The Categories Argument for the Real Distinction Between Being and Essence: Avicenna, Aquinas, and Their Greek Sources

There is a distinctively Avicennian way of understanding the categories to be found in the works of Thomas Aquinas that vindicates Aquinas’s early argument for the distinction between being and essence. Two of the most important and influential Aquinas scholars in the twentieth century recognized the roots of this Avicennian way in Aquinas, but neither Etienne Gilson and Cornelio Fabro made good on their insights. In this dissertation, I trace this Avicennian way through its sources in the Greek commentators and demonstrate how it provides the necessary insight into the structure and nature of the categories that render Aquinas’s Genus Argument intelligible. When one studies the history of the phrase “being per se” as a (quasi) definition of substance, one encounters a tradition of reading the categories after Aristotle that regards them as categorizing essences to which “being per se” or “being not in a subject” is like a property, concomitant, or “completer” of substance. Avicenna, as both a recipient and participant in this tradition of late antique commentary, recognizes the need to clarify in what sense of “being” the phrases “being per se” or “being not in a subject” can—and, more importantly, cannot—designate a property or completer of substance. Thanks to Avicenna, Aquinas resumes this tradition. For Aquinas, the ten genera categorize essences that are distinguished according to their diverse modes of being—modes that are, in one sense, proper to them and, in another sense, owed to them as something external. Only when we understand this background, can we understand Thomas’s “Genus Argument” not as a mere logical argument, subject to a fallacious inference from logical to ontological considerations. Just as we must ascribe to Avicenna an argument from the (quasi) definable essence of the categories to an extramental distinction between essence and “being in act” (wujūd bi-fi‘l), so Aquinas’s Genus Argument is a form of Avicenna’s “Categories Argument” from the structure of the ten genera or categories of reality

Abuse of Judicial Review: The Unwarranted Demise of the Sexually Violent Predators Statute by \u3ci\u3eYoung v. Weston\u3c/i\u3e

In Young v. Weston, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington struck down Washington\u27s Sexually Violent Predators statute which allows involuntary commitment of persons classified as sexual predators. This Note analyzes the arguments that the court put forth when it determined that the statute was unconstitutional. This Note argues that the case was wrongly decided because the statute is a constitutionally sound exercise of the State\u27s police power

The United States, Russia, And Missile Defense: Why They Do Not Agree On Approach, Policy, And Implications

Missile defense has long played a key role in the national defense posture of the United States, despite longstanding objections from the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. To gain insights into why these objections continue, this thesis looks at three key factors: threat assessments, geopolitics, and technology (to include specific capabilities) and the impact they have on the decision-making calculus of both the United States and Russia regarding missile defense. It is believed that geopolitical considerations, stemming from the Cold War and the different values, culture, background, and experiences between the United States and Russia, are key to understanding this issue. Based on all three factors, this thesis offers implications of these factors for policy. These policy implications include, among others, the need for better understanding of Russian geopolitical views when forming missile defense policy, a suggestion to reorient the Missile Defense Agency towards research and development, and the potential need for new approaches to U.S. diplomacy with Russia

Senior Recital, Gabriel Taylor, guitar

The presentation of this senior recital will fulfill in part the requirements for the Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. Gabriel Taylor studies guitar with David Toussaint

Space to Think: Using Metaphor to Expand Public Thinking about Criminal Justice Reform

Metaphor is a vital feature of human cognition that is used both in making and creating meaning. As such, it can play a central role in multiple aspects of communication. In this paper, we synthesize theories of metaphor, culture and framing and argue that metaphors can be designed and tested to serve instrumental functions in communications practice. We discuss and explore this theory through a case study approach — presenting an iterative, multi-method research project that was conducted as part of a larger effort designed to reframe criminal justice reform and expand public discourse on this issue. Through this case study, we synthesize and apply several bodies of theory and offer a methodology for studying metaphors as a communication device. We argue for the power of metaphors as tools in effective communications practice

Number of Active Social Media Users as Predictors of HIPAA Infringements

HIPAA Infringements Correlate Linearly with Number of Social Media Users. Social media use has made information sharing much easier – including protected health information. Interestingly, as social media has become more popular over the years, HIPAA violations have also become more common. The calculated R and P values suggest a strong correlation exists between social media use and HIPAA complaints

The Neuroinflammatory Response Associated to Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (CAA)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is characterized by the cerebrovascular deposition of amyloid. The mechanisms underlying the contribution of CAA to neurodegeneration are not fully understood. In this dissertation, there are three main chapters. The first chapter investigates existing evidence regarding the amyloid diversity in CAA and its relation to tau pathology and immune response, as well as the possible contribution of molecular and cellular mechanisms, previously associated with parenchymal amyloid in Alzheimer disease (AD) and AD-related dementias, to the pathogenesis of CAA. The second chapter demonstrates differential glial reactivity and activation associated with early-stage CAA in a mouse model of Familial Danish Dementia (FDD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by vascular accumulation of Danish amyloid (ADan). We show that early-stage CAA is associated with dysregulation in immune response networks and lipid processing, severe astrogliosis with a neurotoxic A1-astrocytic phenotype, characterized by increased expression of Complement Component 3 (C3), and decreased levels of Triggering Receptor Expressed On Myeloid Cells 2 (Trem2) with no significant reactive microgliosis. Our results also indicate how cholesterol accumulation and Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) are associated with vascular amyloid deposits at the early stages of pathology. Furthermore, we demonstrate A1 astrocytic mediation of Trem2 and microglia homeostasis. In the final chapter, we addressed whether inflammatory stimulus of other cell types are capable of inducing a subtype of neurotoxic astrocytes. Here we show a subtype of C3+ neurotoxic astrocyte are induced by activated endothelial cells that is distinct from astrocytes classically activated by microglia. We show that endothelial activated astrocytes have upregulated expression of A1-astrocytic genes and exhibit a distinctive extracellular matrix remodeling profile. Finally, we demonstrate that endothelial activated astrocytes are Decorin-positive and are associated to vascular amyloid deposits but not parenchymal amyloid plaques in mouse models and AD/CAA patients. These findings show the existence of potentially extensive and subtle functional diversity of C3+-reactive astrocytes

Survival Analysis Using Auxiliary Variables Via Multiple Imputation, with Application to AIDS Clinical Trial Data

We develop an approach, based on multiple imputation, to using auxiliary variables to recover information from censored observations in survival analysis. We apply the approach to data from an AIDS clinical trial comparing ZDV and placebo, in which CD4 count is the time-dependent auxiliary variable. To facilitate imputation, a joint model is developed for the data, which includes a hierarchical change-point model for CD4 counts and a time-dependent proportional hazards model for the time to AIDS. Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are used to multiply impute event times for censored cases. The augmented data are then analyzed and the results combined using standard multiple-imputation techniques. A comparison of our multiple-imputation approach to simply analyzing the observed data indicates that multiple imputation leads to a small change in the estimated effect of ZDV and smaller estimated standard errors. A sensitivity analysis suggests that the qualitative findings are reproducible under a variety of imputation models. A simulation study indicates that improved efficiency over standard analyses and partial corrections for dependent censoring can result. An issue that arises with our approach, however, is whether the analysis of primary interest and the imputation model are compatible.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66054/1/j.0006-341X.2002.00037.x.pd