Musical Worlds and the Extended Mind

“4E” approaches in cognitive science see mind as embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended. They observe that we routinely “offload” part of our thinking onto body and world. Recently, 4E theorists have turned to music cognition: from work on music perception and musical emotions, to improvisation and music education. I continue this trend. I argue that music — like other tools and technologies — is a beyond-the-head resource that affords offloading. And via this offloading, music can (at least potentially) scaffold various forms of thought, experience, and behavior. To develop this idea, I consider the “material” and “worldmaking” character of music, and I apply these considerations to two cases studies: music as a tool for religious worship, and music as a weapon for torture

Full Sequence Bleaching with Dimethyldioxirane

Research work to date has shown dimethyldioxirane to be a very powerful, yet highly selective oxidant. Dimethyldioxirane bleaching may become more important in the future with legislative restrictions on chlorine based bleaching agents as it contains no chlorine. Most work with dimethyldioxirane to date has concentrated on short sequence bleaching, or the use of peroxymonosulfate as a pre-treatment to improve oxygen delignification. The goal of this study was to develop a full sequence bleaching containing only dimethyldioxirane and other chlorine free bleaching agents that matched the brightness and strength characteristics of comparable chlorine dioxide based full sequences. Dimethyldioxirane was found to match the strength, but not the brightness of, chlorine dioxide. As well, dimethyldioxirane may be harsher on cellulose than chlorine dioxide. Additional optimization may allow dimethyldioxirane to perform as well as chlorine dioxide. It was seen that increased brightnesses were achieved by using optimum conditions and a step-wise chemical addition. As well, the addition of peroxide to dimethyldioxirane stages may increase brightness

Enactivism, other minds, and mental disorders

Although enactive approaches to cognition vary in terms of their character and scope, all endorse several core claims. The first is that cognition is tied to action. The second is that cognition is composed of more than just in-the-head processes; cognitive activities are externalized via features of our embodiment and in our ecological dealings with the people and things around us. I appeal to these two enactive claims to consider a view called “direct social perception” : the idea that we can sometimes perceive features of other minds directly in the character of their embodiment and environmental interactions. I argue that if DSP is true, we can probably also perceive certain features of mental disorders as well. I draw upon the developmental psychologist Daniel Stern’s notion of “forms of vitality”—largely overlooked in these debates—to develop this idea, and I use autism as a case study. I argue further that an enactive approach to DSP can clarify some ways we play a regulative role in shaping the temporal and phenomenal character of the disorder in question, and it may therefore have practical significance for both the clinical and therapeutic encounter

Coherent Adequate Sets and Forcing Square

We introduce the idea of a coherent adequate set of models, which can be used as side conditions in forcing. As an application we define a forcing poset which adds a square sequence on $\omega_2$ using finite conditions

Club isomorphisms on higher Aronszajn trees

We prove the consistency, assuming an ineffable cardinal, that any two normal countably closed $\omega_2$-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic. This work generalizes to higher cardinals the property of Abraham-Shelah that any two normal $\omega_1$-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic, which follows from $\textsf{PFA}$. The statement that any two normal countably closed $\omega_2$-Aronszajn trees are club isomorphic implies that there are no $\omega_2$-Suslin trees, so our proof also expands on the method of Laver-Shelah for obtaining the $\omega_2$-Suslin hypothesis

Watsuji's phenomenology of aidagara: An interpretation and application to psychopathology

I discuss Watsuji’s characterization of aidagara or “betweenness”. First, I develop a phenomenological reading of aidagara. I argue that the notion can help illuminate aspects of our embodied subjectivity and its interrelation with the world and others. Along the way, I also indicate how the notion can be fruitfully supplemented by different sources of empirical research. Second, I put aidagara to work in the context of psychopathology. I show how disruptions of aidagara in schizophrenia not only affirm the foundational role it plays in organizing our experience of self and world in everyday life. Additionally, I suggest the notion can, in this context of application, potentially enhance our understanding of and empathy for those living with schizophrenic disorders