The Problems of Ignorance and Uncertainty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
Hybrid Approaches ◽  
Tier System ◽  
Special Case

Chapter 9 turns to further epistemic barriers for decision makers: the problems of (nonmoral) ignorance and (nonmoral) uncertainty. The concepts of “ignorance” and “uncertainty” are elucidated, the problem of uncertainty is defined, and it is argued that the problem of ignorance should be treated as a special case of the problem of uncertainty. The three salient attempts to solve the problem are the Pragmatic, Austere, and Hybrid approaches. Combined solutions to the problem of error and the problem of uncertainty are explored, and it is argued that the only feasible approaches marry the Austere Response to the problem of error with the Hybrid Response to the problem of uncertainty in a two-tier system. The top-tier code provides the correct theoretical account of right and wrong, while the lower-tier rules provide associated decision-guides. Consistency requires that different normative terms be used by the top-tier rules and by the lower-tier rules.

Making Morality Work

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
False Beliefs ◽  
The Third ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
User Friendly

Moral theories can play both a theoretical and a practical role. As theories, they provide accounts of which features make actions right or wrong. In practice, they provide standards by which we guide our choices. Regrettably, limits on human knowledge often prevent people from using traditional moral theories to make decisions. Decision makers labor under false beliefs, or they are ignorant or uncertain about the circumstances and consequences of their possible actions. An agent so hampered cannot successfully use her chosen moral theory as a decision-guide. This book examines three major strategies for addressing this “epistemic problem” in morality. One strategy argues that the epistemic limitations of agents are defects in them but not in the moral theories, which are only required to play the theoretical role. A second strategy holds that the main or sole point of morality is to play the practical role, so that any theory incapable of guiding decisions must be rejected in favor of a more usable theory. The third strategy claims the correct theory can play both the theoretical and practical role through a two-tier structure. The top tier plays the theoretical role, while the lower tier provides a coordinated set of user-friendly decision-guides to provide practical guidance. Agents use the theoretical account indirectly to guide their choices by directly utilizing the supplementary decision-guides.Making Morality Work argues that the first two strategies should be rejected, and develops an innovative version of the third strategy.

scholarly journals Rethinking Patent Law's Presumption of Validity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lemley
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Patent Office ◽  
High Likelihood ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Patent Review ◽  
Tier System ◽  
Initial Process ◽  
Patent Validity ◽  
States Patent

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is tasked with the job ofreading patent applications and determining which ones qualify for patentprotection. It is a Herculean task, and the Patent Office pursues itsubject to enormous informational and budgetary constraints. Nonetheless,under current law, courts are bound to defer to the Patent Office'sdecisions regarding patent validity. In this Article, we argue for reform.Deference to previous decision-makers is appropriate in instances wherethose previous decisions have a high likelihood of accuracy, and the patentsystem should endeavor to create processes that fit this mold. But grantingsignificant deference to the initial process of patent review isindefensible and counter-productive. Patents should be vulnerable tochallenge until and unless they are significantly evaluated in aninformation-rich environment. At that point, they will have earned andtherefore should be accorded a presumption of validity. Such an approachwould better serve the patent's systems long-run incentive goals, and itwould give patent applicants better incentives to file for genuineinventions but leave their more obvious and incremental accomplishmentsoutside the patent system's purview. Here, we therefore suggest thecreation of a two-tier system of patent validity, with patents that aresubject to intensive scrutiny accorded a strong presumption of validity,while untested patents are left to be evaluated more fully in court.

The Hybrid Solution to the Problems of Error and Uncertainty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid System ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
Tier System ◽  
Hybrid Solution ◽  
Fred Feldman

Chapter 10 investigates whether the combined Austere and Hybrid two-tier system, now re-labeled the “Hybrid solution,” provides an effective response to the problem of uncertainty. Criteria of adequacy for a solution to this problem are articulated, and versions of the approach offering a single decision-guide at the lower tier are assessed. Popular guides, such as “Perform the act most likely to be obligatory,” “Maximize expected value,” and “Try to perform the obligatory act,” along with more sophisticated guides proposed by Fred Feldman and John Pollock, are each shown to be inadequate, partly because they demand a richer set of beliefs than many agents possess. The chapter concludes that a Hybrid system offering multiple decision-guides for uncertainty seems far better positioned to solve the problem of uncertainty.

scholarly journals "The Role of Domestic Tourism in Supporting the National Economy, from the Point View of Employers" Field Study on Aqaba Economical City

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Hanem Rajab Ibrahem Al-Darwesh
Keyword(s):  
National Economy ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
National Income ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Large Role ◽  
Tourist Destination ◽  
Domestic Tourism ◽  
Special Case

The research dealt with the role of internal tourism in supporting the Jordanian economy, considering that Aqaba is a special case that represents an important part of the Jordanian domestic tourism. The problem of the research was to answer the following questions: Is Aqaba area characterized as an attractive tourist destination? Is Aqaba special economic zone authority (ASEZA) contributes to increase the Jordanian national income? Is the lack of infrastructure considers an obstacle to the development of domestic tourism in Aqaba? The data collected through the questionnaire were consisted of 30 paragraphs using the forth Likert scale.The importance of the research lies in its benefits to the decision makers of (ASEZA) in avoiding some of the obstacles and pitfalls that face employers and tourists. Data were collected from employers in Aqaba by using simple random sampling. Analytical descriptive methods, standard deviations, percentages, and T-tests were used. The results of the research showed that there are special characteristics that promote the internal tourism in Aqaba. It concluded that (ASEZA) plays a large role in promoting the internal tourism to Aqaba through tourism awareness and through providing the infrastructure and metadata. In contrast, the research found obstacles that hinder the internal tourism to Aqaba, and the high cost of tourism was one of them. The research recommended the need to intensify the planned advertisements and promotions according to the tourist seasons, establish extra parking spaces and hotel rooms, and conduct other researches that represent the tourist's opinion themselves.

Multiple-Rule Hybrid Solutions to the Problems of Error and Uncertainty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Systems ◽  
Hybrid System ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
The Core ◽  
Lower Tier ◽  
Extended Sense ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
Hybrid Solutions

Chapter 11 argues that the best Hybrid system is one in which multiple lower-tier decision-guides are arranged in a hierarchy that prioritizes, on deontic grounds, the guides that are best to use in situations where an agent can use more than one guide in deriving a prescription. The system includes a theoretical account of right and wrong (Code C) that prescribes acts as objectively obligatory, together with a general decision-guiding principle (Code C*). Code C* prescribes as subjectively obligatory the act recommended as choice-mandated by the decision-guide, usable in the core sense by the agent, that is higher in the hierarchy of choice-mandating decision-guides than any other decision-guide usable by the agent and appropriate to Code C. This decision-guide need only be usable in the core, not the extended, sense. Sample consequentialist and Rossian Hybrid systems are outlined.

A Theoretical Account of Translation - Without a Translation Theory

Target ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst-August Gutt
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Original Text ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
Direct Translation ◽  
Basic Criterion ◽  
Special Case

Abstract This paper argues that the phenomenon commonly referred to as "translation" can be accounted for naturally within the relevance theory of communication developed by Sperber and Wilson: there is no need for a distinct general theory of translation. Most kinds of translation can be analysed as varieties of interpretive use. I distinguish direct from indirect translation. Direct translation corresponds to the idea that translation should convey the same meaning as the original. It requires the receptors to familiarise themselves with the context envisaged for the original text. The idea that the meaning of the original can be communicated to any receptor audience, no matter how different their background, is shown to be a misconception based on mistaken assumptions about communication. Indirect translation involves looser degrees of resemblance. Direct translation is merely a special case of interpretive use, whereas indirect translation is the general case. In all cases the success of the translation depends on how well it meets the basic criterion for all human communication, which is consistency with the principle of relevance. Thus the different varieties of translation can be accounted for without recourse to typologies of texts, translations, functions or the like.

Extreme self-sacrifice beyond fusion: Moral expansiveness and the special case of allyship

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Crimston ◽  
Matthew J. Hornsey
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Biological Markers ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Relevant Dimension ◽  
Special Case

AbstractAs a general theory of extreme self-sacrifice, Whitehouse's article misses one relevant dimension: people's willingness to fight and die in support of entities not bound by biological markers or ancestral kinship (allyship). We discuss research on moral expansiveness, which highlights individuals’ capacity to self-sacrifice for targets that lie outside traditional in-group markers, including racial out-groups, animals, and the natural environment.

Determination of the phase structure of polymerblends by electron microscopy

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 492-493
Author(s):  
Dr. G. Kaemof
Keyword(s):  
Screw Extruder ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Single Screw Extruder ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Twin Screw ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Microscopic Investigations

A mixture of polycarbonate (PC) and styrene-acrylonitrile-copolymer (SAN) represents a very good example for the efficiency of electron microscopic investigations concerning the determination of optimum production procedures for high grade product properties.The following parameters have been varied:components of charge (PC : SAN 50 : 50, 60 : 40, 70 : 30), kind of compounding machine (single screw extruder, twin screw extruder, discontinuous kneader), mass-temperature (lowest and highest possible temperature).The transmission electron microscopic investigations (TEM) were carried out on ultra thin sections, the PC-phase of which was selectively etched by triethylamine.The phase transition (matrix to disperse phase) does not occur - as might be expected - at a PC to SAN ratio of 50 : 50, but at a ratio of 65 : 35. Our results show that the matrix is preferably formed by the components with the lower melting viscosity (in this special case SAN), even at concentrations of less than 50 %.

EURRECA’s Approach for Estimating Micronutrient Requirements

2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Matthys ◽  
Pieter van ‘t Veer ◽  
Lisette de Groot ◽  
Lee Hooper ◽  
Adriënne E.J.M. Cavelaars ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reference Values ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
The Body ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Nutrient Requirements ◽  
Factorial Approach ◽  
Dietary Reference Values ◽  
Health Policy Decision ◽  
Quantitative Integration

In Europe, micronutrient dietary reference values have been established by (inter)national committees of experts and are used by public health policy decision-makers to monitor and assess the adequacy of diets within population groups. The approaches used to derive dietary reference values (including average requirements) vary considerably across countries, and so far no evidence-based reason has been identified for this variation. Nutrient requirements are traditionally based on the minimum amount of a nutrient needed by an individual to avoid deficiency, and is defined by the body’s physiological needs. Alternatively the requirement can be defined as the intake at which health is optimal, including the prevention of chronic diet-related diseases. Both approaches are confronted with many challenges (e. g., bioavailability, inter and intra-individual variability). EURRECA has derived a transparent approach for the quantitative integration of evidence on Intake-Status-Health associations and/or Factorial approach (including bioavailability) estimates. To facilitate the derivation of dietary reference values, EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA) is developing a process flow chart to guide nutrient requirement-setting bodies through the process of setting dietary reference values, which aims to facilitate the scientific alignment of deriving these values.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document