There are many problems about causality and identity in Humeanism. Especially, a problem that “Humean Supervenience” allowing many possibilities of various external laws encounters is concerned with the difficulty whether such laws can be coherent with the intrinsic properties of causation. This problem is related to another one whether “Humean Supervenience” is compatible with objectivism in accordance with Hume's original intention. Struggling with a disharmony between Hume's pragmatic epistemology and his realistic ontology, many philosophers have tried to dissolve such a (...) complicated problem. But I think their efforts wouldn't be successful and the disharmony doesn't need to be settled, because the prospective collapses of their efforts wouldn't reduce the meaning of Humeanism. In this paper, I conclude that the seeming incoherence should be retained, because it suggests a moderate scientific attitude to be placed between dogmatism and skepticism. I demonstrate it by emphasizing the significance of some parts included in Hume's Treatise. (shrink)

華奢を禁じ、浪費をおさえよ。江戸時代、絶版禁書となった白隠禅師の御政道批判の書がいま甦る。.

Extensively employed in reproductive science, the term fetal–maternal interface describes how maternal and fetal tissues interact in the womb to produce the transient placenta, purporting a theory of pregnancy where ‘mother’, ‘fetus’, and ‘placenta’ are already-separate entities. However, considerable scientific evidence supports a different theory, which is also elaborated in feminist and new materialist literatures. Informed by interviews with placenta scientists as well as secondary sources on placental immunology and the developmental origins of health and disease, I explore evidence not (...) of interfacing during pregnancy, but of intra-action, or the mutual emergence of entities in simultaneous practices of differentiation and connection. I argue that attending to evidence that can be figured as intra-action enables us to recognize, account for, and attend to diffuse responsibilities for fetal–maternal outcomes that extend beyond mothers to the biosocial milieus of pregnancy. In reimaging the intra-action of placentas, a new understanding of what constitutes a ‘healthy pregnancy’ becomes possible. (shrink)

The anti‐natalist philosopher David Benatar defends a position asserting that all life is harmful, and that it is, therefore, wrong to have children. In this paper, I critique Benatar's less‐discussed claim that his anti‐natalism provides solutions to population ethics problems, such as the Non‐Identity Problem, the Repugnant Conclusion, and the Mere Addition Problem, all of which are presented in Derek Parfit's Reasons and Persons. Since the publication of his Better Never to Have Been, Benatar has continued to claim that its (...) provision of such solutions strengthens his defense of anti‐natalism. Although Benatar's view has received much criticism, this argument has not been discussed at length. I undertake a thorough examination of the argument and identify reasons to reject it. The central point of my critique is that the implications of Benatar's views in determining ranges of wrong and not‐wrong cases of procreation are extensionally inadequate when applied to the problems of population ethics. (shrink)

In this paper, I show that David Benatar’s asymmetry argument for anti-natalism leads to a dilemma. In Chapter 2 of his book Better Never to Have Been, Benatar claims that there is an axiological asymmetry between harms and benefits that explains four prevalent asymmetries. Based on the axiological asymmetry, he defends the anti-natalist conclusion that we should not have children. The four prevalent asymmetries to be explained are moral duties, reasons, attitudes, or feelings concerning life as a whole. However, Benatar (...) explains them by applying the axiological asymmetry to parts of life, such as pains and pleasures. I find a serious gap here. While two ways are available to bridge this gap, a dilemma arises from Benatar’s asymmetry argument. The axiological asymmetry is not supported because it cannot explain the four prevalent asymmetries, or else it cannot lead to the anti-natalist conclusion. A number of philosophers have already criticized Benatar’s asymmetry argument, mainly questioning its assumptions. In this paper, I contend that there is no good reason to agree with his argument even if all its explicit assumptions are accepted. (shrink)

In Meaning in Life: An Analytic Study, Thaddeus Metz advocates a kind of naturalistic objective theory of meaning in life, through a rejection of supernaturalism. In this paper, I examine Metz’s argument on supernaturalism, in particular, soul-centered theory and immortality. I will argue that his objection to supernaturalism is inadequate because he does not treat properly a familiar idea about the relationship between death and meaning, namely, the idea that a person’s death itself makes her life meaningless. Metz interprets immortality (...) as a condition for obtaining meaning, but in view of the idea that I present, immortality means the negation of the death of a person whose life already has meaning. As I see it, this idea about death and meaning is also one of the motivations to accept a soul-centered theory and therefore key to a fuller rejection of supernaturalism. (shrink)

科学には「モヤモヤ」がつきまとう。不定性と向きあうことで知と未知への態度を鍛える二一世紀の学問論。.

The evolution of a female penis is an extremely rare event and is only known to have occurred in a tribe of small cave insects, Sensitibillini (Psocodea: Trogiomorpha: Prionoglarididae). The female penis, which is protrudable and inserted into the male vagina‐like cavity during copulation to receive semen, is thought to have evolved independently twice in this tribe, in the Brazilian Neotrogla and the African Afrotrogla. These findings strongly suggest that there are some factors unique to Sensitibillini that have facilitated female (...) penis evolution. Here, several hypothetical factors are presented that may have enabled the evolution of the female penis in Sensitibillini. The female–female competition for nutritious semen, the oligotrophic environment, and the twin insemination slots with switching valve are considered to be the driving factors for female penis evolution. Additionally, the following factors are considered responsible for relaxing the constraint against female penis evolution: preexistence of the female‐above mating position, the elongated duct connecting the female pre‐penis with the sperm storage organ, and the small male genital cavity accepting the female genital tubercle bearing the opening of this duct. Understanding the factors enabling female penis evolution may also shed light on the evolution of the male penis. (shrink)

—Human eyes not only serve the function of enabling us “to see” something, but also perform the vital role of allowing us “to show” our gaze for non-verbal communication, such as through establishing eye contact and joint attention. The eyes of service robots should therefore also perform both of these functions. Moreover, they should be friendly in appearance so that humans may feel comfortable with the robots. Therefore we maintain that it is important to consider gaze communication capability and friendliness (...) in designing the appearance of robot eyes. In this paper, we propose a new robot face with rear-projected eyes for changing their appearance while simultaneously realizing the showing of gaze by incorporating stereo cameras. Additionally, we examine which shape of robot eyes is most suitable for gaze reading and gives the friendliest impression, through experiments where we altered the shape and iris size of robot eyes. Keywords: Gaze reading; facial design; projector camera system. (shrink)

As in other countries, the traditional doctor-patient relationship in the Japanese healthcare system has often been characterised as being of a paternalistic nature. However, in recent years there has been a gradual shift towards a more participatory-patient model in Japan. With advances in technology, the possibility to use digital technologies to improve patient interactions is growing and is in line with changing attitudes in the medical profession and society within Japan and elsewhere. The implementation of an online patient engagement platform (...) is being considered by the Myotonic Dystrophy Registry of Japan. The aim of this exploratory study was to understand patients’ views and attitudes to using digital tools in patient registries and engagement with medical research in Japan, prior to implementation of the digital platform. We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional, self-completed questionnaire with a sample of myotonic dystrophy patients attending an Open Day at Osaka University, Japan. Patients were eligible for inclusion if they were 18 years or older, and were diagnosed with MD. A total of 68 patients and family members attended the Open Day and were invited to participate in the survey. Of those, 59 % submitted a completed questionnaire. The survey showed that the majority of patients felt that they were not receiving the information they wanted from their clinicians, which included recent medical research findings and opportunities to participate in clinical trials, and 88 % of patients indicated they would be willing to engage with digital technologies to receive relevant medical information. Patients also expressed an interest in having control over when and how they received this information, as well as being informed of how their data is used and shared with other researchers. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that there is scope to develop a digital platform to engage with patients so that they can receive information about medical care and research opportunities. While this study group is a small, self-selecting population, who suffer from a particular condition, the results suggest that there are interested populations within Japan that would appreciate enhanced communication and interaction with healthcare teams. (shrink)

BackgroundEach individual’s unique health-related beliefs can greatly impact the patient-clinician relationship. When there is a conflict between the patient’s preferences and recommended medical care, it can create a serious ethical dilemma, especially in an emergency setting, and dramatically alter this important relationship.Case presentationA 56-year-old man, who remained comatose after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, was rushed to our hospital. The patient was scheduled for emergency coronary angiography when his adolescent daughter reported that she and her father held sincere beliefs against radiation exposure. (...) We were concerned that she did not fully understand the potential consequences if her father did not receive the recommended treatment. A physician provided her with in depth information regarding the risks and benefits of the treatment. While we did not want to disregard her statement, we opted to save the patient’s life due to concerns about the validity of her report.ConclusionsVariations in beliefs regarding medical care force clinicians to incorporate patient beliefs into medical practice. However, an emergency may require a completely different approach. When faced with a patient in a life-threatening condition and unconscious, we should take action to prioritize saving their life, unless we are highly certain about the validity of their advance directives. (shrink)

Prediction is essential for the efficiency of many cognitive processes; however, this process is not always perfect. Predictive coding theory suggests that the brain generates and updates a prediction to respond to an upcoming event. Although an electrophysiological index of prediction, the stimulus preceding negativity, has been reported, it remains unknown whether the SPN reflects the prediction accuracy, or whether it is associated with the prediction error, which corresponds to a mismatch between a prediction and an actual input. Thus, the (...) present study aimed to investigate this question using electroencephalography. Participants were asked to predict the original pictures from pictures that had undergone different levels of pixelation. The SPN amplitude was affected by the level of pixelation and correlated with the subjective evaluation of the prediction accuracy. Furthermore, late positive components were negatively correlated with SPN. These results suggest that the amplitude of SPN reflects the prediction accuracy; more accurate prediction increases the SPN and reduces the prediction error, resulting in reduced LPC amplitudes. (shrink)

An e-book devoted to 13 critical discussions of Thaddeus Metz's book "Meaning in Life: An Analytic Study", with a lengthy reply from the author. -/- Preface Masahiro Morioka i -/- Précis of Meaning in Life: An Analytic Study Thaddeus Metz ii-vi -/- Source and Bearer: Metz on the Pure Part-Life View of Meaning Hasko von Kriegstein 1-18 -/- Fundamentality and Extradimensional Final Value David Matheson 19-32 -/- Meaningful and More Meaningful: A Modest Measure Peter Baumann 33-49 -/- Is Meaning in (...) Life Comparable?: From the Viewpoint of ‘The Heart of Meaning in Life’ Masahiro Morioka 50-65 -/- Agreement and Sympathy: On Metz’s Meaning in Life Sho Yamaguchi 66-89 -/- Metz’s Quest for the Holy Grail James Tartaglia 90-111 -/- Meaning without Ego Christopher Ketcham 112-133 -/- Death and the Meaning of Life: A Critical Study of Metz’s Meaning in Life Fumitake Yoshizawa 134-149 -/- Metz’ Incoherence Objection: Some Epistemological Considerations Nicholas Waghorn 150-168 -/- Meaning in Consequences Mark Wells 169-179 -/- Defending the Purpose Theory of Meaning in Life Jason Poettcker 180-207 -/- Review of Thaddeus Metz’s Meaning in Life Minao Kukita 208-214 -/- A Psychological Model to Determine Meaning in Life and Meaning of Life Yu Urata 215-227 -/- Assessing Lives, Giving Supernaturalism Its Due, and Capturing Naturalism: Reply to 13 Critics of Meaning in Life Thaddeus Metz 228-278 . (shrink)