Brentano on Consciousness

Consider a perceptual activity such as seeing a colour, hearing a tone, tasting a flavour. How are these activities related to one’s awareness of them? I will use Brentano’s struggle with this question to guide the reader through the development of his view on consciousness. My starting point will be Brentano’s book Die Psychologie des Aristoteles (Brentano 1867), in which he developed an inner sense view of consciousness (§§1-2). Brentano’s early view is underexplored in the literature, but crucial for understanding the development of his thought on the matter. In his major work Psychologie vom Empirischen Standpunkt (1874) he rejected the existence of an inner sense: the exercises of our five senses yield awareness of the world (or at least of intentional objects) as well as awareness of these perceptions. This same-level view of consciousness has been explored and developed by contemporary philosophers of mind. I will discuss the arguments that moved Brentano to change his mind, outline the view and, finally, respond to Husserl’s influential criticism of Brentano’s view (§§3-5)

Rigidity and De Jure Rigidity

Most discussions of Kripke's Naming and Necessity focus either on Kripke's so-called "historical theory of reference" or his thesis that names are rigid designators. But in response to problems of the rigidity thesis Kripke later points out that his thesis about proper names is a stronger one: proper names are de jure rigid. This sets the agenda for my paper. Certain problems raised for Kripke's view show that the notion of de jure rigidity is in need of clarification. I will try to clarify the notion of de jure rigidity by analyzing characterizations of it given in the literature. I will argue in particular that Kripke can count descriptive names as de jure rigid and that the concept of de jure rigidity should not be explained with recourse to the concept of a semantical rule. The second part of the paper is a critical discussion of arguments intended to show that proper names are not de jure rigid. I will show that these arguments are unconvincing by using Dummett's distinction between assertoric content and ingredient sense

Tolerating Sense Variation

Frege famously claimed that variations in the sense of a proper name can sometimes be 'tolerated'. In this paper, we offer a novel explanation of this puzzling claim. Frege, we argue, follows Trendelenburg in holding that we think in language - sometimes individually and sometimes together. Variations in sense can be tolerated in just those cases where we are using language to coordinate our actions but are not engaged in thinking together about an issue

Robust causal inference using directed acyclic graphs: the R package ‘dagitty’

Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), which offer systematic representations of causal relationships, have become an established framework for the analysis of causal inference in epidemiology, often being used to determine covariate adjustment sets for minimizing confounding bias. DAGitty is a popular web application for drawing and analysing DAGs. Here we introduce the R package ‘dagitty’, which provides access to all of the capabilities of the DAGitty web application within the R platform for statistical computing, and also offers several new functions. We describe how the R package ‘dagitty’ can be used to: evaluate whether a DAG is consistent with the dataset it is intended to represent; enumerate ‘statistically equivalent’ but causally different DAGs; and identify exposure outcome adjustment sets that are valid for causally different but statistically equivalent DAGs. This functionality enables epidemiologists to detect causal misspecifications in DAGs and make robust inferences that remain valid for a range of different DAGs. The R package ‘dagitty’ is available through the comprehensive R archive network (CRAN) at [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/dagitty/]. The source code is available on github at [https://github.com/jtextor/dagitty]. The web application ‘DAGitty’ is free software, licensed under the GNU general public licence (GPL) version 2 and is available at [http:// dagitty.net/]

Spontaneous Regression of Ovarian Carcinoma After Septic Peritonitis; A Unique Case Report

Despite advances in therapy, ovarian cancer remains the most lethal gynecological malignancy and prognosis has not substantially improved over the past 3 decades. Immunotherapy is a promising new treatment option. However, the immunosuppressive cancer microenvironment must be overcome for immunotherapy to be successful. Here, we present a unique case of spontaneous regression of ovarian carcinoma after septic peritonitis. A 79-year-old woman was diagnosed with stage IIIc ovarian cancer. The omental cake biopsy was complicated by sepsis. Although the patient recovered, her physical condition did not allow further treatment for her ovarian cancer. After 6 months, spontaneous regression of the tumor was observed during surgery. Analysis of the immune infiltrate in the tissues showed a shift from a pro-tumorigenic to an anti-tumorigenic immune response after sepsis. Strong activation of the immune system during sepsis overruled the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and allowed for a potent anti-tumor immune response. More understanding of immunological responses in cases with cancer and septic peritonitis might be crucial to identify potential new targets for immunotherapy

Use of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to identify confounders in applied health research: review and recommendations

Abstract Background Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are an increasingly popular approach for identifying confounding variables that require conditioning when estimating causal effects. This review examined the use of DAGs in applied health research to inform recommendations for improving their transparency and utility in future research. Methods Original health research articles published during 1999–2017 mentioning ‘directed acyclic graphs’ (or similar) or citing DAGitty were identified from Scopus, Web of Science, Medline and Embase. Data were extracted on the reporting of: estimands, DAGs and adjustment sets, alongside the characteristics of each article’s largest DAG. Results A total of 234 articles were identified that reported using DAGs. A fifth (n = 48, 21%) reported their target estimand(s) and half (n = 115, 48%) reported the adjustment set(s) implied by their DAG(s). Two-thirds of the articles (n = 144, 62%) made at least one DAG available. DAGs varied in size but averaged 12 nodes [interquartile range (IQR): 9–16, range: 3–28] and 29 arcs (IQR: 19–42, range: 3–99). The median saturation (i.e. percentage of total possible arcs) was 46% (IQR: 31–67, range: 12–100). 37% (n = 53) of the DAGs included unobserved variables, 17% (n = 25) included ‘super-nodes’ (i.e. nodes containing more than one variable) and 34% (n = 49) were visually arranged so that the constituent arcs flowed in the same direction (e.g. top-to-bottom). Conclusion There is substantial variation in the use and reporting of DAGs in applied health research. Although this partly reflects their flexibility, it also highlights some potential areas for improvement. This review hence offers several recommendations to improve the reporting and use of DAGs in future research