A solution scan of societal options to reduce transmission and spread of respiratory viruses: SARS-CoV-2 as a case study

Societal biosecurity – measures built into everyday society to minimize risks from pests and diseases – is an important aspect of managing epidemics and pandemics. We aimed to identify societal options for reducing the transmission and spread of respiratory viruses. We used SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) as a case study to meet the immediate need to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually transition to more normal societal conditions, and to catalog options for managing similar pandemics in the future. We used a ‘solution scanning’ approach. We read the literature; consulted psychology, public health, medical, and solution scanning experts; crowd-sourced options using social media; and collated comments on a preprint. Here, we present a list of 519 possible measures to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission and spread. We provide a long list of options for policymakers and businesses to consider when designing biosecurity plans to combat SARS-CoV-2 and similar pathogens in the future. We also developed an online application to help with this process. We encourage testing of actions, documentation of outcomes, revisions to the current list, and the addition of further options.</p

The ambiguity thesis versus Kripke's defence of Russell

In his influential paper 'Speaker's Reference and Semantic Reference', Kripke defends Russell's theory of descriptions against the charge that the existence of referential and attributive uses of descriptions reflects a semantic ambiguity. He presents a purely defensive argument to show that Russell's theory is not refuted by the referential usage and a number of methodological considerations which apparently tell in favour of Russell's unitary theory over an ambiguity theory. In this paper, I put forward a case for the ambiguity theory that thwarts Kripke's defensive strategy and argue that it is not undermined by any of his methodological points

Hume's meek philosophy among the Milanese

The article looks closely at the interpretation of Hume’s ideas and character in the Parisian letters of Alessandro Verri to his brother Pietro. Alessandro interprets Hume’s philosophy as a mitigated (“meek”) acceptable version of the militant scepticism he encounters among the philosophes. As he is in dispute with Beccaria (and partly with Pietro), he sees Hume’s dispute with Rousseau as a perfect parallel, where Alessandro plays the British modest philosopher against the French boastful enthusiasts. He also offers his version about the French Holbachian attitude towards Hume’s style of thought in religious matters. By a series of Humean vignettes the essay reconsiders Hume’s approach to religion, his topic of the “vicious religionist” and his supposed and famous denial of ever having met an atheist. It also tells us something about the ways in which Hume’s philosophy is apt to be appropriated by “cutting off its noble parts”: by philosophers and historians of philosophy today as well as by Alessandro Verri yesterday

Object Theory and Modal Meinongianism

In this paper, we compare two theories, modal Meinongianism (MM) and object theory (OT), with respect to several issues that have been discussed recently in the literature. In particular, we raise some objections for MM, undermine some of the objections that its defenders raise for OT, and we point out some virtues of the latter with respect to the former