The Apokatastasis Essays in Context: Leibniz and Thomas Burnet on the Kingdom of Grace and the Stoic/Platonic Revolutions

One of Leibniz’s more unusual philosophical projects is his presentation (in a series of unpublished drafts) of an argument for the conclusion that a time will necessarily come when “nothing would happen that had not happened before." Leibniz’s presentations of the argument for such a cyclical cosmology are all too brief, and his discussion of its implications is obscure. Moreover, the conclusion itself seems to be at odds with the main thrust of Leibniz’s own metaphysics. Despite this, we can discern a serious and important point to Leibniz’s consideration of the doctrine, namely in what it suggests about the proper boundary between metaphysics and theology, on the one hand, and ordinary history (whether human or natural), on the other. And we can get a better sense of Leibniz purpose in the essays by considering them in the context of Leibniz's response to Thomas Burnet's "Telluris theoria sacra" (1681-89). Leibniz praises Burnet's history of earth for presenting a harmony between the principles of nature and grace, a harmony absent in the cosmogonies of Descartes and the Newtonians. But Leibniz also complains that Burnet misconceives the boundary between natural explanation and reflections on divine wisdom. And Leibniz's essays on cyclical cosmology suggest the alternative to Burnet's account: a natural history of the earth and its inhabitants should be radically autonomous from, even if ultimately harmonious with, theological principles

A simplified test of universality in Lattice QCD

A simplified test of universality in Lattice QCD is performed by analytically evaluating the continuous Euclidean time limits of various lattice fermion determinants, both with and without a Wilson term to lift the fermion doubling on the Euclidean time axis, and comparing them with each other and with the zeta-regularised fermion determinant in the continuous time--lattice space setting. The determinant relations expected from universality considerations are found to be violated by a certain gauge field-dependent factor, i.e. we uncover a "universality anomaly". The physical significance, or lack thereof, of this factor is a delicate question which remains to be settled.Comment: 6 pages. v2: Revised to include a further result on the zeta-regularised fermion determinant in the continuous time--lattice space setting which impacts on the conclusions; typos corrected; acknowledgement and reference added; to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Gas flows in elliptical galaxies

In preparation for the next generation of x ray telescopes, researchers have begun a program investigating the evolving x ray properties of elliptical galaxies. Their galaxy models consist of a modified King profile for the luminous portion of the galaxy and can include an isothermal dark halo comprising 90 percent of the total mass. The stellar population is assumed to form at a rate which decreases exponentially on a dynamical time scale with a Salpeter initial mass function. Stellar mass loss occurs instantaneously as stars evolve off the main sequence. All stars more massive than 8 solar mass produce type II supernovae, while less massive stars loss mass through a planetary nebulae. The evolving rate of type I supernovae is normalized to a fraction, gamma sub sn I, of Tammann's (1974) value. All of this information is then incorporated into a one-dimensional hydrodynamics code to determine the evolving dynamical state of the interstellar medium

Edward Kanterian, _Kant, God and Metaphysics: The Secret Thorn_, London and New York: Routledge, 2018 Pp. xvii + 444 ISBN 9781138908581 (hbk) £110.00

This is a chronological commentary on Kant’s writings through 1769 whose aim is to reveal that the ‘secret thorn’ driving Kant’s thought through its twists and turns is the scripture-based faith of the German Protestant tradition

HOW DO TRAINERS IN EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED TREATMENTS DECIDE WHAT TO TRAIN?: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE TRAINER’S ROLE IN THE SCIENCE-TO-SERVICE PATHWAY

BACKGROUND: Despite significant progress in identifying empirically supported elements of psychotherapy treatments over the last 20 years, the integration of these findings into clinical practice remains low. Practitioner training has been identified as a core component of successful translation of scientific findings into practice. Yet, little research has been conducted on the role of the trainer in the dissemination of empirically supported treatments (ESTs). This exploratory study investigated the practices and attitudes of trainers of an EST, Motivational Interviewing (MI), to identify potential factors related to successful and/or unsuccessful dissemination efforts. METHOD: A measure of Motivational Interviewing components (MIC) and a measure of Trainer Attitudes towards Motivational Interviewing (TAM) training were developed and administered to 111 members of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. The MIC asked trainers to select training content for a hypothetical training scenario, from a list of items that included both empirically supported components and those that had no empirical support, based on a review of the MI literature. Factor Analyses were conducted on the two measures, and associations between the two measures were examined. RESULTS: A two-factor solution of Unsupported and Supported training components emerged from the MIC. A three-factor solution emerged from the TAM, including a factor of Pro-Technical attitudes, a factor of Pro-Relational attitudes, and a third factor indicating disinterest in training either. A correlational analysis showed that trainers who expressed disinterest in training on both the technical and relational components of Motivational Interviewing (MI) had a less favorable balance of supported vs. unsupported training components in a hypothetical training (r = -.228, p = 016), although the reliability of these measures was low. DISCUSSION: Based on this sample, there appears to be considerable uniformity in the training practices and attitudes of MI trainers. Trainers consistently include empirically supported MI components in their trainings, likely contributing to the positive findings for MI’s effectiveness. However, some trainers also appear to include components for which no empirical support exists, or which appear inconsistent with MI’s focus on active change. This study had serious limitations, including the use of new and unreliable measures and a small sample size