59 research outputs found
Unity through truth
Renewed worries about the unity of the proposition have been taken as a crucial stumbling block for any traditional conception of propositions. These worries are often framed in terms of how entities independent of mind and language can have truth conditions: why is the proposition that Desdemona loves Cassio true if and only if she loves him? I argue that the best understanding of these worries shows that they should be solved by our theory of truth and not our theory of content. Specifically, I propose a version of the redundancy theory according to which âit is true that Desdemona loves Cassioâ expresses the same proposition as âDesdemona loves Cassioâ. Surprisingly, this variant of the redundancy theory treats âis trueâ as an ordinary predicate of the language, thereby defusing many standard criticisms of the redundancy theory
Getting Acquainted with Kant
My question here concerns whether Kant claims that experience has
nonconceptual content, or whether, on his view, experience is
essentially conceptual. However there is a sense in which this debate
concerning the content of intuition is ill-conceived. Part of this has
to do with the terms in which the debate is set, and part to do with
confusion over the connection between Kantâs own views and contemporary
concerns in epistemology and the philosophy of mind. However, I think
much of the substance of the debate concerning Kantâs views on the
content of experience can be salvaged by reframing it in terms of a
debate about the dependence relations, if any, that exist between
different cognitive capacities. Below, in Section 2, I clarify the
notion of âcontentâ I take to be at stake in the interpretive debate.
Section 3 presents reasons for thinking that intuition cannot have
content in the relevant sense. I then argue, in Section 4, that the
debate be reframed in terms of dependence. We should distinguish between
Intellectualism, according to which all objective representation
(understood in a particular way) depends on acts of synthesis by the
intellect, and Sensibilism, according to which at least some forms of
objective representation are independent of any such acts (or the
capacity for such acts). Finally, in Section 5, I further elucidate the
cognitive role of intuition. I articulate a challenge which Kant
understands alethic modal considerations to present for achieving
cognition, and argue that a version of Sensibilism that construes
intuition as a form of acquaintance is better positioned to answer this
challenge than Intellectualism
G4CMP: Condensed Matter Physics Simulation Using the Geant4 Toolkit
G4CMP simulates phonon and charge transport in cryogenic semiconductor
crystals using the Geant4 toolkit. The transport code is capable of simulating
the propagation of acoustic phonons as well as electron and hole charge
carriers. Processes for anisotropic phonon propagation, oblique charge-carrier
propagation, and phonon emission by accelerated charge carriers are included.
The simulation reproduces theoretical predictions and experimental observations
such as phonon caustics, heat-pulse propagation times, and mean charge-carrier
drift velocities. In addition to presenting the physics and features supported
by G4CMP, this report outlines example applications from the dark matter and
quantum information science communities. These communities are applying G4CMP
to model and design devices for which the energy transported by phonons and
charge carriers is germane to the performance of superconducting instruments
and circuits placed on silicon and germanium substrates. The G4CMP package is
available to download from GitHub: github.com/kelseymh/G4CMP.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 10 table
Pictures have propositional content
Although philosophers of art and aesthetics regularly appeal to a notion of âpictorial contentâ, there is little agreement over its nature. The present paper argues that pictures have propositional contents. This conclusion is reached by considering a style of argument having to do with the phenomenon of negation intended to show that pictures must have some kind of non-propositional content. I first offer reasons for thinking that arguments of that type fail. Second, I show that when properly understood, such arguments can in fact be turned on their heads and shown to support the propositionalist position
First measurement of the nuclear-recoil ionization yield in silicon at 100 eV
We measured the nuclear--recoil ionization yield in silicon with a cryogenic
phonon-sensitive gram-scale detector. Neutrons from a mono-energetic beam
scatter off of the silicon nuclei at angles corresponding to energy depositions
from 4\,keV down to 100\,eV, the lowest energy probed so far. The results show
no sign of an ionization production threshold above 100\,eV. These results call
for further investigation of the ionization yield theory and a comprehensive
determination of the detector response function at energies below the keV
scale
Fragmentation and logical omniscience
It would be good to have a Bayesian decision theory that assesses our decisions and thinking according to everyday standards of rationality â standards that do not require logical omniscience (Garber 1983, Hacking 1967). To that end we develop a âfragmentedâ decision theory in which a single state of mind is represented by a family of credence functions, each associated with a distinct choice condition (Lewis 1982, Stalnaker 1984). The theory imposes a local coherence assumption guaranteeing that as an agent's attention shifts, successive batches of "obvious" logical information become available to her. A rule of expected utility maximization can then be applied to the decision of what to attend to next during a train of thought. On the resulting theory, rationality requires ordinary agents to be logically competent and to often engage in trains of thought that increase the unification of their states of mind. But rationality does not require ordinary agents to be logically omniscient
Vocational and Leisure Interests: A Profile-Level Approach to Examining Interests
Although much attention has been devoted to examining the measurement of vocational interests, much less attention has been directed to studying leisure interests, despite suggestions for incorporation of leisure interests into career counseling, particularly for college students. Furthermore, research on the relations between leisure and vocational interests highlights that some leisure interests are highly related to vocational interests, such as interests in Social, Artistic, and Realistic activities. To advance understanding on interests and the relations between leisure and vocational interests, the current study used Latent Profile Analysis, a novel approach to examining interest profiles that identifies groups of individuals with similar profiles. Support was found for seven different interest profiles in a sample of college students. Additionally, a number of mean differences on work values, work centrality, and personality traits among the seven profiles were examined
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