F. Thomas Burke believes that pragmatism, especially as it has been employed in politics and social action, needs a reassessment. He examines the philosophies of William James and Charles S. Peirce to determine how certain maxims of pragmatism originated. Burke contrasts pragmatism as a certain set of beliefs or actions with pragmatism as simply a methodology. He unravels the complex history of this philosophical tradition and discusses contemporary conceptions of pragmatism found in current US political discourse and explains what this (...) quintessentially American philosophy means today. (shrink)

In this resource for educators, Harold F. Burks offers a comprehensive guide to the evaluation techniques and intervention strategies that have worked with many school children experiencing problems. Thus, Diagnosis and Remediation Practices for Troubled School Children attempts to: clarify the understanding of observed, unwanted child behavior symptoms ; investigate with educators and parents—and sometimes children—the possible causal factors that antedate these behavior manifestations; create in cooperation with parents and school personnel, innovative intervention techniques to help children learn accepted behavior (...) patterns. (shrink)

This volume is composed of extended versions of selected papers presented at an international conference held in June 2011 at Opole University—the seventh in a series of annual American and European Values conferences organized by the Institute of Philosophy, Opole University, Poland. The papers were written independently with no prior guidelines other than the obvious need to address some aspect of George Herbert Mead’s work. While rooted in careful study of Mead’s original writings and transcribed lectures and the historical context (...) in which that work was carried out, these papers have brought that work to bear on contemporary issues in metaphysics, epistemology, cognitive science, and social and political philosophy. There is good reason to classify Mead as one of the original classical American pragmatists (along with Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey) and consequently as a major figure in American philosophy. Nevertheless his thought has been marginalized for the most part, at least in academic philosophy. It is our intention to help recuperate Mead’s reputation among a broader audience by providing a small corpus of significant contemporary scholarship on some key aspects of his thought. (shrink)

The essays in this collection address different aspects of Dewey's philosophy of logic, from his work at the beginning of the twentieth century to the culmination of his logical thought in the 1938 volume, Logic: The Theory of Inquiry.

The limited aim here is to explain what John Dewey might say about the formulation of the grue example. Nelson Goodman’s problem of distinguishing good and bad inductive inferences is an important one, but the grue example misconstrues this complex problem for certain technical reasons, due to ambiguities that contemporary logical theory has not yet come to terms with. Goodman’s problem is a problem for the theory of induction and thus for logical theory in general. Behind the whole discussion of (...) these issues over the last several decades is a certain view of logic hammered out by Russell, Carnap, Tarski, Quine, and many others. Goodman’s nominalism hinges in essential ways on a certain view of formal logic with an extensional quantification theory at its core. This raises many issues, but the one issue most germane here is the conception of predicates ensconced in this view of logic. (shrink)

Neuronal signalling involves multiple neuropeptides that are diverse in structure and function. Complex patterns of tissue‐specific expression arise from alternate RNA splicing of neuropeptide‐encoding gene transcripts. The pattern of expression and its role in cell signalling is diffecult to study at the level of single neurons in the complex vertebrate brain. However, in the model molluscan system, Lymnaea, it is possible to show that alternate mRNA expression of the FMRFamide gene is specific to single identified neurons. Two different transcripts are (...) expressed in a mutually exclusive manner in different neurons. Post‐translational processing of the two precursor proteins leads to completely distinct sets of neuropeptide transmitters. The function of these transmitter cocktails, resulting from alternate mRNA splicing, was studied physiologically in identified neurons forming part of a behaviourally important network regulating heartbeat. (shrink)

A vital process in maintaining a low genetic error rate is the removal of mismatched bases in DNA. The importance of this process in E. coli is demonstrated by the 100–1000 fold increase in mutation frequency observed in cells deficient in this repair system(1). Mismatches can arise as a consequence of recombination, errors in replication and as a result of spontaneous chemical deamination, the latter process resulting in an estimated twelve T:G mismatches per genome per day in mammalian cells(2). Recent (...) studies, discussed here, provide evidence for the existence of specific mismatch repair systems in mammalian and human cells. (shrink)

Regarded as the 'father of conservatism', Edmund Burke was one of the most versatile and accomplished thinkers of the eighteenth century. The first volume of F.P. Lock's acclaimed biography covers his Irish upbringing, early writing, and his parliamentary career throughout the momentous years of the American War of Independence.

Edmund Burke was one of the most profound, versatile, and accomplished thinkers of the eighteenth century. Born and educated in Dublin, he moved to London to study law, but remained to make a career in English politics, completing A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful before entering the political arena. A Member of Parliament for nearly thirty years, his speeches are still read and studied as classics of political thought, and through his best-known (...) work, Reflections on the Revolution in France he has continued to exercise a posthumous influence as `the father of conservatism'. This is the first full, scholarly biography of Burke for over a generation, to be completed in two volumes. The first volume covers the years between 1730-1784, and describes his Irish upbringing and education, early writing, and his parliamentary career throughout the momentous years of the American War of Independence. Lavishly illustrated, it provides an authoritative account of the complexity and breadth of Burke's philosophical and political writing and examines its origins in his personal experiences and the political world of his day. This outstanding book will be be required reading for anybody seeking a fuller understanding of eighteenth-century history, philosophy, and political thought. (shrink)