Chomsky, Knowledge of Language and the Rule-Following Considerations

According to Noam Chomsky, speakers of a language have a substantial body of propositional knowledge of that language that they draw upon in language production and comprehension. Since the late 1950s Chomsky"s project has been to characterise that knowledge and give an account of its acquisition. Arguably, one of the most powerful philosophical challenges to Chomsky"s output is generated by the rule following considerations of Philosophical Investigations §§ 138-242. My aim in this paper is to characterise the nature of this challenge, a topic that, rather surprisingly, has received relatively little attention in the philosophical literature

High School Contextual Variables and ACT Scores

This quantitative study analyzes findings from the 2015 Crepe Myrtle High School (CMHS) graduates and determines if statistically significant relationships exist between student demographic and school participation variables with ACT composite scores. Utilizing both a Pearson product moment statistical correlation and t-test for continuous variables and a One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for categorical variables, the researcher identifies and presents significant relationships or differences in means, between the academic achievement of 2015 Crepe Myrtle High School graduates and ACT composite scores. The variables analyzed consists of: (a) the number of completed core classes; (b) high school grade points averages (HSGPAs); (c) extracurricular activities; (d) gender; (e) socio economic status; and (f) race/ethnicity. The significant relationships produce validity concerns with the Mississippi School Accountability System and the current metric measuring the College and Career Readiness of CMHS graduates. Furthermore, the findings may provide educators a better understanding of student academic activities and academic decisions which may have a relationship with ACT composite scores at the local level

Language and communication: Evidence from studying children

This chapter focuses on the question of how children acquire mastery of their first language, with particular emphasis on the development of syntactic and semantic knowledge. With respect to the development of syntactic knowledge there has been much heated debate surrounding the respective roles of learning and innate language-specific knowledge. I survey this debate before turning to the issue of how children come to know which words belong to their language and what those words mean. I argue that although learning plays an important role in vocabulary development, such learning is possible only because we have a battery of abstract concepts and an associated metaphysical perspective on the world that is part of our innate endowment

Two Accounts of Concept Possession

In this paper I examine the conflict between two radically different accounts of concept possession, one due to Ludwig Wittgenstein and the other due to Jerry Fodor. That conflict centres around the viability of atomism and mentalism. Wittgenstein’s rejection of atomism opens him to a version of Fodor’s familiar objection to non-atomistic positions. J argue that there is little prospect of blunting the force of this objection. Moreover, on closer inspection, atomism turns out not to be as implausible as is often thought. With respect to mentalism, Wittgenstein’s frequent criticisms of mentalist theorising suggests a parallel objection to Fodor’s position. The power of this objection ultimately depends upon whether concepts and rules have normative properties that preclude their being grounded in causal and mechanical phenomena. On this point I argue that there are grounds for the Fodorian to be optimistic. In the light of all this I conclude that Fodor’s account of concept possession is to be preferred to Wittgenstein’s

Long-Run Effects of BSE on Meat Consumption

This paper considers the long-run effects of BSE on meat consumption in the United Kingdom using data from the Expenditure and Food Survey. We estimate a dynamic AIDS demand system of household food consumption, with long-run effects captured via an adstock index of adverse media coverage. The results suggest that there are long-run impacts on meat consumption that extend well beyond the period of the scare. In addition, press articles with pictures have a greater, and more long-lasting effect, on long-run consumption than articles with words alone.Food health scares, Adstock, BSE, demand systems, meat demand

Content and computation : a critical study of some themes in Jerry Fodor's philosophy of mind

In this thesis I address certain key issues in contemporary philosophy of mind and psychology via a study of Jerry Fodor's hugely important contributions to the discussion of those issues. The issues in question are: (i) the nature of scientific psychology; (ii) the individuation of psychological states for the purposes of scientific psychological explanation; and (iii) the project of naturalising mental content. I criticise many of Fodor's most significant and provocative claims but from within a framework of shared assumptions. I attempt to motivate and justify many of these shared assumptions. Chapter 1 constitutes an overview of the key themes in Fodor's philosophy of mind. In Chapter 2 an account of scientific psychology within the orthodox computationalist tradition is developed according to which that discipline is concerned with explaining intentionally characterised cognitive capacities. Such explanations attribute both semantic and syntactic properties to subpersonal representational states and processes. In Chapters 3 and 5 Fodor's various arguments for the conclusion that scientific psychology does (or should) individuate psychological states individualistically are criticised.I argue that there are pragmatic reasons why scientific psychology should sometimes attribute contents that are not locally supervenient. In Chapter 4 I consider Marr's theory of vision and conclude that the contents that Marr attributes to the states of the visual module are locally supervenient. Inconsistency is avoided by stressing the continuity of scientific psychological content with folk psychological content. In Chapter 6 I develop an account of the project of naturalising mental content that vindicates that project. In Chapter 7 I address the question of whether Fodor's theory of content constitutes a successful engagement in that project. I argue for a negative answer before drawing some morals as to how we should proceed in the light of the failure of Fodor's theory

Second generation knowledge based systems in habitat evaluation.

Many expert, or knowledge-based, systems have been constructed in the domain of ecology, several of which are concerned with habitat evaluation. However, these systems have been geared to solving particular problems, with little regard paid to the underlying relationships that exist within a biological system. The implementation of problem-solving methods with little regard to understanding the more primary knowledge of a problem area is referred to in the literature as 'shallow', whilst the representation and utilisation of knowledge of a more fundamental kind is termed 'deep'. This thesis contains the details of a body of research exploring issues that arise from the refinement of traditional expert systems methodologies and theory via the incorporation of depth, along with enhancements in the sophistication of the methods of reasoning (and subsequent effects on the mechanisms of communication between human and computer), and the handling of uncertainty. The approach used to address this research incorporates two distinct aspects. Firstly, the literature of 'depth', expert systems in ecology, uncertainty, and control of reasoning and related user interface issues are critically reviewed, and where inadequacies exist, proposals for improvements are made. Secondly, practical work has taken place involving the construction of two knowledge based systems, one 'traditional', and the other a second generation system. Both systems are primarily geared to the problem of evaluating a pond site with respect to its suitability for the great crested newt (Triturus cristatus). This research indicates that it is possible to build a second-generation knowledge-based system in the domain of ecology, and that construction of the second generation system required a magnitude of effort similar to the firstgeneration system. In addition, it shows that, despite using different architectures and reasoning strategies, such systems may be judged as equally acceptable by endusers, and of similar accuracy in their conclusions. The research also offers guidance concerning the organisation and utilisation of deep knowledge within an expert systems framework, in both ecology and in other domains that have a similar concept-rich nature

The Effects of Combined Movement and Storytelling Intervention on Motor Skills in South Asian and White Children Aged 5–6 Years Living in the United Kingdom

Early motor development has an important role in promoting physical activity (PA) during childhood and across the lifespan. Children from South Asian backgrounds are less active and have poorer motor skills, thus identifying the need for early motor skill instruction. This study examines the effect of a movement and storytelling intervention on South Asian children’s motor skills. Following ethics approval and consent, 39 children (46% South Asian) participated in a 12-week movement and storytelling intervention. Pre and post, seven motor skills (run, jump, throw, catch, stationary dribble, roll, and kick) were assessed using Children’s Activity and Movement in Preschool Study protocol. At baseline, South Asian children had poorer performance of motor skills. Following the intervention, all children improved their motor skills, with a bigger improvement observed for South Asian children. Early intervention provided remedial benefits to delays in motor skills and narrowed the motor skills gap in ethnic groups