Closing Reflections1

2020 ◽  
pp. 240-242
Author(s):  
Paul Boghossian ◽  
Timothy Williamson

In these brief comments, the author discusses the origins of his interest in the epistemology, why he has always found inferentialist accounts of it implausible, and why the similarities between the epistemology of logic and the epistemology of other domains have always been salient to him. There is also a brief account of the asymmetry between the role of internalism in Boghossian’s epistemology and the role of externalism in the author’s epistemology. Finally, there are some reflections on the ways in which we can hope to improve the shaky methodology of traditional epistemology, for example by making more use of formal methods and the findings of experimental psychology.

Author(s):  
Michael D Harrison ◽  
Paolo Masci ◽  
José Creissac Campos

Abstract This paper explores the role of formal methods as part of the user-centred design of interactive systems. An iterative process is described, developing prototypes incrementally, proving user-centred requirements while at the same time evaluating the prototypes that are executable forms of the developed models using ‘traditional’ techniques for user evaluation. A formal analysis complements user evaluations. This approach enriches user-centred design that typically focuses understanding on context and producing sketch designs. These sketches are often non-functional (e.g. paper) prototypes. They provide a means of exploring candidate design possibilities using techniques such as cooperative evaluation. This paper describes a further step in the process using formal analysis techniques. The use of formal methods provides a systematic approach to checking plausibility and consistency during early design stages, while at the same time enabling the generation of executable prototypes. The technique is illustrated through an example based on a pill dispenser.


Author(s):  
Anton V. Karabykov ◽  

The life and work of John Dee (1527–1608/9), an English mathematician, eru­dite and occultist, remains an enigma that gives rise to intensive controversies, puzzles scholars, and nourishes imagination of mass culture makers. The aim of the article is to consider a magical practice of the late Dee and a unique narrative recorded in his diaries, in a context of the intellectual situation of that epoch. The analysis is concentrated on a role of those practice and narrative in dialectics of the search for the perfect language which took place in the West in 15th–17th cc. A technical facet of crystallomancy and its standing in the Renaissance culture as well as conditions and motives urging Dee to invest his years in practicing the magic of that kind. A special attention is paid to the course and results of re­vealing of the primordial tongue by the ‘angels’ and to the Adamic myth that accompanied the linguistic material and informed of substance, functions, and historical fate of Ursprache. It is argued that despite its reprehensibility crystal­lomancy took a relatively high cultural status and a wide spreading. Dee became its convinced adept due to a deep inner crisis caused by eschatological anxiety, collapse of traditional epistemology, and discontent with his previous intellectual initiatives. As spirits claimed, the language that they were imparting to him con­nected the protoplasts with God and angels in Eden and served Adam as a per­fect instrument of knowledge and magic. Explaining his lasting failure of com­prehending of the revealed language the spirits persuaded Dee that it was not time yet for activation of its potencies but that it was very near though known only to God. That time had never come in the magician’s life. Nonetheless, glad­ness of (seeming) communication with the ‘angels’ compensated for bitterness of futile expectations.


Virittäjä ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Ojutkangas

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisissa konstruktioissa suomen seuralaisuutta ilmaisevat mukana ja mukaan esiintyvät. Seuralaisuussuhteelle on tyypillistä, että suhteen osallistujat tai vähintään kiintopiste ovat ihmisiä ja että osallistujien välillä on symmetriaero: seuralainen (engl. companion) osallistuu tilanteeseen epäsuorasti, seurattavan (engl. accompanee) välityksellä. Suomen grammeille ominaiseen tapaan mukana- ja mukaan-sanoja käytetään syntaktisesti monenlaisissa asemissa siten, että kiintopisteen (seurattavan) ilmaisun tyyppi vaihtelee. Tutkimuksessa selvitetäänkin, mikä on kiintopisteen ilmaisutavan rooli siinä, miten seuralaisuussuhteen osallistujien välinen epäsymmetria hahmottuu. Tutkimuksen syntaktisessa luokittelussa pidetään lähtökohtana postpositiokonstruktiota, jossa osallistujien välisen symmetriaeron voi katsoa perustuvan kiintopisteen viitepisteroolin kautta grammin semantiikkaan (tyyppi lapio oli kaivajan mukana). Symmetriaero sen sijaan voimistuu, kun kiintopiste edustuu omistusliitteen välityksellä subjektina (tyyppi hän otti lapion mukaansa) tai kun se ilmaistaan teemapaikalla paikallissijaisena adverbiaalina (tyyppi hänellä oli lapio mukana[an]). Symmetriaero sen sijaan heikkenee, jos (toissijainen) kiintopiste ilmaistaan adverbiaalina muualla kuin teemapaikalla (tyyppi hän oli mukana kaivamassa), ja vetäytyy taustatiedoksi, kun kiintopistettä ei ilmaista lainkaan (tyyppi hän on mukana). Tutkimus perustuu aineistoon, jossa ovat edustettuina 1800-luvun kirjakieli, Lauseopin arkiston murrehaastattelut ja nykykirjakieli. Aineisto osoittaa, että mukana- ja mukaan-grammeilla ilmaistuissa seuralaisuussuhteissa on tapahtunut muutos: 1800-luvun kirjakielen ja pääosin 1960-luvulla tallennetun murreaineiston esiintymissä yleisin kiintopiste on ihminen, kun taas nykykirjakielen aineistossa kiintopisteeksi hahmottuu tyypillisimmin toiminta. Kiintopisteen semanttinen tyyppi ja sen kielellinen ilmaisukeino ovat suorassa suhteessa toisiinsa. Ihmiskiintopiste ilmaistaan yleisimmin subjektin kanssa samaviitteisellä omistusliitteellä tai teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä ja toimintakiintopiste puolestaan ei-teemapaikkaisella paikallissijaisella elementillä. Eri ilmaisukeinot jakautuvat eri verbien ympärille rakentuvien konstruktioiden kesken. Tutkimuksen perusteella voi todeta, että esiintymäkonstruktiolla on merkittävä rooli siinä, millaista seuralaisuutta mukana- tai mukaan-grammilla kuvataan.   Finnish mukana and mukaan ‘with, along’ as comitative markers: Grammatical roles of expressions of the landmarks, constructions, and asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation The topic of this article is the syntax of Finnish comitative markers mukana and mukaan ’with, along’. Comitative markers express accompaniment relations, which are typically conceived as being asymmetrical: the accompanee (landmark) is the pre-dominant participant, while the companion (trajector) is involved in the situation only via the accompanee (see Stolz et al. 2006: 26–27). However, markers such as mukana and mukaan are used in several syntactic constructions where the grammatical roles of expressions of the accompanees/landmarks vary. The main research question of the article is, how does the grammatical role of expression of the accompanee/landmark affect the asymmetry between the participants of the accompaniment relation. Five syntactic construction types were analysed from a corpus data. On the basis of this study, it is shown that syntactic variation has an effect on the conceived asymmetry between the accompanee and the companion, and that syntax makes an important contribution to the semantics of comitative constructions. In strongly asymmetric accompaniment relations, a human accompanee is expressed by a possessive suffix affixed to the comitative marker, or by a clause-initial adverbial. On the other hand, the question of asymmetry contracts to the background when the accompanee is expressed by a non-clause-initial adverbial and when the accompanee is implicit, without any overt marking. The research is based on a corpus data comprising 19th-century written Finnish, dialect interviews, and modern written Finnish. The data shows that accompaniment relations expressed by mukana and mukaan have changed: in the 19th-century and dialect data, the majority of the landmarks are humans, but in the modern data activities dominate as (secondary) landmarks.  


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiza Lopes Franco Costa ◽  
Ana Beatriz Dillon Esteves ◽  
Roxana Kreimer ◽  
Noel Struchiner ◽  
Ivar Hannikainen

Using hypothetical divorce cases we examine the role of gender stereotypes in decisions about child custody. Good mothers received greater custody allocations than did good fathers across a tightly-matched pair of vignettes in three culturally-distinct samples: Argentina, Brazil and the United States (Study 1). Two follow-up studies indicated that the warmth dimension of stereotype content partly accounted for the asymmetry in custody awards: The proportion of maternal-primary custody was predicted by the tendency to ascribe warmth-related traits—such as friendliness, generosity or trustworthiness—to mothers (Study 2) and associate them to female over male nouns (Study 3). We also found that endorsing shared custody mitigated the asymmetry in custody awards documented in our studies. Together, these results highlight the interplay of stereotyped attitudes and egalitarian commitments in the context of judicial decisions about child custody.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Kopoboru ◽  
Gloria Cuevas-Rodríguez ◽  
Leticia Pérez-Calero

This study examines the influence of board interlocks and former politicians on decisions regarding acquisitions in Spain. Our research suggests that board interlocks to other firms can positively influence operations in terms of acquisition scale. Our findings also show that this relationship is positively moderated by the presence of former politicians. That is, the effects of interlocks on acquisitions are amplified further when there are former politicians on boards, which confirms their role as community influentials. In the case of Spain, and under-regulated industries, this complementary effect is maintained. However, the role played by interlocks seems to be more important than former politicians, which means that board interlocks can replace other formal methods of acquiring information (through former politicians) while attempting acquisitions.


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