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Direct Reference and Dancing Qualia

John Hawthorne

in Phenomenal Concepts and Phenomenal Knowledge: New Essays on Consciousness and Physicalism

This chapter argues that there is a tension in the semantic views held by certain antiphysicalists. These philosophers accept Fregean arguments against direct-reference theories of ordinary proper ... More

This chapter argues that there is a tension in the semantic views held by certain antiphysicalists. These philosophers accept Fregean arguments against direct-reference theories of ordinary proper names but maintain that phenomenal concepts refer directly. Against this semantic package, it is argued that the thought experiments that motivate a sense-reference distinction for ordinary proper names — roughly, Hesperus-Phosphorus stories — can be replicated at the level of direct phenomenal concepts. (A Hesperus-Phosphorus story is one in which one rationally believes both that object a has a property P and that object b lacks P, even though a = b.)Less

Reflexivity (1986) *

Nathan Salmon

in Content, Cognition, and Communication: Philosophical Papers II

This chapter investigates three related philosophical puzzles: (1) the Richard-Soames problem: If someone believes that Hesperus outweighs Phosphorus, why does he/she not infer that there is ... More

This chapter investigates three related philosophical puzzles: (1) the Richard-Soames problem: If someone believes that Hesperus outweighs Phosphorus, why does he/she not infer that there is something x such that x outweighs x; (2) the puzzle of reflexives in attitude attributions: If someone believes that Hesperus outweighs Phosphorus, why does he/she not also believe that Hesperus outweighs itself; and (3) Church's paradoxical proof that for every x and y, if someone believes that x and y are distinct, then they are. Solutions compatible with Millianism are proposed.Less

How Not to Become a Millian Heir (1991) *

Nathan Salmon

in Content, Cognition, and Communication: Philosophical Papers II

This chapter defends a diagnosis of Frege's puzzle against the independent criticisms and rival diagnoses of Howard Wettstein and Kai-Yee Wong. One and the very same proposition can be a posteriori ... More

This chapter defends a diagnosis of Frege's puzzle against the independent criticisms and rival diagnoses of Howard Wettstein and Kai-Yee Wong. One and the very same proposition can be a posteriori relative to one way of taking it and a priori relative to another. This observation has the consequence that ‘Hesperus is Phosphorus’ is a priori and informative in the sense relevant to Frege's puzzle.Less

Influences on Ecosystem Function II: Historical Perturbations in Small Lake Basins

Wayne L. Hamilton

in Yellowstone's Destabilized Ecosystem: Elk Effects, Science, and Policy Conflict

Reanalysis of previously published data on trends in sedimentation rates over time in eight small lakes in the northern range shows variations associated with elevation and character of lake basin ... More

Reanalysis of previously published data on trends in sedimentation rates over time in eight small lakes in the northern range shows variations associated with elevation and character of lake basin (kettle lakes or lakes in slide-deposit terrain) that must be taken into account in evaluating whether sedimentation rates have changed over time in response to increases in the elk herd. Total sedimentation rates and those of allogenic silica increased in most lakes between park establishment and the 1980s-1990s. Total organic sedimentation rates, and those of biogenic silica and phosphorus, increased during park history indicating eutrophication. Two species of diatoms characteristic of eutrophic conditions increased during park history in three of five lakes. Although more comprehensive research is needed on this question, an increase in the northern herd is the most probable hypothesis to explain the evidence from this preliminary study.Less

Internalist Cases and Externalist Theory

Joseph Mendola

in Anti-Externalism

Frege's Hesperus-Phosphorus case and Russell's empty names case are key cases which suggest internalism. This chapter examines standing externalist accounts of these two sorts of cases, and argues ... More

Frege's Hesperus-Phosphorus case and Russell's empty names case are key cases which suggest internalism. This chapter examines standing externalist accounts of these two sorts of cases, and argues that all of them suffer from the belief-ascription, multiple-contents, and subject-matter objections. These are the same objections that afflict internalist rigidified description clusters.Less

The Puzzles Solved

R. M. Sainsbury and Michael Tye

in Seven Puzzles of Thought and How to Solve Them: And How to Solve Them: An Originalist Theory of Concepts

This chapter shows how the originalist theory solves the seven puzzles.

Structure and bonding in oxides and oxoacids of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, and chlorine

Arne Haaland

in Molecules and Models: The molecular structures of main group element compounds

This chapter describes the molecular structures of the three known carbon oxides, the three known sulfur oxides, eight nitrogen oxides, two phosphorus oxides, and three chlorine oxides. Bond energies ... More

This chapter describes the molecular structures of the three known carbon oxides, the three known sulfur oxides, eight nitrogen oxides, two phosphorus oxides, and three chlorine oxides. Bond energies are presented whenever available. The discussion also includes three sulfur oxofluorides, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, two phosphoryl halides (OPX3), orthophosphoric acid, and perchlorid acid. Both the bond distances and the bond energies indicate that the terminal oxygen atoms in all the molecules under consideration should be described as doubly bonded (oxo) atoms, the only exception being CO which is best described as triply bonded. The structures are discussed in terms of simple Lewis structures, the VSEPR model, and delocalized π molecular orbitals.Less

Organism interactions and soil processes

Richard D. Bardgett

in The Biology of Soil: A community and ecosystem approach

This chapter illustrates how the activities of soil biota, especially their trophic interactions, influence the processes of decomposition and nutrient cycling, and examines the significance of this ... More

This chapter illustrates how the activities of soil biota, especially their trophic interactions, influence the processes of decomposition and nutrient cycling, and examines the significance of this for material flow and plant production in terrestrial ecosystems. The focus is on the availability of nitrogen and phosphorus since they are the two nutrients that most limit primary productivity in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems. First, the issue of how soil microbes regulate the internal cycling of nutrients in terrestrial ecosystems is discussed. This is followed by a discussion of how soil animals influence nutrient cycling and plant growth through their feeding activities on microbes and other fauna.Less

The Beaver Meadow on North St. Vrain Creek

Ellen Wohl

in Title Pages

There is a place, about a mile long by a thousand feet wide, that lies in the heart of the Southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Here at the eastern margin of Rocky ... More

There is a place, about a mile long by a thousand feet wide, that lies in the heart of the Southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Here at the eastern margin of Rocky Mountain National Park, along a creek known as North St. Vrain, everything comes together to create a bead strung along the thread of the creek. The bead is a wider portion of the valley, a place where the rushing waters diffuse into a maze of channels and seep into the sediment flooring the valley. In summer the willows and river birch growing across the valley bottom glow a brighter hue of green among the darker conifers. In winter, subtle shades of orange and gold suffuse the bare willow stems protruding above the drifted snow. The bead holds a complex spatial mosaic composed of active stream channels; abandoned channels; newly built beaver dams bristling with gnawed-end pieces of wood; long-abandoned dams now covered with willows and grasses but still forming linear berms; ponds gradually filling with sediment in which sedges and rushes grow thickly; and narrow canals and holes hidden by tall grass: all of these reflect the activities of generations of beavers. This is a beaver meadow. The bead of the beaver meadow is partly hidden, tucked into a fold in this landscape of conifers and mountains. The approach is from Route 7, which runs north–south across the undulating topography of creeks flowing east toward the plains. Coming from the north, as I commonly do, you turn west into the North St. Vrain watershed on an unpaved road perched on a dry terrace above the creek. The road appears to be on the valley bottom, but beyond the terrace the valley floor drops another 20 feet or so to the level at which the creek flows. I instinctively pause at this drop-off. The conifer forest on the terrace is open and the walking is easy. The beaver meadow looks impenetrable and nearly is. I have to stoop, wade, crawl, wind, and bend my way through it, insinuating my body among the densely growing willow stems and thigh-high grasses. Less

June: The Thin Green Line

Ellen Wohl

in Saving the Dammed: Why We Need Beaver-Modified Ecosystems

June, when the snows come hurrying from the hills and the bridges often go, in the words of Emily Dickinson. In the beaver meadow, the snows are indeed hurrying from ... More

June, when the snows come hurrying from the hills and the bridges often go, in the words of Emily Dickinson. In the beaver meadow, the snows are indeed hurrying from the surrounding hills. Every one of the 32 square miles of terrain upslope from the beaver meadow received many inches of snow over the course of the winter. Some of the snow sublimated back into the atmosphere. Some melted and infiltrated into the soil and fractured bedrock, recharging the groundwater that moves slowly downslope and into the meadow. A lot of the snow sat on the slopes, compacted by the weight of overlying snow into a dense, water-rich mass that now melts rapidly and hurries down to the valley bottoms. North St. Vrain Creek overflows into the beaver meadow, the water spilling over the banks and into the willow thickets in a rush. I can hear the roar of water in the main channel well before I can see it through the partially emerged leaves of the willows. Overhead is the cloudless sky of a summer morning. A bit of snow lingers at the top of the moraines. Grass nearly to my knees hides the treacherous footing of this quivering world that is terra non-firma. I am surrounded by the new growth of early summer, yet the rich scents of decay rise every time I sink into the muck. I walk with care, staggering occasionally, in this patchy, complex world that the beavers have created. I abruptly sink to mid-thigh in a muck-bottomed hole, releasing the scent of rotten eggs, but less than a yard away a small pocket of upland plants is establishing a roothold in a drier patch. A seedling spruce rises above ground junipers shedding yellow pollen dust and the meticulously sorted, tiny pebbles of a harvester ant mound. I extract my leg with difficulty and continue walking. As I walk around the margin of another small pond, the water shakes. Sometimes the bottom is firm in these little ponds, sometimes it’s mucky—I can’t tell simply by looking through the water. Less

October: Of Beavers and Humans

Ellen Wohl

in Saving the Dammed: Why We Need Beaver-Modified Ecosystems

By mid-October, the first snow has fallen on the beaver meadow. There is no sign of snow when I visit a few days later, but the air feels chill in the shadows and a ... More

By mid-October, the first snow has fallen on the beaver meadow. There is no sign of snow when I visit a few days later, but the air feels chill in the shadows and a cool breeze leavens the sunshine’s warmth. Mostly, the beaver meadow seems a golden place. Many of the willow, aspen, and birch leaves have already fallen, but enough remain to create a glowing ménage of yellow, gold, palest orange, and tan. Each leaf refracts and filters the light so that it comes from every direction rather than only from above. Aspens on the north-facing valley slope stand bare and pale gray. Those on the south facing slope form bursts of gold among the dark green conifers. The beaver meadow remains lively with activity. Dance flies move upward and downward in a column of air backlit by sunshine, their delicate bodies shimmering in the low-angle light. A little black stonefly lands on the back of my hand. I resist the urge, bred by summer mosquitoes, to reflexively slap it away. As I cross smaller side channels, brook trout dart away from the warm shallows where they have been resting. The narrow band of white on each dorsal fin flashes as the fish moves swiftly toward deeper water. When one small trout gets momentarily stuck between two exposed cobbles, I cup its slender, wriggling body between my hands and help it along. Windrows of fallen leaves form swirling patterns on the water surface and streambed. Filamentous algae grow in thick green strands along the side channels, where lower water exposes wide bands of mud along the channel edges. The mud bands record the comings and goings along the channel: precise imprints of raccoon feet and deer hooves and blurrier outlines left by moose. Moose beds mat down the tall grasses scattered among the willow thickets. As usual, the beavers themselves elude me, but I see fresh mud and neatly peeled white branches with gnawed ends on some of the dams. Lower water in the beaver pond exposes an entrance hole in the side of the lodge. Less

Global Phosphorus: Geological Sources and Demand-Driven Production: P is for price

Donald Burt, Marion Dumas, Nathaniel Springer, and David A. Vaccari

in Phosphorus, Food, and Our Future

This chapter investigates where and in what form phosphorus occurs on Earth. It describes the major geological dimensions of phosphorus. It measures the quantities extractable phosphorus occurs and ... More

This chapter investigates where and in what form phosphorus occurs on Earth. It describes the major geological dimensions of phosphorus. It measures the quantities extractable phosphorus occurs and explores the past and current trends of phosphorus usage; looks into the prediction of future trends and determines the reliability; and discusses the role of economics in phosphorus reserves, and how resources are geologically determined. It also explains the issue of the shortage of phosphorus.Less

Preceramic Inorganic Polymers

James E. Mark, Harry R. Allcock, and Robert West

in Inorganic Polymers

One of the most important interfaces in materials science is the one between polymers and ceramics. Ceramics can be viewed as highly cross-linked polymer systems, with ... More

One of the most important interfaces in materials science is the one between polymers and ceramics. Ceramics can be viewed as highly cross-linked polymer systems, with the three-dimensional network providing strength, rigidity, and resistance to high temperatures. Although not generally recognized as such, a few ceramics exist that are totally organic (i.e., carbon-based). Melamine-formaldehyde resins, phenolformaldehyde materials, and carbon fibers are well-known examples. However, totally inorganic ceramics are more widely known, many of which are based on the elements silicon, aluminum, or boron combined with oxygen, carbon, or nitrogen. Among the inorganic ceramics, two different classes can be recognized—oxide ceramics and non-oxide materials. The oxide ceramics frequently include silicate structures, and these are relatively low melting materials. The non-oxide ceramics, such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, and boron nitride are some of the highest melting substances known. Non-oxide ceramics are often so high melting that they are difficult to shape and fabricate by the melt- or powder-fusion techniques that are common for oxide materials. One major use for inorganic-organic polymers and oligomers is as sacrificial intermediates for pyrolytic conversion to ceramics. The logic is as follows. Linear, branched, or cyclolinear polymers or oligomers can be fabricated easily by solution- or melt-fabrication techniques. If a polymeric material that has been shaped and fabricated in this way is then cross-linked and pyrolyzed in an inert atmosphere to drive off the organic components (typically, the side groups), the resultant residue may be a totally inorganic ceramic in the shape of the original fabricated article. Thus, ceramic fibers, films, coatings, and shaped objects may by accessible without recourse to the ultra-high temperatures needed for melting of the ceramic material itself. Note, however, that although the final shape of the object may be retained during pyrolysis, the size will be diminished due to the loss of volatile material. If the pyrolysis takes place too quickly, this contraction process may cause cracking of the material and loss of strength. Less

The Benefits of Long-Term Environmental Research, Friendships, and Boiled Peanuts

Evelyn E. Gaiser

in Long-Term Ecological Research: Changing the Nature of Scientists

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has enabled me to conduct more broadly relevant science by addressing questions within an ... More

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has enabled me to conduct more broadly relevant science by addressing questions within an interdisciplinary framework and to unravel the causes for surprising ecological phenomena through persistent studies and collaborations. Educational opportunities within the LTER program have connected me to students from grades K–12 to graduate levels in new ways from the field to the classroom, across places from Florida to Alaska, and among disciplines in a collaborative setting. The audience for my research expanded as a consequence of my experiences in the LTER program, and I have learned how to more effectively communicate integrative research to large audiences of scientists, policy-makers, and the public, often through nontraditional media. The LTER program is foremost a network of people, and I have found that science evolves most successfully when ideas and information are shared voluntarily across backgrounds, disciplines, and cultures in a network of cultivated, trusting relationships. The Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) is the LTER site where I am currently the principal investigator, but the LTER program has been a part of my life for most of my career. My experiences in the LTER program began in the early 1990s when I was a graduate student at the University of Georgia, where the Coweeta (CWT) LTER site is based. Although I was not formally a part of CWT, many of my friends and professors were, so the program influenced my development as a scientist. I remember my first field trip to CWT, led by Gene Helfman and Judy Meyer, and the fun of snorkeling in mountain streams where we camped and conducted a few experiments, including examining the effects of rapid consumption of s’mores and boiled peanuts on preschool children (Judy and Gene’s kids). LTER-related activities wove in and out of my graduate student experience, and the rewards of sharing of ideas, data, friendships, and boiled peanuts created in me a lifelong commitment to persistent, collaborative science. This sense of fulfillment, of being part of something larger, was reinforced at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), where I conducted my research. Less

Confessions of a Fungal Systematist

D. Jean Lodge

in Long-Term Ecological Research: Changing the Nature of Scientists

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has not influenced my basic approach to science. The LTER program has reinforced my approach to mentoring, ... More

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has not influenced my basic approach to science. The LTER program has reinforced my approach to mentoring, and it has increased my opportunities to mentor students through the LTER-associated Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program. LTER program has greatly enriched my collaborative network and expanded my research in directions that I would not have otherwise pursued; similarly, I have expanded the research and perspectives of my collaborators. My involvement in the LTER program has changed my perspective in reviewing grant proposals and manuscripts. I have been a co–principal investigator or senior personnel at the Luquillo site (LUQ) of the LTER since its inception in 1988. My MS was on fungal population genetics and epidemiology of a plant pathogen, and my PhD work involved a study of the ecology of arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with cottonwood and willow, with a minor in entomology. I was employed as an ecosystem ecologist for the first 9 years of my professional career as a research scientist with the University of Puerto Rico, Center for Energy and Environment Research, which later became the Terrestrial Ecology Division. My early research in the LTER program focused on the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plant colonization of landslides in collaboration with plant ecologists and physiologists in the “disturbed plant group.” Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988, shortly after I had measured vegetation there, so I returned to Jamaica with a group that was studying migrant bird habitat and helped to remeasure plants. I used this opportunity to design the tree damage protocol that was used in 1989, when Hurricane Hugo struck the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico (the location of LUQ) (Zimmerman et al. 1994). Consequently, I was nicknamed “Hurricane Hattie” by my collaborators at the Coweeta LTER site. Throughout my career, I have used my graduate training in ecology and soil microbial ecology to make important estimates of fungal and bacterial biomass and nutrient immobilization, and to determine what factors control spatial and temporal patterns in fungal distributions, abundance, and diversity (Lodge and Cantrell 1995; Lodge 1997). Less

Coda: Some Reflections on the Long-Term Ecological Research Program

William H. Schlesinger

in Long-Term Ecological Research: Changing the Nature of Scientists

Ecology has a history of long-term studies that offer great insight to ecosystem processes. The advent of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program ... More

Ecology has a history of long-term studies that offer great insight to ecosystem processes. The advent of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program institutionalized long-term studies with some core measurements at a selection of sites across North America. The most successful LTER sites are those that have an energetic leader with a clear vision, who has guided the work over many years. Several LTER sites have established successful education programs for K–12 and college-age students, as well as for science policy-makers. Implementation of more and better cross-site work would be welcome. The various essays in this volume reflect a broad range of experiences among participants in the LTER program. Nearly all are positive: only mad dogs bite the hand that feeds them. All authors appreciate the advantages of long-term funding for their research and lament that funding of the LTER program by the National Science Foundation (NSF) is so limited. There are numerous testimonials for how the LTER program has changed and broadened participation in collaborative science. The real question is whether the LTER program has allowed science to proceed faster, deeper, broader, and with more critical insight than if the program had not been created. To answer that question, I offer a few personal reflections on the LTER program. First, we must note that long-term research existed well before the LTER program. Edmondson began his long-term measurements of exogenous phosphorus in Lake Washington in the early 1950s (Edmondson 1991). Across the country, Herb Bormann and Gene Likens began long-term studies, now in their 50th year, of forest biogeochemistry at Hubbard Brook in 1963 (Likens 2013). Each of these long-term studies enjoys ample coverage in every text of introductory ecology. The advantages of long-term research are undisputed among those who are funded for it. Indeed, NSF embraces a wide variety of decade-long studies with its Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) program. The authors of several chapters recall how Howard Odum’s early work focused their attention on the connections between large units of the landscape. Less

Introduction to P Sustainability: P is for Philosophy and Process

Genevieve S. Metson, Karl A. Wyant, and Daniel L. Childers

in Phosphorus, Food, and Our Future

This chapter illustrates and explains the basic principles of sustainability. It provides a sustainability framework to existing issues in phosphorous management. It summarizes human impacts on ... More

This chapter illustrates and explains the basic principles of sustainability. It provides a sustainability framework to existing issues in phosphorous management. It summarizes human impacts on natural phosphorus cycling and the identification of phosphorus sustainability as a “wicked problem”. It describes how a sustainability perspective contributes to shaping appropriate solutions to phosphorus management. It also enumerates the general approach of every chapter in connecting various aspects of human use of phosphorous to a sustainability framework.Less