The Proper Work of the Intellect

There is a familiar teleological picture of epistemic normativity on which it is grounded in the goal or good of belief, which is taken in turn to be the acquisition of truth and the avoidance of error. This traditional picture has faced numerous challenges, but one of the most interesting of these is an argument that rests on the nearly universally accepted view that this truth goal, as it is known, is at heart two distinct goals that are in tension with one another. This paper will look more closely at the standard way of understanding the truth goal, drawing out both its explicit and implicit features. My aim will be to show that this conception of the truth goal is deeply mistaken, to propose and defend an alternative model, and to show how this alternative model restores the unity of the goal and its potential to ground and explain the normative dimensions of belief

Beyond safety to wellbeing: How local authorities can mitigate the mental health risks of living in houses in multiple occupation

The regulation of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) by local authorities focuses on ensuring the physical safety of occupants through adequate standards of building quality, safety provision and management suitability. However, it has been suggested that HMOs may also pose a particular threat to the mental health of residents. In this paper we consider the suitability of current regulations to tackle the possible risks to the mental health of HMO residents and then outline how the current public health agenda may present an opportunity for environmental health professionals to tackle these issues in new ways. Using a framework which encompasses the psychosocial processes thought to link residents? mental health with their housing conditions, we describe how local authorities can address some of the mental health risks posed by HMOs but that the current enforcement culture, in which prosecution is seen as a last resort makes decisive action against landlords very difficult. In recognising the many vulnerable households living in HMOs, we argue that local authorities dealing with housing standards and environmental management are strategically placed to be more ambitious and proactive in protecting the health of local residents particularly through the developing public health and wellbeing partnerships. We call for empirical research to look at how local authorities actually use current legislation as well as other strategies to manage HMOs and protect the mental health of tenants

Toward a pragmatist philosophy of science

Este ensayo en tres partes comienza con un diagnóstico de la trayectoria de la filosofía general de la ciencia, tal como se cultiva en la tradición que se origina con la reforma hempeliana del positivismo lógico. Desde 1950, la filosofía anglófona de la ciencia ha buscado enfoques generales sobre teorías, confirmación y explicación. Ha reunído, en cambio, algunas herramientas valiosas para explorar problemas en las ciencias narurales y sociales, aplicándolas en un buen número de estudios útiles. La segunda parte del ensayo se ocupa de la cuestión de si hay algún proyecto continuador del tipo de investigación general inspirada por Hempel. Sostengo que se han ignorado algunas cuestiones metodológicas difíciles sobre la investigación colectiva. Los intenros para responder a estas cuestiones debieran ampliar nuestros recursos para comprender filósoficamente el conocimiento científico. La tercera parte se ocupa de la la situación de las ciencias en la sociedad. ¿Puede la investigación cientifica divorciarse de los intereses del público general? ¿Pueden sus conclusiones ignorar el tipo de evidencia que aceptan los no científicos? Defiendo un desarrollo del ideal de una ciencia bien ordenada y una concepción de la ciencia (¡en singular!) como una institución entre otras.Este enfoque recuperar temas importantes de la olvidada tradición pragmatista

Afterthoughts. Reply to Comments

I attempt to respond to the many questions and objections raised by the commentaries. The responses are grouped by themes, rather than focusing on the essays in sequence. So there are sections on worries about my analytical history, concerns about my meta-ethical perspective, doubts about my normative stance—and complaints about my perpetration of a ‘naturalistic fallacy’

The Right vs. the Good: Kant vs. Rawls

Rawls regarded the priority of the right over the good as the characteristic feature of Kantian constructivism. I have four goals in the paper. First, I try to refute Rawls’s reading of Kant on the relation between the right and the good. Second, I fill out Kant’s picture of the rational natures that have intrinsic value: They have the law of duty within, are predisposed to respect themselves and others who have the law of duty within, and belong to a community of rational natures. Third, I argue that because Kant thought that the right and the good were coeval, he is not a constructivist, but a kind of realist. Finally, I use my examination of the good, the intrinsically valuable in Kant, to reject any temptation to regard his ethics as dependent on his teleological claim that human nature is the end of nature

The Importance of Social Epistemology

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Reconstructing palaeoenvironments of the White Peak region of Derbyshire, northern England

Sub-fossil pollen from Holocene tufa pool sediments is used to investigate middle – late Holocene environmental conditions in the White Peak region of the Derbyshire Peak District in northern England. The overall aim is to use pollen analysis to resolve the relative influence of climate and anthropogenic landscape disturbance on the cessation of tufa production at Lathkill Dale and Monsal Dale in the White Peak region of the Peak District using past vegetation cover as a proxy.Modern White Peak pollen – vegetation relationships are examined to aid semi-quantitative interpretation of sub-fossil pollen assemblages. Moss-polsters and vegetation surveys incorporating novel methodologies are used to produce new Relative Pollen Productivity Estimates (RPPE) for 6 tree taxa, and new association indices for 16 herb taxa. RPPE’s of Alnus, Fraxinus and Pinus were similar to those produced at other European sites; Betula values displaying similarity with other UK sites only. RPPE’s for Fagus and Corylus were significantly lower than at other European sites.Pollen taphonomy in woodland floor mosses in Derbyshire and East Yorkshire is investigated. Significant variations in tree pollen percentages within 1 metre quadrats of continuous moss cover are found, with micro-topography and aspect suggested as primary controls. Pollen taphonomy is investigated at the River Wye in Derbyshire to provide a context for the palaeoenvironmental study. The taphonomic model at the River Wye field site was found to be more similar to a small enclosed lake, contradicting the model proposed for open fluvial systems.Sub-fossil pollen evidence suggests that climatic change exacerbated by catchment-scale anthropogenic deforestation was the dominant mechanism influencing tufa cessation at both the White Peak field sites. The Monsal Dale field site is suggested as being in the early stages of degradation, and the Lathkill Dale field site suggested as representing the terminal stage of the tufa system shut-down

Creativity, Self-Actualization and Meditation Programmes

Twenty-seven students enrolled in a first year Graphics Course at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario were rated on creativity by two groups of experts, a self rating and by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Figural Forms A and B (Torrance, 1966) and self-actualization by the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) (Shostrom, 1964) before and after a three month meditation program. The expert rating-rerating of the pretest collagen was very reliable (r=.82) and there was fair agreement (r=.61 average) between Graphic Experts and Non-Grahpic visual communications experts. The lack of significant correlations (p The students who were randomly assigned to one of a Transcendental Meditation (TM), a Relaxation Response (RR) (Benson, 1975) or control group were found (p Creativity, self-actualization and meditation were discussed in relation to theories of thought, stress, self-actualization and yoga, and it was concluded that the empirical research of the West might benefit from an investigation of the experiential research of the East

Biomedical Research, Neglected Diseases, and Well-Ordered Science

In this paper we make a proposal for reforming biomedical research that is aimed to align re-search more closely with the so-called fair-share principle according to which the proportions of global resources as-signed to different diseases should agree with the ratios of human suffering associated with those diseases