Objectual understanding, factivity and belief

Should we regard Jennifer Lackey’s (2007) ‘Creationist Teacher’ as understanding evolution, even though she does not, given her religious convictions, believe its central claims? We think this question raises a range of important and unexplored questions about the relationship between understanding, factivity and belief. Our aim will be to diagnose this case in a principled way, and in doing so, to make some progress toward appreciating what objectual understanding—i.e., understanding a subject matter or body of information—demands of us. Here is the plan. After some ground clearing in §1, §2 outlines and motivates a plausible working model—moderate factivity—for characterising the sense in which objectual understanding should be regarded as factive. §3 shows how the datum that we can understand false theories can, despite initial suggestions to the contrary, be assimilated straightforwardly within the moderate factivity model. §4 highlights how the inverse kind of case to that explored in §3—viz., a variant of Lackey’s creationist teacher case—poses special problems for moderate factivity. With reference to recent work on moral understanding by Hills (2009), §5 proposes a solution to the problem, and §6 attempts to diagnose why it is that we might originally have been led to draw the wrong conclusion

Small-angle scattering in a marginal Fermi-liquid

We study the magnetotransport properties of a model of small-angle scattering in a marginal Fermi liquid. Such a model has been proposed by Varma and Abrahams [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4652 (2001)] to account for the anomalous temperature dependence of in-plane magnetotransport properties of the high-Tc cuprates. We study the resistivity, Hall angle and magnetoresistance using both analytical and numerical techniques. We find that small-angle scattering only generates a new temperature dependence for the Hall angle near particle-hole symmetric Fermi surfaces where the conventional Hall term vanishes. The magnetoresistance always shows Kohler's rule behavior.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Revtex

Knowledge, Assertion and Intellectual Humility

This paper has two central aims. First, we motivate a puzzle. The puzzle features four independently plausible but jointly inconsistent claims. One of the four claims is the sufficiency leg of the knowledge norm of assertion (KNA-S), according to which one is properly epistemically positioned to assert that p if one knows that p. Second, we propose that rejecting (KNA-S) is the best way out of the puzzle. Our argument to this end appeals to the epistemic value of intellectual humility in social-epistemic practice

Phase diagram and quasiparticle properties of the Hubbard model within cluster two-site DMFT

We present a cluster dynamical mean-field treatment of the Hubbard model on a square lattice to study the evolution of magnetism and quasiparticle properties as the electron filling and interaction strength are varied. Our approach for solving the dynamical mean-field equations is an extension of Potthoff's "two-site" method [Phys. Rev. B. 64, 165114 (2001)] where the self-consistent bath is represented by a highly restricted set of states. As well as the expected antiferromagnetism close to half filling, we observe distortions of the Fermi surface. The proximity of a van Hove point and the incipient antiferromagnetism lead to the evolution from an electron-like Fermi surface away from the Mott transition, to a hole-like one near half-filling. Our results also show a gap opening anisotropically around the Fermi surface close to the Mott transition (reminiscent of the pseudogap phenomenon seen in the cuprate high-Tc superconductors). This leaves Fermi arcs which are closed into pockets by lines with very small quasiparticle residue.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, latex (revtex4

Googled Assertion

Recent work in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science (e.g., Clark and Chalmers 1998; Clark 2010a; Clark 2010b; Palermos 2014) can help to explain why certain kinds of assertions—made on the basis of information stored in our gadgets rather than in biological memory—are properly criticisable in light of misleading implicatures, while others are not

Quantum integrability of quadratic Killing tensors

Quantum integrability of classical integrable systems given by quadratic Killing tensors on curved configuration spaces is investigated. It is proven that, using a "minimal" quantization scheme, quantum integrability is insured for a large class of classic examples.Comment: LaTeX 2e, no figure, 35 p., references added, minor modifications. To appear in the J. Math. Phy

Symplectic structure for elastic and chiral conducting cosmic string models

This article is based on the covariant canonical formalism and corresponding symplectic structure on phase space developed by Witten, Zuckerman and others in the context of field theory. After recalling the basic principles of this procedure, we construct the conserved bilinear symplectic current for generic elastic string models. These models describe current carrying cosmic strings evolving in an arbitrary curved background spacetime. Particular attention is paid to the special case of the chiral string for which the worldsheet current is null. Different formulations of the chiral string action are discussed in detail, and as a result the integrability property of the chiral string is clarified.Comment: 18 page

Introductory workshops on remote sensing as related to geological problems in Georgia

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Categorical Groups, Knots and Knotted Surfaces

We define a knot invariant and a 2-knot invariant from any finite categorical group. We calculate an explicit example for the Spun Trefoil.Comment: 40 pages, lots of figures. Second version: Added example and discussion, clarification of the fact that the maps associated with Reidemeister Moves are well define