An Aristotelian Critique of Situationism

Philosophy ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristján Kristjánsson

AbstractAristotle says that no human achievement has the stability of activities that express virtue. Ethical situationists consider this claim to be refutable by empirical evidence. If that is true, not only Aristotelianism, but folk psychology, contemporary virtue ethics and character education have all been seriously infirmed. The aim of this paper is threefold: (1) to offer a systematic classification of the existing objections against situationism under four main headings: ‘the methodological objection’, ‘the moral dilemma objection’, ‘the bullet-biting objection’ and ‘the anti-behaviouristic objection’; (2) to resuscitate a more powerful Aristotelian version of the ‘anti-behaviouristic objection’ than advanced by previous critics; and (3) to explore some of the implications of such resuscitation for our understanding of the salience of character and for future studies of its nature.

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 757-774
Author(s):  
Marco Castiglioni ◽  
José Luis Galán González

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to propose and discuss a systematic theoretical classification of alliance portfolios that allows to elucidate and develop the concept.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a conceptual approach. A review of the literature was carried out to support the conclusions of this paper.FindingsThe results of the classification identify three types of alliance portfolio, according to the level of management that each of them requires: additive, strategic and managed and strategic. These portfolio typologies are analyzed in an evolutionary perspective.Practical implicationsThis article is of interest to managers as it emphasizes the management of the alliance portfolio, highlighting the elements or characteristics that determine the transition from one type of portfolio to another.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the consolidation and reorientation of the extensive research into alliance portfolios and proposes a systematic classification that can help to interpret the results of research and guide future studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-189
Author(s):  
Afifa Anjum ◽  
Naumana Amjad

Values in Action is a classification of 24 character strengths grouped under six virtue categories. This classification is claimed to be universal across cultures and religions (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) and its measure that is, Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) has been translated and validated in many languages. The present study aimed at its Urdu translation and validation on Pakistani adults taken from different educational institutes and workplaces. Study comprised two parts. Part I dealt with the translation and cross-language validation while in Part II, Construct validation on a sample of 542 adults and convergent validity on a sample of 210 adult participants were determined. Findings revealed satisfactory alpha coefficients for Urdu version. Significant positive correlations with positive affect and life satisfaction and negative correlations with negative affect were indicators of its convergent validity. Age was negatively associated with five strengths whereas significant gender differences were found on seven strengths. Social desirability effects were nonsignificant. Strength-to-virtue level factor structure exploration resulted in a theoretically meaningful four factor structure. Factors were named as Interpersonal, Cognitive, Vitality, and Transcendence and were comparable to factor structures proposed in studies on VIA-IS from a few other cultures. The study offers a valid Urdu translation for use in future studies with adult Urdu speaking population.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 133-136
Author(s):  
R. N. Ibragimov

The article examines the impact of internal and external risks on the stability of the financial system of the Altai Territory. Classification of internal and external risks of decline, affecting the sustainable development of the financial system, is presented. A risk management strategy is proposed that will allow monitoring of risks, thereby these measures will help reduce the loss of financial stability and ensure the long-term development of the economy of the region.


Author(s):  
Рубен Косян ◽  
Ruben Kosyan ◽  
Viacheslav Krylenko ◽  
Viacheslav Krylenko

There are many types of coasts classifications that indicate main coastal features. As a rule, the "static" state of the coasts is considered regardless of their evolutionary features and ways to further transformation. Since the most part of the coastal zone studies aimed at ensuring of economic activity, it is clear that the classification of coast types should indicate total information required by the users. Accordingly, the coast classification should include the criterion, characterizing as dynamic features of the coast and the conditions and opportunities of economic activity. The coast classification, of course, should be based on geomorphological coast typification. Similar typification has been developed by leading scientists from Russia and can be used with minimal modifications. The authors propose to add to basic information (geomorphological type of coast) the evaluative part for each coast sector. It will include the estimation of the coast changes probability and the complexity of the coast stabilization for economic activity. This method will allow to assess the dynamics of specific coastal sections and the processes intensity and, as a result – the stability of the coastal area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1034
Author(s):  
Carlos Sabater ◽  
Lorena Ruiz ◽  
Abelardo Margolles

This study aimed to recover metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from human fecal samples to characterize the glycosidase profiles of Bifidobacterium species exposed to different prebiotic oligosaccharides (galacto-oligosaccharides, fructo-oligosaccharides and human milk oligosaccharides, HMOs) as well as high-fiber diets. A total of 1806 MAGs were recovered from 487 infant and adult metagenomes. Unsupervised and supervised classification of glycosidases codified in MAGs using machine-learning algorithms allowed establishing characteristic hydrolytic profiles for B. adolescentis, B. bifidum, B. breve, B. longum and B. pseudocatenulatum, yielding classification rates above 90%. Glycosidase families GH5 44, GH32, and GH110 were characteristic of B. bifidum. The presence or absence of GH1, GH2, GH5 and GH20 was characteristic of B. adolescentis, B. breve and B. pseudocatenulatum, while families GH1 and GH30 were relevant in MAGs from B. longum. These characteristic profiles allowed discriminating bifidobacteria regardless of prebiotic exposure. Correlation analysis of glycosidase activities suggests strong associations between glycosidase families comprising HMOs-degrading enzymes, which are often found in MAGs from the same species. Mathematical models here proposed may contribute to a better understanding of the carbohydrate metabolism of some common bifidobacteria species and could be extrapolated to other microorganisms of interest in future studies.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 821
Author(s):  
Marek Petráš ◽  
Ivana Králová Lesná ◽  
Jana Dáňová ◽  
Alexander M. Čelko

Vaccination as an important tool in the fight against infections has been suggested as a possible trigger of autoimmunity over the last decades. To confirm or refute this assumption, a Meta-analysis of Autoimmune Disorders Association With Immunization (MADAWI) was conducted. Included in the meta-analysis were a total of 144 studies published in 1968–2019 that were available in six databases and identified by an extensive literature search conducted on 30 November 2019. The risk of bias classification of the studies was performed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. The strength of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation. While our primary analysis was conducted in terms of measures of association employed in studies with a low risk of bias, the robustness of the MADAWI outcome was tested using measures independent of each study risk of bias. Additionally, subgroup analyses were performed to determine the stability of the outcome. The pooled association of 0.99 (95% confidence interval, 0.97–1.02), based on a total of 364 published estimates, confirmed an equivalent occurrence of autoimmune disorders in vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. The same level of association reported by studies independently of the risk of bias was supported by a sufficient number of studies, and no serious limitation, inconsistency, indirectness, imprecision, and publication bias. A sensitivity analysis did not reveal any discrepancy in the primary result. Current common vaccination is not the cause of any of the examined autoimmune disorders in the medium and long terms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6983
Author(s):  
Maritza Mera-Gaona ◽  
Diego M. López ◽  
Rubiel Vargas-Canas

Identifying relevant data to support the automatic analysis of electroencephalograms (EEG) has become a challenge. Although there are many proposals to support the diagnosis of neurological pathologies, the current challenge is to improve the reliability of the tools to classify or detect abnormalities. In this study, we used an ensemble feature selection approach to integrate the advantages of several feature selection algorithms to improve the identification of the characteristics with high power of differentiation in the classification of normal and abnormal EEG signals. Discrimination was evaluated using several classifiers, i.e., decision tree, logistic regression, random forest, and Support Vecctor Machine (SVM); furthermore, performance was assessed by accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity metrics. The evaluation results showed that Ensemble Feature Selection (EFS) is a helpful tool to select relevant features from the EEGs. Thus, the stability calculated for the EFS method proposed was almost perfect in most of the cases evaluated. Moreover, the assessed classifiers evidenced that the models improved in performance when trained with the EFS approach’s features. In addition, the classifier of epileptiform events built using the features selected by the EFS method achieved an accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 97.64%, 96.78%, and 97.95%, respectively; finally, the stability of the EFS method evidenced a reliable subset of relevant features. Moreover, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the EEG detector are equal to or greater than the values reported in the literature.


2013 ◽  
Vol 694-697 ◽  
pp. 2881-2885
Author(s):  
Hai Yan Wang ◽  
Jian Xin Zhang

Dyeing textile’s information management system is the basis of accurate classification of color, machine studying methods have became a popular area of research for application in color classification. Traditional classification methods have high efficiency and are very simple , but they are dependent on the distribution of sample spaces. If the sample data properties are not independent, forecast precision will been affected badly and internal instability will appear. An application of Gray-Relation for dyeing textile color classification has been designed, which offsets the discount in mathematical statistics method for system analysis. It is applicable regardless of variant in sample size, while quantizing structure is in agreement with qualitative analysis. On the basis of theoretical analysis, Dyeing textile color classification was conducted in the conditions of random sampling、 uniform sampling and stratified sampling. The experimental results proofs that by using Gray-Relation, dyeing textile color classification does not need to be dependent on sample space distribution, and increases the stability of classification.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 1294-1301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Babcock ◽  
Craig R. Ely

Plant communities are described from an area on the Yukon – Kuskokwim (Y-K) delta of Alaska that is used extensively for brood rearing by three species of geese. Earlier studies identified plant species important as food for young geese, but few studies describe or quantify plant communities. We classified species presence or absence information from over 700 quadrats using a two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) and then tested for agreement of signatures on colour infrared air photos with the identified communities. Sedges were found to dominate all but the wettest and driest communities. Most of the brood-rearing area was covered by Carex ramenskii and Carex rariflora meadows, ponds, Carex mackenziei-dominated pond margins, and C. ramenskii and grass levee meadows. Our interpretation of airphotos accurately predicted vegetation community classes, which will facilitate future studies of habitat selection by geese during the time they are rearing young. The TWINSPAN classification was comparable to classifications of studies conducted elsewhere on the Y-K delta. The interpretation of air photos will enable the identification and evaluation of wetland vegetation complexes and potential goose brood-rearing areas away from our study site. Key words: air-photo interpretation, Alaska, plant communities, salt marsh, Yukon – Kuskokwim delta.


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