One of the most debated questions in psychology and cognitive science is the nature and the functioning of the mental processes involved in deductive reasoning. However, all existing theories refer to a specific deductive domain, like syllogistic, propositional or relational reasoning.Our goal is to unify the main types of deductive reasoning into a single set of basic procedures. In particular, we bring together the microtheories developed from a mental models perspective in a single theory, for which we provide a formal (...) foundation. We validate the theory through a computational model (UNICORE) which allows fine‐grained predictions of subjects' performance in different reasoning domains.The performance of the model is tested against the performance of experimental subjects—as reported in the relevant literature—in the three areas of syllogistic, relational and propositional reasoning. The computational model proves to be a satisfactory artificial subject, reproducing both correct and erroneous performance of the human subjects. Moreover, we introduce a developmental trend in the program, in order to simulate the performance of subjects of different ages, ranging from children (3–6) to adolescents (8–12) to adults (>21). The simulation model performs similarly to the subjects of different ages.Our conclusion is that the validity of the mental model approach is confirmed for the deductive reasoning domain, and that it is possible to devise a unique mechanism able to deal with the specific subareas. The proposed computational model (UNICORE) represents such a unifying structure. (shrink)

Relativistic geometrical action for a quantum particle in the superspace is analyzed from theoretical group point of view. To this end an alternative technique of quantization outlined by the authors in a previous work and that is based in the correct interpretation of the square root Hamiltonian, is used. The obtained spectrum of physical states and the Fock construction consist of Squeezed States which correspond to the representations with the lowest weights $\lambda=\frac{1}{4}$ and $\lambda=\frac{3}{4}$ with four possible (non-trivial) fractional representations (...) for the group decomposition of the spin structure. From the theory of semigroups the analytical representation of the radical operator in the superspace is constructed, the conserved currents are computed and a new relativistic wave equation is proposed and explicitly solved for the time-dependent case. The relation with the Relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Time-dependent Harmonic Oscillator is analyzed and discussed. (shrink)

Relativistic geometrical action for a quantum particle in the superspace is analyzed from theoretical group point of view. To this end an alternative technique of quantization outlined by the authors in a previous work and, that is, based in the correct interpretation of the square root Hamiltonian, is used. The obtained spectrum of physical states and the Fock construction consist of Squeezed States which correspond to the representations with the lowest weights \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} (...) \begin{document}$${\lambda=\frac{1}{4}}$$\end{document} and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\frac{3}{4}}$$\end{document} with four possible fractional representations for the group decomposition of the spin structure. From the theory of semi-groups the analytical representation of the radical operator in the superspace is constructed, the conserved currents are computed and a new relativistic wave equation is proposed and explicitly solved for the time dependent case. The relation with the Relativistic Schrödinger equation and the Time-dependent Harmonic Oscillator is analyzed and discussed. (shrink)

Este artículo indaga en el Curso de dos lecciones sobre lo estético, titulado Reflexiones filosóficas sobre lo estético, un «hilo teórico» muy poco estudiado por los especialistas. Este Curso que realizó Zubiri en 1975, estaba muy mayor, se analiza cómo se muestra lo más radical para entender lo estético desde sus categorías filosóficas, pero de la «mano invisible» de Hegel. No se trata del Hegel que critica explícitamente Zubiri y que se coloca siempre de forma muy distante al pensador alemán, (...) sino de lo categorial mismo del pensamiento hegeliano que Zubiri «echa mano» para mostrar cómo opera lo más propio de su pensamiento para dar cuenta del complejo tema de la articulación de lo estético y la realidad. Aquí vemos que el pensamiento de Hegel tiene mucho que aportar para poder entender lo estético mismo. Y esto, incluso, más allá de lo que el mismo Hegel, como pensador de su tiempo, filosofaba respecto del tema del arte y/ o lo estético. (shrink)

Starting from the seminal experience of James Prescott Joule, this paper aims to debate the possibility of “making” science outside universities and academies. Joule himself studied as an autodidact and did not make his own discoveries while following an academic path; on the contrary, at first, the associations and academic societies of the time tended not to recognize his works officially. All of this happened throughout the nineteenth century during the period of the first relevant tendency to science popularization. For (...) example, looking at the second half of the England of the 1800s, we can refer to Michael Faraday’s open lessons for children like The Chemical History of a Candle. Following this perspective from a historical view, this paper explores the Italian attempts to communicate science—from the ‘50s to the ‘70s—to a larger public via television and other media, also considering the political and social backgrounds behind this choice. In particular, this paper also deals with Lucio Lombardo Radice’s work on TV programs and writings in social-political journals and daily newspapers, as a mathematician and pedagogist engaged on the importance of what he specifically called “Scientific mediation”, as a “method” to teach and popularize science to a larger public. (shrink)

There are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation: incremental and radical. In Economics as Anatomy, G.M. Peter Swann argues that economics as a discipline needs both perspectives in order to create the maximum beneficial effect for the economy. Chapters explore how and why mainstream economics is very good at incremental innovation but seems uncomfortable with radical innovation. Swann argues that economics should follow the example of many other disciplines, transitioning from one field to a range of semi-autonomous sub-disciplines. In this (...) book, he compares the missing link in empirical economics to being the economic equivalent of anatomy, the basis of medical discourse. Working as a sequel to Swann's Putting Econometrics in its Place, this book will be a vital resource to those who are discontent with the state of mainstream economics, especially those actively seeking to promote change in the discipline. Students wishing to see progress in the teaching of economics will also benefit from this timely book. (shrink)

This article represents the genre of auto-ethnographic, autobiographical research. It consists of questions which evoke narrative responses because the questions register a life story in itself. Pieter G.R. de Villiers is the interpellator and Andries G. van Aarde the respondent. They are long-standing friends and both professors of New Testament studies. De Villiers is presently the editor at LitNet Academic (Religious Studies), and Van Aarde is the editor of HTS Theological Studies. Since 1990, De Villiers has been Executive Director of (...) the Centre for Christian Spirituality and Ethics and has been a Research Fellow and Professor Extraordinarius in Biblical Spirituality at the Department of Old and New Testament Studies at the Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State (since 2001).Contribution: The article reflects a conversation between Andries G. van Aarde and Pieter G.R. de Villiers. It contributes to an understanding of contemporary South African church history, including the protest by academics in Afrikaans ecclesial circles against apartheid and gender injustice. (shrink)

To perfect human beings with an innate propensity for radical evil is a formidable task. Kant explicitly says that the propensity for evil is not eradicable; it is rooted in human nature, specifically in the human power of choice-making. The task is to reorient the natural order of choice-making, to the moral order that takes the moral law as its supreme principle. I explicate the role of a specific capacity of the human subjective side of judging in this process; namely, (...) of ‘mind’ in its sense as Gemüt. While human willing and choice-making are subject to the influence of sensuousness, Gemüt is a capacity of sensibility that allows the human subject to enjoy the feeling of being pleased in the fulfillment of duty. Its four specific aesthetic preliminary concepts of responsiveness to concepts of duty – moral feeling, conscience, love of humanity, and respect for ones... (shrink)

To perfect human beings with an innate propensity for radical evil is a formidable task. Kant explicitly says that the propensity for evil is not eradicable; it is rooted in human nature, s...

Purpose: Examination of the main arguments for radical constructivism and the critical arguments put forward against it. Findings: Although there is no reason to doubt the value of constructivism as such, it can be stated that any epistemological radicalism lacks plausibility. There is ample evidence that we still can adopt a critical realist outlook, even if every part of our world view is a construction. Implications: We should engage ourselves in the development of an anti-metaphysical, non-objectivist epistemology. By far the (...) most promising contribution should be a version of pragmatism. (shrink)

Free radicals are generally perceived as highly reactive species which are harmful to biological systems. There are, however, a number of enzymes that use carbon‐based radicals to catalyse a variety of important and unusual reactions. The most prominent example is ribonucleotide reductase, an enzyme which is crucial for the synthesis of DNA. In general, radicals are used to remove hydrogen from unreactive positions in the substrate, and in this way the substrate is activated to undergo chemical transformations that would otherwise (...) be difficult to achieve. Several different mechanisms have evolved which allow enzymes to generate and maintain radicals in increasingly aerobic enviroments. An unexpected finding is the existance of stable protein‐based radicals, residing on a variety of amino‐acid side chains, which serve to link the radical‐generating and catalytic sites and to store the radical between turnovers. (shrink)

The right to withdraw from participation in research is recognized in virtually all national and international guidelines for research on human subjects. It is therefore surprising that there has been little justification for that right in the literature. We argue that the right to withdraw should protect research participants from information imbalance, inability to hedge, inherent uncertainty, and untoward bodily invasion, and it serves to bolster public trust in the research enterprise. Although this argument is not radical, it provides a (...) useful way to determine how the right should be applied in various cases. (shrink)

Recent discussions of religious, cultural, and/or moral diversity raise questions relevant to the descriptive and normative aims of students of religious ethics. In conversation with several illustrative works, the author takes up issues of terminology, explanations or classifications of types and origins of plurality and pluralism, the relations between pluralism as a normative theory and the aims of a liberal state, and the import of an emphasis on plurality or pluralism for the comparative study of religious ethics.