Ölüm Ötesi İnancının Bilişsel Açıklamalarının Eleştirel Bir Analizi

The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is a scientific approach to the study of religion that seeks to provide causal explanations of religious beliefs and practices. Proponents of CSR seek to explain the process of the formation, acceptance, transmission, and prevalence of religious beliefs by explaining the natural features of the human mind and how it functions. One of the religious beliefs that exists in all human cultures, and has attracted the attention of many CSR scholars in the last decade, is the belief in afterlife. According to CSR researchers, this belief is rooted in the natural structures of the human mind. They see the belief in life after death as a non-reflective or intuitive belief that results from the functioning of mental tools. They have proposed various theories to explain the formation, development, spread, and transmission of belief in life after death. But among these theories, two theories have been more widely accepted, intuitive dualism theory and simulation constraint theory. Intuitive dualism theory says that all humans have the two mental tools: Intuitive Biology and Intuitive Psychology. Intuitive Biology in the face of a dead person makes us believe that he is no longer alive because he cannot move and act. Intuitive Psychology continues to attribute invisible features (such as desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) to the dead person automatically. The simultaneous functioning of the above two mental tools makes the human mind believe that a part of the dead person is immaterial and remains after the physical death. Simulation constraint theory says that all humans have the mental tools to process information from the environment and acquire religious beliefs. None of the mental tools can imagine or simulate the nonexistence of one's desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Therefore, the human mind in the face of the dead person, although easily imagining his physical death, continues to believe in the existence of another part of the person (thoughts, desires, etc.). Both of these theories seem to face challenges and limitations in explaining the formation of belief in afterlife. These include inability to provide causal explanation, the lack of distinction between the natural and the rational foundations of belief in afterlife and disregarding the supernatural foundations of the afterlife belief. Neither of the two theories seems to provide a sufficient causal explanation for the formation of belief in the afterlife. Both theories attempt to present a possible story about the formation of afterlife beliefs based on how mental tools function. They provide only a reasonable story of the process that has led to the belief in afterlife. What these two theories offer is a description (not causal explanation) of the human mind and its tools and how they function. This in itself does not explain that these tools have produced a belief in the afterlife. Therefore, the claim that belief in the afterlife is the result of the functioning of mental tools requires a causal relationship between mental tools and this belief. Neither of these two theories can explain this causal relationship, and they merely describe a reasonable story of the relationship between them. Furthermore, distinction between rational foundations of religious belief and natural foundations of religious belief shows that finding a natural origin for believing in the afterlife or describing the cognitive mechanisms associated with it does not in any way mean rejecting or discrediting that belief. Cognitive theories about the natural origins of the belief in the afterlife cannot show us whether this belief is rational or irrational. These explanations can only (if they can) show us the natural roots of the formation and prevalence of this belief. Also Religious belief is a complex notion. Firstly, it is a natural notion, in that sense it is rooted in the human nature and is related to human cognitive systems and mental tools. Secondly, it is a cultural and social notion, in that sense it is both influenced by cultural and social change, and also affects it. Thirdly, it is a supernatural notion, in that sense it is deeply connected with both revelation and prophecy, and with the immaterial aspect of human. Belief in afterlife seems to require all three levels of explanation

A generalized finite element method for modeling arbitrary interfaces in large deformation problems

In this paper, a generalized–FEM technique is presented in modeling of arbitrary interfaces in large deformations. The method is used to model the internal interfaces and arbitrary geometries using a uniform non-conformal mesh. The technique is applied to capture independent deformations at both sides of separated element cut by the interface in a uniform regular mesh. In this approach, a uniform non-conformal mesh is decomposed into subelements that conform to the internal interfaces. The geometry of interface is used to produce various triangular, quadrilateral and pentagonal elements at the intersection of interface with regular FE mesh, in which the extra degrees-of-freedom are defined along the interface. The level set method is employed to describe the material geometry on the background mesh. The technique is used to extrude any arbitrary geometry from an initial background mesh and model under different external effects. The most feature of the technique is to introduce the conformal decomposition finite element method, in which the new conforming elements are produced in the uniform structured mesh by decomposing the uniform mesh into elements that is conformed to the material interfaces. Finally, several numerical examples are analyzed to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed technique in modeling arbitrary interfaces in large deformations

Hydrologic drought indices analysis by regionalization methods in southwest of Iran

11 p.International audienceDrought is a recurrent extreme climate event with tremendous hazard for every specter of natural environment and human lives. Drought analysis usually involves characterizing drought severity, duration and intensity. Usually, long-term datasets of hydrometric and hydrochemical information are needed to begin an evaluation of dominant low flow (as hydrologic drought indices) producing processes however, in many catchments, these data are not available. A major research challenge in ungauged basins is to quickly assess the dominant hydrological processes of watersheds. In this paper, for developing regional models, low flow analysis has been performed by 3 regression methods (multivariate regression, low flow index method, regionalization model of frequency formula parameters) and Hybrid low flow model in Karkheh basin (southwestern of Iran). Estimated error for four methods show although hybrid method can also use for low flow regionalization analysis but multivariate regression and low flow index methods are more suitable for this purpose

Polygonal finite elements for finite elasticity

Nonlinear elastic materials are of great engineering interest, but challenging to model with standard finite elements. The challenges arise because nonlinear elastic materials are characterized by nonconvex stored-energy functions as a result of their ability to undergo large reversible deformations, are incompressible or nearly incompressible, and often times possess complex microstructures. In this study, we propose and explore an alternative approach to model finite elasticity problems in two dimensions by using polygonal discretizations. We present both lower order displacement-based and mixed polygonal finite element approximations, the latter of which consist of a piecewise constant pressure field and a linearly-complete displacement field at the element level. Through numerical studies, the mixed polygonal finite elements are shown to be stable and convergent. For demonstration purposes, we deploy the proposed polygonal discretization to study the nonlinear elastic response of rubber filled with random and periodic distributions of rigid particles, as well as the development of cavitation instabilities in elastomers containing vacuous defects. These physically based examples illustrate the potential of polygonal finite elements in studying and modeling nonlinear elastic materials with complex microstructures under finite deformations

La inconsistencia del naturalismo en la explicación de la relación entre ciencia y metafísica

Naturalists don’t accept metaphysics as ana priori knowledge, prior to science, and believe that there is no extrascientific route to metaphysical understanding. In this view, science, as an empirical study, is prior to metaphysics andmetaphysicians’ aim to do metaphysics is wholly within the bounds of contemporary science. In this paper, we aim to show that naturalist’s position is not justifiable. In fact, we offer two arguments that show naturalist’s position is self-defeating. We shall also show that scientific theories, historically, don’t arise according to naturalist’s position.Los naturalistas no aceptan la metafísica como un conocimiento a priori, antes de la ciencia, y creen que no hay una ruta extracientífica para la comprensión metafísica. Desde este punto de vista, la ciencia, como estudio empírico, es anterior a la metafísica y el objetivo de los metafísicos de hacer metafísica está totalmente dentro de los límites de la ciencia contemporánea. En este documento, nuestro objetivo es mostrar que la posición del naturalista no es justificable. De hecho, ofrecemos dos argumentos que muestran que la posición del naturalista es contraproducente. También mostraremos que las teorías científicas, históricamente, no surgen de acuerdo con la posición del naturalista

A Critical Analysis of Cognitive Explanations of Afterlife Belief

The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is a scientific approach to the study of religion that seeks to provide causal explanations of religious beliefs and practices. Proponents of CSR seek to explain the process of the formation, acceptance, transmission, and prevalence of religious beliefs by explaining the natural features of the human mind and how it functions. One of the religious beliefs that exists in all human cultures, and has attracted the attention of many CSR scholars in the last decade, is the belief in afterlife. According to CSR researchers, this belief is rooted in the natural structures of the human mind. They see the belief in life after death as a non-reflective or intuitive belief that results from the functioning of mental tools. They have proposed various theories to explain the formation, development, spread, and transmission of belief in life after death. But among these theories, two theories have been more widely accepted, intuitive dualism theory and simulation constraint theory. Intuitive dualism theory says that all humans have the two mental tools: Intuitive Biology and Intuitive Psychology. Intuitive Biology in the face of a dead person makes us believe that he is no longer alive because he cannot move and act. Intuitive Psychology continues to attribute invisible features (such as desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) to the dead person automatically. The simultaneous functioning of the above two mental tools makes the human mind believe that a part of the dead person is immaterial and remains after the physical death. Simulation constraint theory says that all humans have the mental tools to process information from the environment and acquire religious beliefs. None of the mental tools can imagine or simulate the nonexistence of one's desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Therefore, the human mind in the face of the dead person, although easily imagining his physical death, continues to believe in the existence of another part of the person (thoughts, desires, etc.). Both of these theories seem to face challenges and limitations in explaining the formation of belief in afterlife. These include inability to provide causal explanation, the lack of distinction between the natural and the rational foundations of belief in afterlife and disregarding the supernatural foundations of the afterlife belief. Neither of the two theories seems to provide a sufficient causal explanation for the formation of belief in the afterlife. Both theories attempt to present a possible story about the formation of afterlife beliefs based on how mental tools function. They provide only a reasonable story of the process that has led to the belief in afterlife. What these two theories offer is a description (not causal explanation) of the human mind and its tools and how they function. This in itself does not explain that these tools have produced a belief in the afterlife. Therefore, the claim that belief in the afterlife is the result of the functioning of mental tools requires a causal relationship between mental tools and this belief. Neither of these two theories can explain this causal relationship, and they merely describe a reasonable story of the relationship between them. Furthermore, distinction between rational foundations of religious belief and natural foundations of religious belief shows that finding a natural origin for believing in the afterlife or describing the cognitive mechanisms associated with it does not in any way mean rejecting or discrediting that belief. Cognitive theories about the natural origins of the belief in the afterlife cannot show us whether this belief is rational or irrational. These explanations can only (if they can) show us the natural roots of the formation and prevalence of this belief. Also Religious belief is a complex notion. Firstly, it is a natural notion, in that sense it is rooted in the human nature and is related to human cognitive systems and mental tools. Secondly, it is a cultural and social notion, in that sense it is both influenced by cultural and social change, and also affects it. Thirdly, it is a supernatural notion, in that sense it is deeply connected with both revelation and prophecy, and with the immaterial aspect of human. Belief in afterlife seems to require all three levels of explanation

A generalized finite element method for modeling arbitrary interfaces in large deformation problems

In this paper, a generalized–FEM technique is presented in modeling of arbitrary interfaces in large deformations. The method is used to model the internal interfaces and arbitrary geometries using a uniform non-conformal mesh. The technique is applied to capture independent deformations at both sides of separated element cut by the interface in a uniform regular mesh. In this approach, a uniform non-conformal mesh is decomposed into subelements that conform to the internal interfaces. The geometry of interface is used to produce various triangular, quadrilateral and pentagonal elements at the intersection of interface with regular FE mesh, in which the extra degrees-of-freedom are defined along the interface. The level set method is employed to describe the material geometry on the background mesh. The technique is used to extrude any arbitrary geometry from an initial background mesh and model under different external effects. The most feature of the technique is to introduce the conformal decomposition finite element method, in which the new conforming elements are produced in the uniform structured mesh by decomposing the uniform mesh into elements that is conformed to the material interfaces. Finally, several numerical examples are analyzed to demonstrate the efficiency of proposed technique in modeling arbitrary interfaces in large deformations