Denying Descartes and wary of Wittgenstein: Response to Franz

In his article, “‘Are Psychological Attributes Quantitative?’ is not an Empirical Question: Conceptual Confusions in the Measurement Debate,” Franz (2021) concludes that psychological measurement does not rest on empirical hypotheses but rather on linguistic deceptions. His major premise is that psychometrics is inherently Cartesian. History shows otherwise: the mantras of operationism and the rituals of construct validity were intended to exorcise psyche from psychometrics. These mainstays of psychometrics ensured that theoretical constructs were more frequently dispositional concepts than they were mental concepts. It is with the latter, however, especially with attempts to measure currently occurring mental states, such as anxiety, that Franz’s argument looks more promising, but nevertheless it fails because it rests upon Wittgenstein’s views about the grammar of mental discourse. I conclude that conceptual analysis, realistically construed and applied to mental concepts, may show that they exclude quantitative structure. Despite that, it is always possible that empirical research might elicit quantitative-friendly revisions of mental concepts.

TEACHERS PERCEPTION ABOUT PROCESS OF TEACHER EVALUATION: A CASE STUDY OF A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY OF LAHORE

The major premise of this research was to get the perception of university teachers about the process of teacher evaluation in one private university in Lahore. Focusing on the actual practices of teacher evaluation process (TEP), this paper attempts to get opinion of university teachers regarding the effectiveness of TEP. This research was quantitative in its nature in which a survey questionnaire was used to collect data. The population of the study included all the faculty members (both male and female) of the private sector university in Lahore. 150 faculty members were selected through simple random sampling from all faculties/departments of the sampled university. The data was analyzed on SPSS 21. Results were drawn from the interpretation of quantitative data. Results indicated that university teachers had very positive perceptions of the teacher evaluation process. The process of the teacher evaluation contributes to teachers teaching performance a lot.

Hairier than Putnam Thought

This chapter is a short note, co-written with Stephen Read, reacting to Hilary Putnam’s observation in his ‘Vagueness and Alternative Logic’ that intuitionistic logic would block the transition from the negation of the usual universally quantified conditional form of major premise for a Sorites to the assertion of a sharp boundary to the target predicate in the series concerned, and would thus allow the paradox to be reconceived as a straightforward reductio of its major premise. It is pointed out that a Sorites need not employ that form of major premise but can instead proceed, in intuitionistic logic, from the negation of the existential claim that the series in question contains a sharp boundary and that, while an intuitionistically suspect double negation elimination step would still be needed to enforce the unpalatable conclusion that the predicate in question indeed has a sharp boundary, nothing like the semantic motivation that the Intuitionists have favoured in mathematics for a restriction on double negation elimination can be operative in this context.

Intuitionism and the Sorites Paradox

This chapter revisits and further develops all the principle themes and concepts of the preceding chapters. Epistemicism about vagueness postulates a realm of distinctions drawn by basic vague concepts that transcend our capacity to know them. Its treatment of their subject matter is thus broadly comparable to the Platonist philosophy of mathematics. An intuitionist philosophy of vagueness, as do many philosophies of the semantics and metaphysics of vague expressions, finds this idea merely superstitious and rejects it. The vagueness-intuitionist, however, credits the epistemicist with a crucial insight: that vagueness is indeed a cognitive, rather than a semantic, phenomenon—something that is not a consequence of some kind of indeterminacy, or open-endedness in the semantics of vague expressions but rather resides in our brute inability to bring, for example, yellow and orange right up against one another, so to speak, so as to mark a sharp and stable boundary. A solution to the Sorites paradox is developed that is consonant with this basic idea but, by motivating a background logic that observes (broadly) intuitionistic restrictions on the proof theory for negation, allows us to treat the paradoxical reasoning as a simple reductio of its major premise, without the unwelcome implication, sustained by classical logic, of sharp cut-offs.

Is Higher-Order Vagueness Coherent?

This chapter focuses on the No Sharp Boundaries form of the Sorites, which, independently of the kind of considerations used to support the universally quantified form of major premise in the Sorites paradoxes of Chapters 1 and 2, seems to show that vagueness is per se paradoxical. A natural response to the No Sharp Boundaries paradox is canvassed, facilitated by the introduction of a definiteness operator. But it is shown that, on natural assumptions about the logic of that operator, higher-order vagueness does indeed emerge as intrinsically paradoxical.

Influence Strategies/Tactics in the Workplace

This article is a selective guide through the literature on influence tactics, which is grounded in the power-influence approach to leadership, most popularly known as bases of social influence/power. A major premise of the theory is that the exercise of influence is the essence of leadership. The theory deals with reciprocal influence processes in leadership—that is, leader power over subordinates and that of subordinates over the leader. In reality, the direction of influence/power may be downward (supervisor to subordinate), upward (subordinate to supervisor), lateral (coworkers to coworkers), or outward (customer). Though the two terms—“power” and “influence”—are used interchangeably, they are conceptually different. Power is defined as the ability to influence, whereas influence is power in action or the demonstrated use of power, and it is viewed as the process of producing behavioral or psychological effects in a target person. One may have power, but he or she may not feel like using it. That is, the use of power is influence. Though influence and power are conceptually distinct, they are often used interchangeably. Power is also confused with authority. Whereas power is the capacity to influence, authority is the power associated with position or chair. This bibliography begins with a description of the foundation of knowledge and general overviews and textbooks. Next, it discusses the emergence and types of influence tactics. Finally, it summarizes the empirical evidence concerning the antecedents and outcomes of influence tactics, as well as the cultural context of influence.

Fewer Mistakes and Presumed Consent

“Opt-out” organ procurement policies based on presumed consent are typically advertised as being superior to “opt-in” policies based on explicit consent at securing organs for transplantation. However, Michael Gill (2004) has argued that presumed consent policies are also better than opt-in policies at respecting patient autonomy. According to Gill’s Fewer Mistakes Argument, we ought to implement the procurement policy that results in the fewest frustrated wishes regarding organ donation. Given that the majority of Americans wish to donate their organs, it is plausible that a presumed consent policy would result in fewer frustrated wishes compared to the current opt-in policy. It follows that we ought to implement a policy of presumed consent. In this paper, I first consider and find wanting an objection to the Fewer Mistakes Argument developed recently by Douglas MacKay (2015). I also consider an objection put forth by James Taylor (2012) but argue that there is a methodological reason to prefer my own argument to Taylor’s. Finally, I argue for two theses: first, that Gill’s major argument in favor of the crucial premise of the Fewer Mistakes Argument is flawed, and second, that the major premise of the Fewer Mistakes Argument is false.

Surgery-as-soon-as-Feasible: A Challenge to One Major Premise of the Surgery-First Approach

Aim: The aim of this paper is to simply document individual pre and post-surgical durations in a large sample of orthognathic patients treated with an overall philosophy of Surgery-as-soon-as-feasible and to then compare the presurgical durations, especially, with claims of “exceptionally-long traditional presurgical treatment durations, of two years or more” made by some proponents of the so-called Surgery-first approach.

TINJAUAN YURIDIS TERHADAP DOKUMEN PERJANJIAN PEMBIAYAAN KONSUMEN PT BAF SURAKARTA

<p>Abstract<br />This article aims to determine the suitability of the consumer financing agreement made by PT Bussan Auto Finance (BAF) with the regulations stipulated in the Civil Code. As for analyzing these problems is done by using normative methods with approaches used through the statute approach. The legal material analysis technique used by using the syllogism method is by using the deduction method which is the opposite of submitting a major premise and then submits a minor premise and from then draws a conclusion. The results of this study indicate that the consumer financing agreement of PT Bussan Auto Finance (BAF) is in accordance with the terms of the agreement stipulated in the Civil Code. The conditions are as follows: (1) Their agreement is binding, agreement can be seen through the signatures of the parties in the agreement; (2) The ability to make an engagement, the parties must include a National Identity Card (KTP) to prove their skills; (3) A certain subject matter, namely regarding the financing of a motorized vehicle; (4) A reason that is not prohibited, the financing made is a reason that is lawful and does not conflict with the law. Then the agreement is valid and binding and applies as a law for the parties who make it.<br />Keywords: Agreement; Consumer Financing Agreement; Financing Company.</p><p>Abstrak<br />Artikel ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kesesuaian antara perjanjian pembiayaan kosumen yang dibuat oleh PT Bussan Auto Finance (BAF) dengan peraturan yang diatur dalam KUH Perdata. Adapun untuk menganalisis permasalahan tersebut dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode normatif dengan pendekatan yang digunakan melalui pendekatan undang-undang (statute approach). Teknik analisis bahan hukum yang digunakan dengan menggunakan metode silogisme yaitu dengan penggunaan metode deduksi yang bepangkal dari pengajuan premis mayor kemudian diajukan premis minor dan dari kemudian ditarik suatu kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa perjanjian pembiayaan konsumen PT Bussan Auto Finance (BAF) telah sesuai dengan syarat-syarat perjanjian yang diatur dalam KUH Perdata. Adapun syarat-syarat tersebut adalah sebagai berikut: (1) Kesepakatan mereka yang mengikatkan diri, kesepakatan dapat dilihat melalui tanda tangan para pihak dalam perjanjian; (2) Kecakapan untuk membuat perikatan, para pihak wajib mencantumkan Kartu Tanda Penduduk (KTP) untuk membuktikan kecakapannya; (3) Suatu pokok persoalan tertentu, yakni mengenai pembiayaan sebuah kendaraan bermotor; (4) Suatu sebab yang tidak terlarang, pembiayaan yang dilakukan tersebut merupakan suatu sebab yang halal dan tidak bertentangan dengan undang-undang. Maka perjanjian tersebut sah dan mengikat serta berlaku sebagai undang-undang bagi para pihak yang membuatnya. <br />Kata Kunci: Perjanjian; Perjanjian Pembiayaan Konsumen; Perusahaan Pembiayaan</p>

Refleksi Paradigma Ilmu Pengetahuan Bagi Pembangunan Hukum Pengadaan Tanah

<p><em>The purpose of this study is to explain the influence of the positivism paradigm in making land acquisition law and its application which is oriented towards formalism in Indonesia. This type of research is normative and prescriptive legal research, a paradigm that should be used to develop land acquisition law that can realize respect for land rights. To answer the research problem a concept approach is used with the analysis of the syllogism of deduction and interpretation. The paradigm of science as its major premise, while the regulation and application of land acquisition for public use as a minor premise. The results of this study are the positivism paradigm imbued with capitalism causing compensatory injustice and formal injustice in land acquisition for public use. Globalization, through international treaties, causes the importation of the laws of donor countries, which have a capitalist ideology to the Indonesian legal system, which has a family ideology. This harmonization problem if not resolved properly can cause injustice. To realize convergence, it is necessary to consider the use of realistic socio legal theory in land acquisition legal research.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: <em>Positivism, Realistic Legal Socio, Land Acquisition, Justice.</em><em></em></p>