Etiological Kinds

Kinds that share historical properties are dubbed “historical kinds” or “etiological kinds,” and they have some distinctive features. I will try to characterize etiological kinds in general terms a..

Neural correlates without reduction: the case of the critical period

Researchers in the cognitive sciences often seek neural correlates of psychological constructs. In this paper, I argue that even when these correlates are discovered, they do not always lead to reductive outcomes. To this end, I examine the psychological construct of a critical period and briefly describe research identifying its neural correlates. Although the critical period is correlated with certain neural mechanisms, this does not imply that there is a reductionist relationship between this psychological construct and its neural correlates. Instead, this case study suggests that there may be many-to-many psychological-neural mappings, not just one-to-one or even one-to-many relations between psychological kinds and types of neural mechanisms

Are sexes natural kinds?

Asking whether the sexes are natural kinds amounts to asking whether the categories, female and male, identify real divisions in nature, like the distinctions between biological species, or whether they mark merely artificial or arbitrary distinctions. The distinction between females and males in the animal kingdom is based on the relative size of the gametes they produce, with females producing larger gametes (ova) and males producing smaller gametes (sperm). This chapter argues that the properties of producing relatively large and small gametes are causally correlated with a range of other properties in a wide variety of organisms, and this is what makes females and males natural kinds in the animal kingdom. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the relationship between sex and gender: while the difference between the sexes is biologically grounded, the difference between genders is socially based. Since gender depends in part on the perception of sex, whether or not gender is real or not does not depend on whether sex is, since social reality is constituted in part by our perceptions. The claim that sexes are natural kinds in the animal kingdom does not imply that the biological differences among female and male humans do and should have social consequences

Orientalisms in the interpretation of Islamic philosophy

In this paper, I argue that Edward Said’s central thesis in Orientalism has a direct explanatory role to play in our understanding of the work produced in at least one area of scholarship about the Arab and Islamic worlds, namely Arab-Islamic philosophy from the classical or medieval period. Moreover, I claim that it continues to play this role not only for scholarship produced in the West by Western scholars but also within the Arab world itself. After recalling some traditional varieties of Orientalism in the study of Islamic philosophy, I go on to isolate some neo-Orientalist theses and positions. Then I identify what I call “Oriental Orientalism” in the study of Islamic philosophy, which originates in the Arab world itself. In conclusion, I speculate as to why Orientalism persists in scholarship about the Islamic world, more than a quarter of a century after Said first unmasked it. Finally, I distinguish two accounts of Said's interpretive stance and attempt to justify a particular reading of his philosophical framework

Equal Sum Sequences and Imbalance Sets of Tournaments

Reid conjectured that any finite set of non-negative integers is the score set of some tournament and Yao gave a non-constructive proof of Reid's conjecture using arithmetic arguments. No constructive proof has been found since. In this paper, we investigate a related problem, namely, which sets of integers are imbalance sets of tournaments. We completely solve the tournament imbalance set problem (TIS) and also estimate the minimal order of a tournament realizing an imbalance set. Our proofs are constructive and provide a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm to realize any imbalance set. Along the way, we generalize the well-known equal sum subsets problem (ESS) to define the equal sum sequences problem (ESSeq) and show it to be NP-complete. We then prove that ESSeq reduces to TIS and so, due to the pseudo-polynomial time complexity, TIS is weakly NP-complete.Comment: Presented at the Retrospective Workshop on Discrete Geometry, Optimization and Symmetry, 25-29 Nov 2013, The Fields Institute, Toronto, Canad

Protecting Children in Cyberspace

This essay was written for the Essay competition organized by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day May 2009. It discusses the issues faced by children while they surf online, including harrassment, exposure to adult material, behavioural and cultural issues. It also provides recommendations to provide safe access to the internet for children.Cyberspace; internet; cyber crimes; children; adult; online; internet crimes

Our Water Scenario: Are We Heading Towards Disaster?

This essay was written for an essay competition organised by Pakistan council for Research in Water Resources. It explains the current water scenario and prediction about future condition.Water; scarcity; irrigation; water supply; pakistan

Youth Crime: Causes and Remedies

This essay was written for the essay competition organized by Ministry of Youth Affairs Government of Pakistan. It discusses the possible determinant factors of youth crimes in Pakistan and provides logical suggestion to tackle the problem.Youth; crime; criminal; essay; pakistan; youth affairs

Connecting People With Disabilities: ICT Opportunities for All

This essay won 1st prize in a nationwide essay competition organized by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2008. Theme of the Year was "Connecting People with Disabilitie: ICT Opportunities for All" The Prize was given by Prime Minister of Pakistan.Disability; Information Communication Technology; ICT; IT; Internet