An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method\ud

Is there such a thing as a philosophical method? It seems that there are as many philosophical methods as there are philosophies. A method is any procedure employed to achieve a certain aim. So, before proposing a method, we have to tackle the delicate question: “what is the aim of philosophy?”. At the origin of philosophy, there is a questioning about the world. The worldview approach developed by Leo Apostel elegantly explicit those fundamental questions. As we answer them, we come up with a worldview. Using this framework, this paper consider answering this enduring philosophical agenda as the primary aim of philosophy. We illustrate the approach by pointing out the limitations of both a strictly scientific worldview and a strictly religious worldview. We then argue that philosophical worldviews constitute a particular class of possible worldviews. With the help of three analogies, we give guidelines to construct such worldviews. The next step is to compare the relative strength of philosophical worldviews. Precise evaluation standards to compare and confront worldviews are proposed. Some problems for worldview diffusion are then expounded. We close with basic hypotheses to build a comprehensive philosophical worldview

An Enduring Philosophical Agenda. Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method

Is there something like a philosophical method? It seems that there are as many methods as there are philosophies. A method is any procedure employed to attain a certain end. So, before going to a method, we have to ask: what is the aim of philosophy? At the origin of philosophy, there is a questioning about the world. Leo Apostel and Jan Van der Veken made more precise and explicit those fundamental questions (Apostel, Van der Veken 1991). The primarily aim of philosophy can be seen as answering this philosophical agenda; with the answers, one come up with a worldview. We'll argue that the philosophical worldviews constitute a particular class of the possible worldviews. With the help of three analogies, we'll give some guidelines to construct such worldviews. But, what are the best philosophical worldviews? We'll see how we can compare and confront them; and also some problems for their diffusion. The last section will propose some basic hypotheses to build such integrative worldviews

Getting Things Done: The Science behind Stress-Free Productivity

Allen (2001) proposed the “Getting Things Done” (GTD) method for personal productivity enhancement, and reduction of the stress caused by information overload. This paper argues that recent insights in psychology and cognitive science support and extend GTD’s recommendations. We first summarize GTD with the help of a flowchart. We then review the theories of situated, embodied and distributed cognition that purport to explain how the brain processes information and plans actions in the real world. The conclusion is that the brain heavily relies on the environment, to function as an external memory, a trigger for actions, and a source of affordances, disturbances and feedback. We then show how these principles are practically implemented in GTD, with its focus on organizing tasks into “actionable” external memories, and on opportunistic, situation-dependent execution. Finally, we propose an extension of GTD to support collaborative work, inspired by the concept of stigmergy

Bifurcation-based parameter tuning in a model of the GnRH pulse and surge generator

We investigate a model of the GnRH pulse and surge generator, with the definite aim of constraining the model GnRH output with respect to a physiologically relevant list of specifications. The alternating pulse and surge pattern of secretion results from the interaction between a GnRH secreting system and a regulating system exhibiting fast-slow dynamics. The mechanisms underlying the behavior of the model are reminded from the study of the Boundary-Layer System according to the "dissection method" principle. Using singular perturbation theory, we describe the sequence of bifurcations undergone by the regulating (FitzHugh-Nagumo) system, encompassing the rarely investigated case of homoclinic connexion. Basing on pure dynamical considerations, we restrict the space of parameter search for the regulating system and describe a foliation of this restricted space, whose leaves define constant duration ratios between the surge and the pulsatility phase in the whole system. We propose an algorithm to fix the parameter values to also meet the other prescribed ratios dealing with amplitude and frequency features of the secretion signal. We finally apply these results to illustrate the dynamics of GnRH secretion in the ovine species and the rhesus monkey

À la recherche des biens sous tutelle

La notion de biens sous tutelle (merit goods) introduite par Musgrave en 1957 définit des biens pour lesquels l’évaluation sociale ne provient pas uniquement des informations fournies par les préférences individuelles. L’utilisation d’un argument de type biens sous tutelle pour justifier l’intervention de l’État est très fréquente dans le domaine culturel, la santé, la protection de la biodiversité, etc. Pour autant, la légitimité économique de cet argument demeure controversée : qu’est-ce qui peut justifier que l’État s’érige en tuteur des préférences des individus?L’objet de cet article est de clarifier la place occupée par les biens sous tutelle en économie du bien-être. La première partie définit le concept et présente les problèmes qu’il pose à la théorie économique. Par la suite, nous montrons comment certaines extensions de la théorie, en particulier les avancées proposées par l’économie comportementale, contribuent à asseoir sa légitimité économique tant du point de vue des préférences individuelles que du choix social.Musgrave’s so-called merit goods, introduced in 1957, intend to deal with situations where the social weight or concern of a good differs from the information given by individual preferences. Merit goods are often referred to as a case for government intervention in education, health care or biodiversity protection policies. But theoretical roots of this concept seem a bit fuzzy and are, at best, very controversial. To put it crudely, what –if anything– can justify that government choices rule out individual choices? The paper deals with this issue. What role do merit goods play in economic theory?The first part of the paper defines the concept of merit goods and emphasizes the theoretical issues at stake. Afterward, we show how recent developments in economic theory, especially behavorial economics, provide a useful framework for the recognition of the concept, both as for individual decision making theory as for social choice

Endogenous circannual rhythm in LH secretion: insight from signal analysis coupled with mathematical modelling

In sheep as in many vertebrates, the seasonal pattern of reproduction is timed by the annual photoperiodic cycle, characterized by seasonal changes in the daylength. The photoperiodic information is translated into a circadian profile of melatonin secretion. After multiple neuronal relays (within the hypothalamus), melatonin impacts GnRH (gonadotrophin releasing hormone) secretion that in turn controls ovarian cyclicity. The pattern of GnRH secretion is mirrored into that of LH (luteinizing hormone) secretion, whose plasmatic level can be easily measured. We addressed the question of whether there exists an endogenous circannual rhythm in a tropical sheep population that exhibits clear seasonal ovarian activity when ewes are subjected to temperate latitudes. We based our analysis on LH time series collected in the course of 3 years from ewes subjected to a constant photoperiodic regime. Due to intra- and inter- animal variability and unequal sampling times, the existence of an endogenous rhythm is not straightforward. We have used time-frequency signal processing methods to extract hidden rhythms from the data. To further investigate the LF (low frequency) and HF (high frequency) components of the signals, we have designed a mathematical model of LH plasmatic level accounting for the effect of experimental sampling times. The model enables us to confirm the existence of an endogenous circannual rhythm, to investigate the action mechanism of photoperiod on the pulsatile pattern of LH secretion (control of the interpulse interval) and to conclude that the HF component is mainly due to the experimental sampling protocol

A la recherche des Merit Goods

Musgrave’s so-called merit goods, introduced in 1957, intend to deal with the situations where the social weight or concern of a good differs from the information given by individual preferences. Merit goods are often referred to as a case for government intervention in education, health care or biodiversity protection policies…. But the theoretical roots of this concept seem a bit fuzzy and are, at best, very controversial. To put it crudely, what –if anything- can justify that government choices rule out individual choices? The paper tries to answer this question. What role do merit goods play in economic theory? The first part of the paper defines the concept of merit good and emphasizes the theoretical issues at stake. The second part studies in what way the concept of merit good can be compatible with economic theory. We show, in particular, how this concept fits well with the development related to individual decision making theory, known as behavioural economics.