3,207 research outputs found
Abductive two-dimensionalism: a new route to the a priori identification of necessary truths
Epistemic two-dimensional semantics, advocated by Chalmers and Jackson, among others, aims to restore the link between necessity and a priority seemingly broken by Kripke, by showing how armchair access to semantic intensions provides a basis for knowledge of necessary a posteriori truths. The most compelling objections to E2D are that, for one or other reason, the requisite intensions are not accessible from the armchair. As we substantiate here, existing versions of E2D are indeed subject to such access-based objections. But, we moreover argue, the difficulty lies not with E2D but with the typically presupposed conceiving-based epistemology of intensions. Freed from that epistemology, and given the right alternativeâone where inference to the best explanation provides the operative guide to intensionsâE2D can meet access-based objections, and fulfill its promise of restoring the desirable link between necessity and a priority. This result serves as a central application of Biggs and Wilson, according to which abduction is an a priori mode of inference
KINEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF SHOULDER JOINT DURING ELEVATION MEASURED BY ULTRASOUND-BASED MEASURING SYSTEM
In order to analyse shoulder joint movements, the author uses a ZEBRIS
CMS-HS ultrasound-based movement sensor and a related measurement program
developed by the researchers in Biomechanical Laboratory in TUB. In essence, the measurement involves the determination of
the spatial position of the 16 anatomical points specified on the basis of
the coordinates of ultrasound-based triplets positioned on the upper limb,
the scapula, and the thorax, measured in the course of motion. Kinematic
characteristics of 74 shoulder joints of 50 healthy persons were identified
during elevation. A specially developed processing program was used for the
calculation and analysis of humerus elevation, scapulothoracal, and
glenohumeral angles, defined as angles of spatial vectors; the glenohumeral,
scapulothorocal and capuloglenoid ratio to be determined therefrom; and of
scapulothoracal and glenohumeral rhythm during motion. Motion of the humerus
and the scapula relative to each other was characterized by the rotation
center of the two bones and rigid bodies as well as their absolute and
relative displacement relative to each other. The biomechanical model of the
shoulder joint during elevation can be described by analysing the results of
the measurements performed
String Theory, Non-Empirical Theory Assessment, and the Context of Pursuit
In this paper, I offer an analysis of the radical disagreement over the adequacy of string theory. The prominence of string theory despite its notorious lack of empirical support is sometimes explained as a troubling case of science gone awry, driven largely by sociological mechanisms such as groupthink (e.g. Smolin 2006). Others, such as Dawid (2013), explain the controversy by positing a methodological revolution of sorts, according to which string theorists have quietly turned to nonempirical methods of theory assessment given the technological inability to directly test the theory. The appropriate response, according to Dawid, is to acknowledge this development and widen the canons of acceptable scientific methods. As Iâll argue, however, the current situation in fundamental physics does not require either of these responses. Rather, as Iâll suggest, much of the controversy stems from a failure to properly distinguish the âcontext of justificationâ from the âcontext of pursuitâ. Both those who accuse string theorists of betraying the scientific method and those who advocate an enlarged conception of scientific methodology objectionably conflate epistemic justification with judgements of pursuit-worthiness. Once we get clear about this distinction and about the different norms governing the two contexts, the current situation in fundamental physics becomes much less puzzling. After defending this diagnosis of the controversy, Iâll show how the argument patterns that have been posited by Dawid as constituting an emergent methodological revolution in science are better off if reworked as arguments belonging to the context of pursuit
Space exploration: The interstellar goal and Titan demonstration
Automated interstellar space exploration is reviewed. The Titan demonstration mission is discussed. Remote sensing and automated modeling are considered. Nuclear electric propulsion, main orbiting spacecraft, lander/rover, subsatellites, atmospheric probes, powered air vehicles, and a surface science network comprise mission component concepts. Machine, intelligence in space exploration is discussed
Culture and Cancer
Genetic mechanisms, since they broadly involve information
transmission, should be translatable into information dynamics formalism. From this perspective we reconsider the adaptive mutator, one possible means of 'second order selection' by which a highly structured 'language' of environment and development writes itself onto the variation upon which evolutionary selection and tumorigenesis operate. Our approach uses recent results in the spirit of the Large Deviations Program of applied probability that permit transfer of phase transition approaches from statistical mechanics to information theory, generating evolutionary and developmental punctuation in what we claim to be a highly natural manner
The Hard Problem for Soft Moral Realism
Several leading moral philosophers have recently proposed a soft version of moral realism, according to which moral factsâthough it is reasonable to postulate themâcannot metaphysically explain other facts (Dworkin 2011; Parfit 2011; Scanlon 2014). However, soft moral realism is faced with what I call the âHard Problemâ, namely, the problem of how this soft version of moral metaphysics could accommodate moral knowledge. This paper reconstructs three approaches to solving the Hard Problem on behalf of the soft realist: the autonomy approach, the intuitionist approach, and the third-factor approach. I then argue that none of them is successful
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