The aims of the present study were to analyse people’s natural ability to discriminate between true and false statements provided by people with intellectual disability (IQTRUE = 62.00, SD = 10.07; IQFALSE = 58.41, SD = 8.42), and the differentiating characteristics of such people’s statements using criteria-based content analysis (CBCA). Thirty-three people assessed 16 true statements and 13 false statements using their normal abilities. Two other evaluators trained in CBCA evaluated the same statements. The natural evaluators differentiated between true and (...) false statements with somewhat above-chance accuracy, even though error rate was high (38.19%). That lay participants could not effectively discriminate between false and true statements demonstrates that such assessments cannot be considered useful in a forensic context. The CBCA technique did discriminate at a better level than intuitive judgements. However, of the 19 criteria, only one significantly discriminated. More procedures specifically adapted to the abilities of people with intellectual disabilities are thus required. The presence of structured production, quantity of details, characteristics details and unexpected complications increased the probability that a statement would be considered true by non-expert evaluators. The classification made by the non-expert evaluators was independent of the participants’ IQ. A big data analysis is performed in search for better classification quality. (shrink)

L’Arabie marchande: État et commerce sous les sultans rasūlides du Yémen. By Éric Vallet. Bibliothèque historique des pays d’Islam, vol. 1. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2010. Pp. 872. €90.

Il est indéniable que les féministes théorisent, et que leurs théorisations participent à transformer le monde. Mais peut-on--et doit-on--qualifier cette activité théorique? Bien que les théories féministes partagent une visée politique émancipatrice, chercher à définir ce que signifie théoriser en féministe, c'est prendre le risque de masquer la pluralité des situations et des concepts. Dès lors, comment prendre en charge la diversité des contextes qui se trouvent derrière les connaissances? Ne doit-on pas interroger ce que cette question--à la portée pourtant (...) éminemment épistémologique--révèle des frontières du féminisme lui-même? Comment aborder un phénomène qui est tout à la fois un engagement, une identité, une revendication, un outil? Le féminisme se décline au pluriel et se trouve dans une tension permanente, parce qu'il se confronte à des conflits qu'on préfère généralement ignorer, parce qu'il est sujet à des interprétations multiples et, partant, parce qu'il s'élabore par mouvements successifs quoique continus. Suffit-il alors de se revendiquer du féminisme, entendu comme identité politique aussi bien que comme outil scientifique, pour produire un mouvement ou une théorie féministes? Théoriser en féministe, c'est non seulement déclarer son appartenance à une communauté, mais c'est aussi chercher une forme de radicalité pour lutter contre la violence du système, qu'il soit social, politique ou philosophique."--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

In Working Virtue: Virtue Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems, leading figures in the fields of virtue ethics and ethics come together to present the first ...

Mimesis as Make-Believe is important reading for everyone interested in the workings of representational art.

First published in 1962, contains the William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955. It sets out Austin's conclusions in the field to which he directed his main efforts for at least the last ten years of his life. Starting from an exhaustive examination of his already well- known distinction of performative utterances from statements, Austin here finally abandons that distinction, replacing it by a more general theory of 'illocutionary forces' of utterances which has important bearings on a wide (...) variety of philosophical problems. (shrink)

It was proposed that the data from Monte Carlo statistical investigations be subjected to analysis of variance methods rather than the conventional techniques of tabling, graphing, and inspecting the data. Two examples in which analysis of variance methods were applied to published Monte Carlo studies were presented. It was suggested that balanced factorial designs should be used whenever possible in Monte Carlo studies so that analysis of variance methods would be directly applicable. Finally, three advantages of analysis of variance methods (...) over conventional techniques were described and analysis of variance methods were contrasted with a possible alternative analytical method, multiple regression analysis. (shrink)

This chapter defends the property dualism argument. The term “semantic premise” mentioned is used to refers to an assumption identified by Brian Loar that antiphysicalist arguments, such as the property dualism argument, tacitly assume that a statement of property identity that links conceptually independent concepts is true only if at least one concept picks out the property it refers to by connoting a contingent property of that property. It is argued that, the property that does the work in explaining the (...) possibility of a posteriori identities need not be a first-order property of the referent in question. On his view, the property dualism argument requires only a weaker semantic premise, which allows that the property in question be a higher order property. A refined version of the property dualism argument is formulated, which uses the weaker premise, and defends the argument against various objections. (shrink)

Current sociological theories appear to have lost their general persuasiveness in part because, unlike the theories of the ‘classical era’, they fail to maintain an integrated stance toward society, and the practical role that sociology plays in society. The authors explore various facets of this failure and possibilities for reconstructing sociological theories as integrated wholes capable of conveying a moral and political immediacy. They discuss the evolution of several concepts (for example, the social, structure, and self) and address the significant (...) disputes (for example, structuralism versus humanism, and individual versus society) that have dominated twentieth-century sociological thought. Their ideas and analyses are directed towards an audience of students and theorists who are coming to terms with the project of sociological theory, and its relationship with moral discourses and political practice. The authors of these essays are sociological theorists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. They are all established, but not ‘establishment’ authors. The book contains no orthodoxies, and no answers. However, the essays do contribute to identifying the range of issues that will constitute the agenda for the next generation of sociological theorists. (shrink)