To Teach Modal Logic: An Opinionated Survey

I aim to promote an alternative agenda for teaching modal logic chiefly inspired by the relationships between modal logic and philosophy. The guiding idea for this proposal is a reappraisal of the interest of modal logic in philosophy, which do not stem mainly from mathematical issues, but which is motivated by central problems of philosophy and language. I will point out some themes to start elaborating a guide for a more comprehensive approach to teach modal logic, and consider the contributions of dual-process theories in cognitive science, in order to explore a pedagogical framework for the proposed point of view.Comment: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Tools for Teaching Logic (TTL2015), Rennes, France, June 9-12, 2015. Editors: M. Antonia Huertas, Jo\~ao Marcos, Mar\'ia Manzano, Sophie Pinchinat, Fran\c{c}ois Schwarzentrube

Violation of Bell's inequalities in a quantum realistic framework

We discuss the recently observed "loophole free" violation of Bell's inequalities in the framework of a physically realist view of quantum mechanics, which requires that physical properties are attributed jointly to a system, and to the context in which it is embedded. This approach is clearly different from classical realism, but it does define a meaningful "quantum realism" from a general philosophical point of view. Consistently with Bell test experiments, this quantum realism embeds some form of non-locality, but does not contain any action at a distance, in agreement with quantum mechanics.Comment: This article is closely related to arxiv:1409.2120, with some parts condensed and others expanded, in order to spell out how the present approach explains quantum non-locality. In v2 some clarifications and improvements following referees remark

Contexts, Systems and Modalities: a new ontology for quantum mechanics

In this article we present a possible way to make usual quantum mechanics fully compatible with physical realism, defined as the statement that the goal of physics is to study entities of the natural world, existing independently from any particular observer's perception, and obeying universal and intelligible rules. Rather than elaborating on the quantum formalism itself, we propose to modify the quantum ontology, by requiring that physical properties are attributed jointly to the system, and to the context in which it is embedded. In combination with a quantization principle, this non-classical definition of physical reality sheds new light on counter-intuitive features of quantum mechanics such as the origin of probabilities, non-locality, and the quantum-classical boundary.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. In v2 extended section VI on EPR, and new section VII on measurement

A Priori or A Posteriori?

This article discusses the role of a priori and a posteriori knowledge and methods in metaphysics and metametaphysics. Issues discussed include the viability of the distinction, the continuity of a priori and a posteriori methods, connections to modal epistemology, and the role of the distinction for science and naturalistic metaphysics

The Feasibility of Neuroimaging Methods in Marketing Research

On July 17, 1990, President George Bush issued “Proclamation #6158” which boldly declared the following ten years would be called the “Decade of the Brain” (Bush, 1990). Accordingly, the research mandates of all US federal biomedical institutions worldwide were redirected towards the study of the brain in general and cognitive neuroscience specifically. In 2008, one of the greatest legacies of this “Decade of the Brain” is the impressive array of techniques that can be used to study cortical activity. We now stand at a juncture where cognitive function can be mapped in the time, space and frequency domains, as and when such activity occurs. These advanced techniques have led to discoveries in many fields of research and clinical science, including psychology and psychiatry. Unfortunately, neuroscientific techniques have yet to be enthusiastically adopted by the social sciences. Market researchers, as specialized social scientists, have an unparalleled opportunity to adopt cognitive neuroscientific techniques and significantly redefine the field and possibly even cause substantial dislocations in business models. Following from this is a significant opportunity for more commercially-oriented researchers to employ such techniques in their own offerings. This report examines the feasibility of these techniques