Minimalist Meaning, Internalist Interpretation

This article offers a conception of semantics, and of what makes the human language faculty distinctive, based on five theses: Meanings are instructions to build concepts; concatenation calls for conjunction of monadic concepts; grammatical relations invoke certain thematic relations and a kind of existential closure; lexicalization is a partly creative process of abstraction; and meanings are internalistic properties of expressions. Each of these claims is defended elsewhere. The aim here is to connect them explicitly, and compare the result with alternatives, in the hope of providing a plausible conception of natural language meaning that coheres with Chomsky’s minimalist program

Basic Operations : minimal Syntax-Semantics

In this programmatic paper, we articulate a minimalist conception of linguistic composition, syntactic and semantic, with the aim of identifying fundamental operations invoked by the human faculty of language (HFL). On this view, all complex expressions are formed via the operation COMBINE(A, B). But this operation is not primitive: COMBINE(A, B) = LABEL[CONCATENATE(A, B)]. We take labeling to be a computationally simple but perhaps distinctively human operation that converts a mere concatenation of expressions, like A^B, into a more complex unit like [A A^B], with the subscript indicating a copy of the dominant constituent. We discuss several virtues of this spare conception of syntax. With regard to semantics, we take instances of COMBINE(A, B) to be instructions to build concepts. More specifically, we claim that concatenation is an instruction to conjoin monadic concepts, while labeling provides a vehicle for invoking thematic concepts, as indicated by the relevant labels

Précis of Conjoining Meanings: Semantics Without Truth Values

In Conjoining Meanings, I argue that meanings are composable instructions for how to build concepts of a special kind. In this summary of the main line of argument, I stress that proposals about what linguistic meanings are should make room for the phenomenon of lexical polysemy. On my internalist proposal, a single lexical item can be used to access various concepts on different occasions of use. And if lexical items are often “conceptually equivocal” in this way, then some familiar arguments for externalist conceptions of linguistic meaning need to be reevaluated

Précis of Conjoining Meanings: Semantics Without Truth Values

In Conjoining Meanings, I argue that meanings are composable instructions for how to build concepts of a special kind. In this summary of the main line of argument, I stress that proposals about what linguistic meanings are should make room for the phenomenon of lexical polysemy. On my internalist proposal, a single lexical item can be used to access various concepts on different occasions of use. And if lexical items are often “conceptually equivocal” in this way, then some familiar arguments for externalist conceptions of linguistic meaning need to be reevaluated

Effect of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Critical Marsh Soil Microbial Functions

On April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon (DWH) offshore oil platform exploded releasing ~ 795 million L of southern Louisiana (LA) light sweet crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 7.9 million liters of dispersant, Corexit EC9500A, were applied for remediation. The effect of BP DWH crude oil and Corexit EC9500A on two marsh soil microbial processes, (mineralizable nitrogen and denitrification), were examined in the laboratory. Surface soil samples were collected from an unimpacted salt marsh site proximal to areas that suffered light to heavily oiling in Barataria Bay, LA. Additions of oil were at a ratio of 1:10 (crude oil:wet soil), mimicking a heavy oiling scenario. Carbon and nitrate based compounds were added to investigate the toxicology of oil and dispersant on denitrifier activity. Potential denitrification rates at the 1:10 weathered crude oil:wet soil ratio were 46 ± 18.4% of the control immediately after exposure and 62 ± 8.0% of the control following a two-week pre-incubation period. Potential denitrification rates of soil oiled with fresh crude oil were 51.5 ± 5.3% of the control after immediate exposure and significantly lower at 10.9 ± 1.1% after two-week exposure. Potential denitrification rates (acetylene blockage) after immediate exposure to Corexit:wet soil at ratios of 0:10 (control), 1:10, 1:100, 1:1,000, and 1:10,000 were below detection for the 1:10 treatment while the 1:100 was 7.6 ± 2.7% of the control and the 1:1,000 was 33 ± 4.3% of the control. The 1:10,000 treatment was not significantly different from the control. Denitrification rates measured after two-week pre-incubation were below the detection limit for the 1:10 treatment and the 1:100 treatment was 12 ± 2.6% of the control. Both fresh and weathered crude oil and Corexit can significantly impact activity of denitrification in the short-term. Corexit also negatively affected other microbial measures. Microbial biomass nitrogen (N) values were below detection for the 1:10, 1:100 and 1:1,000 Corexit:wet soil treatments. Potentially mineralizable N rates were significantly lower for 1:10 and 1:100 Corexit:wet soil treatments. Future research should include additional oiling levels and extended exposure periods to determine the recovery of key wetland soil microbial processes

The Truth in Compatibilism and the truth of Libertarianism

The paper offers the outlines of a response to the often-made suggestion is that it is impossible to see how indeterminism could possibly provide us with anything that we might want in the way of freedom, anything that could really amount to control, as opposed merely to an openness in the flow of reality that would constitute merely the injection of chance, or randomness, into the unfolding of the processes which underlie our activity. It is suggested that the best first move for the libertarian is to make a number of important concessions to the compatibilist. It should be conceded, in particular, that certain sorts of alternative possibilities are neither truly available to real, worldly agents, nor required in order that those agents should act freely; and it should be admitted also that it is the compatibilist who tends to give the most plausible sorts of analyses of many of the ‘can’ and ‘could have’ statements which seem to need to be assertible of those agents we regard as free. But these concessions do not bring compatibilism itself in their wake. The most promising version of libertarianism, it is argued, should be based on the idea that agency itself (and not merely some special instances of it which we might designate with the honorific appellation ‘free’) is inconsistent with determinism. This version of libertarianism, it is claimed, can avoid the objection that indeterminism is as difficult to square with true agential control as determinism can sometimes seem to be

Quantification and Second-Order Monadicity

The first part of this paper reviews some developments regarding the apparent mismatch between the logical and grammatical forms of quantificational constructions like 'Pat kicked every bottle'. I suggest that (even given quantifier-raising) many current theories still posit an undesirable mismatch. But all is well if we can treat determiners (words like 'every', 'no', and 'most') as second-order monadic predicates without treating them as predicates satisfied by ordered pairs of sets. Drawing on George Boolos's construal of second-order quantification as plural quantification, I argue that we can and should view determiners as predicates satisfied (plurally) by ordered pairs each of which associates an entity with a truth-value (t or f). The idea is 'every' is satisfied by some pairs iff every one of them associates its entity with t. It turns out that this provides a kind of explanation for the "conservativity" of determiners. And it lets us say that concatenation signifies predicate-conjunction even in phrases like 'every bottle' and 'no brown dog'

A química do parto humano : uma abordagem temática para o ensino de química

A escola, como espaço de formação cidadã e de disseminação de informações, deve estar atenta às demandas da sociedade atual. Para tanto, é preciso que os professores de Química pensem em propostas pedagógicas considerando tais propósitos. Com base nesse eixo norteador, e adotando uma metodologia de pesquisa investigativa de caráter qualitativo, este trabalho avaliou a inserção da temática do parto humano em aulas de Química do 3º ano do ensino médio de uma escola pública a partir da proposta de uma sequência didática. O material produzido apresenta a Química do parto natural em um formato paradidático, voltado ao público jovem, discutindo os aspectos sociais e contextualizando, de forma articulada, os conteúdos químicos que se desdobram no estudo deste tema. Por intermédio do fenômeno do nascimento foi possível abordar as representações moleculares de alguns hormônios, conhecendo as funções orgânicas presentes, além das interações moleculares que podem ocorrer com os transportadores e receptores hormonais. As conclusões obtidas permitiram verificar que a temática proposta favoreceu a aprendizagem de conteúdos químicos, além de oportunizar a reflexões acerca dos problemas de saúde pública atrelados ao tema.High school as a space for citizenship education and dissemination of information must be aware of the society current demands. Therefore, it is necessary that Chemistry teachers think about pedagogical proposals considering such demands. Based on this and employing an investigative research methodology of a qualitative nature, this work evaluated the insertion of the topic human birth in Chemistry classes at the last year of high school at a public school. The material produced presents the Chemistry of natural childbirth in a para-didactic format, aimed at young people, discussing social aspects, and contextualizing in an articulated way, the chemical topics that unfold in the study of this theme. Through the event of birth, it was possible to approach the molecular representation of some hormones, organic functions presented and the molecular interactions that can occur with hormone transporters and receptors. The conclusions obtained allowed us to verify that the proposed topic supported the learning of chemical concept in addition to providing opportunities for reflections on public health problems linked to the topic

A TERCEIRIZAÇÃO BANCÁRIA: UMA VIOLAÇÃO DOS DIREITOS HUMANOS

O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o fenômeno da terceirização dos serviços no setor bancário. Com esse propósito, buscou-se na Teoria Critica de Joaquín Herrera Flores um referencial teórico que possibilitasse a investigação desse fenômeno terceirizante. A partir da perspectiva crítica desse filósofo, visualizou-se que os direitos humanos são universais e indivisíveis e, em razão disso, englobam os direitos sociais, por conseguinte, os direitos trabalhistas. Em seguida, observa-se que a terceirização ilítica é uma prática comum no cenário brasileiro, mais usualmente, manifestando-se pelo exercício da atividade-fim da empresa, prestado pelo empregado terceirizado. Outrossim, identifica-se, uma crescente atividade legiferante por parte do Banco Central, que, além de ser inconstitucional, tem contribuindo para a precarização das relações de trabalho, ao ampliar, deliberadamente, as hipóteses restritas de terceirização bancária. Nesse contexto, as jurisprudências têm reconhecido o vínculo empregatício entre os empregados terceirizados e as tomadoras de serviço, quando não cumprido os requisitos da Súmula 331, do TST. Por fim, apresenta-se que a precarização das relações trabalhistas, provocada pela terceirização bancária, configura uma violação dos direitos trabalhistas, haja vista a tutela internacional sobre esse assunto