Philosophy and Science : The Place of Philosophy and Science in the Development of Knowledge and Understanding

This thesis examines the roles played by philosophy and science in the development of knowl-edge and understanding from ancient times to the present day. It is maintained that the sole contributor to this development has been science, philosophy for the most part acting as an impediment, contrary to the philosophically inspired myth that philosophy lays the groundwork for science, and consonant with the suspicions of most scientists who give thought to the matter. This thesis is expounded from two perspectives, the historical and the analytic. From the historical perspective, Part I of the thesis, the development of scientific ideas is traced in its philosophical context, principally that of the physical sciences from the time of Galileo, but also touching on the position of science in Greek thought. It is concluded that science effectively began with the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, and pro-gressed from that time generally in opposition to philosophical dogma, and, once established, almost entirely independently of it. From the analytical perspective, Part II of the thesis, some recent and contemporary philosophical issues in the areas of epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, cen-tred principally on issues concerning the connection between mind and the world, are evalu-ated for their contributions to our current knowledge and understanding. The evaluation is that, by its resort to inappropriate terminology, for the most part philosophy generates confu-sion in matters that in everyday terms are inherently simple and in scientific terms are more complex than philosophers ever imagined—the issue of consciousness is given particular attention. The discussion devolves upon the view, also put forward by Rudolf Carnap in his later years, that controversy in these areas of philosophy arises largely from a confusion of theory with the referents of theory, of word with object, and from the consequent ideological commitment of philosophers to irreconcilable positions in the realist–idealist spectrum. The thesis maintains that although it is a scientific (that is, empirically based) fact that theories, concepts, percepts and the like are constructs of the human mind (suggesting an idealist view, and therefore a fact causing difficulty for realists), it does not follow that the referents of these constructs are themselves constructs of the human mind—indeed, the proposition that they are is without meaning (and hence the realism–idealism dualism is meaningless). This is because the referents of constructs are accessible only by means of those constructs, which do not speak of their own basis in the human mind—the reality of an object referred to depends on the empirical validity of the construct by which the reference is made (and, of course, it may not be real in this sense at all, but be an illusion or a deliberate fiction), not on some philosophical notion of reality. Thus, for example, while the theory of evolution is a human construct, there is no sense in which evolution can be spoken of as a human construct or oth-erwise—evolution is dealt with in its entirety through its theory. Such a resolution of age-old philosophical controversy reflects no more than the human condition (as epitomised by Neurath’s simile of “sailors who must rebuild their ship on the open sea”), which is fully en-compassed by the scientific approach, and from which there is no escape by means of any religious or philosophical construction

Effects of long-term participation in tennis on cognitive function in elderly individuals

Many studies have reported the relationship between exercise and cognition with conflicting results. This may be due to differences in intervention durations, session lengths, intensities, and type of exercise. It has been suggested that exercises requiring greater cognitive demand such as football, basketball and racquet sports, are protective against cognitive decline, compared to less cognitively demanding exercises such as swimming, cycling and running, however, research concerning exercise types are currently limited. The present study tested the hypothesis that elderly individuals who had been regularly playing tennis more than 10 years, would have greater cognitive function than those who had been performing walking, swimming and running. Twenty tennis players, and 23 closed-skilled exercisers (walkers, swimmers or runners) were recruited. Individuals who were healthy but not involved in any structured or purposeful exercise served as the control group (n = 19). All participants were aged between 62 and 75 years old. Participants in the tennis group had been playing tennis at least twice per week for 10 years, and the closed-skilled exercisers had been walking, swimming or running at least twice a week for 2 years. Participants in all the three groups were closely matched for gender, education (13.6 ± 3.0 y), BMI (27.8 ± 4.3), social network diversity, cognitive activity, depression, total physical activity energy expenditure (4285.4 ± 2723.4 kcal), and physical function. Global cognitive function was determined by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The cognitive function of inhibition function was assessed by a modified Flanker test, and the cognitive functions of processing speed (simple reaction and choice reaction time), working memory, and learning and memory were assessed by a computer-based Cogstate test (CogState Ltd, Melbourne, VIC, Australia). Physical function was measured by a modified version of the senior physical fitness tests including chair sit and reach, 8-ft up and go, grip iv strength, chair stand and the 6-minute walk tests. These variables were compared between the groups by one-way ANOVAs followed by Tukey’s post-hoc tests. The tennis group had faster (P\u3c0.05) simple (323.3 ± 44.3 ms) and choice reaction time (518.3 ± 60.6 ms) compared to the closed-skilled group (391.1 ± 75.4 ms, 578.6 ± 69.6 ms). There were no significant differences between the groups for other cognitive variables including the MoCA test score (tennis: 23.7 ± 1.9, closed-skill: 25.4 ± 3.6, control: 26.7 ± 2.3). No significant differences in any of the physical function tests were found between the three groups. However, the 6-minute walk test distance was weakly correlated (rs = .274, P\u3c0.05) with working memory for all participants combined. The present study confirmed previous study findings that elderly tennis players had faster processing speeds as represented by faster reaction times. This may be explained by the demand in tennis to respond to unpredictable stimuli within a dynamic and externally-paced environment. However, results did not support the hypothesis that tennis players would have greater executive function and memory performance. Compared with the normal reference values of the MoCA and Cogstate tests for the same age groups, the cognitive performance of the participants in the present study was better. It may be that the tests used in the study were not sensitive enough to detect possible differences in cognitive function between groups. However, it is possible that the influence of exercise choice (e.g. tennis vs closed-skilled) on the cognitive functions is small for older adults who are physically active and relatively fit. Further study is necessary to increase the number of participants in each group, and include more detailed investigation of the daily activities (e.g., reading, playing the music instrument) other than the exercise activities that the present study focused on (i.e., tennis, walking, running, swimming). It is also interesting to investigate the effects of the level of tennis (e.g., social vs competitive) on cognitive function

Seismic diagnosis from gravity modes strongly affected by rotation

Most of the information we have about the internal rotation of stars comes from modes that are weakly affected by rotation, for example by using rotational splittings. In contrast, we present here a method, based on the asymptotic theory of Prat et al. (2016), which allows us to analyse the signature of rotation where its effect is the most important, that is in low-frequency gravity modes that are strongly affected by rotation. For such modes, we predict two spectral patterns that could be confronted to observed spectra and those computed using fully two-dimensional oscillation codes.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of the Joint TASC2 & KASC9 Workshop SPACEINN & HELAS8 Conference "Seismology of the Sun and the Distant Stars 2016

Examining the competencies required for leadership of multi-academy trusts. Implications for a case study trust

This paper examines competencies required for leadership of multi-academy trusts (MATs) to identify the learning experiences needed to make the transition to executive leadership (a concept perceived here as having accountability for multi-part organisations). As part of national government(s) drive to reduce the influence and control of local government over state-funded schools in England policies have been enacted, particularly since 2010, to create academies which were directly answerable to the Secretary of State for Education. Formed as a not-for-profit charitable company, each trust is composed of Members who act as guardians of the governance of the organisation, which is then given strategic direction by a Board of Trustees and executive leadership by a CEO. MATs consist of multiple academies, working to a single trust, and are the organisational model preferred by the Department for Education. In this paper MATs are equated to the concept of loosely-coupled organisations, formed of numerous constituent academies and held together much more loosely than a hierarchical structure would tolerate. Leadership competencies encompassed in the centrally National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL) are considered inadequate generally and for the case study MAT explored here, leading the trust to introduce additional expectations of future senior leaders

Early Childhood Father Absence and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls from a UK Cohort:The Mediating Role of Early Menarche

# The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Absence of the biological father in early childhood has been linked to depressive symptoms in mid-adolescent girls. Earlier studies have linked father absence to early timing of menarche, and early menarche is a risk factor for increased depressive symptoms in adolescence. No studies, however, have examined whether the association between father ab-sence and depressive symptomsmay be explained by the early onset of menarche. This study investigated whether age at menarche mediates the association between father absence in early childhood (birth to 5 years) and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls aged 14 years. The study sample comprised 7056 girls from a large UK birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) who provided data on age at onset of menarche and depressive symptoms assessed using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire at 14 years. Mothers provided data on father absence from the birth of the study child up to 10 years. Using structural equation modelling, we found that 15 % of the total estimated associ-ation between father absence in early childhood and depres-sive symptoms at 14 years was explained by early age at menarche. In addition to the mediated effect, father absence was linked to an 11 % increase in depressive symptoms in adolescence. The findings suggest that early age at menarche is one of the pathways linking early childhood father absence and depressive symptoms in mid-adolescent girls. Preventive strategies could be targeting young girls at risk for depressive symptoms as a function of stressful family factors (e.g., bio-logical father absence) and earlier menarche

Exposure to socioeconomic adversity in early life and risk of depression at 18 years: The mediating role of locus of control.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have linked exposure to early socioeconomic adversity to depression, but the mechanisms of this association are not well understood. Locus of control (LoC), an individual's control-related beliefs, has been implicated as a possible mechanism, however, longitudinal evidence to support this is lacking. METHODS: The study sample comprised 8803 participants from a UK cohort, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Indicators of early socioeconomic adversity were collected from the antenatal period to 5 years and modelled as a latent factor. Depression was assessed using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised (CIS-R) at 18 years. LoC was assessed with the Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External (CNSIE) scale at 16 years. RESULTS: Using structural equation modelling, we found that 34% of the total estimated association between early socioeconomic adversity and depression at 18 years was explained by external LoC at 16 years. There was weak evidence of a direct pathway from early socioeconomic adversity to depression after accounting for the indirect effect via external locus of control. Socioeconomic adversity was associated with more external LoC, which, in turn, was associated with depression. LIMITATIONS: Attrition may have led to an underestimation of the direct and indirect effect sizes in the complete case analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that external LoC in adolescence is one of the factors mediating the link between early adversity and depression at 18 years. Cognitive interventions that seek to modify maladaptive control beliefs in adolescence may be effective in reducing risk of depression following early life adversity

The association between characteristics of fathering in infancy and depressive symptoms in adolescence:A UK birth cohort study

AbstractEvidence suggests that the quality of fathers’ parenting has an impact on psychological outcomes during adolescence, but less is known about which aspects of fathering have the strongest effects. This study, using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), considers which paternal attitudes towards and experiences of child care in infancy are most strongly associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence, and whether father effects are independent of maternal influence and other risk factors. Primary exposures were fathers’ attitudes to and experiences of child care at 8 weeks, 8 months and 21 months coded as continuous scores; the primary outcome was self-reported depressive symptoms at 16 years (Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire score ≥11). Multivariable logistic regression models showed reasonably strong evidence that parental reports indicating potential paternal abuse when children were toddlers were associated with a 22% increased odds of depressive symptoms at age 16 (odds ratio [OR] 1.22 [95% CI 1.11, 1.34] per SD). There was some evidence for an interaction with social class (p=0.04): for children living in higher social class households (professional, managerial and technical classes), an increase in the potential abuse scale increased the odds of depressive symptoms by 31% (OR 1.31 [1.13, 1.53] per SD), whereas there was no effect in the lower social class categories. The potential paternal abuse measure needs to be validated and research is needed on what circumstances predict anger and frustration with child care. Effective interventions are needed to help fathers cope better with parenting stress