With the advent of the Human Genome Project there have been many claims for the genetic origins of complex human behavior including insanity, criminality, and intelligence. But what does it really mean to call something 'genetic'? This is the fundamental question that Sahotra Sarkar's book addresses. The author analyses the nature of reductionism in classical and molecular genetics. He shows that there are two radically different kinds of reductionist explanation: genetic reduction (as found in classical genetics) and physical reduction (...) (found in molecular genetics). This important book clarifies the meaning of the term 'genetic', shows how molecular studies have affected genetics, and provides the philosophical background necessary to understand the debates over the Human Genome Project. It will be of particular interest to professionals and students in the philosophy of science, the history of science, and the social studies of science, medicine, and technology. (shrink)

The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that examines the profound philosophical questions that arise from scientific research and theories. A sub-discipline of philosophy that emerged in the twentieth century, the philosophy of science is largely a product of the British and Austrian schools of thought and traditions. The first in-depth reference in the field that combines scientific knowledge with philosophical inquiry, The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia is a two-volume set that brings together an international team of (...) leading scholars to provide over 130 entries on the essential concepts in the philosophy of science. The areas covered include biology, chemistry, epistemology and metaphysics, physics, psychology and mind, the social sciences, and key figures in the combined studies of science and philosophy. Essays range in length from 3,000 to 7,500 words and represent the most up-to-date philosophical thinking on timeless scientific topics such as determinism, explanation, laws of nature, perception, individuality, time, and economics as well as timely topics like adaptation, conservation biology, quantum logic, consciousness, evolutionary psychology, and game theory. Offering thorough explorations and destined to become the most authoritative presentation of the field available, this Encyclopedia is a unique and groundbreaking guide to this fascinating field. (shrink)

BackgroundStudies on different methods to supplement the traditional informed consent process have generated conflicting results. This study was designed to evaluate whether participants who received group counseling prior to administration of informed consent understood the key components of the study and the consent better than those who received individual counseling, based on the hypothesis that group counseling would foster discussion among potential participants and enhance their understanding of the informed consent.MethodsParents of children participating in a trial of nutritional supplementation were (...) randomized to receive either group counseling or individual counseling prior to administration of the informed consent. To assess the participant's comprehension, a structured questionnaire was administered approximately 48-72 hours afterwards by interviewers who were blinded to the allocation group of the respondents.ResultsA total of 128 parents were recruited and follow up was established with 118 (90.2%) for the study. All respondents were aware of their child's participation in a research study and the details of sample collection. However, their understanding of study purpose, randomization and withdrawal was poor. There was no difference in comprehension of key elements of the informed consent between the intervention and control arm.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the group counseling might not influence the overall comprehension of the informed consent process. Further research is required to devise better ways of improving participants' understanding of randomization in clinical trials.Trial RegistrationClinical Trial Registry - India (CTRI): CTRI/2009/091/000612. (shrink)

Study on religious and social values of people as influenced by the philosophical views of Ramakrishna, 1836-1886 in his time.

Given the popularity and success of the Hindu-Right in India's electoral politics today, how may one study ostensibly 'Western' concepts and ideas, such as the secular and its family of cognates, like secularism, secularisation and secularity in non-Western societies without assuming them simply as derivative, or colonial legacies or contrast cases of Western societies? While recognizing that the dominant language of political modernity of Western societies is not easily translatable in non-Western societies, The Secular Imaginary elaborates upon an intellectual history (...) of secularity in modern India by focusing on the two most influential political leaders – M.K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is an intellectual history of both idea(s) and intellectuals, which sheds light on Indian narratives of secularity – the Gandhian sarva dharma samabhava, Nehruvian secularism, and unity in diversity. It revisits this dominant narrative of secularity of the twentieth century that influenced and shaped the imagination of the modern nation-state. (shrink)

The first in-depth reference to the field that combines scientific knowledge with philosophical inquiry, this encyclopedia brings together a team of leading scholars to provide nearly 150 entries on the essential concepts in the philosophy of science. The areas covered include biology, chemistry, epistemology and metaphysics, physics, psychology and mind, the social sciences, and key figures in the combined studies of science and philosophy. (Midwest).

A new direction in philosophy Between 1920 and 1940 logical empiricism reset the direction of philosophy of science and much of the rest of Anglo-American philosophy. It began as a relatively organized movement centered on the Vienna Circle, and like-minded philosophers elsewhere, especially in Berlin. As Europe drifted into the Nazi era, several important figures, especially Carnap and Neurath, also found common ground in their liberal politics and radical social agenda. Together, the logical empiricists set out to reform traditional philosophy (...) with a new set of doctrines more firmly grounded in logic and science. Criticism and decline Because of Nazi persecution, most of the European adherents of logical empiricism moved to the United States in the late 1930s. During the 1940s, many of their most cherished tenets became targets of criticism from outsiders as well as from within their own ranks. Philosophers of science in the late 1950s and 1960s rejected logical empiricism and, starting in the 1970s, presented such alternative programs such as scientific realism with evolutionary epistemology. A resurgence of interest During the early 1980s, philosophers and historians of philosophy began to study logical empiricism as an important movement. Unlike their predecessors in the 1960s-for whom the debate over logical empiricism now seems to have been largely motivated by professional politics-these philosopher no longer have to take positions for or against logical empiricism. The result has been a more balanced view of that movement, its achievements, its failures, and its influence. Hard-to-find core writings now available This collection makes available a selection of the most influential and representative writings of the logical empiricists, important contemporary criticisms of their doctrines, their responses, as well as the recent reappraisals. Introductions to each volume examine the articles in historical context and provide importantbackground information that is vital to a full understanding of the issues discussed. They outline prevalent trends, identifying leading figures and summarize their positions and reasoning, as well as those of opposing thinkers. (shrink)

By now it has become commonplace to note that the early Carnap was strongly influenced by Kant and the neo-Kantianism of his day.1 As early as 1977 Haack noted some striking similarities between the Aufbau and the first Critique; since then, Haack’s observation has been underscored by documenting the explicit role of the neo-Kantians in Carnap’s early education and intellectual development.2 Whether or not Carnap in the Aufbau was at all interested in traditional empiricism, or even strongly influenced by Russell, (...) remains debatable.3 However, a decisive early influence of Kant cannot be persuasively denied. Nevertheless, Kant and the neo-Kantians do not comprise the whole story. An equally important influence on Carnap in Der Raum, though perhaps slightly less so in the Aufbau, was Husserl.4 This paper begins the project of tracing the precise extent and nature of that influence.KeywordsPhysical SpaceFormal SpaceLogical EmpiricismVienna CircleLogical SyntaxThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. (shrink)

The role of various organizational pressures in influencing performance of firms has been an interesting research topic in a variety of fields and has received the attention of researchers working in the field of environmental strategy. Although there are previous studies that have looked at the influence of various pressures in influencing firms’ environmental strategies, our study provides a more holistic analysis considering a variety of such pressures in a single framework. We discuss a research study to analyze how pressures (...) from internal and external stakeholders of a firm, economic pressures, environmental regulations, and pressures of environmental compliance have affected environmental performance of firms using data collected from manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom. We have found that internal stakeholders provide the greatest impact in shaping environmental performance of firms, closely followed by economic pressures, environmental regulations, and external stakeholders in that order. Fears of penalties due to environmental compliance have the least impact, although this pressure also has a positive and significant impact on environmental performance. (shrink)

The first in-depth reference in the field that combines scientific knowledge with philosophical inquiry, _The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia_ is a two-volume set that brings together an international team of leading scholars to provide over 130 entries on the essential concepts in the philosophy of science. _The areas covered include:_ biology chemistry epistemology and metaphysics physics psychology and mind the social sciences key figures in the combined studies of science and philosophy. The essays represent the most up-to-date philosophical thinking (...) on timeless scientific topics such as: determinism, explanation, laws of nature, perception, individuality, time, and economics as well as timely topics like adaptation, conservation biology, quantum logic, consciousness, evolutionary psychology, and game theory. (shrink)

This chapter examines the case for health care policies aimed at holding obese individuals responsible for their weight and for obesity-related health issues. In particular, it considers the merits of two arguments for policies that would seek to make obese individuals bear some of the higher health care costs associated with being that way. On the fairness argument, it is claimed that such policies would serve the interests of fairness by holding obese individuals to account for irresponsible lifestyle choices that (...) are linked to their higher weight and its associated health risks. On the public health promotion argument, it is claimed that adopting such policies could produce impressive public health benefits: encouraging people to make healthier lifestyle choices, reducing obesity rates, and reducing obesity-related health care spending. Both arguments face serious objections. Contrary to the fairness argument, policies aimed at holding obese individuals responsible for their weight or for related health problems would neither treat people as they deserve to be treated nor make the distribution of health care resources fairer. And contrary to the public health promotion argument, those policies would not produce better health outcomes for society at large. Indeed, they would tend to do just the opposite. Reflection on the shortcomings of those arguments reveals that their conclusion is false: society should not adopt policies aimed at holding obese individuals responsible for their weight or for obesity-related health problems. (shrink)

In the past few decades, there has been a growing literature on relational egalitarianism. Relational egalitarianism is a view on the nature and value of equality. In contrast to the dominant view in recent debates on equality—distributive egalitarianism, on which equality is about ensuring people have or fare the same in some respect—on the relational view, equality is a matter of the terms on which relationships are structured. But what exactly does it mean for people to relate as equals? And (...) why are relations of equality valuable? Relational egalitarians have offered quite different answers to each of these questions. In this article, I draw attention to some key issues that underlie these disagree- ments, and I offer a taxonomy of different viewpoints that have emerged in the recent literature on these matters. (shrink)

Sumit Sarkar, one of the leading Indian historians of his generation, participated in the Indian-British Subaltern Studies Collective that established new standards in the historiography of colonialism in the 1980’s. In this Interview, Déborah Cohen and Urs Lindner ask him about the achievements and oversights of the Subaltern Studies project, the prospects of global history, Marx’s eurocentrism and the problem of religion.

In cognitive science, there are many computational theories regarding the function of the mind; connectionism is one of them. Connectionist networks are intricate systems of simple units related to their environment. Some have thousands of units, but those with only a few units can also behave with surprising complexity and subtlety. This is because processing occurs in parallel as also interactively, in marked contrast with the serial processing to which this is accustomed. In the first section of this paper, I (...) intend to describe a simple network that illustrates several features of connectionist processing. Secondly, I would like to examine its relation with other areas in realm of cognitive science. Thirdly, I shall make an attempt to find out whether this theory contributes to the replacement of folk psychology. Lastly, I find that connectionist thus fails to account for the real nature of the mental states because of its not too clear attempt to reduce mental states to the machine states. The mechanistic theory of mind in all its hues faces the question as to how we can account for the qualitative content of our consciousness. It cannot ultimately tell us how the subjective experience is possible and how consciousness to be real feature of universe. (shrink)

The study examines the consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic‐induced lockdown on the socio‐economic status of 212 female migrant workers employed in the informal sector, originating from four underprivileged districts of West Bengal, India. The study assesses the changes in their scope of employment, financial instability, and the level of violence experienced within households and workplaces in the pre‐pandemic and post‐lockdown phases. We apply the binary logistic regression to identify factors influencing their low employment scope, the t‐test to observe changes in (...) their income as a consequence of the pandemic, and the Wilcoxon signed‐rank test alongside effect size analysis to detect any rise in experiences of violence and exploitation against women. The findings suggest a notable decrease in their employment scope due to the absence of previous jobs, low wages, insecure workplaces, and family constraints; a decline in earnings; and an increased incidence of violence against them. The research suggests designing reforms to improve the current situation of female migrants, who represent one of the most marginalized sections of society. Formalizing the labor market and ensuring proper registration of these women would enable them to gain access to social security benefits, pension schemes, and relief packages that are vital for their well‐being. (shrink)

This volume contains the papers presented at a September 1975 conference held a Northeastern University. The editors write that "during the past few years, there has been a large increase in the use of field theory as a framework for understanding high energy phenomena. This includes work on the structure of gauge theories, unified theories of interactions, theories of quark confinement, supersymmetry and coherent state phenomena. Several of these approaches involve innovative methods of applying field theory and perhaps some have (...) the possibility of developing into fundamental theories. Research has been progressing at a rapid pace and whole new areas have recently sprung up... We hope that the book will be a useful reference for high energy theorists already working in this area, as well as a helpful introduction to other theorists and experimentalists who wish to learn the present status of the field.". (shrink)

The advent of the intelligent robot has occupied a significant position in society over the past decades and has given rise to new issues in society. As we know, the primary aim of artificial intelligence or robotic research is not only to develop advanced programs to solve our problems but also to reproduce mental qualities in machines. The critical claim of artificial intelligence advocates is that there is no distinction between mind and machines and thus they argue that there are (...) possibilities for machine ethics, just as human ethics. Unlike computer ethics, which has traditionally focused on ethical issues surrounding human use of machines, AI or machine ethics is concerned with the behaviour of machines towards human users and perhaps other machines as well, and the ethicality of these interactions. The ultimate goal of machine ethics, according to the AI scientists, is to create a machine that itself follows an ideal ethical principle or a set of principles; that is to say, it is guided by this principle or these principles in decisions it makes about possible courses of action it could takea. Thus, machine ethics task of ensuring ethical behaviour of an artificial agent. Although, there are many philosophical issues related to artificial intelligence, but our attempt in this paper is to discuss, first, whether ethics is the sort of thing that can be computed. Second, if we are ascribing mind to machines, it gives rise to ethical issues regarding machines. And if we are not drawing the difference between mind and machines, we are not only redefining specifically human mind but also the society as a whole. Having a mind is, among other things, having the capacity to make voluntary decisions and actions. The notion of mind is central to our ethical thinking, and this is because the human mind is self-conscious, and this is a property that machines lack, as yet. (shrink)

The problem of academic dishonesty in general and exam cheating in particular, has been ubiquitous in schools, colleges, and universities around the world. This paper reports on the findings from teachers’ and students’ experiences and perceptions of exam cheating at Nepali schools, colleges, and universities. In so doing, the paper highlights the challenges of maintaining academic integrity in Nepali education systems. Based on qualitative research design, the study data were collected by employing semi-structured interviews with the teachers and the students. (...) Findings from the study indicated that over-emphasized value given to marks/grades and the nature of exam questions among others were the predominant factors. Our findings contribute to the practical understanding that academic institutions in Nepal have largely failed to communicate the value of academic honesty and integrity to the students of all levels of education despite the increasing prevalence of exam cheating. Therefore, exam cheating requires urgent attention from academic institutions, educators, and education leaders to educate students about the long-term educational and social values of academic honesty and integrity. (shrink)

ObjectiveThis paper explores the interrelation among the concepts of identity, individuality and indiscernibilty, primarily from the standpoint of contemporary western analytic ontology and logic.MethodI review, compare and evaluate the classical and the alternative approaches to identity. In this regard, I focus on the issue whether these purportedly alternative approaches do really provide us with alternative conceptions of identity, or they are considering some other forms of equivalence relations weaker than the relation of identity. Arguments for and against the Principles of (...) Indiscernibility of Identicals and Identity of Indiscernibles are delineated to unravel the connection between identity and indiscernibility. Various attempts to provide the definition of identity in terms of indiscernibility have also been evaluated.FindingsI argue that it is a verbal issue whether we use the term ‘identity’, when analysed in terms of indiscernibility, or ‘congruence’, but the underlying metaphysical issues are not simple. If identity is analysed in terms of indiscernibility, stipulation of one’s philosophical understanding of property and possession of properties in the concerned logic and ontology should be made in clear terms to avoid confusion. But there can also be ontological and logical frameworks where numerical identity and difference are not qualitatively explicable.ConclusionA pluralist stance, at least at the phenomenal level, is proposed to be maintained with regard to the explanation of the phenomenon of identity. This pluralist stance has also been proposed as a plausible metatheoretical framework of metaphysical debates. (shrink)

This book provides a richly interdisciplinary assessment of the thought and work of Bryan Norton, one of most innovative and influential environmental philosophers of the past thirty years. In landmark works such as Toward Unity Among Environmentalists and Sustainability: A Philosophy of Adaptive Ecosystem Management, Norton charted a new and highly productive course for an applied environmental philosophy, one fully engaged with the natural and social sciences as well as the management professions. A Sustainable Philosophy gathers together a distinguished group (...) of scholars and professionals from a wide array of fields to engage Norton’s work and its legacy for our shared environmental future. A study in the power of intellectual legacy and the real-world influence of philosophy, the book will be of great interest scholars and students in environmental philosophy, public policy and management, and environmental and sustainability studies. By considering the value and impact of Norton’s body of work it will also chart a course for the next generation of pragmatic environmental philosophers and sustainability scholars grappling with questions of environmental value, knowledge, and practice in a rapidly changing world. (shrink)

Cancer is fast becoming an alarming cause of human death. However, it has been reported that if the disease is detected at an early stage, diagnosed, treated appropriately, the patient has better chances of survival long life. Machine learning technique with feature-selection contributes greatly to the detecting of cancer, because an efficient feature-selection method can remove redundant features. In this paper, a Fuzzy Preference-Based Rough Set (FPRS) blended with Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been applied in order to predict cancer (...) biomarkers for biological and gene expression datasets. Biomarkers are determined by deploying three models of FPRS, namely, Fuzzy Upward Consistency (FUC), Fuzzy Downward Consistency (FLC), and Fuzzy Global Consistency (FGC). The efficiency of the three models with SVM on five datasets is exhibited, and the biomarkers that have been identified from FUC models have been reported. (shrink)