scholarly journals Nassim Taleb: Statistical Concepts and their Philosophical Interpretation

2021 ◽  
pp. 239-249
Author(s):  
Volodymyr MIKHAILOV ◽  
Valentyna YEFIMOVA
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Black Swan ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
World War ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Statistical Issues ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Theoretical Science ◽  
Philosophical Scepticism

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an American statistician, mathematician, trader, and essayist of Lebanese descent who, for the most part, adheres to philosophical scepticism. In his works, he primarily considers the problems of chance and probability. Taleb is the author of a number of bestsellers, his book «Black Swan», was included in the review of «The Sunday Times» in the list of the most influential books written after World War II. N. Taleb in his publications adheres to methodological and practical approaches within the modern paradigm of interdisciplinarity, combining, synthesizing scientific vision and tools from different fields of knowledge, primarily in the field of statistical analysis and interpretation of large arrays of statistics. The purpose of this article is to try to highlight some key ideas in the field of statistical methodology and practice, which personally developed or reinterpreted this famous researcher, as well as consideration of individual socio-philosophical views that underlie his diverse scientific and scientific activities. The article considers and analyzes the methodological basis of the concept of rare statistically probable events («black swan»), classification of systems with the separation of «antifragile» subsystems, statistical issues on the use of big data, questions about the possibilities and limitations of forecasting based on time series, some sociological and historiosophical approaches of N. Taleb, as well as theoretical and methodological principles of his concepts in general, which are based on the ideas of philosophical scepticism. Diverse ideas, concepts, approaches, visions, which were expressed by N. Taleb regarding statistics and other sciences in the pages of his books, scientific articles, essays, numerous interviews, etc., in our opinion, need a more in-depth, multifaceted study. Such explorations can be useful and productive for theoretical science and practical application in modern Ukraine, including in the field of statistics.

scholarly journals Re-evaluating DSM-I

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Cooper ◽  
R. K. Blashfield
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
International Classification Of Diseases ◽  
World War ◽  
Statistical Manual ◽  
Dsm 5 ◽  
Mental Diseases ◽  
Classification Of Diseases ◽  
The Military

The DSM-I is currently viewed as a psychoanalytic classification, and therefore unimportant. There are four reasons to challenge the belief that DSM-I was a psychoanalytic system. First, psychoanalysts were a minority on the committee that created DSM-I. Second, psychoanalysts of the time did not use DSM-I. Third, DSM-I was as infused with Kraepelinian concepts as it was with psychoanalytic concepts. Fourth, contemporary writers who commented on DSM-I did not perceive it as psychoanalytic. The first edition of the DSM arose from a blending of concepts from the Statistical Manual for the Use of Hospitals of Mental Diseases, the military psychiatric classifications developed during World War II, and the International Classification of Diseases (6th edition). As a consensual, clinically oriented classification, DSM-I was popular, leading to 20 printings and international recognition. From the perspective inherent in this paper, the continuities between classifications from the first half of the 20th century and the systems developed in the second half (e.g. DSM-III to DSM-5) become more visible.

Journeys to the Heart of Empire after World War II

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuire Valkeakari
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Small Island ◽  
World War ◽  
Middle Passage ◽  
Caribbean Diaspora ◽  
Black Caribbean ◽  
African Caribbean ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Identity Formations

An analysis of The Emigrants, The Final Passage, and Small Island, chapter 4 brings together this book’s arguments by exploring the relationship among diasporic, imperial, and national identity formations in George Lamming’s, Caryl Phillips’s, and Andrea Levy’s novels about West Indian immigrants (who are both African Caribbean diasporans and subjects of the British empire) settling in Britain after World War II. Lamming and Phillips—members, respectively, of the first and second generations of post-Windrush writers—convey a Middle Passage sensibility more powerfully than does Levy, who, in the generational classification of post-Windrush novelists, belongs to the third generation. Like The Emigrants and Final Passage, Small Island, too, underscores the antiblack racism experienced by black Caribbean migrants to Britain. Yet exilic melancholy, though a presence, does not dominate Small Island in the way it controls Lamming’s and Phillips’s writing. In Levy’s treatment, the story of the postwar black Caribbean diaspora in Britain grows into a narrative of active diaspora-making. Finally, the chapter also examines how each of these three authors portrays the gendered aspects of the postwar Caribbean migration to Britain.

scholarly journals Reciprocity of Individual and Collective Memory. Letters from a Soldier of the Wehrmacht of the Second World War

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Sabine Buchwald
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Second World War ◽  
National Language ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
World War ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Military ◽  
Educational Conditions ◽  
Second World

The basis of the scientific investigation are 83 military letters and postcards, a diary, and Franz Buchwald’s memories of World War II. The classification of military letters and other sources constitutes the scientific significance of these documents. The survey questions the culturally and socially political acts as well as intertextual and trans-textual procedures. Understanding of literature as the subject of a culturally scientific survey is a priority, as well as its influence on the emergence of military letters. The clarification of the cultural memory of Franz Buchwald, a soldier of the Wehrmacht [high forces], serves as an indicator for the preservation of moral principles and values during the war, but also as one for the discords that arose in this context. A key issue is the importance of the educational conditions of growing up during the war. Relevant topics are education, the church, and the literary canon. Examples from the military letters sketch the establishment of the national language in terms of theology, and address the issue of nationality and identity.

scholarly journals Georg von Neumayer: his influence on marine meteorology in the German Meteorological Service

2011 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Kusch ◽  
Reinhold Zöllner ◽  
Frank-Ulrich Dentler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Data Acquisition ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
World War ◽  
Successful Completion ◽  
Scientific Results ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Marine Meteorology

Georg von Neumayer achieved outstanding scientific results and created the organisational framework for the successful completion of scientific tasks. Returning from Australia, Neumayer aimed to set up in Germany a state-owned centre for marine meteorology, hydrography, navigation, marine instruments and geomagnetism, with an emphasis on scientific research with practical application of the findings. Since 1868, a successfully operating private institute, Norddeutsche Seewarte, had existed in Hamburg. This institute provided instructions for sailing routes and the optimal use of favourable winds and currents. In 1875, the institute was transformed into an imperial institution, the ‘Deutsche Seewarte’ (German Marine Observatory), with a broad spectrum of marine responsibilities including meteorological forecasts and warnings, data acquisition and management, and climatology. Its first director was Georg von Neumayer, who led it to worldwide recognition. In 1903, he retired but the Deutsche Seewarte continued in his spirit. At the end of World War II, the institute was destroyed by bombs and ceased to exist. Today, the tasks are shared between Marine Meteorological Office of the Deutscher Wetterdienst specialising in the marine meteorological and related topics and the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.

scholarly journals Four Species of Reflexivity and History of Economics in Economic Policy Science

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Schliesser
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Policy Science ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of Economics ◽  
Economics Profession ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Cost

Abstract This paper argues that history of economics has a fruitful, underappreciated role to play in the development of economics, especially when understood as a policy science. This goes against the grain of the last half century during which economics, which has undergone a formal revolution, has distanced itself from its ‘literary’ past and practices precisely with the aim to be a more successful policy science. The paper motivates the thesis by identifying and distinguishing four kinds of reflexivity in economics. The main thesis of this paper is that because these forms of reflexivity are not eliminable, the history of economics must play a constitutive role in economics (and graduate education within economics). An assumption that I clarify in this paper is that the history of economics ought to be part of the subject matter studied by economics when they are interested in policy science. Even if one does not accept the conclusion, the fourfold classification of reflexivity might hold independent interest. The paper is divided in two parts. First, by reflecting on the writings of George Stigler, Paul Samuelson, George and Milton Friedman, I offer a stylized historical introduction to and conceptualization of the themes of this paper. In particular, I identify various historically influential arguments and strategies that reduced the role of history of economics within the economics discipline. In it I also canvass six arguments that try to capture the cost to economics (understood as a science) for sidelining the history of economics from within the discipline. A sub-text of the introduction is that for contingent reasons, post World War II economics evolved into a policy science. Second, by drawing on the work of Kenneth Boulding, in particular, George Soros, Thomas Merton, Gordon Tullock, I distinguish between four species of reflexivity. These are used to then strengthen the argument for the constitutive role of the history of economics within the economics profession. In particular, I argue that so-called Kuhn-losses are especially pernicious when faced with policy choices under so-called Knightian uncertainty.

scholarly journals Psychiatry at the end of the 20th century

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Heimann
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Tunnel Vision ◽  
Psychopathological Disorders

SummaryThe political role psychiatry plays in mental health strategies in the 20th century is discussed as well as the dangers of abuse when totalitarian ideologies rule supreme. The author comments on positive developments in the sectors of applied psychiatry and psychotherapy after World War II and the implementation of uniform requirements for the classification of psychopathological disorders as well as their limitations. Psychiatry as a scientific discipline relies on two fundaments: the conclusions drawn from the collective, present and past experience of psychiatric medicine and the impulses given by neighbouring disciplines such as neurobiology, psychology and sociology. These influences are necessary for the advancement of psychiatry, but can be restrictive in that they lead to tunnel vision by giving simple explanations for mental disorders of complex or unknown etiology. A multidimensional approach is required for the elaboration of adequate therapies and research must avoid dogmatism and short-sightedness.

scholarly journals A balanced psychology and a full life

2004 ◽  
Vol 359 (1449) ◽  
pp. 1379-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. P. Seligman ◽  
Acacia C. Parks ◽  
Tracy Steen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Positive Psychology ◽  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
World War ◽  
Life Worth Living

Psychology since World War II has been largely devoted to repairing weakness and understanding suffering. Towards that end, we have made considerable gains. We have a classification of mental illness that allows international collaboration, and through this collaboration we have developed effective psychotherapeutic or pharmacological treatments for 14 major mental disorders. However, while building a strong science and practice of treating mental illness, we largely forgot about everyday well–being. Is the absence of mental illness and suffering sufficient to let individuals and communities flourish? Were all disabling conditions to disappear, what would make life worth living? Those committed to a science of positive psychology can draw on the effective research methods developed to understand and treat mental illness. Results from a new randomized, placebo–controlled study demonstrate that people are happier and less depressed three months after completing exercises targeting positive emotion. The ultimate goal of positive psychology is to make people happier by understanding and building positive emotion, gratification and meaning. Towards this end, we must supplement what we know about treating illness and repairing damage with knowledge about nurturing well–being in individuals and communities.

scholarly journals Post-World War II Rhythm and Blues: Jump Blues, Club Blues, and Roy Brown

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-39
Author(s):  
Rob Bowman
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
North American ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Rock And Roll ◽  
World War ◽  
Performance Style ◽  
Rhythm And Blues ◽  
American Popular Music

The classification of different styles of North American popular music has often been problematic. This paper investigates some of the music referred to as rhythm and blues (r & b) in the late 1940s and early 1950s by specifically looking at the works of one of the music's leading practitioners of the time, Roy Brown. Brown recorded both jump and club blues between 1947 and 1955, placing fifteen records in the Top 20 of the Billboard rhythm and blues charts. For the purposes of this paper fifty-four of the seventy-four songs that Brown recorded in this period were analyzed with respect to structure, performing force, performance style, tempo, arrangement, bass lines, approach to the beat, rate of singing, vocal ornamentation, and lyric content and structure. Three main subdivisions were found within Brown's repertoire, all connected to social behaviour, namely, dance. In the process, a basic biography of Brown is provided and his influence on many subsequent rhythm and blues and rock and roll performers is contextualized.

scholarly journals Reciprocity of Individual and Collective Memory. Letters from a Soldier of the Wehrmacht of the Second World War

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-77
Author(s):  
Sabine Buchwald
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Second World War ◽  
National Language ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
World War ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Military ◽  
Educational Conditions ◽  
Second World

The basis of the scientific investigation are 83 military letters and postcards, a diary, and Franz Buchwald’s memories of World War II. The classification of military letters and other sources constitutes the scientific significance of these documents. The survey questions the culturally and socially political acts as well as intertextual and trans-textual procedures. Understanding of literature as the subject of a culturally scientific survey is a priority, as well as its influence on the emergence of military letters. The clarification of the cultural memory of Franz Buchwald, a soldier of the Wehrmacht [high forces], serves as an indicator for the preservation of moral principles and values during the war, but also as one for the discords that arose in this context. A key issue is the importance of the educational conditions of growing up during the war. Relevant topics are education, the church, and the literary canon. Examples from the military letters sketch the establishment of the national language in terms of theology, and address the issue of nationality and identity.

scholarly journals "Taking the human out of human rights" human rights or group rights?

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-709
Author(s):  
Petar Bojanic
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Humanitarian Intervention ◽  
World War ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Word Group ◽  
Legal Foundation ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
As If

What interest me are the reasons why ?human? or ?human rights? could be important or possibly most important in constituting a group (hence the introduction of the complicated word ?group? and ?group right(s)? in the subtitle). If I had to justify the existence of the latest debates on nature, justification and universality of human rights, on their distinction from other normative standards, on the philosophy and (legal) foundation of human rights, on ?Human Rights without (or with) Foundations? (Raz, Tasioulas, Besson), then I would immediately conclude that this ?process of grandiose concretization? of a complete fabrication is far from over. Despite the innumerable pacts and international conventions established after World War II, the slew of obligations to which states have agreed in the last few decades, the establishment of rights to secession or humanitarian intervention it is as if the constitution of classification of basic human rights and their universality is far from over.

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