scholarly journals Inference to the Best Explanation, Cleaned Up and Made Respectable

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonah N. Schupbach
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Uncertain Inference ◽  
Explanatory Virtue

Despite decades of focused philosophical investigation, inference to the best explanation still lacks a precise articulation and compelling defense. The primary reason for this is that it is not at all clear what it means for a hypothesis to be the best available explanation of the evidence. This chapter first seeks to rectify this problem by developing a formal explication of the explanatory virtue of power. A resulting account of inference to the best explanation is then evaluated as a form of uncertain inference. Overall, the chapter offers a precise account and novel defense of one important version of inference to the best explanation.

The Autobiographical Subject and the Death Penalty

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-187
Author(s):  
E. S. Burt
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
First Person ◽  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

Why does writing of the death penalty demand the first-person treatment that it also excludes? The article investigates the role played by the autobiographical subject in Derrida's The Death Penalty, Volume I, where the confessing ‘I’ doubly supplements the philosophical investigation into what Derrida sees as a trend toward the worldwide abolition of the death penalty: first, to bring out the harmonies or discrepancies between the individual subject's beliefs, anxieties, desires and interests with respect to the death penalty and the state's exercise of its sovereignty in applying it; and second, to provide a new definition of the subject as haunted, as one that has been, but is no longer, subject to the death penalty, in the light of the worldwide abolition currently underway.

Veiled Theory: The Transmutation of Anthropology in T. S. Eliot's Critical Method

Paragraph ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 77-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Trexler
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Human History ◽  
Critical Practice ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Historical Moment

While literary criticism is often seen as an unself-reflective forerunner to literary theory, this article argues that T.S. Eliot's theory of critical practice was a philosophically informed methodology of reading designed to create a disciplinary and institutional framework. To reconstruct this theory, it enriches theoretical methodology with intellectual and institutional history. Specifically, the article argues that Eliot's early critical theory depended on the paradigms of anthropology and occultism, developed during his philosophical investigation of anthropology and Leibniz. From this investigation, Eliot created an occult project that used spiritual monads as facts to progress toward the Absolute. The article goes on to argue that Eliot's methodology of reading was shaped by anthropology's and occultism's paradigms of non-academic, non-specialist reading societies that sought a super-historic position in human history through individual progress. The reconstruction of Eliot's intellectual and institutional framework for reading reveals a historical moment with sharp differences and surprising similarities to the present.

Myanmar’s Transition and the Resurgence of Buddhist Nationalism

Asian Survey ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1072-1089
Author(s):  
Marie-Eve Reny
Keyword(s):  
Primary Reason ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
National League ◽  
Strong Contender

Myanmar began a transition in 2011 that ended almost 50 years of military rule. During the transition, a nationalist movement called for protecting Buddhism from an “Islamic threat.” Anti-Islam nationalism was not new in Burmese history, yet the timing of its resurgence deserves attention. I argue that the incumbents’ anticipated electoral weakness in transitional elections was the primary reason for its resurgence. The incumbents sought to maximize societal support, and they faced a strong contender, the National League for Democracy, whose probability of winning was high. Social opposition was also significant by the time military rule ended. In a campaign to pass reforms to better “protect” Buddhism, the incumbents used monks to cast doubt on the NLD’s ability to represent Buddhist interests and to recruit former regime opponents who were nationalists. The incumbents garnered wide support for the reforms, yet it was insufficient for an electoral victory.

The New Anti-Semitism and Diasporic Liminality: Jewish Identity from France to Montreal

1969 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Aaron Kenedy
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Identity ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Anti Jewish

Through a case study approach, 40 French Jews were interviewed revealing their primary reason for leaving France and resettling in Montreal was the continuous threat associated with the new anti-Semitism. The focus for many who participated in this research was the anti-Jewish sentiment in France and the result of being in a liminal diasporic state of feeling as though they belong elsewhere, possibly in France, to where they want to return, or moving on to other destinations. Multiple centred Jewish and Francophone identities were themes that emerged throughout the interviews.

Bayesianism and IBE

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Henderson
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Hybrid View ◽  
Elliott Sober ◽  
Scientific Arguments ◽  
Explanatory Virtue

Different views have been proposed about how Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) and Bayesianism might be compatible with one another. One is a hybrid view, according to which explanatory considerations play a role in driving the Bayesian machinery. Another is an ‘emergent compatibilist’ view, in which an independently motivated Bayesian model of IBE is provided, so that explanatory considerations emerge from the Bayesian machinery rather than driving it. Specific scientific arguments can serve as test cases for these general views. The chapter argues that the case of Williams’ argument against group selection, discussed by Elliott Sober, is better understood with the emergent compatibilist picture, than with the hybrid view. This analysis of the case challenges Elliott Sober’s claim that the epistemic significance of appeals to the explanatory virtue of parsimony is highly case-specific. Instead, a more unified picture of IBE and its connection to Bayesianism is suggested.

Feminist Cyber-Artivism, Musicing, and Music Teaching and Learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-312
Author(s):  
Marissa Silverman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
Music Teaching ◽  
Music Making ◽  
The Voice

This chapter asks an important, yet seemingly illusive, question: In what ways does the internet provide (or not) activist—or, for present purposes “artivist”—opportunities and engagements for musicing, music sharing, and music teaching and learning? According to Asante (2008), an “artivist (artist + activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression—by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation” (p. 6). Given this view, can (and should) social media be a means to achieve artivism through online musicing and music sharing, and, therefore, music teaching and learning? Taking a feminist perspective, this chapter interrogates the nature of cyber musical artivism as a potential means to a necessary end: positive transformation. In what ways can social media be a conduit (or hindrance) for cyber musical artivism? What might musicing and music sharing gain (or lose) from engaging with online artivist practices? In addition to a philosophical investigation, this chapter will examine select case studies of online artivist music making and music sharing communities with the above concerns in mind, specifically as they relate to music education.

scholarly journals Quality of Care Provided by Family Caregivers of Older People With Dementia: Measurement and Interpretations

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 152-152
Author(s):  
Afeez Hazzan
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Older People ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Family Caregiver ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Family caregivers of older people living with dementia are relatives, friends, or neighbors who provide assistance related to this condition, but who are unpaid for the services they provide. Although caregiving could be personally rewarding, many caregivers report a high level of strain. Compared to caregivers of older adults who do not have dementia, family caregivers of older people living with dementia report lower quality-of-life (QoL). In a published systematic review examining the relationship between family caregiver QoL and the quality of care provided, only one study was found to be somewhat relevant. The study suggested that the primary reason for an absence of research into the link between family caregiver QoL and quality of care was the absence of a questionnaire for measuring quality of care in dementia. Therefore, any attempt to investigate the impact of caregiver QoL on the care provided to older people with dementia must first address the lack of an instrument to measure quality of care. To address this issue, we interviewed approximately 20 family caregivers in order to elicit feedback on measurements and interpretation of the quality of care provided by family caregivers of older people living with dementia. Content analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that the quality of relationships with family, caregiver availability to provide or supervise care, and availability of paid or volunteer help are important for the quality of care provided. These results have important implications, particularly for the development of an instrument to measure quality of care in dementia.

scholarly journals Transport and storage of serotonin by thrombin-treated platelets.

1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
H J Reimers ◽  
D J Allen ◽  
I A Feuerstein ◽  
J F Mustard
Keyword(s):  
Storage Capacity ◽  
Platelet Membrane ◽  
Transport Rate ◽  
Primary Reason ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Serotonin Content ◽  
Amine Storage ◽  
Storage Granules ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Amine Storage Granules

Repeated thrombin treatment of washed platelets prepared from rabbits can decrease the serotonin content of the platelets by about 80%. When these platelets are deaggregated they reaccumulate serotonin but their storage capacity for serotonin is reduced by about 60%. If thrombin-pretreated platelets are allowed to equilibrate with a high concentration of serotonin (123 mu M), they release a smaller percentage of their total serotonin upon further thrombin treatment, in comparison with the percentage of serotonin released from control platelets equilibrated with the same concentration of serotonin calculations indicate that in thrombin-treated platelets reequilibrated with serotonin, two-thirds of the serotonin is in the granule compartment and one-third is in the extragranular compartment, presumably the cytoplasm. Analysis of the exchange of serotonin between the suspending fluid and the platelets showed that thrombin treatment does not alter the transport rate of serotonin across the platelet membrane and does not cause increased diffusion of serotonin from the platelets into the suspending fluid. The primary reason for the reduced serotonin accumulation by the thrombin-treated platelets appears to be loss of amine storage granules or of the storage capacity within the granules.

scholarly journals IV. On certain Analogies observed by the Greeks in the Use of their Letters; and particularly of the Letter ΣΙΓΜΑ

1790 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-153
Author(s):  
Andrew Dalzel
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Investigation ◽  
The Voice

The power of pronouncing articulate sounds is one of the most obvious marks which distinguish man from the other animals. No philosophical investigation is necessary for pointing it out, and therefore it has not escaped the notice of the poets, the most ancient of all authors. In the works of Homer and Hesiod, we often meet with the expression μέϱοπες ἄνθϱωποι, men having an articulate voice; the word μέϱοψ being evidently compounded of μείϱω, to divide, and ὄψ, the voice.

The Dynamics of the Local Supercluster

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 749-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Huchra
Keyword(s):  
Primary Reason ◽  
Local Supercluster ◽  
The Universe

The primary reason for studying the dynamics of the local supercluster is for use as a local cosmological test (Silk 1974 Ap. J. 193, 525, Peebles 1976, Ap. J. 205, 318). In addit ion, the measurement of the mass enclosed in the local supercluster provides one of the best measurements of the M/L of galaxy systems on very large scales - a test of the hypothesis that M/L increases with radius for galaxy systems and thus a measure of the unseen matter (neutrino?) content of the universe.

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