Explainable AI under contract and tort law: legal incentives and technical challenges.Philipp Hacker,Ralf Krestel,StefanGrundmann &Felix Naumann -2020 -Artificial Intelligence and Law 28 (4):415-439.detailsThis paper shows that the law, in subtle ways, may set hitherto unrecognized incentives for the adoption of explainable machine learning applications. In doing so, we make two novel contributions. First, on the legal side, we show that to avoid liability, professional actors, such as doctors and managers, may soon be legally compelled to use explainable ML models. We argue that the importance of explainability reaches far beyond data protection law, and crucially influences questions of contractual and tort liability for (...) the use of ML models. To this effect, we conduct two legal case studies, in medical and corporate merger applications of ML. As a second contribution, we discuss the trade-off between accuracy and explainability and demonstrate the effect in a technical case study in the context of spam classification. (shrink)
Erkenntnistheorie. Positionen zwischen Tradition und Gegenwart.ThomasGrundmann (ed.) -2001 - mentis.detailsWie sieht die korrekte Struktur der Rechtfertigung menschlichen Wissens aus? Welches sind ihre legitimen Quellen? Wie groß ist der Umfang unserer gerechtfertigten Meinungen? Von der normativen Erkenntnistheorie erhoffen wir uns Antworten auf diese und ähnliche Fragen. Allzu oft wird dabei übersehen, daß die Antworten ganz entscheidend davon abhängen, was wir unter 'Rechtfertigung' verstehen. Mit den Beiträgen einer internationalen Autorenschaft möchte das Buch durch die Konfrontation der traditionellen Erkenntnistheorie mit ihren Gegnern die versteckten Prämissen und Implikationen der traditionellen Perspektive transparenter machen. (...) Mit Beiträgen von: Thomas Bartelborth, Peter Baumann, Sven Bernecker, Elke Brendel, Fred Dretske, ThomasGrundmann, Frank Hofmann, Dirk Koppelberg, Hilary Kornblith, Wolfgang Spohn, Catrin Misselhorn, Richard Schantz, Christiane Schildknecht, Oliver Scholz, Karsten Stüber, Marcus Willaschek, Michael Williams. (shrink)
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What are universities for?Stefan Collini -2012 - New York: Penguin Books.detailsStefan Collini challenges the common claim that universities need to show that they help to make money in order to justify getting more money.
The nature of rational intuitions and a fresh look at the explanationist objection.OmasGrundmann -2007 -Grazer Philosophische Studien 74 (1):69-87.detailsIn the first part of this paper I will characterize the specific nature of rational intuition. It will be claimed that rational intuition is an evidential state with modal content that has an a priori source. This claim will be defended against several objections. The second part of the paper deals with the so-called explanationist objection against rational intuition as a justifying source. According to the best reading of this objection, intuition cannot justify any judgment since there is no metaphysical (...) explanation of its reliability. It will be argued that in the case of intuition the very demand of such an explanation is based on a category mistake. (shrink)
Measuring the Unmeasurable.Stefan L. K. Gruijters &Bram P. I. Fleuren -2018 -Human Nature 29 (1):33-44.detailsWithin evolutionary biology, life-history theory is used to explain cross-species differences in allocation strategies regarding reproduction, maturation, and survival. Behavioral scientists have recently begun to conceptualize such strategies as a within-species individual characteristic that is predictive of behavior. Although life history theory provides an important framework for behavioral scientists, the psychometric approach to life-history strategy measurement—as operationalized by K-factors—involves conceptual entanglements. We argue that current psychometric approaches attempting to identify K-factors are based on an unwarranted conflation of functional descriptions and (...) proximate mechanisms—a conceptual mix-up that may generate unviable hypotheses and invites misinterpretation of empirical findings. The assumptions underlying generic psychometric methodology do not allow measurement of functionally defined variables; rather these methods are confined to Mayr’s proximate causal realm. We therefore conclude that K-factor scales lack validity, and that life history strategy cannot be identified with psychometrics as usual. To align theory with methodology, suggestions for alternative methods and new avenues are proposed. (shrink)
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How numerals support new cognitive capacities.Stefan Buijsman -2020 -Synthese 197 (9):3779-3796.detailsMathematical cognition has become an interesting case study for wider theories of cognition. Menary :1–20, 2015) argues that arithmetical cognition not only shows that internalist theories of cognition are wrong, but that it also shows that the Hypothesis of Extended Cognition is right. I examine this argument in more detail, to see if arithmetical cognition can support such conclusions. Specifically, I look at how the use of numerals extends our arithmetical abilities from quantity-related innate systems to systems that can deal (...) with exact numbers of arbitrary size. I then argue that the system underlying our grasp of small numbers is an unhelpful case study for Menary; it doesn’t support an argument for externalism over internalism. The system for large numbers, on the other hand, clearly displays important interactions between public numeral systems and our cognitive processes. I argue that the large number system supports an argument against internalist theories of arithmetical cognition, but that one cannot conclude that the Hypothesis of Extended Cognition is correct. In other words, the large number case doesn’t decide between the Hypothesis of Extended Cognition and the Hypothesis of EMbedded Cognition. (shrink)
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Management of Social Issues in Supply Chains: A Literature Review Exploring Social Issues, Actions and Performance Outcomes.Sadaat Ali Yawar &Stefan Seuring -2017 -Journal of Business Ethics 141 (3):621-643.detailsThe social dimension of sustainable development and its impact on supply chains have so far received less attention than the environmental dimension. The aim of the research is to explore the intersection between social issues, corporate social responsibility actions and performance outcomes. A structured literature review of social issues in supply chains is presented, analysing the research published so far in peer-reviewed publications. Linking CSR and supply chain management allows the exploration of strategies and performance outcomes with a focus on (...) social issues. The corresponding responsible supply chain actions adopted by firms to address these issues are grouped into communication, compliance and supplier development strategies. Social and economic as well as buyer and supplier performance are identified as the key outcomes, but the interactions among these constructs would require further research. This paper contributes to the understanding of managing social issues in supply chains by linking social issues, responsible supply chain actions and performance outcomes. The paper consolidates related research by offering an overarching conceptual framework and points to future research directions and simultaneously provides insights into the management of social issues in supply chains. (shrink)
Converging evidence: Bringing together experimental and corpus data on the association of verbs and constructions.Stefan Th Gries,Beate Hampe &Doris Schönefeld -2005 -Cognitive Linguistics 16 (4):635-676.detailsMuch recent work in Cognitive Linguistics and neighbouring disciplines has adopted a so-called usage-based perspective in which generalizations are based on the analysis of authentic usage data provided by computerized corpora. However, the analysis of such data does not always utilize methodological findings from other disciplines to avoid analytical pitfalls and, at the same time, generate robust results. A case in point is the strategy of using corpus frequencies. In this paper, we take up a recently much debated issue from (...) construction grammar concerning the association between verbs and argument-structure constructions, and investigate a construction, the English as-predicative, in order to test the predictive power of different kinds of frequency data against that of a recent, more refined corpus-based approach, the so-called collexeme analysis. To that end, the results of the application of these corpus-based approaches to an analysis of the as predicative are compared with the results of a sentence-completion experiment. Concerning the topic under consideration, collexeme analysis is not only shown to be superior on a variety of theoretical and methodological grounds, it also significantly outperforms frequency as a predictor of subjects’ production preferences. We conclude by pointing out some implications for usage-based approaches. (shrink)
Our Science Must Establish Itself.Stefan Reiners -2020 -Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 10 (1):234-253.detailsOften denied scientific status, Völkerpsychologie was set forth as a psychological program endeavoring to find insights into the structure and content of the ‘mind’ of social groups, especially ‘peoples’, which were regarded as the prototypical manifestation of those groups. This article examines how Moritz Lazarus and Heymann Steinthal’s nineteenth-century Völkerpsychologie came to be regarded as having the status of a science, by analyzing its scientific program. I claim that these founders of Völkerpsychologie developed a moderate methodological materialism by embracing a (...) historical turn in psychology, which—to a degree—enabled a synthesis of the methodologies of the social and the natural sciences. This approach is correlated with their modus operandi, collaboration through the medium of a journal. (shrink)
Fatale Orthodoxie: Kritische Theorie auf der schiefen Bahn des Dezisionismus Eine Replik auf Fabian Freyenhagen.Roman Yos &Stefan Müller-Doohm -2018 -Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie 66 (6):788-801.detailsOur reply to Fabian Freyenhagen’s article “Was ist orthodoxe Kritische Theorie?” (DZPhil 65.3 [2017], 456-469) raises the question whether his proposal that Critical Theory only “be adequately and appropriately critical” without a program of justification spares the search for any general criteria. Answering negatively we conversely want to recall, particularly with regard to Horkheimers’s and Adornos’s Dialectic of Enlightment as well as Habermas‘s concept of an emancipatory interest, that such a criterion as a normative foundation of critique is crucial not (...) only for systematical purposes, but also recognised as necessary in this respect by Adorno, who Freyenhagen wants to play off against programs of justification. Critical Theory needs to be clear in this respect. Against this background we are questioning Freyenhagen‘s recourse to an “interest in abolishing social injustice” as the “only criterion for Critical Theory.” Because Freyenhagen ignores the fact that Critical Theory has been understood by its representatives in a twofold manner – as a theoretical program of justification for one and secondly as a cultural diagnosis – his plea for an orthodox Critical Theory is endangered by decisionism. (shrink)
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Bolzano's Notion of Grounding and the Classical Model of Science.Stefan Roski -2014 - Dissertation, Vu University AmsterdamdetailsThe dissertation provides a reconstruction of Bernard Bolzano's theory of grounding (both in early and late works) against the background of a classical conception of science and scientific explanation.
Problems for a Philosophy of Software Engineering.Stefan Gruner -2011 -Minds and Machines 21 (2):275-299.detailsOn the basis of an earlier contribution to the philosophy of computer science by Amnon Eden, this essay discusses to what extent Eden’s ‘paradigms’ of computer science can be transferred or applied to software engineering. This discussion implies an analysis of how software engineering and computer science are related to each other. The essay concludes that software engineering can neither be fully subsumed by computer science, nor vice versa. Consequently, also the philosophies of computer science and software engineering—though related to (...) each other—are not identical branches of a general philosophy of science. This also implies that not all of Eden’s earlier arguments can be directly mapped from the domain of computer science into the domain of software science. After the discussion of this main topic, the essay also points to some further problems and open issues for future studies in the philosophy of software science and engineering. (shrink)
Modeling knowledge‐based inferences in story comprehension.Stefan L. Frank,Mathieu Koppen,Leo G. M. Noordman &Wietske Vonk -2003 -Cognitive Science 27 (6):875-910.detailsA computational model of inference during story comprehension is presented, in which story situations are represented distributively as points in a high‐dimensional “situation‐state space.” This state space organizes itself on the basis of a constructed microworld description. From the same description, causal/temporal world knowledge is extracted. The distributed representation of story situations is more flexible than Golden and Rumelhart's [Discourse Proc 16 (1993) 203] localist representation.A story taking place in the microworld corresponds to a trajectory through situation‐state space. During the (...) inference process, world knowledge is applied to the story trajectory. This results in an adjusted trajectory, reflecting the inference of propositions that are likely to be the case. Although inferences do not result from a search for coherence, they do cause story coherence to increase. The results of simulations correspond to empirical data concerning inference, reading time, and depth of processing.An extension of the model for simulating story retention shows how coherence is preserved during retention without controlling the retention process. Simulation results correspond to empirical data concerning story recall and intrusion. (shrink)
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Involuntary Hospitalization of Suicidal Patients: Time for New Answers to Basic Questions?Stefan Priebe -2019 -American Journal of Bioethics 19 (10):90-92.detailsVolume 19, Issue 10, October 2019, Page 90-92.
Is The Bible Fiction?Stefan Goltzberg -2014 -Faith and Philosophy 31 (3):325-336.detailsThe aim of this paper is to show that the supposed close connection between fiction and false discourse is in fact not strong at all. In wondering whether the Bible is fiction, people quite often tend to think that if you say it is fiction, you imply it is false. In order to argue for our conclusion, Freud’s notion of illusion is analyzed, as well as work by Spinoza and Searle. From the latter, the pragmatic perspective of fiction is borrowed: (...) contrary to the semantic perspective, the pragmatic perspective is independent of the semantic notions of truth and falsity. With the aid of this perspective, the connection between being fiction and falsity is called into question. (shrink)
Le contournement de la loi est-il hypocrite?Stefan Goltzberg -2016 -Cahiers Philosophiques 145 (2):97-110.detailsUn phénomène intéressant apparaît dans de multiples cultures juridiques : afin de concilier la lettre de la loi et son esprit, certaines lois sont contournées – légalement. Ce contournement, qui consiste à vider la loi de son esprit tout en faisant mine de respecter sa formulation (un loophole en anglais), pose d’un point de vue éthique la question de savoir s’il n’y a pas là hypocrisie. La loi juive est ici étudiée car les contournements qu’elle autorise sont critiqués par ses (...) détracteurs, mais également de l’intérieur : tous les contournements ne sont pas approuvés, loin s’en faut. Le présent texte, qui se veut seulement exploratoire, essaie de montrer quels contournements sont autorisés et pour quelles raisons. (shrink)
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Events in Branching Time.Stefan Wölfl -2005 -Studia Logica 79 (2):255-282.detailsThe concept of event is one of the key notions of many theories dealing with causality or agency. In this paper we study different approaches to events that share the basic assumption that events can be analyzed fruitfully in branching-time structures. The terminological framework developed thereby may be helpful for further analyses in the fields of causality and agency and also in those fields of computational semantics, where similar concepts are considered.
From Closure Games to Strong Kleene Truth.Stefan Wintein -2016 -Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 57 (2):153-179.detailsIn this paper, we study the method of closure games, a game-theoretic valuation method for languages of self-referential truth developed by the author. We prove two theorems which jointly establish that the method of closure games characterizes all 3- and 4-valued strong Kleene fixed points in a novel, informative manner. Among others, we also present closure games which induce the minimal and maximal intrinsic fixed point of the strong Kleene schema.
On the Behavior of True and False.Stefan Wintein -2012 -Minds and Machines 22 (1):1-24.detailsUzquiano (Analysis 70:39–44, 2010 ) showed that the Hardest Logic Puzzle Ever ( HLPE ) [in its amended form due to Rabern and Rabern (Analysis 68:105–112, 2008 )] has a solution in only two questions. Uzquiano concludes his paper by noting that his solution strategy naturally suggests a harder variation of the puzzle which, as he remarks, he does not know how to solve in two questions. Wheeler and Barahona (J Philos Logic, to appear, 2011 ) formulated a three question (...) solution to Uzquiano’s puzzle and gave an information theoretic argument to establish that a two question solution for Uzquiano’s puzzle does not exist. However, their argument crucially relies on a certain conception of what it means to answer self-referential yes–no questions truly and falsely . We propose an alternative such conception which, as we show, allows one to solve Uzquiano’s puzzle in two questions. The solution strategy adopted suggests an even harder variation of Uzquiano’s puzzle which, as we will show, can also be solved in two questions. Just as all previous solutions to versions of HLPE , our solution is presented informally. The second part of the paper investigates the prospects of formally representing solutions to HLPE by exploiting theories of truth. (shrink)
Zwischen Wärmestoff und kinetischer Gastheorie—Die Behandlung der Physik der Wärme durch Hermann Helmholtz.Stefan L. Wolff -1997 -NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin 5 (1):90-103.detailsIn spite of the fact that Helmholtz made a decisive contribution to the first principle of thermodynamics by his Erhaltung der Kraft of 1847 he did not participate actively in the following debates about the nature of heat. Probably he was cautious in some way as he did not yet belong to the community of university physicists. His research concentrated on physiology at that time. On the other hand he was rather influential by his public speeches and his comprehensive reviews (...) on problems of heat even without further publications. Insofar the discussion of Helmholtz's activities on heat of the time before he became chairholder of physics in 1871 will help to understand his special relation to physics in this early period. (shrink)
Peerhood in Deep Religious Disagreements.Stefan Reining -2015 -Religious Studies (3):1-17.detailsMy aim in this article is to widen the scope of the current debate on peer disagreement by applying it to a kind of case it has hitherto remained silent about – namely, to cases of disagreement in which one of the disagreeing parties bases her opinion on a private religious experience to which the other party has no access. In order to do this, I will introduce a modified version of the notion of peerhood – a version that, in (...) contrast to the one employed in the current debate, can be fruitfully applied to the troublesome kind of case in question. I will then employ this new notion in order to specify the degree of conciliation rationally required from the disagreeing parties in the kind of case in question. (shrink)
Would They Follow What has been Laid Down? Cancer Patients' and Healthy Controls' Views on Adherence to Advance Directives Compared to Medical Staff.Stefan Sahm,R. Will &G. Hommel -2005 -Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 8 (3):297-305.detailsAdvance directives are propagated as instruments to maintain patients’ autonomy in case they can no longer decide for themselves. It has been never been examined whether patients’ and healthy persons themselves are inclined to adhere to these documents. Patients’ and healthy persons’ views on whether instructions laid down in advance directives should be followed because that is (or is not) “the right thing to do”, not because one is legally obliged to do so, were studied and compared with that of (...) medical staff. Method: Vignette study presenting five cases. Cancer patients, healthy persons, nursing staff and physicians (n = 100 in each group) were interviewed. An adherence score was calculated (maximum value 5). The adherence score is found to be low in all groups, yet lowest in patients (1.55; standard deviation 1.13) and healthy controls (1.60; 1.37). The scores are significantly different between nursing staff on the one hand and patients and healthy controls on the other (p< 0.005 and p< 0.05, respectively), and between doctors and patients (p< 0.05). Interviewees who want these documents to be followed tend to live alone and to have already written an advance directive. Conclusions: Cancer patients and healthy persons widely disregard instructions laid down in advance directives and consider them less binding than physicians and nursing staff do. Only a minority tends to adhere more to advance directives. To improve decision-making at the end of life when patients are no longer able to decide for themselves alternative concepts, such as advanced care planning, should be considered. (shrink)
Evidence in action between science and society: constructing, validating and contesting knowledge.Sarah Ehlers &Stefan Esselborn (eds.) -2022 - New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.detailsThis volume is an interdisciplinary attempt to insert a broader, historically informed perspective into current political and academic debates on the issue of evidence and the reliability of scientific knowledge. Evidence in Action is the perfect resource for all those interested in the relationship between science, technology, and the role of knowledge in society.
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The question of 'parenting'.Stefan Ramaekers &Judith Suissa -2011 -Ethics and Education 6 (2):101-108.detailsEthics and Education, Volume 6, Issue 2, Page 101-108, July 2011.