Over 100 years ago, Frances Galton began the empirical study of autobiographical memory by devising a technique in which he explored the capacity for a cue word to elicit the recollection of events from earlier life (Galton, 1883). After a century of neglect, the topic began to re-emerge, stimulated by the work of Robinson (1976) using the technique on groups of normal subjects, by Crovitz’s work on its application to patients with memory deficits (Crovitz & Schiffman, 1974), and by the (...) detailed diary study of her own autobiographical memory carried out by Marigold Linton (Linton, 1975). This early wave of interest was focused by Rubin’s edited book on the topic (Rubin, 1986) which captured a broad and growing interest in autobiographical memory. This trend was reflected very strongly in the submissions to the second conference on Practical Aspects of Memory, in which the study of autobiographical memory represented one of the major strands (Gruneberg, Morris & Sykes, 1988), featuring prominently in both the opening and concluding addresses (Baddeley, 1988; Neisser, 1988). (shrink)

The papers in this series of five volumes provide a snapshot of current trends in European Cognitive Science. Each of the volumes deals with problems in cognitive science from a different perspective, covering the interacting disciplines of cognitive psychology, logic and linguistics, human-computer interaction, neuroscience and artificial intelligence respectively. Linguistics is concerned with the structure and use of languages, and logic with the form and correctness of argumentation in ordinary and scientific language. The two fields are presented with respect to (...) their role in cognitive science and artificial intelligence: How are they realised by psychological mechanisms or biological processes on the one hand or programmed or wired in machines on the other. The contributions in this volume give introductions to the state-of-the-art, emphasizing the analysis of complexity and flexibility in logic and language in the framework of classical approaches (Chapters 3, 4, 5, 7). At the same time some contributions present a broader perspective in which an integration of the formal structure with the structure of the processing systems might be possible (Chapters 2 & 6). In this context, the differences and the perspectives of the classical approaches on the one hand and of connectionist approaches on the other are compared. (Chapters 1 & 6).contributions present a broader perspective in which an integration of the formal structure with the structure of the processing systems might be possible (Chapters 2 & 6). In this context, the differences and the perspectives of the classical approaches on the one hand and of connectionist approaches on the other are compared. (Chapters 1 & 6). (shrink)

La traduction apparaît comme un domaine majeur de recherche dans les sciences humaines et sociales depuis deux ou trois décennies, suscitant une abondante production scientifique. A la fois technique linguistique et outil potentiellement puissant de médiation culturelle, elle constitue le type de transfert culturel par excellence, et à ce titre a attiré l’attention des chercheurs en études culturelles. Cet article passe en revue quelques-uns des travaux-clés dans ce domaine, leurs apports, et la manière dont ils ont sorti les études traductologiques (...) de leur tour d’ivoire linguistique et philologique pour en faire un objet d’étude pleinement en prise avec des questions sociétales plus larges de production et de circulation non seulement de textes mais d’idées, de discours et de modèles, dans lesquelles le traducteur est invité dorénavant à assumer sa responsabilité de « passeur » pas forcément neutre. Cette nouvelle interdisciplinarité a incontestablement apporté un dynamisme et des perspectives nouvelles à la traductologie (et vice-versa) ; cependant, elle soulève la question des compétences requises pour aborder ces thématiques, et celle des limites disciplinaires. Si l’ouverture de la traduction en tant qu’objet d’étude apparaît comme un enrichissement, l’apport de la notion de traduction comme méthode et comme modèle d’échanges culturels doit encore faire ses preuves, malgré l’existence de plusieurs tentatives stimulantes allant dans ce sens. (shrink)

La traduction apparaît comme un domaine majeur de recherche dans les sciences humaines et sociales depuis deux ou trois décennies, suscitant une abondante production scientifique. A la fois technique linguistique et outil potentiellement puissant de médiation culturelle, elle constitue le type de transfert culturel par excellence, et à ce titre a attiré l’attention des chercheurs en études culturelles. Cet article passe en revue quelques-uns des travaux-clés dans ce domaine, leurs apports, et la manière dont ils ont sorti les études traductologiques (...) de leur tour d’ivoire linguistique et philologique pour en faire un objet d’étude pleinement en prise avec des questions sociétales plus larges de production et de circulation non seulement de textes mais d’idées, de discours et de modèles, dans lesquelles le traducteur est invité dorénavant à assumer sa responsabilité de « passeur » pas forcément neutre. Cette nouvelle interdisciplinarité a incontestablement apporté un dynamisme et des perspectives nouvelles à la traductologie (et vice-versa) ; cependant, elle soulève la question des compétences requises pour aborder ces thématiques, et celle des limites disciplinaires. Si l’ouverture de la traduction en tant qu’objet d’étude apparaît comme un enrichissement, l’apport de la notion de traduction comme méthode et comme modèle d’échanges culturels doit encore faire ses preuves, malgré l’existence de plusieurs tentatives stimulantes allant dans ce sens. (shrink)

This paper explores the changes in cognitive function which occur as someone "loses consciousness" under anesthesia. Seven volunteers attempted a categorization task and a within-list recognition test while inhaling air, 0.2% isoflurane, and 0.4% isoflurane. In general, performance on these tests declined as the dose of anesthetic was increased and returned to baseline after 10 min of breathing air. A measure of auditory evoked responding termed "coherent frequency" showed parallel changes. At 0.2% isoflurane, subjects could still identify and respond to (...) category exemplars but showed impaired short-term memory function. Electrical stimulation at 0.4% isoflurane, intended to mimic the arousing effects of surgery, had a small, beneficial effect on performance. A mean of 63% of category exemplars was identified at this stage, but recognition memory for those exemplars was at chance on recovery. There was no evidence for learning of words presented at 0.8% isoflurane. (shrink)

A. D. M. Walker; III*—Gratefulness and Gratitude, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 81, Issue 1, 1 June 1981, Pages 39–56, https://doi.org/10.1093.

The Problem of Perception offers two arguments against direct realism--one concerning illusion, and one concerning hallucination--that no current theory of ...

First published in 1991. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In this paper I want to examine a view of the Darwinian theory of evolution which was put forward fairly recently by A. R. Manser. His approach is of interest not only in itself, but also because it may be expanded to raise some fundamental questions about the nature of the science of biology in general. I shall not consider these further implications here, but shall concentrate on an examination of his thesis in the context in which it is raised. (...) My paper falls into two sections. In the first I shall state Manser's thesis and some of the arguments with which he supports it, and shall try to show how a series of objections raised by A. G. N. Flew and K. Connolly may be answered. In the second I shall offer on my own account a positive argument to provide a possible basis for his point of view, with the aim of indicating why the theory should be of the kind he suggests, and what form the study of evolution must take. (shrink)

One of Hume's most well-known works and a masterpiece of philosophy, A Treatise of Human Nature is indubitably worth taking the time to read.

The paper examines a single, apparently simple argument for the existence of incompatibilities between the virtues as traits of character. This argument appeals not to empirical truths about human psychology or human nature but to the possibility of conflict between the exercise of different virtues in action. There are, for example, situations in which we can exercise the virtue of truthfulness only at the expense of not exercising the virtue of tact, as when we are asked a question to which (...) the straightforward answer will pain our questioner. The person who in these situations would give a straightforward answer possesses the virtue of truthfulness to a higher degree than the person who would respond more evasively, whereas the latter person possesses the virtue of tact to a higher degree than the former. But since the two responses are mutually exclusive, it follows that the degree to which we possess the virtue of truthfulness must, at least in some measure, correlate inversely with the degree to which we possess the virtue of tact. And similarly for many other pairs of virtues. My paper focusses on the two cardinal assumptions of this argument, viz., (i) that sometimes the exercise of one virtue can conflict with the exercise of another, and (ii) that the degree to which a person possesses a virtue correlates directly with the extent of its exercise, and defends both assumptions against a variety of objections which allege that, in different ways, they are insensitive to the complexity of the virtues. (shrink)

There are many possible ways of approach to philosophy, and there is also an impossible one, though one that has often been tried. That the philosopher can somehow spin his philosophy out of what he finds inside himself; that he has some private internal source of information in virtue of which he can decide what the Universe must be, without needing to take the trouble to look at it, is a belief that dies hard. But it is now dying, if (...) not dead, so that it is hardly necessary to refute it in detail. It should suffice to say that anybody who cherishes the belief will not find anything to interest him in what follows. I shall simply assume that the philosopher is, what we all are to some extent, a spectator of the world and of man's life in it and a commentator on what he sees. Where the philosopher differs from others is in the kind of interest he takes in the facts, not in the kind of facts that are there to be interested in. (shrink)

At the risk of proving myself such a caviller, I want to ask a question which I have seldom heard raised, and which I have never seen discussed in anything that I have read about Berkeley. If I am right, it poses a problem for his immaterialism, not only different, but coming from a different direction, from those objections that are commonly levelled against him. If I am wrong, it will show how right Berkeley was to stress the difficulty of (...) using for one purpose our language which has become fashioned for another. At least, I hope that I shall not fail to be the ‘fair and ingenuous reader’for whom he asked. (shrink)