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Conclusion

Richard Parish

in Catholic Particularity in Seventeenth-Century French Writing: 'Christianity is Strange'

The brief conclusion stresses three key ideas in what has preceded: specificity, paradox, and inclusivity.

The Modularity Theory

Alvin I. Goldman

in Simulating Minds: The Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience of Mindreading

Modularists claim that folk psychology is mediated by an innate modularized database, the structures of which support inferences concerning representational relations like belief, desire, and ... More

Modularists claim that folk psychology is mediated by an innate modularized database, the structures of which support inferences concerning representational relations like belief, desire, and pretense. It is doubtful, however, that mindreading really qualifies as modular, specifically, that it satisfies Fodor’s chief criteria of modularity: domain specificity and informational encapsulation. Alan Leslie postulates a core module called the “theory of mind mechanism”, but most of the work in assigning mental states is done by the “selection processor”, which is a non-modular mechanism. Finally, no real evidence is provided that propositional attitudes are ascribed via theoretical inference rather than simulation.Less

The Scope and Plausibility of Cognitive Pluralist Epistemology

Steven Horst

in Beyond Reduction: Philosophy of Mind and Post-Reductionist Philosophy of Science

This chapter argues for the plausibility of Cognitive Pluralism as a general principle of cognitive architecture, and argues further that scientific pluralism is plausibly seen as a special case of ... More

This chapter argues for the plausibility of Cognitive Pluralism as a general principle of cognitive architecture, and argues further that scientific pluralism is plausibly seen as a special case of this general principle. Cognitive Pluralism is compared with existing ideas of modularity.Less

Culture and Modularit y

Dan Sperber and Lawrence Hirschfeld

in The Innate Mind: Volume 2: Culture and Cognition

Cultural diversity demonstrates the flexibility of the human mind and might be seen as providing compelling evidence against the massively modularity thesis, which seems to imply a high degree of ... More

Cultural diversity demonstrates the flexibility of the human mind and might be seen as providing compelling evidence against the massively modularity thesis, which seems to imply a high degree of mental rigidity. This chapter argues that a proper understanding of the modular organization of the mind, in particular a distinction between the proper and the actual domain of modules, helps explain both the relative stability of culture and its diversity.Less

Saying More (or Less) Than One Thing

Andrea Iacona

in Cuts and Clouds: Vagueness, its Nature, & its Logic

This chapter is based on the idea that there is an important sense in which the things we say may involve a degree of specificity that goes beyond what we have in mind when we say them. In that ... More

This chapter is based on the idea that there is an important sense in which the things we say may involve a degree of specificity that goes beyond what we have in mind when we say them. In that sense, the things we say are interpretations of the sentences we use that are sufficiently specific for the purpose of ascribing truth or falsity to those sentences. This chapter explains how the relation between logic and natural language can be elucidated on the basis of this idea, and shows how some fundamental issues concerning vagueness can be handled accordingly.Less

Food web patterns and the parasite's Perspective

Michael V. K. Sukhdeo and Alexander D. Hernandez

in Parasitism and Ecosystems

Food webs are theoretical abstractions of the complex linkages and interactions that are thought to occur in nature. Although few real food webs have actually been characterized scientifically, there ... More

Food webs are theoretical abstractions of the complex linkages and interactions that are thought to occur in nature. Although few real food webs have actually been characterized scientifically, there is a large body of literature on the processes that contribute towards complexity and stability in webs. Food webs are generally thought of as ‘what eats what’ webs, but parasites are not usually incorporated into webs even though parasitism is a feeding strategy shared by a majority of species on earth (70%). This chapter examines major ideas on the roles of parasites in food webs, starting with Elton’s (1927) idea that parasites are analogous to predators. It describes some general patterns of parasite web structure (e.g., inverted pyramid of numbers and body size hypotheses) using both available published data and data from studies on food webs in freshwater streams in New Jersey.Less

Construal

Ronald W. Langacker

in Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction

An expression's meaning depends not only on the conceptual content it evokes but also on the construal it imposes on that content. Broad classes of construal phenomena include specificity, focusing, ... More

An expression's meaning depends not only on the conceptual content it evokes but also on the construal it imposes on that content. Broad classes of construal phenomena include specificity, focusing, prominence, and perspective. Specificity (or its inverse, schematicity) is the degree of precision and detail at which a situation is characterized. One kind of focusing involves various kinds of organization into foreground vs. background, such as given vs. new in a discourse, or the asymmetry in complex expressions between component elements and the composite whole (the expression's compositional path). Another dimension of focusing is organization in terms of maximal scope (the full range of content an expression evokes), immediate scope (the general locus of attention), and profile (the specific focus of attention). Focusing is a kind of prominence, of which there are many sorts. Two are especially revelevant for grammar: profiling, a matter of what an expression designates (refers to); and trajector vs. landmark, the first and second most prominent participants in a profiled relationship. Subsumed under perspective are the overall viewing arrangement, vantage point, the viewing asymmetry between the subject and object of conception, and the time course of conception (sequence of mental access). Descriptive notions are supported by converging evidence from three sources: what is known independently about cognition; what is needed for viable semantic description; and utility in an optimal account of grammar. Varied evidence can be brought to bear on particular semantic descriptions, including paths of grammaticization and predictions concerning distribution and judgments of well-formedness.Less

Evolution of specificity and diversity

Denis C. Shields, Catriona R. Johnston, Iain M. Wallace, and Richard J. Edwards

in Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction

The divergence of proteins following gene duplication has long been recognized as an important process in the evolution of both new and specific protein functions. For functional divergence to occur, ... More

The divergence of proteins following gene duplication has long been recognized as an important process in the evolution of both new and specific protein functions. For functional divergence to occur, the duplicated gene has to survive duplication and avoid becoming a pseudogene (gene death). The mechanism by which a gene duplicates survive is still under some debate, but it is thought that maintenance of duplicate pairs can be accomplished by the evolution of novel functions, splitting ancestral functions between duplicate pairs called paralogs, or some combination of both neo- and subfunctionalization. Although no consensus has been reached as to which process plays a more dominant role in the generation and maintenance of duplicates at the genomic or protein level, the distinction is somewhat irrelevant for the bioinformatic prediction of individual specificity-determining sites; that is, those sites that are important for differences in gene function between paralogs. Instead, the evolutionary history and changing selective constraints for individual residues is important for the interpretation of results. This chapter examines the types of substitution that occur at these sites and the phylogenetic signals that they leave.Less

The passion of place

Doreen Massey and Nigel Thrirt

in A Century of British Geography

Place has long been a key element in geographical thought and writing. Along with ‘region’, it has been a core conceptual focus of what geography, or certainly human geography, has been thought to be ... More

Place has long been a key element in geographical thought and writing. Along with ‘region’, it has been a core conceptual focus of what geography, or certainly human geography, has been thought to be about. In some ways, indeed, it is hard to separate region from place or place from region. ‘Places’ as objects of conceptualisation and of research raise some crucial issues that have long been the concern of geographers: the issue of spatial variation, the conceptualisation of space, and the passivity or influence of the spatial realm; the ‘problem’ of specificity and uniqueness, of the significance of these and of how (indeed whether) they can be ‘scientifically’ analysed; issues around the conceptualisation of ‘identity’; and the problems and possibilities of geography's supposed character as a synthesising discipline. This chapter recounts a history of the role of place in British geography.Less

Competition Between Face and Nonface Domains of Expertise

Kim M. Curby and Bruno Rossion

in Perceptual Expertise: Bridging Brain and Behavior

Faces and nonface objects of expertise show similar behavioral and neural effects, but this does not mean that there is no domain specificity for faces—nonface objects of expertise may be processed ... More

Faces and nonface objects of expertise show similar behavioral and neural effects, but this does not mean that there is no domain specificity for faces—nonface objects of expertise may be processed in a system that is similar and neighboring to, but distinct from, a face-specific system. Because the face processing system has been shown to be capacity-limited, if face and nonface objects of expertise recruit overlapping resources, the concurrent processing of these items should be more vulnerable to capacity limitations relative to the simultaneous processing of face and nonface objects of nonexpertise. Results from behavioral and ERP interference paradigms suggest a functional overlap between face and nonface expert processing at the perceptual level that may have long-term consequences, although the precise neurofunctional mechanisms underlying this competition are still unknown.Less

‘The peculiar character of the Arabian Tale’: William Beckford and the Arabian Nights

James Watt

in The Arabian Nights in Historical Context: Between East and West

Beckford's Vathek (1786) is indebted both to the oriental pastiches of Anthony Hamilton and to the orientalist scholarship of Barthelemy D'Herbelot. This chapter begins by examining the generic and ... More

Beckford's Vathek (1786) is indebted both to the oriental pastiches of Anthony Hamilton and to the orientalist scholarship of Barthelemy D'Herbelot. This chapter begins by examining the generic and tonal heterogeneity of Vathek, via a detailed focus on its critical reception, and on the relations between Beckford and his editor Samuel Henley. By seizing on the historical figure of Vathek, Beckford made possible different allegorical interpretations of his work, allowing readers to see his protagonist as, among other things, an exemplification of imperial decadence. But in interweaving different registers of detail, culturally specific and outlandishly absurd, Beckford also took the language of Orientalist fantasy to a point of near-collapse, ironizing any such solemn constructions of his work. Reading Vathek in the context of the Nights’ contemporary reception, the chapter concludes by suggesting that Beckford sought to keep alive a form of literary invention that would remain non-accountable, beyond critical and editorial regulation.Less

The Idea and Analysis of Specificity

Luca Rubini

in The Definition of Subsidy and State Aid: WTO and EC Law in Comparative Perspective

This chapter focuses on the concept of ‘specificity’ or ‘selectivity’. This idea, which is common to both EC State aid and WTO subsidy laws, raises important conceptual and practical questions, ... More

This chapter focuses on the concept of ‘specificity’ or ‘selectivity’. This idea, which is common to both EC State aid and WTO subsidy laws, raises important conceptual and practical questions, addressed in the two main sections of the chapter.Less

Learning How to Govern and Learning How to Solve Problems: On the Co‐Evolution of Competences, Conflicts and Organizational Routines *

Benjamin Coriat and Giovanni Dosi

in The Dynamic Firm: The Role of Technology, Strategy, Organization, and Regions

Highlights the specificity of organizational competencies and their routinized, inertial, and conflictual properties from the perspective of the individual firm, arguing that persistent and ... More

Highlights the specificity of organizational competencies and their routinized, inertial, and conflictual properties from the perspective of the individual firm, arguing that persistent and distinctive variation among firms can best be understood by taking these properties into account, but only after also taking account of the pervasive influence of institutions in different countries. The role of organizational routines in explaining firm differences is addressed; with the critical competencies of firms embodied in the operational routines, they are difficult to copy and their evolution is constrained by both the characteristics of the firm itself and the environment of the firm. This is designated ‘competence specificity’, where competencies are seen not only as involving problem‐solving and learning skills, but also as including skills and rules governing firm internal relationships; hence, there is also a dual role of organizational routines—as problem‐solving procedures, and as governance devices or mechanisms for coordination. The firm is then interpreted as a behavioural entity that must compromise between several different functions and activities; this complex picture is not reducible to viewing a firm simply as a nexus of contracts, instead, competencies and routines are viewed as co‐evolving with the environment in which they are embedded. Inertia is thus ‘built into’ this concept of the firm, and in prying open this ‘organizational black box’, the authors also indicate several avenues for future research.Less

The Mark of Madness

R. Walter Heinrichs

in In Search of Madness: Schizophrenia and Neuroscience

This chapter focuses on the “markers” of schizophrenia. It evaluates six well-researched potential markers—three cognitive-behavioral (digit span, Continuous Performance Test, visual backward ... More

This chapter focuses on the “markers” of schizophrenia. It evaluates six well-researched potential markers—three cognitive-behavioral (digit span, Continuous Performance Test, visual backward masking) and three cognitive-physiological tasks (smooth pursuit eye movements, P300, P50 evoked potentials) in terms of their ability to identify patients with schizophrenia. Of these six marker candidates, all but the P50 evoked potential abnormality fare equivocally or even badly at the first hurdle. The P50 abnormality, which seems to reflect an inability to filter, dampen, or habituate to sensory experience, has the largest average effect size of the candidate markers and therefore probably has the highest prevalence, in schizophrenia of all candidate markers.Less

Moving objects

Luis López

in A Derivational Syntax for Information Structure

This chapter argues that there are three positions relevant for the interpretation of objects. Objects in Spec,v are interpreted as [+a]. Objects in Spec,V (or the higher spec position within the ... More

This chapter argues that there are three positions relevant for the interpretation of objects. Objects in Spec,v are interpreted as [+a]. Objects in Spec,V (or the higher spec position within the phase) can be interpreted as specific/referential or generic. Finally, objects in situ can only be interpreted as non-specific/non-referential. The optionality of specific readings contrasts with the obligatoriness of the [+a] feature and reinforces the hypothesis that only the edge of a phase is a locus for interpretation rules.Less

Dislocation debates

Luis López

in A Derivational Syntax for Information Structure

This chapter argues that clitic left dislocation and clitic right dislocation are the outcome of a movement rule while hanging topics are initially merged outside the clause proper. The trigger of ... More

This chapter argues that clitic left dislocation and clitic right dislocation are the outcome of a movement rule while hanging topics are initially merged outside the clause proper. The trigger of movement cannot be a feature in the probe but a feature in the moving item, as shown by sub-extraction. Recent analyses of clitic right dislocation are critiqued and the claim that it is located in the mid-field maintained. Finally, it is argued that Romance pronominal clitics are verbal affixes and evidence is presented against the BigDP hypothesis.Less