State boredom results in optimistic perception of risk and increased risk-taking.Shane W. Bench,Jac’lynBera &Jaylee Cox -2021 -Cognition and Emotion 35 (4):649-663.detailsBoredom is a frequently experienced and unpleasant state (Bench & Lench, 2019; Danckert et al., 2018; Eastwood et al., 2012) that people are experiencing more frequently (Weybright et al., 2020). W...
What's Really Wrong with Constructive Empiricism? Van Fraassen and the Metaphysics of Modality.Jac Ladyman -2000 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51 (4):837-856.detailsConstructive empiricism is supposed to offer a positive alternative to scientific realism that dispenses with the need for metaphysics. I first review the terms of the debate before arguing that the standard objections to constructive empiricism are not decisive. I then explain van Fraassen's views on modality and counterfactuals, and argue that, because constructive empiricism recommends on epistemological grounds belief in the empirical adequacy rather than the truth of theories, it requires that there be an objective modal distinction between the (...) observable and the unobservable. This conclusion is incompatible with van Fraassen's empiricism. Finally I explain some further problems for constructive empiricism that arise when we consider modal matters. (shrink)
Science, Metaphysics and Method.Jac Ladyman -2008 -Philosophy of Science 75 (5).detailsWhile there are many examples of metaphysical theorising being heuristically and intellectually important in the progress of scientific knowledge, many people wonder how metaphysics not closely informed and inspired by empirical science could lead to rival or even supplementary knowledge about the world. This paper assesses the merits of a popular defence of the a priori methodology of metaphysics that goes as follows. The first task of the metaphysician, like the scientist, is to construct a hypothesis that accounts for the (...) phenomena in question. It is then argued that among the possible metaphysical theories, the empirical evidence underdetermines the right one, just as the empirical evidence underdetermines the right scientific theory. In the latter case it is widely agreed that we must break the underdetermination by appeal to theoretical virtues, and this is just what should be and largely is done in metaphysics. This is part of a more general line of argument that defends metaphysics on the basis of its alleged continuity with highly theoretical science. In what follows metaphysics and theoretical science are compared in order to see whether the above style of defence of a priori metaphysics is successful. (shrink)
On Being Linguistically At Sea Back To the Roots.Marc-André Béra -1989 -Diogenes 37 (145):77-97.details“Je doute qu'il y ait un dialogue de la chenille et du papillon”A. MatrauxThe most ordinary events astonish only those who think about them. What can be more natural than two people talking? They are from the same country, they speak the same language, they understand one another. They have things to say to each other and they say them. Anyone who would try to question such evident truisms would be seen as attempting to be a spinner of paradoxes. And (...) yet…First of all is it as natural as it appears that two people should stop and speak? To an impartial observer of the behavior of one's peers this would not seem to be the case. Most of the people we rub elbows with daily—in the street, in the subway, on a beach, in a hotel or even in the apartment building where we have lived for ten years—are people whom we do not accost and to whom we never speak. In order for people to speak to one another, certain circumstances must exist; there must be a ritual of introduction and a mutual consent that often occurs only after a certain resistance has been overcome. There are important differences to be observed in this respect among different peoples and, within the same nation, among people of different classes. But in every case dialogue is preceded by a preparatory phase of prudent observation, reserve and mistrust during which the partners size one another up and seek to situate themselves in relation to each other. (shrink)
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Explanation and Scientific realism.Jac Ladyman -2005 -Metascience 14.detailsReview Symposium on Peter Lipton: 'Inference to the Best Explanation', London: Routledge, 2004.
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What Does it Mean to Say a Physical System is Implements a Computation?Jac Ladyman -2009 -Theoretical Computer Science 410 (4-5).detailsWhen we are concerned with the logical form of a computation and its formal properties, then it can be theoretically described in terms of mathematical and logical functions and relations between abstract entities. However, actual computation is realised by some physical process, and the latter is of course subject to physical laws and the laws of thermodynamics in particular. An issue that has been the subject of much controversy is that of whether or not there are any systematic connections between (...) the logical properties of computations considered abstractly and the thermodynamical properties of their concrete physical realizations. Landauer [R. Landauer, Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process, IBM Journal of Research and Development 5 183–191. Reprinted in Leff and Rex ] proposed such a general connection, known as Landauer’s Principle. To resolve this matter an analysis of the notion of the implementation of a computation by a physical system is clearly required. Another issue that calls for an analysis of implementation is that of realism about computation. The account of implementation presented here is based on the notion of an L-machine. This is a hybrid physical-logical entity that combines a physical device, a specification of which physical states of that device correspond to various logical states, and an evolution of that device which corresponds to the logical transformation L. The most general form of Landauer’s Principle can be precisely stated in terms of L-machines, namely that the logical irreversibility of L implies the thermodynamic irreversibility of every corresponding L-machine. (shrink)
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A Comparison Between Models of Gravity Induced Decoherence.SayantaniBera,Sandro Donadi,Kinjalk Lochan &Tejinder P. Singh -2015 -Foundations of Physics 45 (12):1537-1560.detailsIt has been suggested in the literature that spatial coherence of the wave function can be dynamically suppressed by fluctuations in the spacetime geometry. These fluctuations represent the minimal uncertainty that is present when one probes spacetime geometry with a quantum probe. Two similar models have been proposed, one by Diósi and one by Karolyhazy and collaborators, based on apparently unrelated minimal spacetime bounds. The two models arrive at somewhat different expressions for the dependence of the localization coherence length on (...) the mass and size of the quantum object. In the present article we compare and contrast the two models from three aspects: comparison of the spacetime bounds, method of calculating decoherence time, comparison of noise correlation. We show that under certain conditions the minimal spacetime bounds in the two models can be derived one from the other. We argue that the methods of calculating the decoherence time are equivalent. We re-derive the two-point correlation for the fluctuation potential in the K-model, and confirm the earlier result of Diósi and Lukács that it is non-white noise, unlike in the D-model, where the corresponding correlation is white noise in time. This seems to be the origin of the different results in the two models. We derive the non-Markovian master equation for the K-model. We argue that the minimal spacetime bound cannot predict the noise correlation uniquely, and additional criteria are necessary to accurately determine the effects of gravitationally induced decoherence. (shrink)
Spacetime Fluctuations and a Stochastic Schrödinger–Newton Equation.SayantaniBera,Priyanka Giri &Tejinder P. Singh -2017 -Foundations of Physics 47 (7):897-910.detailsWe propose a stochastic modification of the Schrödinger–Newton equation which takes into account the effect of extrinsic spacetime fluctuations. We use this equation to demonstrate gravitationally induced decoherence of two gaussian wave-packets, and obtain a decoherence criterion similar to those obtained in the earlier literature in the context of effects of gravity on the Schrödinger equation.
Narrating the Catastrophe: An Artist's Dialogue with Deleuze and Ricoeur.Jac Saorsa -2011 - Intellect.detailsA highly original—and visually appealing—take on a high-profile issue in contemporary critical debate, this book will appeal to all those interested in visual arts and philosophy.
The wild animal as a research animal.Jac A. A. Swart -2004 -Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 17 (2):181-197.detailsMost discussions on animal experimentation refer to domesticated animals and regulations are tailored to this class of animals. However, wild animals are also used for research, e.g., in biological field research that is often directed to fundamental ecological-evolutionary questions or to conservation goals. There are several differences between domesticated and wild animals that are relevant for evaluation of the acceptability of animal experiments. Biological features of wild animals are often more critical as compared with domesticated animals because of their survival (...) effects. An important issue is what is called here ``natural suffering'''': the suffering from natural circumstances. Should this type of suffering be taken into account when suffering from experimentation is evaluated? As an answer, it is suggested that ``natural functioning'''' should be considered as an additional standard in the evaluation of wild animal experimentation. Finally, two topics related to the ecological context are considered. Firstly, the often inevitable involvement of non-research animals in wild animal experimentation, and secondly, the eco-centric approach to nature conservation. According to the latter position, animals are subordinated to ecosystems. All these aspects make the evaluation of wild animal experiments much more complex than experiments with domesticated animals. Preliminary scores are proposed to deal with these aspects. It is argued that this should not lead to a more complex governmental regulation, since an effective maintenance and control are hard to realize and one may loose the cooperation of researchers themselves. In addition, non-governmental professional organizations such as research societies and funding organizations play a pivotal role. (shrink)
Endurances.Jac Fol -2015 -Multitudes 57 (3):210-218.detailsConjointement, nous présentons trois-quatre artistes associés quant à leurs exigences et leur extrême volonté de continuer, et comme valeur architecturale (Barto & Barto), et comme valeur affranchie (Xatrec), et comme valeur contemporaine (Mathieu Mercier).
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Save Our Senses.Jac Fol -2015 -Multitudes 57 (3):129-137.detailsSupposant que l’art, après avoir été valuation, en était devenu l’intermédiaire, nous approchons deux modes qui peuvent générer sa fin ; d’une part, le savant raisonnement des faits artistiques qui en explicite et modélise les rouages et, corrélativement, l’exploitation systématique et marchande de toutes ses ressources émotionnelles… Tout en espérant, au bout du compte, que son essentielle inutilité de valeur sans terme lui sauve la mise.
Wild Animals in Our Backyard. A Contextual Approach to the Intrinsic Value of Animals.Jac A. A. Swart &Jozef Keulartz -2011 -Acta Biotheoretica 59 (2):185-200.detailsAs a reflection on recent debates on the value of wild animals we examine the question of the intrinsic value of wild animals in both natural and man-made surroundings. We examine the concepts being wild and domesticated. In our approach we consider animals as dependent on their environment, whether it is a human or a natural environment. Stressing this dependence we argue that a distinction can be made between three different interpretations of a wild animal’s intrinsic value: a species-specific, a (...) naturalistic, and an individualistic interpretation. According to the species-specific approach, the animal is primarily considered as a member of its species; according to the naturalistic interpretation, the animal is seen as dependent on the natural environment; and according to the individualistic approach, the animal is seen in terms of its relationship to humans. In our opinion, the species-specific interpretation, which is the current dominant view, should be supplemented—but not replaced by—naturalistic and individualistic interpretations, which focus attention on the relationship of the animal to the natural and human environments, respectively. Which of these three interpretations is the most suitable in a given case depends on the circumstances and the opportunity for the animal to grow and develop according to its nature and capabilities. (shrink)
Cognitive and Motor Learning in Internally-Guided Motor Skills.KrishnBera,Anuj Shukla &Raju S. Bapi -2021 -Frontiers in Psychology 12:604323.detailsSeveral canonical experimental paradigms (e.g., serial reaction time task, discrete sequence production task,m×ntask) have been proposed to study the typical behavioral phenomenon and the nature of learning in sequential keypress tasks. A characteristic feature of most paradigms is that they are representative ofexternally-specifiedsequencing—motor tasks where the environment or task paradigm extrinsically provides the sequence of stimuli, i.e., the responses are stimulus-driven. Previous studies utilizing such canonical paradigms have largely overlooked the learning behaviors in a more realistic class of motor tasks (...) that involveinternally-guidedsequencing—where the sequence of motor actions is self-generated or internally-specified. In this work, we use the grid-navigation task as an instance of internally-guided sequencing to investigate the nature of learning in such paradigms. The participants performed Grid-Sailing Task (GST), which required navigating (by executing sequential keypresses) a 5 × 5 grid from start to goal (SG) position while using a particular key-mapping (KM) among the three cursor-movement directions and the three keyboard buttons. The participants performed two behavioral experiments—Single-SG and Mixed-SG condition. The Single-SG condition required performing GST on a single SG position repeatedly, whereas the Mixed-SG condition involved performing GST using the same KM on two novel SG positions presented in a random, inter-mixed manner. In the Single-SG condition, we show that motor learning contributes to the sequence-specific learning in GST with the repeated execution of the same trajectories. In the Mixed-SG condition, since the participants utilize the previously learned KM, we anticipate a transfer of learning from the Single-SG condition. The acquisition and transfer of a KM-specific internal model facilitates efficient trajectory planning on novel SG conditions. The acquisition of such a KM-specific internal model amounts to trajectory-independent cognitive learning in GST. We show that cognitive learning contributes to the learning in GST by showing transfer-related performance improvements in the Mixed-SG condition. In sum, we show the role of cognitive and motor learning processes in internally-guided sequencing and further make a case for using GST-like grid-navigation paradigms in investigating internally guided skill learning. (shrink)
Review of 'Identity in Physics: A Historical, Philosophical, and Formal Analysis', French, S.Jac Ladyman -2007 -Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007.detailsReview of Steven French, Décio Krause: 'Identity in Physics: A Historical, Philosophical and Formal Analysis', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
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Who is the African Farmer? The Importance of Actor Representations in the Debate About Biotechnology Crops in Africa.Koen Beumer &Jac A. A. Swart -2021 -Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 34 (1):1-25.detailsThe discussion about the impact of agricultural biotechnology on Africa is deeply divided and contains widely diverging claims about the impact of biotechnology on African farmers. Building upon literature on the ‘good farmer’ that highlights that farmers identities are an important factor in explaining the success or failure of agricultural change, we argue that the identity of the farmer is an undervalued yet crucial aspect for understanding the debate about the impact of agricultural biotechnology on African farmers. In this article (...) we therefore investigate what farmers’ identities are implicated in the arguments about the impact of biotechnology on African farmers. We aim to identify the main fault lines in different accounts of the African biotechnology farmer by analysing the identities ascribed to them in two prominent cases of controversy: the debates at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and the discussion about the impact of biotechnology on smallholder farmers in the Makhathini flats in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Our findings demonstrate that arguments about biotechnology are informed by diverging conceptions of who the African farmer is, what is important for the African farmer, and what role the African farmer has in relation to agricultural biotechnology. These findings remain relevant for current discussions on gene editing technologies like CRISPR-Cas. Openly discussing these different views on the identity of smallholder farmers is crucial for moving forward in the biotechnology controversy and can inform future attempts to elicit the farmer’s voice. (shrink)
How to be a spiritual rebel: a dogma-free guide to breaking all the rules & finding fearless freedom.Jac O'Keeffe -2019 - Oakland, CA: Non-Duality Press, an imprint of New Harbinger Publications.detailsDo you ever feel flawed, anxious, or afraid--like something might be wrong, but you're not sure what? The truth is, we all feel that way sometimes (or even most of the time!). We're trapped by a limited sense of self, held back by our own anxieties, fears, and compulsions. Mindfulness can offer intermittent relief from these contrived narratives, showing us how to be present, open, and available in the moment by observing our thoughts and feelings. This is all wonderful--until the (...) fears and doubts rush back in. How to Be a Spiritual Rebel offers more than simple mindfulness. Drawing on spiritual practices and recent findings in neuroscience, this groundbreaking guide will help you examine the psychological barriers that block your spiritual growth and keep you from embracing true liberation. You'll learn to cultivate courage, view your thoughts and feelings without letting them define you, and find guidance and support as you navigate the route to boundless freedom without fear or self-limiting attachments.If you're ready to take mindfulness--and spirituality--to the next level and experience true freedom and fulfillment, this candid, entertaining, and jargon-free guide will help point the way.--amazon.com. (shrink)
Restore politics in societal debates on new genomic techniques.Lonneke M. Poort,Jac A. A. Swart,Ruth Mampuys,Arend J. Waarlo,Paul C. Struik &Lucien Hanssen -2022 -Agriculture and Human Values 39 (4):1207-1216.detailsEnd of April 2021, the European Commission published its study on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). The study involved a consultation of Member States and stakeholders. This study reveals a split on whether current legislation should be maintained or adapted to take account of scientific progress and the risk level of NGT products. This split was predictable. New technological developments challenge both ethical viewpoints and regulatory institutions; and contribute to the growing divide between science and society that value ‘technological innovations’ differently. (...) Such controversies are often characterized as ‘unstructured’ because of nearly unbridgeable positions on entangled scientific and value-laden issues. Initiatives for stakeholder involvement, such as consultation or participation, often focus on reaching a ‘shared vision’ without exploring the diverse societal concerns and values behind these positions. To resolve the EU stalemate in NGT regulation, we advocate to bring back politics in the EU decision-making process instead of hiding it under the veil of science, the need for regulatory change and public support. A more productive and justified use of genuine stakeholder participation is possible, if participants and deliberation design meet the criteria of what we call _participation ethics_. Drawing from our applied experience exploring the ethics of genetic modification, we believe that this approach can lead to more robust political decision-making and restore societal confidence in the governance of contested issues such as NGTs. (shrink)