Objectual understanding, factivity and belief

Should we regard Jennifer Lackey’s (2007) ‘Creationist Teacher’ as understanding evolution, even though she does not, given her religious convictions, believe its central claims? We think this question raises a range of important and unexplored questions about the relationship between understanding, factivity and belief. Our aim will be to diagnose this case in a principled way, and in doing so, to make some progress toward appreciating what objectual understanding—i.e., understanding a subject matter or body of information—demands of us. Here is the plan. After some ground clearing in §1, §2 outlines and motivates a plausible working model—moderate factivity—for characterising the sense in which objectual understanding should be regarded as factive. §3 shows how the datum that we can understand false theories can, despite initial suggestions to the contrary, be assimilated straightforwardly within the moderate factivity model. §4 highlights how the inverse kind of case to that explored in §3—viz., a variant of Lackey’s creationist teacher case—poses special problems for moderate factivity. With reference to recent work on moral understanding by Hills (2009), §5 proposes a solution to the problem, and §6 attempts to diagnose why it is that we might originally have been led to draw the wrong conclusion

Knowledge, Assertion and Intellectual Humility

This paper has two central aims. First, we motivate a puzzle. The puzzle features four independently plausible but jointly inconsistent claims. One of the four claims is the sufficiency leg of the knowledge norm of assertion (KNA-S), according to which one is properly epistemically positioned to assert that p if one knows that p. Second, we propose that rejecting (KNA-S) is the best way out of the puzzle. Our argument to this end appeals to the epistemic value of intellectual humility in social-epistemic practice

Googled Assertion

Recent work in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science (e.g., Clark and Chalmers 1998; Clark 2010a; Clark 2010b; Palermos 2014) can help to explain why certain kinds of assertions—made on the basis of information stored in our gadgets rather than in biological memory—are properly criticisable in light of misleading implicatures, while others are not

Using alterative whole-farm modelling approaches to assess farm enterprise selection, risk and welfare

Using an expected mean-variance model the changes in farm enterprise levels and indirect utility were examined under conditions of risk aversion, budget constraints and gross margin variance. An extension of the comparative statics of the expected mean-variance model was adopted by introducing a budget constraint into the constrained optimisation problem. A 10-year expected mean-variance whole-farm model was solved for a farm in the wheat-sheep zone of Australia to provide an empirical example. Results were obtained using no planning horizon (the static model) and then with a five-year rolling planning horizon (the dynamic model). In addition, enterprise levels were constrained to match levels observed on the farm so as to compare incomes between the constrained and unconstrained models. For a cash constrained, risk averse, farmer it was found that they are likely to have larger expenditures than less risk averse operators in order to obtain the same indirect utility. Enterprise levels differed between the dynamic and static models, and a dynamic model was used to help explain inter-temporal decision-making. Risk aversion reduced the set of possible welfare improving production activities available to a farmer.Whole-farm modelling, enterprise selection, risk., Farm Management, Q12, C61,

Gay men, Gaydar and the commodification of difference

Purpose To investigate ICT mediated inclusion and exclusion in terms of sexuality through a study of a commercial social networking website for gay men Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an approach based on technological inscription and the commodification of difference to study Gaydar, a commercial social networking site. Findings Through the activities, events and interactions offered by Gaydar, we identify a series of contrasting identity constructions and market segmentations which are constructed through the cyclic commodification of difference. These are fuelled by a particular series of meanings attached to gay male sexualities which serve to keep gay men positioned as a niche market. Research limitations/implications The research centres on the study of one, albeit widely used, website with a very specific set of purposes. The study offers a model for future research on sexuality and ICTs. Originality/value This study places sexuality centre stage in an ICT mediated environment and provides insights into the contemporary phenomenon of social networking. As a sexualized object, Gaydar presents a semiosis of politicized messages that question heteronormativity while simultaneously contributing to the definition of an increasingly globalized, commercialized and monolithic form of gay male sexuality defined against ICT

Evaluating the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) as a Predictor of Risk Taking in Adolescent and Adult Male Drivers.

Abstract Young drivers between the ages of 15 and 24 are overrepresented in automobile crash statistics worldwide. Despite the common assumption that young drivers are more at risk of crashing than older drivers due to inexperience, age appears to be the main factor influencing crash risk, even after experience has been taken into account. It is possible that young drivers are involved in a high number of crashes because of their risk-taking tendencies. Accident involvement is not so much influenced by errors and lapses by the driver, but by the willingness to commit driving violations intentionally. However, studies that attempted to measure the risk-taking tendencies of drivers have so far used mainly self-report questionnaires, which are limited in their ability to predict real-world behaviour. This thesis used a new behavioural measure of risk-taking known as the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). In this task, participants engage in computer simulation where a balloon is pumped in order to accumulate money, but when the balloon is pumped too high it explodes, and the money that could have been gained is lost. A group of 50 male drivers were the participants of this study, and these were separated into three age groups: adolescents, aged 16-17, young adults, aged 20-21, and older adults, aged 25 years and over. In addition to the BART, the participants answered a series of questionnaires that focused on risk-related constructs, such as impulsiveness and subjective risk assessment, as well as driving attitudes and intentions. The expectation was that younger drivers would be shown to have greater risk-taking tendencies than older drivers. The results showed that the BART showed no relationship with either driving attitude scores (apart from a small correlation with attitudes towards close following), or any of the self-reported measures of risk. The other self-report risk measures, however, showed many correlations with various aspects of driving attitudes and intentions. Over age groups, the level of impulsiveness was found to decrease, and the attitudes became less in favour of taking physical risks. Adolescents were also found to be more approving of using a cell phone while driving, and of overtaking in risky circumstances. They had greater intentions to commit violations in the future, and were more likely to get a thrill from driving. The failure of the BART to reveal any significant findings may have been because so far it has only been shown to correlate with self-reported real-world behaviour, and not so much with attitudes and risk-related constructs. The other suggestion of this thesis was that the BART does not simulate risk-taking in the truest sense because there are no specific negative consequences for risk taking, only the removal of a possible benefit. The finding of greater risk taking in adolescent drivers was discussed in relation to Risk Homeostasis Theory and Problem Behaviour Theory, with a focus on how age-related factors might influence driver risk taking. As further discussed, these age-related factors might include the effect of incomplete brain development, the motives for driving, and the lifestyle of the individual

Multivariate characterization of hydrogen Balmer emission in cataclysmic variables

The ratios of hydrogen Balmer emission line intensities in cataclysmic variables are signatures of the physical processes that produce them. To quantify those signatures relative to classifications of cataclysmic variable types, we applied the multivariate statistical analysis methods of principal components analysis and discriminant function analysis to the spectroscopic emission data set of Williams (1983). The two analysis methods reveal two different sources of variation in the ratios of the emission lines. The source of variation seen in the principal components analysis was shown to be correlated with the binary orbital period. The source of variation seen in the discriminant function analysis was shown to be correlated with the equivalent width of the H$\beta$ line. Comparison of the data scatterplot with scatterplots of theoretical models shows that Balmer line emission from T CrB systems is consistent with the photoionization of a surrounding nebula. Otherwise, models that we considered do not reproduce the wide range of Balmer decrements, including "inverted" decrements, seen in the data.Comment: Accepted by PAS