrink)

Résumé Depuis la Place (1983), Annie Ernaux a tourné le dos à la fiction pour se consacrer à des récits factuels, témoignant de l’expérience du transfuge de classe. Pour ce faire, elle recourt à des modèles explicatifs venus des sciences sociales. Cet article propose d’examiner l’éthique narrative propre à cette posture de témoin, à travers deux options formelles qui l’incarnent : d’abord, une énonciation « transpersonnelle », ensuite la mise au point d’une « écriture plate ».

By looking at the manner in which Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Pierre Bourdieu have sought to understand the political nature of their work and explained their interventions in political affairs, this article defines the action they saw as possible and necessary for intellectuals. As it can only involve others, this action can take the form of dialogue and explanation or of a collective intellectual. In the texts where they reflect on their political involvement outside of parties and government, both authors assert (...) the impossibility to evade politics. By comparing their positions, we begin to develop a critical phenomenology. (shrink)