1,721,180 research outputs found
Non-Evidentialist Epistemology: Introduction and Overview
Full text linkThis is the introduction to Moretti, Luca and Nikolaj Pedersen (eds), Non-Evidentialist Epistemology. Brill. Contributors: N. Ashton, A. Coliva, J. Kim, K. McCain, A. Meylan, L. Moretti, S. Moruzzi, J. Ohlorst, N. Pedersen, T. Piazza, L. Zanetti
Due frammenti delle memorie di Silla in Aulo Gellio
Full text linkQuesto articolo analizza due frammenti delle memorie di Lucio Cornelio Silla trasmessi da Aulo Gellio. Entrambi gli stralci provengono dal secondo libro dell’autobiografia ma si riferiscono a contesti apparentemente diversi. Il fr. 2 Peter (Gell., NA, 1, 12, 16) menziona il flamen Dialis Publio Cornelio, il primo membro della gens Cornelia a ricevere il cognomen Silla. Nel fr. 3 Peter (Gell., NA, 20, 6, 3) un oratore non meglio identificato si rivolge a un pubblico con il quale egli e i suoi antenati hanno intrattenuto un qualche rapporto di ostilità. Lo studio cerca di dimostrare che questi brani possono essere riferiti a eventi che ebbero luogo in Italia e a Roma durante la guerra civile dell’87 a.C. Tale conclusione ci porta a riconsiderare la struttura generale dell’autobiografia del dittatore e a evidenziare l’importanza dei conflitti politici e militari all’interno dell’opera.The aim of this article is to shed new light on two fragments of Lucius Cornelius Sulla’s memoirs quoted in Aulus Gellius’Noctes Atticae. Both fragments come from the second book of the autobiography, but refer to apparently different contexts. Fr. 2 Peter (Gell., NA, 1, 12, 16) deals with the flamen Dialis Publius Cornelius, the first member of his gens to bear the cognomen Sulla. In fr. 3 Peter (Gell., NA, 20, 6, 3), an unknown speaker addresses an audience with whom he and his ancestors had some kind of rivalry in the past. As the study attempts to show, these passages may be related to well-known historical events that took place in Italy and Rome during the civil war of 87 BC. This conclusion leads us to reconsider the general structure of the dictator’s writings and to highlight the role of political and military struggles in his memoirs
Control of the average light transmission in one-dimensional photonic structures by tuning the random layer thickness distribution
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Critique of telic power
No full textÅsa Burman has recently introduced the important notion of telic power and differentiated it from deontic power in an attempt to build a bridge between ideal and non-ideal social ontology. We find Burman’s project promising but we argue that more is to be done to make it entirely successful. First, there is a palpable tension between Burman’s claim that telic power can be ontologically independent of deontic power and her examples, which suggests that these forms of power share the same basis. Second, it is not completely clear how telic power specifically helps non-ideal social ontologists explain oppression. We offer solutions to both problems. First, we argue that Burman’s arguments for the conclusion that telic power can exist without deontic power are unsuccessful. Burman contends that this is possible because some social roles involving telic power can exist independently of institutions as sets of constitutive rules, which are––in her opinion––the source of deontic power. Burman’s arguments are not persuasive because she disregards the plausible view that all social roles involve deontic power, whether or not they are institutional. Second, we argue that while the exercise of deontic power requires a collective recognition of the social roles of the interacting agents and, therefore, a recognition of the associated norms, the exercise of telic power does not require recognition of the relevant norms. This is why invoking telic power is particularly useful in explaining how oppression and injustice can arise. Lastly, we suggest that the relation between teleological normativity and the forms of telic power has not been fully clarified by Burman and requires a deeper analysis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Processing speed, cognitive reserve and paradigm mediate task switching performance across the life span
Full text linkTask switching paradigms have often been employed over the last 20 years to investigate how flexibility in goal-directed behavior is achieved. This ability has been found to be disrupted to some extent in older individuals. At the same time, the debate on the factors contributing to age-related cognitive decline has led to the formulation of theories linking the phenomenon either to specific domain impairments or to a common disrupted function. Among the latter explanations, Salthouse [1], has proposed speed of processing to be at the core of age-related differences in tasks tapping executive functions.
The aim of the present study was to assess the role of processing speed in a task switching paradigm, and whether life experiences can mediate cognitive decline as proposed by Stern [2]. Individuals (n = 97) ranging from 21 to 79 years took part to the study: along with a task switching paradigm with transparent cues for spatial/non –spatial rules, measures of cognitive integrity (MoCa), depression (BDI), speed of processing (Symbol-digit substitution test), and cognitive reserve (CRIq) were administered. Data were then used to build linear models distinguishing the role for each variable in predicting two indices of task switching performance, namely switching and mixing costs. Further, cue-to-target interval manipulations (100-1200 ms) allowed us to test possible differences due to temporal constrains.
The results indicate that speed of processing is indeed a highly significant predictor for both switching (r = -.52, p<.001) and mixing costs (r = -.41, p < .001): as predicted, its importance was higher when participants were provided with little time to prepare. Among the factors that were supposed to protect older individuals from cognitive decline, education was the only one to reach significance in predicting switching costs (r = -.25, p = .01). Finally, a pattern of increased switching costs and preserved comparable costs emerged when comparing older adults’ performance with the rest of the sample. Even though previous literature usually reveals the opposite pattern (i.e. preserved switch cost, increased mixing costs), we believe that the current use of a transparent cue may be the key feature in explaining the differences, opening further questions about task switching methodology.
Acknowledgment: The authors thank the European Research Council LEX-MEA (GA #313692). A special thank goes to Sandra Arbula, Ettore Ambrosini and Maria Grazia Capizzi for their precious advices.
1. Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological review, 103(3), 403.
2. Stern Y., (2009). Cognitive reserve. Neuropsychologia 47(10), 2015-2
The many ways of the basing relation
Full text linkA subject S's belief that Q is well-grounded if and only if it is based on a reason of S that gives S propositional justification for Q. Depending on the nature of S's reason, the process whereby S bases her belief that Q on it can vary. If S's reason is non-doxastic––like an experience that Q or a testimony that Q––S will need to form the belief that Q as a spontaneous and immediate response to that reason. If S's reason is doxastic––like a belief that P––S will need to infer her belief that Q from it. The distinction between these two ways in which S's beliefs can be based on S's reasons is widely presupposed in current epistemology but––we argue in this paper––is not exhaustive. We give examples of quite ordinary situations in which a well-grounded belief of S appears to be based on S's reasons in neither of the ways described above. To accommodate these recalcitrant cases, we introduce the notion of enthymematic inference and defend the thesis that S can base a belief that Q on doxastic reasons P1, P2, …, Pn via inferring enthymematically Q from P1, P2, …, Pn
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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