Crossing the symbolic threshold: a critical review of Terrence Deacon's The Symbolic Species

Terrence Deacon's views about the origin of language are based on a particular notion of a symbol. While the notion is derived from Peirce's semiotics, it diverges from that source and needs to be investigated on its own terms in order to evaluate the idea that the human species has crossed the symbolic threshold. Deacon's view is defended from the view that symbols in the animal world are widespread and from the extreme connectionist view that they are not even to be found in humans. Deacon's treatment of symbols involves a form of holism, as a symbol needs to be part of a system of symbols. He also appears to take a realist view of symbols. That combination of holism and realism makes the threshold a sharp threshold, which makes it hard to explain how the threshold was crossed. This difficulty is overcome if we take a mild realist position towards symbols, in the style of Dennett. Mild realism allows intermediate stages in the crossing but does not undermine Deacon's claim that the threshold is difficult to cross or the claim that it needs to be crossed quickly

Kinds of conversational cooperation

The Cooperative Principle was the organizing principle in Grice’s pragmatics. More recently, cooperation has played a reduced role in pragmatic theory. The principle has been attacked on the grounds that people are not always or generally cooperative. One response to that objection is to say that there are two kinds of cooperation and Grice’s principle only applies to the narrower kind, which concerns linguistic or formal cooperation. I argue that such a distinction is only defensible if it is accepted that linguistic cooperation can be determined by an extra-linguistic goal. To make distinctions among types of cooperation is helpful but this strategy does not remove all concerns about speakers who are not fully cooperative and in particular the operation of the principle needs to be qualified in situations of conflict of interest. I propose that the principle, once qualified, can have a significant continuing role in pragmatic theory

Help! Virtue Profiles and Horses for Courses

Glen Pettigrove addresses the proportionality principle in ethics, the principle that “our actions, attitudes, or emotions should be proportional to the degree of value present in the object or events to which they are responding” [p. 1]. He argues this is inconsistent with some familiar features of common-sense morality. In response, he brings virtuous character into the picture, a move we support but wish to modify. We show that certain helping actions should be guided by whether one has the virtue profile most suited to the situation from amongst a surrounding network of people

Tissue interactions in the developing chick diencephalon

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Fertilizers for carnations, Bulletin, no. 159

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Mendelism in melons, Bulletin, no. 172

The Bulletin is a publication of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Life Sciences and Agriculture, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire

Théories voyageuses. Foucault, Grant, la Chine et la régionalisation des soins de santé

Théories voyageusesFoucault, Grant, la Chine et la régionalisation des soins de santéActuellement, de nombreux gouvernements aux prises avec une crise fiscale cherchent des moyens de limiter et de restructurer les services de soins de santé offerts à leurs citoyens. Cet article présente les positions à ce sujet de deux penseurs : Michel Foucault (sur la sécurité sociale) et le Dr John Black Grant de la Fondation Rockefeller (sur la régionalisation des soins de santé), dont les travaux sont considérés comme des « théories voyageuses ». En effet, il est indispensable d'étudier les vicissitudes spatiales et temporelles du savoir pour mieux comprendre les usages et les effets du savoir scientifique. La première partie présente des réflexions que fit Foucault peu avant sa mort sur l'État-providence et les processus décisionnels démocratiques. La deuxième traite Foucault comme une marchandise intellectuelle en transit, notamment en Chine. Dans la troisième partie, l'auteur examine la contribution de Grant aux politiques et aux pratiques de santé en Chine et ailleurs et montre la convergence entre son projet de décentralisation et celui que propose Foucault (mais qui est moins détaillé). La vision qu'avait Grant de la régionalisation visait à promouvoir la réalisation d'une société civile; en termes foucaldiens, il s'agit d'un exercice de gouvernementalité à l'intérieur d'une nouvelle « technique du soi », qui peut devenir une « pratique de liberté ».Mots clés : Lumsden, santé, régionalisation, théorie, Foucault, Grant, Chine.Travelling Theory and Population Health : Foucault, Grant, China and RegionalizationMany governments currently wrestling with fiscal crisis are seeking how best to limit and restructure their citizens' health care services. This paper on transnational theorizing draws attention to the views on this policy matter of two earlier thinkers : Michel Foucault on " social security ", and Dr. John Black Grant of The Rockefeller Foundation on the " regionalization " of services. Both are treated as cases of " travelling theory " : we must grasp both the temporal and the spatial vicissitudes of savoir if we are to better understand and deal with " les usages et les effets sociaux du savoir scientifique ", with the savoir of governmentality and la sante publique. Part (1) reviews Foucault's later thought about state welfare and democratie decision-making ; Part (2) treats Foucault as a travelling intellectual commodity, and focuses on the case of China; Part (3) examines Grant's contributions to health policy and practice in China and elsewhere, and shows Foucault's later convergence on a similar (but less detailed) policy of decentralization. Grant's vision of " regionalization " can promote the growth of " civil society " ; in Foucauldian terms, it is an exercise in governmentality, in a new " technology of the self ", and can be a " practice of liberty ".Key words : Lumsden, health, regionalization, theory, Foucault, Grant, China

Characterising encapsulated nuclear waste using cosmic-ray muon tomography

Tomographic imaging techniques using the Coulomb scattering of cosmic-ray muons have been shown previously to successfully identify and characterise low- and high-Z materials within an air matrix using a prototype scintillating-fibre tracker system. Those studies were performed as the first in a series to assess the feasibility of this technology and image reconstruction techniques in characterising the potential high-Z contents of legacy nuclear waste containers for the UK Nuclear Industry. The present work continues the feasibility study and presents the first images reconstructed from experimental data collected using this small-scale prototype system of low- and high-Z materials encapsulated within a concrete-filled stainless-steel container. Clear discrimination is observed between the thick steel casing, the concrete matrix and the sample materials assayed. These reconstructed objects are presented and discussed in detail alongside the implications for future industrial scenarios.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure