Personal and sub-personal: a defence of Dennett's early distinction

Since 1969, when Dennett introduced a distinction between personal and sub‐personal levels of explanation, many philosophers have used ‘sub‐personal’ very loosely, and Dennett himself has abandoned a view of the personal level as genuinely autonomous. I recommend a position in which Dennett's original distinction is crucial, by arguing that the phenomenon called mental causation is on view only at the properly personal level. If one retains the commit‐’ ments incurred by Dennett's early distinction, then one has a satisfactory anti‐physicalistic, anti‐dualist philosophy of mind. It neither interferes with the projects of sub‐personal psychology, nor encourages ; instrumentalism at the personal level. People lose sight of Dennett’s personal/sub-personal distinction because they free it from its philosophical moorings. A distinction that serves a philosophical purpose is typically rooted in doctrine; it cannot be lifted out of context and continue to do its work. So I shall start from Dennett’s distinction as I read it in its original context. And when I speak of ‘the distinction’, I mean to point not only towards the terms that Dennett first used to define it but also towards the philosophical setting within which its work was cut out

Do actions occur inside the body?

The paper offers a critical examination of Jennifer Hornsby's view that actions are internal to the body. It focuses on three of Hornsby's central claims: (P) many actions are bodily movements (in a special sense of the word “movement”) (Q) all actions are tryings; and (R) all actions occur inside the body. It is argued, contra Hornsby, that we may accept (P) and (Q) without accepting also the implausible (R). Two arguments are first offered in favour of the thesis (Contrary-R): that no actions occur inside the body. Three of Hornsby's arguments in favour of R are then examined. It is argued that we need to make a distinction between the causes and the causings of bodily movements (in the ordinary sense of the word “movement”) and that actions ought to be identified with the latter rather than the former. This distinction is then used to show how Hornsby's arguments for (R) may be resisted

Provision of trauma teams in Scotland: a national survey

<b>Background and Aims:</b> Trauma is still the leading cause of mortality in the first four decades of life. Despite multiple reports on how trauma care could be improved in the UK, treatment has been shown to be inconsistent and of poor quality. Trauma teams have been shown to have a positive effect on outcome. We aimed to determine the prevalence of trauma teams in Scotland. <b>Methods:</b> We performed a telephone survey of 24 hospitals with Emergency Departments and spoke to the senior clinician regarding provision of trauma teams. <b>Results:</b> 5 (21%) of the hospitals questioned had trauma teams. The most common reasons for not having one were: no problem with current system 8 (44%) and inability to include senior enough staff on the team 6 (24%). <b>Conclusions:</b> There are few trauma teams in Scottish acute hospitals. There was little enthusiasm for introducing them for a variety of reasons. Local evidence of benefit is likely needed before their adoption becomes widespread

Mapping the History of the State: The Historical Atlas of Maine

This article describes the creation of the Historical Atlas of Maine, one of the most significant scholarly achievements in the humanities to come out of the University of Maine. Conceived in the late 1990s, the atlas was published by the University of Maine Press in 2015. It represents an enormously ambitious attempt to map the historical geography of the state from the end of the last ice age to the end of the millennium in 2000

The Truth in Compatibilism and the truth of Libertarianism

The paper offers the outlines of a response to the often-made suggestion is that it is impossible to see how indeterminism could possibly provide us with anything that we might want in the way of freedom, anything that could really amount to control, as opposed merely to an openness in the flow of reality that would constitute merely the injection of chance, or randomness, into the unfolding of the processes which underlie our activity. It is suggested that the best first move for the libertarian is to make a number of important concessions to the compatibilist. It should be conceded, in particular, that certain sorts of alternative possibilities are neither truly available to real, worldly agents, nor required in order that those agents should act freely; and it should be admitted also that it is the compatibilist who tends to give the most plausible sorts of analyses of many of the ‘can’ and ‘could have’ statements which seem to need to be assertible of those agents we regard as free. But these concessions do not bring compatibilism itself in their wake. The most promising version of libertarianism, it is argued, should be based on the idea that agency itself (and not merely some special instances of it which we might designate with the honorific appellation ‘free’) is inconsistent with determinism. This version of libertarianism, it is claimed, can avoid the objection that indeterminism is as difficult to square with true agential control as determinism can sometimes seem to be

Impact of different handling styles (good vs. adverse) on growth performance, behavior, and cortisol concentrations in beef cattle

Our objective was to determine effects of aggressive handling on growth performance, behavior, and cortisol concentrations in beef calves. Crossbred calves (313 ± 4.7 kg; n = 54; 24 steers, 30 heifers) from a single herd were stratified by gender, body weight, and initial chute score, then allocated randomly to one of six pens. Each pen was randomly assigned to one of two handling treatments (good or adverse) applied on days 7, 35, 63, and 91. The objective of good treatment was to handle the calves quietly and gently to minimize stress. The objective of adverse treatment was to move the calves quickly and expose them to stimuli. Body weight, exit velocity, and chute scores (based on 5 point subjective scale) were recorded and salivary samples for cortisol were collected (4 calves/ pen) on days 0, 7, 35, 63, and 91. Pen scores (5 point subjective scale) were recorded on days 12, 42, and 87. Data were analyzed statistically using a mixed model. Chute scores tended to be higher (more agitated) in the adverse treatment on day 7, but scores did not differ on subsequent days (treatment × day; P = 0.06). Salivary cortisol concentrations on day 63 were greater in cattle on the adverse treatment (treatment × day, P = 0.001). Body weight, exit velocity, and pen scores were not affected by treatment (P ≥ 0.24). While differences were observed, these cattle appeared to acclimate to short-term adverse handling which did not seem to dramatically affect performance or behavior of beef cattle

Judgment and the identity theory of truth

The identity theory of truth takes on different forms depending on whether it is combined with a dual relation or a multiple relation theory of judgment. This paper argues that there are two significant problems for the dual relation identity theorist regarding thought's answerability to reality, neither of which takes a grip on the multiple relation identity theory

The effects of carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drinks on performance and physiological function during an 8km cycle time trial

Background: Supplementation in the form of sports drinks has in latter years become an integral part of professional and amateur exercise. Currently much of the research is directed at carbohydrate-electrolyte (CE) drink supplementation for exercises lasting one hour or above and has been shown to improve performance. However the effects of supplementation prior to and during intense, short term exercise on performance is less understood. Therefore the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of ingesting different CE drinks prior and during exercise on an 8km time trial (TT) performance against a placebo. Methods: Fifteen male subjects were randomised in a balanced double-blinded repeated measures crossover manner to consume three drinks A (8% CHO), B (5% CHO) and C (placebo) 5min prior (4.0 ml.kg-1) and 1.0 ml.kg-1 at 3 and 6km during the 8km cycle TT. Tests were performed on standardised cycle ergonometers at room temperature (18-22°C) with seven days between trials. Results: Time taken to complete the time trials were not significantly different between drink treatments A (11.43±1.31min), B (12.02±1.3min) and C (11.73±1.44). Mean heart rate for drink C (169±12.26bpm) and drinks B and A had slower heart rates of 1.7bpm and 3.7bpm respectively with no significant differences between drink treatments (p=0.388). No differences were found in physiological measurements of mean change in RPE, RPM, body weight and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, between drink treatments. Conclusions: Performance and physiological function during a maximal cycling exercise lasting approximately 10min (8km) is not improved or limited by endogenous substrate availability prior and during the event

Improved Coinfection with Amphotropic Pseudotyped Retroviral Vectors

Amphotropic pseudotyped retroviral vectors have typically been used to infect target cells without prior concentration. Although this can yield high rates of infection, higher rates may be needed where highly efficient coinfection of two or more vectors is needed. In this investigation we used amphotropic retroviral vectors produced by the Plat-A cell line and studied coinfection rates using green and red fluorescent proteins (EGFP and dsRed2). Target cells were primary human fibroblasts (PHF) and 3T3 cells. Unconcentrated vector preparations produced a coinfection rate of ∼4% (defined as cells that are both red and green as a percentage of all cells infected). Optimized spinoculation, comprising centrifugation at 1200 g for 2 hours at 15°C, increased the coinfection rate to ∼10%. Concentration by centrifugation at 10,000 g or by flocculation using Polybrene increased the coinfection rate to ∼25%. Combining the two processes, concentration by Polybrene flocculation and optimized spinoculation, increased the coinfection rate to 35% (3T3) or >50% (PHF). Improved coinfection should be valuable in protocols that require high transduction by combinations of two or more retroviral vectors