Philosophical expertise under the microscope

Recent experimental studies indicate that epistemically irrelevant factors can skew our intuitions, and that some degree of scepticism about appealing to intuition in philosophy is warranted. In response, some have claimed that philosophers are experts in such a way as to vindicate their reliance on intuitions—this has become known as the ‘expertise defence’. This paper explores the viability of the expertise defence, and suggests that it can be partially vindicated. Arguing that extant discussion is problematically imprecise, we will finesse the notion of ‘philosophical expertise’ in order to better reflect the complex reality of the different practices involved in philosophical inquiry. On this basis, we offer a new version of the expertise defence that allows for distinct types of philosophical expertise. The upshot of our approach is that wholesale vindications or rejections of the expertise defence are shown to be unwarranted; we must instead turn to local, piecemeal investigations of philosophical expertise. Lastly, in the spirit of taking our own advice, we exemplify how recent developments from experimental philosophy lend themselves to this approach, and can empirically support one instance of a successful expertise defence

Graphs, Random Walks, and the Tower of Hanoi

The Tower of Hanoi puzzle with its disks and poles is familiar to students in mathematics and computing. Typically used as a classroom example of the important phenomenon of recursion, the puzzle has also been intensively studied its own right, using graph theory, probability, and other tools. The subject of this paper is “Hanoi graphs”, that is, graphs that portray all the possible arrangements of the puzzle, together with all the possible moves from one arrangement to another. These graphs are not only fascinating in their own right, but they shed considerable light on the nature of the puzzle itself. We will illustrate these graphs for different versions of the puzzle, as well as describe some important properties, such as planarity, of Hanoi graphs. Finally, we will also discuss random walks on Hanoi graphs

Developing and Testing a Monitoring Protocol for River Corridor Easements in Vermont

River corridor easements (RCEs) are a passive approach to river restoration in which a landowner sells their rights to manage a river channel on their property and agrees to forego new development within the easement. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) uses RCEs as a strategy to minimize conflicts between human investments and river dynamics as well as to reestablish healthy river systems. The DEC is interested in expanding the monitoring of RCEs to collect information about the ecology and geomorphology of the easement sites. This project drew from existing monitoring and stream geomorphic assessments to formalize a protocol for monitoring RCEs. This protocol collects information about the use and maintenance of the easement, the buffer vegetation, and the geomorphology of the channel, and is intended to be used repeatedly for long term monitoring. The protocol was then tested by multiple people to determine how much variability existed in data collected by different observers. There was a lot of variability between observers, much of which could be addressed with additional training and clarity in the protocol instructions. A revised protocol was developed based on these observations. It may also be more efficient in some cases to invest resources into monitoring using aerial imagery and LiDAR. Ultimately the goals of this monitoring effort should be considered to ensure that time and resources are being used in the most impactful way

Robert Harding Whittaker and the Individualistic Hypothesis

No abstract available

MEPDG & HIP, CIR and FDR Recycling

INDOT has accomplished in the last year or is executing soon hot in-place, cold in-place, and full-depth recycling pavement treatments on its highways. As part of these projects, MEPDG pavement analysis-design inputs and other factors are required to be established so that the department has an understanding of the performance of these treatments. These treatments can then be compared against other treatments for cost-effectiveness, performance, etc. Obtaining these numbers was problematic. This presentation will narrate the philosophical construct and the actual activities necessary to obtain the data, the practical experience gained on the identified projects, the anticipated performance expected from them, and lessons learned

Qualitätsmanagement und Organisationsentwicklung: Studien zur Implementierung des Qualitätsmanagementsystems QESplus und dessen Beitrag zur Organisationsentwicklung und Professionalisierung von Führungsprozessen in Einrichtungen der Erwachsenen- bzw. Weiterbildung

Ziel der Untersuchung ist die Prüfung der Dienlichkeit des Grundansatzes des Qualitätsmanagementsystems QESplus und seiner konzeptionellen sowie operativen Ausprägung bei der Organisationsentwicklung und -steuerung von Einrichtungen der Erwachsenen- bzw. Weiterbidung. Es geht um die Beurteilung der Chancen und Probleme bei der Einführung von QESplus und seiner Auswirkungen auf die Organisations- und Managementdimensionen der untersuchten (Weiter-) Bildungseinrichtungen. Die Arbeit stellt einen ersten Schritt zur empirisch-qualitativen Reflexion des Implementierungsprozesses von QESplus dar und bietet praxisrelevante Anregungen für die Gestaltung von Qualitätsmanagementprozessen sowie Organisationsentwicklung in Einrichtungen der Erwachsenen- bzw. Weiterbildung

Arte/educação das relações étnico-raciais possibilidades e limites da lei 10.639/2003 no âmbito da arte/educação

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Artes, Departamento de Artes Visuais, 2013.O tema deste trabalho é fruto de uma pesquisa, realizada no primeiro semestre de 2012, para a realização de um seminário na disciplina de Organização da Educação Brasileira (OEB). A referida disciplina tem como objetivo analisar os direitos e deveres individuais e coletivos, e os dispositivos de âmbito educacional, ambos presentes na Constituição Federal Brasileira 1988, mais especificamente nos capítulos I e III. Analisa-se também, os principais aspectos que caracterizam e estruturam toda funcionalidade do sistema educacional brasileiro expressos na Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação (LDB) 1

Field-induced Conductance Switching by Charge-state Alternation in Organometallic Single-Molecule Junctions

Charge transport through single molecules can be influenced by the charge and spin states of redox-active metal centres placed in the transport pathway. These molecular intrinsic properties are usually addressed by varying the molecules electrochemical and magnetic environment, a procedure that requires complex setups with multiple terminals. Here we show that oxidation and reduction of organometallic compounds containing either Fe, Ru or Mo centres can solely be triggered by the electric field applied to a two-terminal molecular junction. Whereas all compounds exhibit bias-dependent hysteresis, the Mo-containing compound additionally shows an abrupt voltage-induced conductance switching, yielding high to low current ratios exceeding 1000 at voltage stimuli of less than 1.0 V. DFT calculations identify a localized, redox active molecular orbital that is weakly coupled to the electrodes and closely aligned with the Fermi energy of the leads because of the spin-polarised ground state unique to the Mo centre. This situation opens an additional slow and incoherent hopping channel for transport, triggering a transient charging effect of the entire molecule and a strong hysteresis with unprecedented high low-to-high current ratios.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Why understanding-why is contrastive

Contrastivism about interrogative understanding is the view that ‘S understands why p’ posits a three-place epistemic relation between a subject S, a fact p, and an alternative to p, q. This thesis stands in stark opposition to the natural idea that a subject S can be said to understand why psimpliciter. I argue that contrastivism offers the best explanation for the fact that evaluations of the form ‘S understands why p’ vary depending on the alternatives to p under consideration. I also show that contrastivism offers valuable resources with which to explain the gradability of interrogative understanding attributions, as well as the sensitivity of these attributions to the perceived degree of epistemic demandingness of different contexts