127,857 research outputs found
Numbers, Empiricism and the A Priori
The present paper deals with the ontological status of numbers and considers Frege Ìs proposal in Grundlagen upon the background of the Post-Kantian semantic turn in analytical philosophy. Through a more systematic study of his philosophical premises, it comes to unearth a first level paradox that would unset earlier still than it was exposed by Russell. It then studies an alternative path, that departin1g from Fregeâs initial premises, drives to a conception of numbers as synthetic a priori in a more Kantian sense. On this basis, it tentatively explores a possible derivation of basic logical rules on their behalf, suggesting a more rudimentary basis to inferential thinking, which supports reconsidering the difference between logical thinking and AI. Finally, it reflects upon the contributions of this approach to the problem of the a priori
Context Dependence, MOPs,WHIMs and procedures Recanati and Kaplan on Cognitive Aspects in Semantics
After presenting Kripkeâs criticism to Fregeâs ideas on context dependence of thoughts, I present two recent attempts of considering cognitive aspects of context dependent expressions inside a truth conditional pragmatics or semantics: Recanatiâs non-descriptive modes of presentation (MOPs) and Kaplanâs ways of having in mind (WHIMs). After analysing the two attempts and verifying which answers they should give to the problem discussed by Kripke, I suggest a possible interpretation of these attempts: to insert a procedural or algorithmic level in semantic representations of indexicals. That a function may be computed by different procedures might suggest new possibilities of integrating contextual cognitive aspects in model theoretic semanti
Actor Network Procedures as Psi-calculi for Security Ceremonies
The actor network procedures of Pavlovic and Meadows are a recent graphical
formalism developed for describing security ceremonies and for reasoning about
their security properties. The present work studies the relations of the actor
network procedures (ANP) to the recent psi-calculi framework. Psi-calculi is a
parametric formalism where calculi like spi- or applied-pi are found as
instances. Psi-calculi are operational and largely non-graphical, but have
strong foundation based on the theory of nominal sets and process algebras. One
purpose of the present work is to give a semantics to ANP through psi-calculi.
Another aim was to give a graphical language for a psi-calculus instance for
security ceremonies. At the same time, this work provides more insight into the
details of the ANPs formalization and the graphical representation.Comment: In Proceedings GraMSec 2014, arXiv:1404.163
Educating for Intellectual Virtue: a critique from action guidance
Virtue epistemology is among the dominant influences in mainstream epistemology today. An important commitment of one strand of virtue epistemology â responsibilist virtue epistemology (e.g., Montmarquet 1993; Zagzebski 1996; Battaly 2006; Baehr 2011) â is that it must provide regulative normative guidance for good thinking. Recently, a number of virtue epistemologists (most notably Baehr, 2013) have held that virtue epistemology not only can provide regulative normative guidance, but moreover that we should reconceive the primary epistemic aim of all education as the inculcation of the intellectual virtues. Baehrâs picture contrasts with another well-known position â that the primary aim of education is the promotion of critical thinking (Scheffler 1989; Siegel 1988; 1997; 2017). In this paper â that we hold makes a contribution to both philosophy of education and epistemology and, a fortiori, epistemology of education â we challenge this picture. We outline three criteria that any putative aim of education must meet and hold that it is the aim of critical thinking, rather than the aim of instilling intellectual virtue, that best meets these criteria. On this basis, we propose a new challenge for intellectual virtue epistemology, next to the well-known empirically-driven âsituationist challengeâ. What we call the âpedagogical challengeâ maintains that the intellectual virtues approach does not have available a suitably effective pedagogy to qualify the acquisition of intellectual virtue as the primary aim of education. This is because the pedagogic model of the intellectual virtues approach (borrowed largely from exemplarist thinking) is not properly action-guiding. Instead, we hold that, without much further development in virtue-based theory, logic and critical thinking must still play the primary role in the epistemology of education
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Transitivity for height versus speed: To what extent do the under-7s really have a transitive capacity?
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Psychology Press.Transitive inference underpins many human reasoning competencies. The dominant task (the âextensive training paradigmâ) employs many items and large amounts of training, instilling an ordered series in the reasoner's mind. But findings from an alternative âthree-term paradigmâ suggest transitivity is not present until 7 + years. Interestingly, a second alternative paradigm (the âspatial taskâ), using simultaneously displayed height relationships to form premise pairs, can uphold the 4-year estimate. However, this paradigm risks cueing children and hence is problematic. We investigated whether a height-task variant might correspond to a more ecologically valid three-term task. A total of 222 4â6-year-olds either completed a modified height task, including an increased familiarisation phase, or a computer-animated task about cartoon characters running a race in pairs. Findings confirmed that both tasks were functionally identical. Crucially, 4-year-olds were at chance on both, whereas 6-year-olds performed competently. These findings contrast with estimates from all three paradigms considered. A theoretical evaluation of our tasks and procedures against previous ones, leads us to two conclusions. First, our estimate slightly amends the 7-year estimate offered by the three-term paradigm, with the difference explained in terms of its greater relevance to child experiences. Second, our estimate can coexist alongside the 4-year estimate from the extensive training paradigm. This is because, applying a recently developed âdual-processâ conception of reasoning, anticipates that extensive training benefits a species-general associative system, while the spatial paradigm and three-term paradigm can potentially index a genuinely deductive system, which has always been the target of transitive research
An Open Challenge Problem Repository for Systems Supporting Binders
A variety of logical frameworks support the use of higher-order abstract
syntax in representing formal systems; however, each system has its own set of
benchmarks. Even worse, general proof assistants that provide special libraries
for dealing with binders offer a very limited evaluation of such libraries, and
the examples given often do not exercise and stress-test key aspects that arise
in the presence of binders. In this paper we design an open repository ORBI
(Open challenge problem Repository for systems supporting reasoning with
BInders). We believe the field of reasoning about languages with binders has
matured, and a common set of benchmarks provides an important basis for
evaluation and qualitative comparison of different systems and libraries that
support binders, and it will help to advance the field.Comment: In Proceedings LFMTP 2015, arXiv:1507.0759
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