scholarly journals Intuitions on Semantic Reference

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Vignolo ◽  
Filippo Domaneschi
Keyword(s):  
Original Version ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Experimental Semantics ◽  
Semantic Reference ◽  
The Impact

AbstractSince Machery et al. Cognition 92, B1-B12 (2004) attacked Kripke’s refutation of classical descriptivism, their experiment has been repeated several times, in its original version or in some revised ones, by theorists with contrasting intents. Some repeated the experiment for confirming its results, others for proving them unreliable. One striking characteristic of those surveys is that they mostly replicated the data collected in Machery et al.’s Cognition 92, B1-B12, 2004 experiment: less than 60% of Westerners showed preference for the causal-historical response. We side with the critics of Machery et al.’s experiment. In this paper, we present the results of a survey that tests some hypotheses for explaining that percentage of Westerners’ preferences without taking it as evidence that more than 40% of Westerners have descriptivist intuitions on semantic reference. The aim of our paper is not merely to question the reliability of Machery et al.’s experiment. In sections 4 and 5 we assess the impact of our survey on the current debate in experimental semantics. We provide a novel account of the nature of the epistemic ambiguity that affects experiments in theory of reference and explain the consequences that our account of the epistemic ambiguity has for subsequent works trying to avoid ambiguities.

scholarly journals Individual and Cross-Cultural Differences in Semantic Intuitions: New Experimental Findings

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 322-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Beebe ◽  
Ryan Undercoffer
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Experimental Philosophy ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Anchoring Effects ◽  
Semantic Reference ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Epistemic Perspective

In 2004 Edouard Machery, Ron Mallon, Shaun Nichols and Stephen Stich published what has become one of the most widely discussed papers in experimental philosophy, in which they reported that East Asian and Western participants had different intuitions about the semantic reference of proper names. A flurry of criticisms of their work has emerged, and although various replications have been performed, many critics remain unconvinced. We review the current debate over Machery et al.’s (2004) results and take note of which objections to their work have been satisfactorily answered and which ones still need to be addressed. We then report the results of studies that reveal significant cross-cultural and intra-cultural differences in semantic intuitions when we control for variables that critics allege have had a potentially distorting effect on Machery et al.’s findings. These variables include the epistemic perspective from which participants are supposed to understand the research materials, unintended anchoring effects of those materials, and pragmatic factors involved in the interpretation of speech acts within them. Our results confirm the robustness of the cross-cultural differences observed by Machery et al. and thereby strengthen the philosophical challenge they pose.

scholarly journals Reproduction in Trypanosomatids: Past and Present

Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 471
Author(s):  
Camino Gutiérrez-Corbo ◽  
Bárbara Domínguez-Asenjo ◽  
María Martínez-Valladares ◽  
Yolanda Pérez-Pertejo ◽  
Carlos García-Estrada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Phenotypic Diversity ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Genetic Exchange ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Experimental Works ◽  
Genomic Recombination ◽  
The Impact

Diseases caused by trypanosomatids (Sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis) are a serious public health concern in low-income endemic countries. These diseases are produced by single-celled parasites with a diploid genome (although aneuploidy is frequent) organized in pairs of non-condensable chromosomes. To explain the way they reproduce through the analysis of natural populations, the theory of strict clonal propagation of these microorganisms was taken as a rule at the beginning of the studies, since it partially justified their genomic stability. However, numerous experimental works provide evidence of sexual reproduction, thus explaining certain naturally occurring events that link the number of meiosis per mitosis and the frequency of mating. Recent techniques have demonstrated genetic exchange between individuals of the same species under laboratory conditions, as well as the expression of meiosis specific genes. The current debate focuses on the frequency of genomic recombination events and its impact on the natural parasite population structure. This paper reviews the results and techniques used to demonstrate the existence of sex in trypanosomatids, the inheritance of kinetoplast DNA (maxi- and minicircles), the impact of genetic exchange in these parasites, and how it can contribute to the phenotypic diversity of natural populations.

Moving Beyond Procedure

2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 784-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMIE KREPPEL
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Decision Procedures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Legislative Influence

This article examines the influence of the European Parliament (EP) within the legislative process of the European Union. Although debate over the impact of the cooperation and co-decision I procedures continues, this article argues that, in part, the current theoretical debate is a false one that has caused many of the other important variables that affect EP legislative influence to be ignored. This article briefly revisits the current debate, then proceeds to an analysis of the success of more than 1,000 EP amendments under the cooperation and co-decision procedures. This evidence suggests that numerous other variables, such as internal EP unity and type of amendment made, have a significant impact on EP success, even controlling for procedure. In addition, this comparison points out some empirical differences between the two procedures that have been largely ignored in the theoretical debate but that nonetheless have a significant impact of EP success and merit further study.

Harassment at Work as Discrimination: The Current Debate in England and Wales

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-114
Author(s):  
Pauline Roberts ◽  
Lucy Vickers
Keyword(s):  
Race Relations ◽  
Sex Discrimination ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Racial Harassment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Victims Of Bullying ◽  
Court Of Appeal

In 1996–97 there were a number of significant decisions which extended the scope of employers' liability for sexual and racial harassment at work, based upon the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976. This article seeks to analyse the impact of these recent cases. It began by considering the relationship between the concepts of ‘harassment’ and ‘discrimination’ and the problems inherent in using the anti-discrimination legislation to deal with harassment and bullying at work; we then focus on the recently demonstrated ‘purposive’ approach of the Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal in interpreting the statutes and consider how this combats the weaknesses identified. Alternative forms of relief will be briefly considered, in particular the recently enacted Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The authors, while welcoming the recent decisions, argue that there are some victims of bullying who remain outside the protection of the existing anti-discrimination legislation (as they do not fall within any of the groups identified for protection), notwithstanding the robust advances of the EAT. We suggest that the Protection from Harassment Act may not completely fill this gap.

scholarly journals A Review of Finance–Growth Nexus Theories: How Does Development Finance Fits in?

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nyankomo Marwa ◽  
Stephen Zhanje
Keyword(s):  
Developed Countries ◽  
Theoretical Development ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Conventional Model ◽  
Development Finance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Concise Review ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Finance Growth Nexus

Abstract The finance growth-nexus debates have been contentious over the past three decades both empirically and theoretically. To contribute to this debate, the current paper presents a concise review of finance-growths nexus theoretical development and the current debate around growth-finance nexus theories. Then, it extends the current theoretical debate to include development finance within the broader scheme of finance-growth discourse. The key emerging trend is that, most of the contemporary theories trying to explain finance growth nexus have been exclusively focusing on the standard finance in general. Little attention has been devoted to understand the role of development finance on finance-growth nexus. It concludes that, for a more comprehensive understanding of the finance growth nexus, the role of development finance should be integrated in theory of finance-growth nexus. The paper demonstrates that conventional model of finance-growth nexus is more likely to underestimate the magnitude of the impact of finance on economic growth especially for less developed countries. The paper suggests that, a model which breakdown the finance into standard finance subgroup and development finance subgroup may provide more accurate and insightful findings.

Impact of the Economic and Financial Crisis on the Pension System in the Czech Republic

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jirí Král
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Pension System ◽  
Short Description ◽  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Economic And Financial Crisis

This paper addresses the situation in the area of pensions in the Czech Republic up to spring 2011. It starts with a short description of the structure of the pension landscape that differs, for example, from neighbouring countries like Poland or Hungary. In addition to a mandatory public pension scheme there exist additional voluntary private pensions. To put the impact of the financial and economic crisis into a frame, some information is given on the developments before the crisis started, taking into account parametric changes decided upon in summer 2008. Thereafter the impact of the crisis is discussed and the current debate outlined.

scholarly journals Understanding self-organization and formal institutions in peri-urban transformations: A case study from Beijing

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-303
Author(s):  
Shuhai Zhang ◽  
Gert de Roo ◽  
Ward Rauws
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Formal Institutions ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
Urban Transformations ◽  
The Impact

This article explores the mechanisms of urban self-organization and the role of formal institutions in shaping peri-urban areas. A case study of Gaobeidian, a former rural village that is now part of Beijing, examines the mechanisms of change and the interdependent relations between institutions and bottom-up initiatives that drive peri-urban transformations. The paper presents two main contributions: (1) it identifies the differences between government-controlled planning, shared governance, self-governance and self-organization and how these intertwine in urban transformations; (2) it proposes three distinct roles played by institutions in relation to self-organization: triggering, constraining and enabling. The empirical study of this Chinese case will enrich the current debate on planning for self-organizing cities by revealing the impact of, and the various responses to, self-organization dynamics in a hierarchical institutional environment.

Climate risk and private participation projects in infrastructure

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel C. Lupton ◽  
Alfredo Jiménez ◽  
Secil Bayraktar ◽  
Dimitrios Tsagdis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Risk ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Project Failure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Private Participation ◽  
Host Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Project Level

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of climate risk on the success vs failure of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in private participation infrastructure (PPI) projects. The authors also consider the extent to which project-level characteristics mitigate such risks. Design/methodology/approach The authors study a sample from the World Bank covering 18,846 projects in 111 countries from 2004 to 2013. The authors apply logistic regressions to determine the impact of climate risk and mitigating project characteristics on project failure. Findings The authors find that higher levels of climate risk at the host country level are associated with higher risk of project failure. The authors also find that the disadvantage of higher climate risk is weakened by two project-level characteristics, namely, the inclusion of host government ownership in the project consortium and the size of the project. Originality/value The research contributes to the current debate about the impact of climate risks on international business ventures. The authors demonstrate that climate risk is a locational disadvantage for FDI in PPI projects. The authors establish that the “fittest” projects in locations characterized by higher climate risk tend to be those that involve host government participation in their ownership structure as well as those of larger sizes.

The impact of semantic reference on word class: An fMRI study of action and object naming

NeuroImage ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1865-1878 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cristina Saccuman ◽  
Stefano F. Cappa ◽  
Elizabeth A. Bates ◽  
Analìa Arevalo ◽  
Pasquale Della Rosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Object Naming ◽  
Word Class ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Semantic Reference ◽  
The Impact
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document