The Stoics and the practical: a Roman reply to Aristotle

Scholarship stands divided on the question of what one must know in order to act ethically according to the central tenets of Stoicism. Prevailing opinion holds that one must attain universal knowledge of the nature of reality, or at a minimum, knowledge of one\u27s end (telos/finis) in life, but I argue that in Stoic thought, especially as described by Cicero, neither kind of knowledge is necessary for the achievement of human virtue or excellence (aretê/virtus). I begin by sketching the dominant ethical philosophies in relation to which Stoicism emerges, those of Plato and Aristotle. I offer an extensive discussion of Aristotle\u27s critique of Platonism, showing how it paves the way for Stoicism by assigning a greater role to pre-reflective impulses than to theoretical reason, while assigning to impulses the blame for vice and to reason the responsibility for ruling over them. I then proceed to Cicero\u27s De Academica, arguing that the very conflict between our reason and our impulses is avoidable in Stoicism precisely because it arises only in individuals who have allowed their reason to overstep its own limits, with the result that, deviating from the course of action their impulses would otherwise lead them to follow, they turn aside from their own end in life. Thereafter, I show with reference to Cicero\u27s De Divinatione and De Finibus, that the Stoics redefined technical expertise (technê/ars) in order to deny that having expertise in ethical matters implied knowing one’s end in life. Finally, I conclude that the Stoicism of the Tusculan Disputations places no emphasis upon gaining advance knowledge of one’s end in life or deducing from it the means by which it may be reached; instead, it places emphasis upon freeing oneself from the external causes of internal conflict which lead one astray: socially inculcated beliefs. Aside from doing greater justice to ancient texts, this interpretation allows ancient Stoicism to contribute to contemporary ethical debates in the manner Michel Foucault’s work suggests. In particular, the Stoics provide a model for living ethically and resisting social coercion even when no appeal to universal truths can be made

Massively parallel approximate Gaussian process regression

We explore how the big-three computing paradigms -- symmetric multi-processor (SMC), graphical processing units (GPUs), and cluster computing -- can together be brought to bare on large-data Gaussian processes (GP) regression problems via a careful implementation of a newly developed local approximation scheme. Our methodological contribution focuses primarily on GPU computation, as this requires the most care and also provides the largest performance boost. However, in our empirical work we study the relative merits of all three paradigms to determine how best to combine them. The paper concludes with two case studies. One is a real data fluid-dynamics computer experiment which benefits from the local nature of our approximation; the second is a synthetic data example designed to find the largest design for which (accurate) GP emulation can performed on a commensurate predictive set under an hour.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Apes, lice and prehistory

Although most epidemic human infectious diseases are caused by recently introduced pathogens, cospeciation of parasite and host is commonplace for endemic infections. Occasional host infidelity, however, provides the endemic parasite with an opportunity to survive the potential extinction of its host. Such infidelity may account for the survival of certain types of human lice, and it is currently exemplified by viruses such as HIV

Implementation of break time for employee nursing mothers at the University of Louisville : a case study.

This dissertation is a mixed methods look at the barriers to successful implementation of the Break Time for Nursing Mothers provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at an upper southern-midwestern university. As public health and medical officials push the desire for an increase in breastfeeding initiation and duration, many mothers must overcome barriers within the employment arena. Previous work has failed to look at how the university setting presents unique challenges with a diverse workforce, varied jobs, and differing space availability. In other settings, barriers have been identified; the goal of this dissertation was to identify what the specific barriers were within a university setting. A mixed methods approach was used interviewing both nursing employees as well as members of the university’s lactation task force; in addition to this, a survey of employees who had utilized the Break Time provisions since 2010 was conducted. The outcomes confirmed that the barriers included space, time, and information, but included lack of social support as an additional barrier. Recommendations are made to the university to help alleviate these barriers to full implementation of the Break Time for Nursing Mothers

Robert Koch: The Grandfather of Cloning?

This year marks the centenary of Robert Koch’s Nobel Prize for discovering the cause of tuberculosis. Koch was also the first scientist to isolate the anthrax and cholera microbes. Yet perhaps one of his greatest contributions to biology is the least appreciated: his method for propagating individual colonies of bacteria on plates, a technique that came to be called cloning

Santayana’s Epiphenomenalism Reconsidered

The present essay argues against the view that Santayana’s philosophy can unproblematically be classified as epiphenomenalist. To this end, it examines the central tenets that provide the foundation for his position on metal causation as developed in Scepticism and Animal Faith. This analysis shows that a range of positions are available to Santayana that are compatible with his prohibition on invoking ideas as motor causes, perhaps even demanded by it. While Santayana is consistent in denying that ideas are causes, taken in the usual sense of efficient or motor causes, he does not clearly deny that they are necessary conditions for some behavioral effects. The essay then responds to the objection that we should sooner reject the claim that essences are necessary conditions for action than attempt to argue for the compatibility of this claim with the claim that essences are causally inert. It is argued that Santayana is not alone in considering these assertions compatible, and therefore his position should be classed alongside those of contemporary philosophers who also assert their compatibility. The essay closes by examining some similarities between Santayana’s view and those of contemporary compatibilists