Bigger Isn’t Better: The Ethical and Scientific Vices of Extra-Large Datasets in Language Models.Trystan S. Goetze &DarrenAbramson -2021 -WebSci '21: Proceedings of the 13th Annual ACM Web Science Conference (Companion Volume).detailsThe use of language models in Web applications and other areas of computing and business have grown significantly over the last five years. One reason for this growth is the improvement in performance of language models on a number of benchmarks — but a side effect of these advances has been the adoption of a “bigger is always better” paradigm when it comes to the size of training, testing, and challenge datasets. Drawing on previous criticisms of this paradigm as applied (...) to large training datasets crawled from pre-existing text on the Web, we extend the critique to challenge datasets custom-created by crowdworkers. We present several sets of criticisms, where ethical and scientific issues in language model research reinforce each other: labour injustices in crowdwork, dataset quality and inscrutability, inequities in the research community, and centralized corporate control of the technology. We also present a new type of tool for researchers to use in examining large datasets when evaluating them for quality. (shrink)
On Gaslighting.KateAbramson -2024 - Princeton University Press.detailsA philosopher examines the complicated phenomenon of gaslighting “Gaslighting” is suddenly in everyone’s vocabulary. It’s written about, talked about, tweeted about, even sung about (in “Gaslighting” by The Chicks). It’s become shorthand for being manipulated by someone who insists that up is down, hot is cold, dark is light—someone who isn’t just lying about such things, but trying to drive you crazy. The term has its origins in a 1944 film in which a husband does exactly that to his wife, (...) his crazy-making efforts symbolized by the rise and fall of the gaslights in their home. In this timely and provocative book, KateAbramson examines gaslighting from a philosophical perspective, investigating it as a distinctive moral phenomenon. Gaslighting,Abramson writes, is best understood as a form of interpersonal interaction, a particular way of fundamentally undermining someone. The gaslighter,Abramson argues, aims to make his target experience herself as incapable of reasoning, perceiving, or reacting in ways that would allow her to form appropriate beliefs, perceptions, or emotions in the first place. He seeks not only to induce in her this unmoored sense of herself but also to make it a reality. Using examples and analysis,Abramson gives an account of gaslighting and its immorality, and argues that such a discussion can help us understand other aspects of social life—from racism and sexism to the structure of interpersonal trust. (shrink)
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Happy to Unite, or Not?KateAbramson -2006 -Philosophy Compass 1 (3):290-302.detailsAt several key moments in his works, Hume draws our attention to the differences between two conceptions of philosophy. Deploying what were already then well‐worn metaphors, he calls these two “species” of philosophy “anatomy” and “painting.” Hume’s remarks about philosophical anatomy and painting have recently given rise to a number of scholarly debates. I focus here on just one of these debates: did Hume intend to combine anatomy and painting in some of his later works? Through an examination of the (...) evidence that has to date been adduced, I argue that we have at least one very good reason to think that such were Hume’s intentions, and no good reason to suppose otherwise. (shrink)
Turing’s Responses to Two Objections.DarrenAbramson -2008 -Minds and Machines 18 (2):147-167.detailsIn this paper I argue that Turing’s responses to the mathematical objection are straightforward, despite recent claims to the contrary. I then go on to show that by understanding the importance of learning machines for Turing as related not to the mathematical objection, but to Lady Lovelace’s objection, we can better understand Turing’s response to Lady Lovelace’s objection. Finally, I argue that by understanding Turing’s responses to these objections more clearly, we discover a hitherto unrecognized, substantive thesis in his philosophical (...) thinking about the nature of mind. (shrink)
Sympathy and the project of Hume's second enquiry.KateAbramson -2001 -Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 83 (1):45-80.detailsMore than two hundred years after its publication, David Hume's Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals is still widely regarded as either a footnote to the more philosophically interesting third book of the Treatise, or an abbreviated, more stylish, version of that earlier work. These standard interpretations are rather difficult to square with Hume's own assessment of the second Enquiry. Are we to think that Hume called the EPM “incomparably the best” of all his writings only because he preferred that (...) later style of exposition? Or worse, should we take his preference for the second Enquiry as a sign of aging literary vanity? Does Hume's stated preference for the EPM in no way speak to its philosophical content? (shrink)
Hume's distinction between philosophical anatomy and painting.KateAbramson -2007 -Philosophy Compass 2 (5):680–698.detailsAlthough the implications of Hume's distinction between philosophical anatomy and painting have been the subject of lively scholarly debates, it is a puzzling fact that the details of the distinction itself have largely been a matter of interpretive presumption rather than debate. This would be unproblematic if Hume's views about these two species of philosophy were obvious, or if there were a rich standard interpretation of the distinction that we had little reason to doubt. But a careful review of the (...) literature shows neither to be the case. We are far from scholarly consensus about Hume's vision of philosophical anatomy and painting, and what unity there is rests on extremely unsteady ground and leaves important questions unanswered. In this article, my aim is three-fold: first, to show that the appearance of well-grounded scholarly unity about Humes distinction is illusory; second, to dispose of those misinterpretations of Hume's distinction that are sufficiently at odds with the text that they can be demonstrated to be false in this context; and third, to explore in sufficient detail the numerous questions one might raise about the content of Hume's distinction so that the stage might at last be properly set for a truly full account of Hume's distinction between philosophical anatomy and painting. (shrink)
Framing cosmologies: the anthropology of worlds.AllenAbramson &Martin Holbraad (eds.) -2014 - Manchester: Manchester University Press.detailsHow might the anthropological study of cosmologies – the ways in which the horizons of human worlds are imagined and engaged – illuminate understandings of the contemporary world? This book addresses this question by bringing together anthropologists whose research is informed by a concern with cosmological dimensions of social life in different ethnographic settings. Its overall aim is to reaffirm the value of the cosmological frame as a continuing source of analytical insight. Attending to the novel cosmological formations that emerge (...) in such fields as modern markets, political landscapes, digital media and popular cinema, the book's key task is to explore how modern circumstances are constituted within the variable imagination of worlds and their horizons. It will be of interest to all students and researchers in anthropology, as well as scholars in fields as diverse as film studies, cultural studies, comparative religion, science and technology studies, and broader social theory. (shrink)
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Sympathy and Hume's Spectator‐Centered, Theory of Virtue.KateAbramson -2008 - In Elizabeth Schmidt Radcliffe,A Companion to Hume. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 240–256.detailsThis chapter contains section titled: Humean Moral Sentiments as Responsibility Conferring Exclusion and Humean Moral Disapproval A Spectator's Standard of Virtue Looking Forward References Further Reading.
The Demise of the AMA’s Mission to Improve Public Health.JohnAbramson -2023 -Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 66 (2):312-326.detailsABSTRACT:Much has been written about the deplorable state of American health care, but rarely with the wealth of historical and political information packed into Peter Swenson’s Disorder: A History of Reform, Reaction, and Money in American Medicine (2021). In this meticulously researched and comprehensive study of the role of organized medicine, particularly the American Medical Association (AMA) and affiliated state and county medical societies, Swenson provides detailed insight into the AMA’s political evolution from a force advocating progressive reforms to a (...) protective guild backed by powerful economic and ideological interests. Swenson addresses the conflicts leading to and arising from these movements, always with an eye on the profession’s failure over the last century to fulfill its implicit social contract. Swenson describes the American medical disorder without fear or favor, including a public health system in disarray, defective government regulation of drugs, unchecked and concealed commercial influence on medical research, publications, and clinical guidelines. Swenson’s hope is clear: that a progressively reformed AMA—combined with a broad coalition of concerned citizens and legislators—will lead the medical profession back to its rightful mission. (shrink)
From “Either-Or” to “When and How”: A Context-Dependent Model of Culture in Action.Corey M.Abramson -2012 -Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 42 (2):155-180.detailsIn this article, I outline a framework for the sociological study of culture that connects three intertwined elements of human culture and demonstrates the concrete contexts under which each most critically influences actions and their subsequent outcomes. In contrast to models that cast motivations, resources, and meanings as competing explanations of how culture affects action, I argue that these are fundamental constituent elements of culture that are inseparable, interdependent, and simultaneously operative. Which element provides the strongest link to action, and (...) how this link operates, must be understood as a function of the actor's position within wider social contexts. I argue that on average motivations have the most discernable link to action within a social strata, cultural resources provide the strongest link across strata, and meanings have the greatest direct influence when codified and sanctioned. I then offer a reframing and synthesis that reintegrates previously “competing” theories of culture into a more holistic context-dependent model of culture in action. Finally, I use evidence from prior empirical research, as well as new data from an ongoing ethnographic study of health behaviors among the aged, to show how various elements of culture are concretely linked to action in eight different social contexts. In doing so, I provide a roadmap for the transition out of the “either-or” logic underlying much of cultural theory and reemphasize the importance of the classical sociological concern for “when” and “how” various aspects of culture influence action and outcomes in concrete social contexts. (shrink)
Hume's Peculiar Sentiments: The Evolution of Hume's Moral Philosophy.KateAbramson -1997 - Dissertation, The University of ChicagodetailsThis dissertation examines the evolution of David Hume's ethics, focusing on moral judgment, moral motivation and ethical normativity. In chapter one, I argue that previous scholars have missed a crucial distinction between two different sympathetic processes at work in the Treatise. The first sympathetic process, "particular sympathy" is analogous to ordinary empathy and variable in just the way empathy is, but a second, non-variable process, "extensive sympathy" is the source of our moral sentiments. In chapter two, I give an account (...) of Hume's understanding of ethical normativity in the Treatise, arguing that he holds that society, our intimate relationships, and even our ability to be actively concerned with our long-term interests all depend on our adopting extensive sympathy as a standard by which to regulate our character and our passions. The view of moral motivation which then emerges is one on which our moral sentiments play the role of redirecting our natural passions and desires. ;In chapters three and four, I consider the second Enquiry, arguing that what had changed by the time of that work was not primarily the doctrine of Hume's ethics, but his view of the project of writing moral philosophy. In the Treatise, Hume seeks to explain and justify moral standards and judgments, while in the second Enquiry Hume also seeks to inspire people to regulate their lives by those standards and judgments. Only if we are alert to Hume's project in the second Enquiry will we at last resolve debates over whether Hume abandoned the doctrine of sympathy by the time of that work. Similarly, we need to understand the project of that work if we are to understand the section therein on our "interested obligation to virtue," and the appendix to that work called, "A Dialogue." ;In concluding, I place Hume against the map of contemporary ethics, arguing that philosophers with a broad variety of non-Humean and Humean committments have reason to take Hume's ethics seriously, in part because the account of Hume's ethics for which I have argued changes the map of contemporary ethics. (shrink)
The Leadership Archetype: A Jungian Analysis of Similarities between Modern Leadership Theory and the Abraham Myth in the Judaic–Christian Tradition.Neil RemingtonAbramson -2007 -Journal of Business Ethics 72 (2):115-129.detailsArchetypal psychology suggests the possibility of a leadership archetype representing the unconscious preferences of human beings as a species about the appropriate relationships between leaders and followers. Mythological analysis compared God’s leadership in the Abraham myth with modern visionary, ethical and situational leadership to find similarities reflecting continuities in human thinking about leadership over as long as 3600 years. God’s leadership behavior is very modern except that God is generally more relationship oriented. The leadership archetype that emerges is of a (...) leader that develops his/her follower by reliably maintaining a vision, behaving according to firm ethical values even when it weakens the leader’s authority, accepting suffering when the follower is unreliable, and always forgiving even when the follower behaves with hubris in an attempt to overthrow the leader. If God’s leadership principles were mandatory in management, many dysfunctional leaders would be disqualified and many of the negative consequences of poor leadership might be averted. (shrink)
Two portraits of the Humean moral agent.KateAbramson -2002 -Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83 (4):301–334.detailsAmong contemporary ethicists, Hume is perhaps best known for his views about morality’s practical import and his spectator-centered account of moral evaluation. Yet according to the so-called “spectator complaint”, these two aspects of Hume’s moral theory cannot be reconciled with one another. I argue that the answer to the spectator complaint lies in Hume’s account of “goodness” and “greatness of mind”. Through a discussion of these two virtues, Hume makes clear the connection between his views about moral motivation and his (...) understanding of moral evaluation by providing us with two portraits of the Humean moral agent. (shrink)
Σ1-separation.Fred G.Abramson -1979 -Journal of Symbolic Logic 44 (3):374 - 382.detailsLet A be a standard transitive admissible set. Σ 1 -separation is the principle that whenever X and Y are disjoint Σ A 1 subsets of A then there is a Δ A 1 subset S of A such that $X \subseteq S$ and $Y \cap S = \varnothing$ . Theorem. If A satisfies Σ 1 -separation, then (1) If $\langle T_n\mid n is a sequence of trees on ω each of which has at most finitely many infinite paths in (...) A then the function $n\mapsto$ (set of infinite paths in A through T n ) is in A. (2) If A is not closed under hyperjump and α = On A then A has in it a nonstandard model of V = L whose ordinal standard part is α. Theorem. Let α be any countable admissible ordinal greater than ω. Then there is a model of Σ 1 -separation whose height is α. (shrink)
Kierkegaardian Confessions: The Relationship Between Moral Reasoning and Failure to be Promoted. [REVIEW]Neil RemingtonAbramson -2011 -Journal of Business Ethics 98 (2):199 - 216.detailsKierkegaard's theory of pre-ethical, aesthetic, ethical, and religious spheres of moral reasoning was applied to the case of an individual rejected for promotion to full professor. The evaluators seemed to represent the public morality of the profession, assumed that they represented the highest level of moral reasoning, and judged that the candidate represented a private morality based on a lower level of moral reasoning. The article questioned the view that moral reasoning could be discerned from one's actions. It was paradoxical (...) that different spheres seemed to produce similar kinds of actions, though for differing reasons, making identification difficult. It was easy for the evaluators to confuse spheres representing private moralities and to conclude, based on the candidate's research record, that she/he was unsuitable for promotion. It was equally difficult for the candidate to discern whether the evaluators' moral reasoning represented the public morality of the profession, or a pre-ethical need by the evaluators to appear in solidarity with the public morality. This made it difficult for the candidate to know whether the evaluators' recommendations represented absolute standards that would be applied to any future re-application, or not. The article's contribution was the identification of different spheres of moral reasoning, the interactions between spheres, and the paradoxical indeterminacy of gauging moral reasoning from moral action. It supported Kierkegaard's view that the highest truth attainable by an individual was "an objective uncertainty" and that this truth was lost in self-deception when one claimed to have been able to solve the paradox. (shrink)
Uncertainty, Decision Science, and Policy Making: A Manifesto for a Research Agenda.David Tuckett,Antoine Mandel,Diana Mangalagiu,AllenAbramson,Jochen Hinkel,Konstantinos Katsikopoulos,Alan Kirman,Thierry Malleret,Igor Mozetic,Paul Ormerod,Robert Elliot Smith,Tommaso Venturini &Angela Wilkinson -2015 -Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 27 (2):213-242.detailsABSTRACTThe financial crisis of 2008 was unforeseen partly because the academic theories that underpin policy making do not sufficiently account for uncertainty and complexity or learned and evolved human capabilities for managing them. Mainstream theories of decision making tend to be strongly normative and based on wishfully unrealistic “idealized” modeling. In order to develop theories of actual decision making under uncertainty, we need new methodologies that account for how human actors often manage uncertain situations “well enough.” Some possibly helpful methodologies, (...) drawing on digital science, focus on the role of emotions in determining people's choices; others examine how people construct narratives that enable them to act; still others combine qualitative with quantitative data. (shrink)
Self-discrepancy and suicidal ideation.Michelle M. Cornette,Timothy J. Strauman,Lyn Y.Abramson &Andrew M. Busch -2009 -Cognition and Emotion 23 (3):504-527.detailsThe purpose of this study was to determine whether certain self-discrepancies predicted the extent to which individuals experienced suicidal ideation. The Selves Questionnaire (an idiographic measure of self-beliefs) was administered to 152 undergraduate participants, who also completed measures of hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation. Three kinds of self-discrepancies were associated with suicidal ideation: actual:ideal, actual:ought, and actual:ideal:future. Covariance structure analyses indicated a best-fitting model suggesting that, actual:ideal and actual:ideal:future self-discrepancies contribute to hopelessness, which in turn contributes to depression and suicidal (...) ideation. The findings suggest that self-discrepancy, as a form of negative self-evaluation, may contribute to an individual's risk for suicidal ideation. Moreover, the findings point to an integration of self-discrepancy theory with hopelessness theory. (shrink)
Śāṅkara Vedāntamāṃ Avidyāvicāra.Nagīna Jī Śāha -2001 - Amadāvāda: Prāptisthāna Sarasvatī Pustaka Bhaṇḍāra.detailsConcept of Avidyā in the Vedānta philosophy of Śaṅkarācārya; a study.
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Teorii︠a︡ informat︠s︡ii i obrazovanie: uslovii︠a︡ vyzhivanii︠a︡ Rossii.S. I. Vali︠a︡nskiĭ -2005 - Moskva: AIRO-XX.detailsAktualnejshaya problema segodnyashnego dnya - vyhod iz sistemy globalnyh krizisov, s kotorymi stolknulos naselenie Zemli, i perehod k "obschestvu razumnogo potrebleniya," obschestvu znaniya. Ogromnuyu rol v etom protsesse igraet obrazovanie - sotsialnyj institut, odnoj iz zadach kotorogo yavlyaetsya sohranenie i translyatsiya znaniya v sotsialnyh sistemah. A chto takoe informatsiya? Iznachalno ee teoriya voznikla dlya nuzhd tehniki. Iz-za etogo mnogie ee aspekty ostalis ne razvitymi, potomu chto oni prosto ne byli vazhnymi dlya tehnicheskih sistem. Primenenie teorii informatsii k biologicheskim sistemam uzhe (...) zastavilo zanyatsya voprosom vozniknoveniya novoj informatsii. A rabota s sotsialnymi sistemami vydvinula takie ponyatiya, kak tsennost, effektivnost, slozhnost informatsii i t. d. Bolee polnyj podhod k teorii informatsii, v svoyu ochered, pozvolyaet najti resheniya ryada problem v teorii sotsialnyh sistem, v chastnosti v obrazovanii, i pokazat puti optimizatsii etih protsessov. (shrink)
Filosofii︠a︡ nauchno-innovat︠s︡ionnoĭ dei︠a︡telʹnosti.S. A. Lebedev -2012 - Moskva: Paradigma. Edited by I︠U︡. A. Kovylin.detailsВ монографии рассмотрены философские аспекты научно-инновационной деятельности: общие закономерности ее развития, структура научно-инновационной деятельности, ее категориальная основа, методы и условия эффективности. Для магистров, аспирантов.
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"Tretiĭ Zavet" ott︠s︡a Sergii︠a︡ Bulgakova.N. K. Bonet︠s︡kai︠a︡ -2023 - Sankt-Peterburg: Aleteĭi︠a︡.detailsTri filosofskikh "opravdanii︠a︡" (teodit︠s︡ei︠a︡, antropodit︠s︡ei︠a︡, kosmodit︠s︡ei︠a︡ Serebri︠a︡nogo veka) -- Russkai︠a︡ sofiologii︠a︡ i kabbala -- S. Bulgakov : nauka sofiologii︠a︡ (ili konet︠s︡ religii) -- Tretiĭ Zavet o. Sergii︠a︡ Bulgakova -- Tretʹezavetnai︠a︡ misterii︠a︡ ("malai︠a︡" trilogii︠a︡ Bulgakova).
Rat︠s︡ionalisticheskai︠a︡ tradit︠s︡ii︠a︡ i sovremennostʹ.M. T. Stepani︠a︡nt︠s︡ (ed.) -1988 - Moskva: "Nauka," Glav. red. vostochnoĭ lit-ry.detailsv. 1. Indii︠a︡ -- v. 2. Blizhniĭ i Sredniĭ Vostok -- v. 3. Kitaĭ.
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Yogavāśiṣṭhaḥ: Mahārāmāyaṇam: Hindībhāṣānuvādasahitaḥ vistr̥taviṣayānukramaṇikā-samīkṣātmakabhūmikā-ślokānukramaṇīyutaśca.Kr̥ṣṇapanta Śāstri,Mūlaśaṅkara Śāstrī &Madan Mohan Agrawal (eds.) -2011 - Naī Dillī: Anya prāti sthāna, Caukhambā Pabliśiṅga Hāūsa.detailsClassical verse work, expounding the early Vedantic approach in Hindu philosophy; Sanskrit text with Hindi translation and exhaustive introduction.
Sambandhavicchittiḥ: śāstreṣu sambandhaḥ.Bhagavata Śaraṇa Śukla (ed.) -2013 - Vārāṇasī: Śāradāsaṃskr̥tasaṃsthānam.detailsContributed articles on relations in Indian philosophy and Sanskrit grammar.