In this article, we examine the factors determining the representation of women on boards of directors by considering three main questions. The first question deals with the relationship between characteristics of ownership and governance on one side, and female directorship on the other. The second major question concerns the demographic attributes of women directors, such as nationality, foreign experience, educational level, business expertise, and connections to external sources. The third important question refers to women in senior positions on French boards (...) (e.g., as independent members or board subcommittee members) in relation to firm characteristics and women’s demographic attributes. Our study focuses on French large- and mid-capitalized companies belonging to the SBF120 stock market index during a 5-year period running from 2000 to 2004. First, our results give evidence that the appointment of women directors is strongly related to family ownership and board or firm size. Second, the appointment of women directors is related to their professional services, valuable skills, and network links. Furthermore, we show that women face a double glass-ceiling problem, and note that French firms rely more on the demographic attributes of their women directors when they are appointed to senior board positions. Our study sheds light on issues concerning the law that comes into force in 2016, which imposes quotas of women members on boards of directors in French companies. (shrink)

The concept of green jobs emerged in 2007 as a means for conserving energy, minimizing natural gas emissions, reducing pollution and waste and protecting and improving ecosystems. The practice of decent employment through such jobs has caught on significantly and shown much positive effects. Decent work refers to employment opportunities that provide for fair income, security, improving personal and social development and promoting equality. Combining green job and decent work as a new approach can alter the traditional perspective of labour (...) laws. According to the Islamic view, the Qur’an has taken into account all such concepts directly or indirectly. This article focuses on reviewing green jobs from the Islamic perspective, and concepts and principles such as squander, cleanliness, waste, no-harm and causation are directly mentioned as a necessary condition for green jobs. This paper examines the concept of green job based on content analysis approach within Islamic jurisprudence. (shrink)

To support the trustworthiness of AI systems, it is essential to have precise methods to determine what or who is to account for the behaviour, or the outcome, of AI systems. The assignment of responsibility to an AI system is closely related to the identification of individuals or elements that have caused the outcome of the AI system. In this work, we present an overview of approaches that aim at modelling responsibility of AI systems, discuss their advantages and shortcomings to (...) deal with various aspects of the notion of responsibility, and present research gaps and ways forward. (shrink)

We evaluate the relationship between the appointment of women to CEO or Chair positions and firm performance, and shed light on the differences between family and nonfamily firms. By using a propensity score matching approach on a sample of 394 French firms over the period 2001–2010, we find major discordances between women’s leadership style and family business expectations relative to firm performance, as measured by return on assets and Tobin’s q. Notably, our results support the conjecture that family firms, which (...) are more conducive to transformational leadership, offer women a more appropriate climate for exercising the function of Chair than that of CEO. In contrast, women CEOs perform better in nonfamily firms. Our findings move away from the predominant focus on barriers and stereotypes images about the female leadership and support the contingency theory of leadership, which states that the effectiveness of a leadership style depends on the organization and culture in which leaders operate, and on task-related positions. (shrink)

This is a reading of Gilles Deleuze’s masterpiece Logic of Sense. It provides a thorough and systematic reading of Deleuze’s book by focusing on the aspects that are neglected in the existing literature. Specifically, the claim that Deleuze’s Logic of Sense provides a convincing answer for the most important question of the history of philosophy regarding the relation between thought and existence as well as the relation between logic and ontology is defended. The answer is that if thought is related (...) to existence, logic is supposed to be, not the logic of essence, but rather the logic of sense. This analysis s pursued respectively through Deleuze’s readings of Frege, the ancient Stoics, Lewis Carroll, Kant, Lautman, Leibniz, and Melanie Klein. (shrink)

Since current water governance patterns mandate cooperation and partnership within and between the actors in the hydrosystems, supplementary models are necessary to distinguish the roles and the rules of indoor actions which is why we extend a theory in the frameworks of philosophy of technology. This analysis is empirically grounded on the problematic hydrosystems of a river in central Iran, Zayandehrud. Following a modernist-holistic-based analysis, it illustrates how values in the water apportionment mechanisms are being reshaped. The article by using (...) the theory of normative practice has scrutinised the tasks and the rules of the old and new water-management systems, Mirab. Subsequently according to such philosophical theory, it has argued that the conflicts over the cases are due to interference of structural and directional norms within them. (shrink)

The spontaneous organization of collective activities in animal groups and societies has attracted a considerable amount of attention over the last decade. This kind of coordination often permits group‐living species to achieve collective tasks that are far beyond single individuals' capabilities. In particular, a key benefit lies in the integration of partial knowledge of the environment at the collective level. In this contribution, we discuss various self‐organization phenomena in animal swarms and human crowds from the point of view of information (...) exchange among individuals. In particular, we provide a general description of collective dynamics across species and introduce a classification of these dynamics not only with respect to the way information is transferred among individuals but also with regard to the knowledge processing at the collective level. Finally, we highlight the fact that the individual’s ability to learn from past experiences can have a feedback effect on the collective dynamics, as experienced with the development of behavioral conventions in pedestrian crowds. (shrink)

In recent years, identity theft has been growing in the academic world. Cybercriminals create fake profiles for prominent scientists in attempts to manipulate the review and publishing process. Without permission, some fraudulent journals use the names of standout researchers on their editorial boards in the effort to look legitimate. This opinion piece, highlights some of the usual types of identity theft and their role in spreading junk science. Some general guidelines that editors and researchers can use against such attacks are (...) presented. (shrink)

Our study examines whether gender-diverse engagement partners constrain unethical earnings management behavior in a French mandatory joint audit setting. The investigation of the joint audit setting, by raising concerns about audit team organization and management, provides new insights into how gender-diverse audit partners contribute to the effectiveness of audit decision-making, resulting in reduced earnings management. The need for effective collaboration and communication between joint auditors may foster a transformational leadership style on the part of audit engagement partners. In this regard, (...) we argue that better interaction between male and female lead audit partners confers a comparative advantage on gender-diverse audit partners compared to all-male audit partners. In line with our expectation, our empirical results show that gender-diverse audit partners are negatively associated with discretionary accruals of client firms. Gender-diverse audit partners are also found to constrain earnings management irrespective of whether clients hire one or two brand-name audit firms. Finally, we find that the pervasiveness of earnings management declines when client firms switch from all-male audit partners to gender-diverse audit partners. Our findings underline the importance of considering audit partner gender by policy makers in contexts where joint audits are required or in countries that are considering introducing joint audits. (shrink)

The study aimed to examine the impact of parental influence and media richness on gender stereotypes and career decisions among students at the secondary level in Pakistan. The sample size was 200 students, selected through a simple random sampling technique from government and private schools. Four questionnaires were used to gather data. The data was analyzed quantitatively using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Regression analyses were used to investigate the impact of parental influence on gender stereotypes and media (...) richness influence on gender stereotype beliefs. Furthermore, parental, media, and gender stereotype behavior all have a significant impact on students’ career choices. On the scale of the parental influence and media richness, no significant gender differences were found. It is concluded that parental influence has a greater effect on students’ gender stereotyping behavior and career choices. (shrink)

In this paper we track the ‘body positivity’ movement from its origins, promoting radical acceptance of marginalized bodies, to its co-optation as a push for self-love for all bodies, including those bodies belonging to socially dominant groups. We argue that the new focus on the ‘body positivity’ movement involves a single-minded emphasis on beauty and aesthetic adornment, and that this undermines the original focus of social and political equality, pandering instead to capitalism and failing to rectify unjust institutions and policies. (...) As such, we argue that the ‘body positivity’ movement ultimately marginalises further the bodies for which it initially sought justice and acceptance. (shrink)

Nowadays, web-based applications extend to all businesses due to their advantages and easy usability. The most important issue in web-based applications is security. Due to their advantages, most academic journals are now using these applications, with papers being submitted and published through their websites. As these websites are resources for knowledge, information security is primary for maintaining their integrity. In this opinion piece, we point out vulnerabilities in certain websites and introduce the potential for future threats. We intend to present (...) how some journals are vulnerable and what will happen if a journal can be infected by attackers. This opinion is not a technical manual in information security, it is a short inspection that we did to improve the security of academic journals. (shrink)

The majority of studies on compliment response have investigated CR patterns and norms among different cultural groups and communities. The present study investigated the shifting of CR patterns across generations within the same speech community. To this end, 272 Persian speakers were chosen from among high school students and teachers. A discourse completion task with four complimenting situations was administered. The findings revealed that the new generation of Persian speakers, regardless of their gender, had shifted their CR patterns and overwhelmingly (...) accepted compliments. This change is attributed to the changing interpretations and conceptions of politeness and to the influx of English culture, through exposure to English media, internet, TV series, films, etc., among the new generation of Persian speakers. (shrink)

Michaël Crevoisier : Le thème du jeu traverse ton œuvre et revient dans ta philosophie la plus récente. Quelle place lui accordes-tu, quelle est sa fonction dans ton système? Mehdi Belhaj Kacem : Oui c’est vrai que ça reste intact. Et je peux récapituler aujourd’hui la manière dont cela fonctionne systématiquement. Tout d’abord, ce que j’appelle l’archi-transgression est le transcendantal de l’être humain, le fait pour l’être humain de s’être approprié les lois de la nature et de continuer...

book 1. A three-fold philosophy of education.- book 2. Individual and social aims of education.- book 3. Theory of education from Comenius to Dewey.

Peer review is the most important aspect of reputable journals. Without it, we would be unsure about whether the material published was as valid and reliable as is possible. However, with the advent of the Internet, scientific literature has now become subject to a relatively new phenomenon: fake peer reviews. Some dishonest researchers have been manipulating the peer review process to publish what are often inferior papers. There are even papers that explain how to do it. This paper discusses one (...) of those methods and how editors can defeat it by using a special review ID. This method is easy to understand and can be added to current peer review systems easily. (shrink)

L’œuvre de Mehdi Belhaj Kacem est à la fois conséquente et protéiforme. Mais parce que sa chronologie nous aura parue importante quant à son sens, nous avons voulu présenter cette bibliographie selon un schéma particulier : les pages de gauche proposent de répertorier les documents de l’auteur lui-même, ou auxquels celui-ci a contribués ; les pages de droite indiquent, de manière inévitablement lacunaire, la teneur et le contenu du propos, essayant par là d’en donner un aperçu dans la continu...

Engineering, as a complex and multidimensional practice of technology development, has long been a source of ethical concerns. These concerns have been approached from various perspectives. There are ongoing debates in the literature of the philosophy of engineering/technology about how to organize an optimized view of the values entailed in technology development processes. However, these debates deliver little in the way of a concrete rationale or framework that could comprehensively describe different types of engineering values and their multi-aspect interrelations in (...) real engineering practices. Approaching engineering values from a meaning-based perspective, as in this paper, can be a reliable method of tackling such a controversial problem. This paper therefore proposes that technology development be considered a systemic normative practice and attempts to provide a comprehensive view of various built-in values, their different origins and features, and a way of prioritizing them in real engineering processes. Studying two cases of the Zayandeh Rood Dam and the Abbasi Dam will lead to practical insights into how to understand norms in technology development and incorporate them into engineering practice. (shrink)

In the chapter in his Muqaddima1 that Ibn Khaldūn devoted to the refutation of astrology, there are numerous arguments that reveal not only his position vis-à-vis this discipline but also his general intellectual orientation. In the present essay, I shall study these arguments and show the presuppositions and the theoretical basis on which they rest. In doing so, I shall compare Ibn Khaldūn's criticism with what was written by other authors who also undertook to refute astrology and show its incoherence. (...) Indeed, debunking astrology was not a rare matter in Islamic culture, especially in the late period of classicism. Al-Fārābī2 and Ibn Sīnā3 were among the most famous philosophers to denounce the vanity of this... (shrink)

: It is demonstrated here that despite apparent differences and their adherence to two different schools of thought, Suhrawardi's epistemology is essentially Ibn Sinian, and even his theory of "knowledge by Presence" ('ilm al-huduri), which is considered to be uniquely his, is at least inspired by Ibn Sina. I argue that Ibn Sina's peripatetic orientation and Suhrawardi's ishraqi perspective have both maintained and adhered to the same epistemological framework while the philosophical languages in which their respective epistemologies are discussed are (...) different. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the Islamic religiosity of the local community and the level of corporate environmental responsibility disclosure (CERD) in Iran, an example of an Islamic country. This paper also examines the moderating role of firm size, family ownership, and state ownership. This study is conducted using a sample of 952 observations across firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The results indicate that CERD increases with an increase in the level of (...) Islamic religiosity of the province where the firm is located. In addition, findings reveal that firm size and family ownership strengthen the aforementioned relationship. However, we provide evidence suggesting that state ownership weakens the positive relationship between the Islamic religious atmosphere and CERD. The results of this research present a new insight suggesting that the Islamic values governing a local community can significantly affect executives’ decisions regarding disclosures, particularly resulting in a decrease in executives’ selfishness and encouraging them to disclose more information about environmental responsibilities. (shrink)

Georges Bataille, Lascaux ou la naissance de l’art. « Tous les hommes des profondeurs mettent leur bonheur à ressembler une fois aux poissons volants et à se jouer sur les crêtes extrêmes des vagues ; ils estiment que ce que les choses ont de meilleur, c’est leur surface : ce qu’il y a à fleur de peau ». Friedrich Nietzsche, Le gai savoir, § 256. L’œuvre de Mehdi Belhaj Kacem s’est construite et s’articule principalement en deux concepts : le (...) Mal et le jeu. Mais encore faut-il savoir dans que... (shrink)

This article is aimed to rephrase and critique the arguments presented by Joseph LaPorte about the truth of theoretical identity statements in natural sciences. LaPorte is classified as an essentialist who accepts the real kinds, but he denies the essence of the kinds to be discovered. His arguments are based on the vagueness of the terms of kinds. In his view while science progress we convention (not discover) what is related to the kinds. I evaluate LaPorte's arguments and show they (...) can be applied only for the border terms in scientific theories and so the generalization of the claim is not defensible. (shrink)

Introduction By Charles Randall Paul Thank you very much. Thank you very much Reverend Kowalski. I will now introduce our panel. I'll make my own remarks I ...

Partnerships in education developed in schools in the 1990s to bring answers to new socio-educational problems. Nevertheless, for the teachers of the sandwich training, they establish for a long time the indispensable condition of a really professional co-op education program. By using the sociology of the actor-network and to the concept of social relationships, we would like to qualify this speech. From the analysis of two university co-op programs, we highlight that an almost fusional partnership with an occupational environment does (...) not guarantee necessarily a harmonious professional development, and that the absence of partnership is not still the synonym for an absence of professionalization. (shrink)

The post-September 11th era has presented immense challenges and disappointing setbacks for the advancement of human rights. Yet, the era has also been marked by complexity, paradoxes and ample opportunities for introspection as events expose contemporary human rights' various weaknesses and contradictions. This article provides an overview of the interplay between the human rights concept's various instrumental appropriations and its more autonomous emancipatory capacity manifested in post-September 11th developments. Instead of an exhaustive examination, the article simply poses and juxtaposes different (...) dimensions and layers of the formidable presence of the human rights idea in post-September 11th developments impacting the Middle East. To this end, it places a particular emphasis on human rights' capacity to simultaneously aid, transcend and confront local and international power structures.The article begins with a discussion of the ways in which American hegemony is both bolstered and challenged through human rights discourses after September 11th. It then turns to the Middle Eastern encounter with human rights amidst the American "War on Terror." It is argued that while widespread Middle Eastern consciousness of American appropriations of human rights foster cynicism about the promise and legitimacy of human rights, post-September 11th dynamics have also resulted in greater Middle Eastern engagement with the human rights concept and international human rights norms. In subsequent sections, the article presents a brief outline of the various challenges and openings presented for human rights advocacy in the last few years followed by a discussion of the renewed imperative for a genuine international human rights dialogue. Throughout the article, examples are presented of how pre-existing human rights geographies and hierarchies ascribing relativism to the East and universalism to the West have been unsettled during this period. (shrink)

Invalid journals are recent challenges in the academic world and many researchers are unacquainted with the phenomenon. The number of victims appears to be accelerating. Researchers might be suspicious of predatory journals because they have unfamiliar names, but hijacked journals are imitations of well-known, reputable journals whose websites have been hijacked. Hijacked journals issue calls for papers via generally laudatory emails that delude researchers into paying exorbitant page charges for publication in a nonexistent journal. This paper presents a method for (...) detecting hijacked journals by using a classification algorithm. The number of published articles exposing hijacked journals is limited and most of them use simple techniques that are limited to specific journals. Hence we needed to amass Internet addresses and pertinent data for analyzing this type of attack. We inspected the websites of 104 scientific journals by using a classification algorithm that used criteria common to reputable journals. We then prepared a decision tree that we used to test five journals we knew were authentic and five we knew were hijacked. (shrink)

Undoubtedly, environmental damage is one of the most important challenges facing contemporary human beings. This is important because the signs that threaten this damage have now become apparent, threatening humans with widespread environmental pollution. On the other hand, humanity will not be able to live a normal life without a safe and healthy environment. Therefore, preservation and protection of the environment, as the most important basic needs of survival, are considered by everyone, including researchers. As a consequence, various studies aim (...) to identify the factors that play a role in how humans and the environment interact. To this end, the present study considered the comprehensiveness of Islam and paid attention to all human needs, and intended to examine the role of religious beliefs on how to interact with the environment. It is worth mentioning that the statistical population of this study comprised 387 Iranian Muslim students from different universities in Iran. After the distribution of standardised research questionnaires whose validity and reliability was confirmed, the collected data were analysed by statistical software. Finally, the results concluded the following: The investigated statistical population pledged and bonded to religious instructions, the investigated statistical population had an appropriate interaction with the environment and the obligation and pledge to religious beliefs had a positive and significant role in people interacting with the environment so that people with strong religious beliefs had a more appropriate interaction with the environment, in opposition to people with less religious beliefs whose interaction with the environment was not apt.Contribution: This research provides further insight into the relations between Theology, religious beliefs and the interaction of people with the environment. (shrink)

To adequately deal with unpredictable and dynamic environments, normative frameworks typically deployed in mechanisms for modifying the norms at runtime are crucial. We present the syntax and operational semantics of programming constructs to facilitate runtime norm modification, allowing a programmer to specify when and how the norms may be changed by external agents or by the normative mechanism. The norms take on the form of conditional obligations and prohibitions, instantiating obligations and prohibitions. We present rule-based constructs for runtime modification of (...) the norms and their instances, and a mechanism for automatically updating the instances when their underlying norms change. Moreover, we investigate a mechanism for avoiding norm conflicts. (shrink)

In this paper, the public view of nanotechnology and its applications in medicine, agriculture and industry is evaluated in the mega cities of Iran. Data from 683 individuals in public places provided the first civic perception of nanotechnology in Iran. Quantitative statistical analysis on positive or negative points of view demonstrated that Iranian people had general positive opinions on nanotechnology and its application in medicine. They believed that nanomedicine can significantly improve the current methods used in disease treatments, especially for (...) cancer therapy. In general, the responders believed that they would easily accept the use of nanotechnology products and would like increased financial support of the government on nanomedicine and nanotechnology research fields and they showed little anxiety about the possible risks. According to our statistical analysis, three individual characteristics age, education level and career had a direct correlation with the knowledge level of Iranian people on nanotechnology in the mega cities of Iran. (shrink)

In this opinion piece, we present a synopsis of our findings from the last 2 years concerning cyber-attacks on web-based academia. We also present some of problems that we have faced and try to resolve any misunderstandings about our work. We are academic information security specialists, not hackers. Finally, we present a brief overview of our methods for detecting cyber fraud in an attempt to present general guidelines for researchers who would like to continue our work. We believe that our (...) work is necessary for protecting the integrity of scholarly publishing against emerging cybercrime. (shrink)

Mehdî inancı, İslam toplumunda yayılışından kısa bir süre sonra, kitleleri harekete geçiren bir motivasyon olarak Abbâsî İhtilâli sırasında yeniden ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu sebeple, ihtilâli ele alan birçok çalışmada halkta yaygınlık kazanan bu inançtan nasıl ve ne şekilde istifade edildiği incelenmiştir. Abbâsîler, Mehdî inancı olarak ifade edilen beklenen kurtarıcı inancından, ihtilâl başarıya ulaştıktan sonra da hilafette kendilerine meşruiyet sağlama amacı ile istifade etmişlerdir. Böylece Ahbâru’l-Abbâs adlı, Abbâsîlerin ihtilâlle sonuçlanan mücadelelerinin yarı resmi tarihi olarak sayılan kaynakta da Abbâsîlerin beklenen kurtarıcılar olduğunu vurgulayan (...) birçok rivâyet yer almıştır. Ahbâru’l-Abbâs, Abbâsî İhtilâli hakkında önemli bilgiler sunan ve bu nedenle muhtemelen Abbâsî ailesine yakın biri tarafından yazılmış olduğu tahmin edilen anonim bir el yazmasıdır. Abdülaziz ed-Dûrî ve Abdülcebbâr el-Muttalibî tarafından 1971'de yayımlandıktan sonra, Ahbâru’l-Abbâs veya kısaca Ahbâr olarak tanınmıştır. Bu kaynakta Abbâsîlerin beklenen kurtarıcılar olduğunu vurgulayan birçok rivâyet vardır ancak bu rivâyetler daha çok siyah sancakların ortaya çıkışı ile ilgili anlatımlarla sunulmuştur. Şimdiye kadar eser hakkında veya eserden istifade edilerek yapılan çalışmalarda, rivâyetler çoğunlukla ihtilâlin bilinmeyen yönlerine ışık tutacak şekilde ele alınmıştır, fakat bu rivayetler ile Mehdî inancı arasında doğrudan bir ilişki olduğunu vurgulayan bir çalışma bulunmamaktadır. Böylece kaynaktaki rivâyetlerin Mehdî inancı açısından ayrıntılı olarak incelenmediği söylenebilir. Çalışmamızla ilgili literatür bakımından üzerinde durulması gereken iki temel konu vardır. Bunlar arasında da en önemlisi şüphesiz ki Ahbâr’dır. Modern dönemde yeni bulunmuş bu kaynak üzerine olan çalışmalar çoğunlukla Abbâsî İhtilâli’ni ele alan çalışmalardır. Son zamanlarda kaynağın tarihyazımı açısından değeri veya sahihliği hakkında da bazı çalışmalar yapılmıştır. Literatürdeki diğer ilgili çalışmalar ise bir asrı aşkın süredir üzerinde detaylı şekilde inceleme yapılan Mehdî inancı ve bunun ihtilâl için önemine odaklanan araştırmalardır. Bu noktada, Gerlof Van Vloten'in kitabı, Mehdî inancına yönelik bazı önemli noktalara değinen ve bunun Abbâsî İhtilâli üzerindeki etkisini ortaya koyan birincil eser olarak kabul edilmektir. Bununla birlikte Van Vloten, el yazması onun çalışmasını kaleme aldığı dönemde (19. yüzyılın sonunda) henüz keşfedilmediği için Ahbâr’a hiç atıfta bulunmamıştır. Bu makale Abbâsî İhtilâli’nde Mehdî (kurtarıcı) inancının siyah sancaklar hakkındaki rivayetler aracılığıyla oluşturulan etkisini tartışmak amacıyla yazılmıştır. Ahbâr’daki ilgili rivayetleri Mehdî inancıyla ilişkilendirerek ortaya koymaktadır. Bu nedenle bu makale için “Siyah Sancaklı Mehdî” başlığı seçilmiştir. Modern tarihçiler, bu inancın İslam toplumunda giderek yaygınlaştığına ve dolayısıyla Abbâsî hareketinde etkili olduğuna inanmaktadırlar; ancak Ahbâr’dan önce ulaşılan kaynaklar bu iddiayı desteklemek için yeterli değildir. Çalışmada öncelikle Mehdî inancı ele alınacak, daha sonra beklenen kurtarıcı inancının Hicrî 2. yüzyıldaki önemi ve Abbâsî İhtilâli ile ilişkisi tartışılacak, son olarak da Mehdî inancının Abbâsî İhtilâli’ndeki etkinliğinin kaynağımıza nasıl yansıdığı incelenecektir. Bu makale, Ahbâru’l-Abbâs adlı kaynakta, Mehdî inancına doğrudan işaret eden rivayetlerin azınlığına karşın, siyah sancakların ele alındığı rivayetlerin fazla olduğunu savunmaktadır. Böylece Abbâsîlerin Mehdî inancından ihtilâlin başarıya ulaşması ve ardından meşrûiyeti sağlamada istifade ettikleri söylenebilir. Ancak bu inanç yalnızca Mehdî inancı değil, bilhassa siyah sancaklı Mehdî inancıdır. (shrink)

The Logical Reconstruction of the World (Aufbau) is oneof the major works of Rudolf Carnap in which he attempts to put an end to some of the traditional disputes in epistemology by using what he calls 'construction theory'. According to this theory, one or more constructional systems can be designed in which all the scientific and pre-scientific objects are logically made out of a limited number of basic elements. Carnap introduces some options for the basis of this system and chooses (...) the domain of the autopsychological, i.e., the domain of private elementary experiences, among them and tries to construct all the concepts out of them. This phenomenalistic reduction sometimes is seen as embracing a Cartesian dualism of mind and body or even a mentalistic monism. However, in this paper, I shall try to show that the traditional dualist-monist debates are among those disputes that the construction theory aims to get rid of. I will show that Carnap's position on the mind-body problem is really close to what Davidson later termed as 'Anomalous Monism' and that this is why Carnap fails to complete his logical construction at a crucial step. Whenever possible, logical constructions are to be substituted for inferred entities. (shrink)

Functionalism argues that since any mental state can be realized by different physical systems, it is therefore wrong to define or identify a mental state of an organism by the corresponding physical-chemical state of its body . In this paper, I argue that since a single mental state can also be realized in different functional patterns, multiple realizability creates the same problem for functionalism. This means that it is wrong to implicitly define a mental state by its causal role in (...) an interconnected network of inputs, outputs and internal states. It is discussed that the functionalists’ responses to this criticism are as plausible as the physicalists’ responses to the problem. It is concluded that in dealing with the multiple realizability problem, functionalism has no advantage over its rival, type physicalism. (shrink)