On Why Thumos will Rule by Force

I argue that Republic presents thumos as a limited, or flawed, principle of psychic unity. My central claim is that Plato both makes this assertion about the necessary limitations of thumos, and can defend it, because he understands thumos as the pursuit of to oikeion, or one’s own. So understood, the thumoetic part divides the world into self and other and pursues the defense of the former from the latter. As a result, when confronted with a conflicting desire, the thumoetic part makes sense of that desire as an irredeemable opponent. That, in turn, precludes the persuasion of desires that Plato sees as necessary for psychic harmony

Association between intracranial vessel calcifications, structural brain damage, and cognitive impairment after minor strokes: a prospective study

BackgroundVascular calcifications are a hallmark of atherosclerosis, and in the coronary arteries are routinely used as a prognostic marker. Calcifications of intracranial vessels (ICC) are frequently observed on non-contrast CT (NCCT) and their effect on post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) remains unclear. Our aim was to explore the association of ICC with prospective long-term cognitive function and advanced MRI-measures in a large prospective cohort of cognitively intact mild stroke survivors.MethodsData from the Tel-Aviv brain acute stroke cohort (TABASCO) study [ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT01926691] were analyzed. This prospective cohort study (n = 575) aimed to identify predictors of PSCI, in cognitively intact mild stroke survivors. A quantitative assessment of the intracranial calcium content – The ICC score (ICCS) was calculated semi-automatically on NCCT using a validated calcium quantification application. Participants underwent a 3 T-MRI and prospective comprehensive cognitive clinical and laboratory assessments at enrollment, 6, 12, and 24-months.ResultsData were available for 531 participants (67.4 years, 59.5% males). The incidence of PSCI at two-years doubled in the high ICCS group (26% vs. 13.7%, p < 0.001). The high ICCS group had significantly greater small-vessel-disease (SVD) tissue changes and reduced microstructural-integrity assessed by Diffusion-Tensor-Imaging (DTI) maps (p < 0.05 for all). In multivariate analysis, a higher ICCS was independently associated with brain atrophy manifested by lower normalized white and gray matter, hippocampal and thalamic volumes (β = −0.178, β = −0.2, β = −0.137, β = −0.157; p < 0.05) and independently predicted PSCI (OR 1.83, 95%CI 1.01–3.35).ConclusionOur findings suggest that the ICCS, which is a simple and readily available imaging marker on NCCT, is associated with brain atrophy, microstructural damage, the extent of SVD, and may predict PSCI. This finding has implications for identifying individuals at risk for PSCI and implementing targeted interventions to mitigate this risk

Two-way communication with neural networks in vivo using focused light

Neuronal networks process information in a distributed, spatially heterogeneous manner that transcends the layout of electrodes. In contrast, directed and steerable light offers the potential to engage specific cells on demand. We present a unified framework for adapting microscopes to use light for simultaneous in vivo stimulation and recording of cells at fine spatiotemporal resolutions. We use straightforward optics to lock onto networks in vivo, to steer light to activate circuit elements and to simultaneously record from other cells. We then actualize this 'free' augmentation on both an 'open' two-photon microscope and a leading commercial one. By following this protocol, setup of the system takes a few days, and the result is a noninvasive interface to brain dynamics based on directed light, at a network resolution that was not previously possible and which will further improve with the rapid advance in development of optical reporters and effectors. This protocol is for physiologists who are competent with computers and wish to extend hardware and software to interface more fluidly with neuronal networks.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Postdoctoral Fellowship)Simons Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Predoctoral Fellowship)National Institutes of Health (U.S.)Simons Foundatio

Defending One's Own: Plato's Account of Thumos

The main claim of this project is that in his tri-partite psychology, Plato theorizes spirit (thumos) as the defense of one’s own (to oikeion). More specifically, my claim is that as understood by Plato, the spirited part of the soul distinguishes between what is one’s own and alien (allotrion) and motivates action aimed at defending what it takes to be one’s own from alien threats. It is a central commitment of this reading that Plato conceives of to oikeion as a form of value, or way of being good. In the first person, one’s own is mine, or more perspicuously, me. Thus, I am arguing that Plato sees the spirited part as defined by an identification of the self (to oikeion) with the good. Plato also, and importantly, believes that this spirited sense of self can extend to other people and things insofar as they too are taken to be oikeion. However, the concern for others, and “us vs. them” thinking Plato sees as resulting from the extension of the spirited part’s sense of self, is by Plato’s lights the expression of a distinctive form of self-concern wherein what is good is me, and the bad an essentially threatening other. This reading of Plato’s conception of thumos has two primary virtues. First, it explains Plato’s sense of the spirited part of the soul as a limited—and violent— principle of psychic unity. Second, it shifts and deepens our understanding of Plato’s conception of spirit, by revealing that Plato conceives of thumos as a non-rational form of thought constituted by a limited understanding of the good as the self. Coordinate with these two virtues of my reading, the dissertation has two parts. In the first part of the dissertation (comprised of chapters 1-3), I argue for reading thumos as the defense of one’s own on the grounds that it explains Plato’s characterization of the spirited part as a limited and violent principle of unity. In the second part of the dissertation (comprising chapters 4 and 5), I further develop the content of Plato’s understanding of thumos as the defense of one’s own. My aim in doing so, is to both firmly establish that Plato conceives of spirit as on par with appetite and reason in terms of its significance for human life, and to show that his univocal account constitutes a nuanced and illuminating interpretation of that aspect of our psychology he labels thumos

Exhaustivity in questions with non-factives

This paper is concerned with the conditions under which a person can be said to have told someone or predicted (the answer to a question like) 'who sang'. It is standardly claimed that while (i) the true answer must be completely specified, it is not necessary that (ii) it be specified *as being* the complete answer. Here the non-factive verbs 'tell' and 'predict' are said to differ from the factive verb 'know', which typically does impose the *strong exhaustivity* requirement in (ii). We argue for an intermediate reading of 'tell' and 'predict' that requires more than (i) but less than (ii). To account for this reading we claim that the exhaustivity requirement (ii) imposed by 'know' is due to an operator than can apply non-locally. Applying the operator above a non-factive verb derives the intermediate reading, whereas doing so is vacuous in the case of factives. Thus, we derive the intermediate reading, and differences in the exhaustivity requirements imposed by factives and non-factives, without lexical stipulation. doi:10.3765/sp.4.2 <a href="http://semantics-online.org/sp-bib/klinedinst-rothschild-2011.bib">BibTeX info</a