It has always been the ideal of science to discover laws of nature on which we can all agree. Agreement requires evidence independent of individual judgment, i.e., objective evidence. We apply the term objective to such unbiased scientific evidence because we associate it with an external world of objects that we conceive to be the origin of our information. This external world is instinctively invented by each of us as a means of dealing with invariant patterns in his private world (...) of experience. The invention is validated and elaborated as a consequence of the fact that it turns out to be sharable. In fact the common content of all our invented external worlds is so unambiguous and independent of individual bias that it can form the universally accepted basis for communication and action in an organized society. The consistency of the patterns of experience associated with the external world is such that we are under severe psychological compulsion to assign to this world an existence independent of our experience and a reality superior to that of any small part of our experience. Physical science is devoted to the study of the “laws” of the external physical universe, i.e., to the behaviour of the objects in it. Hence there is a strong tendency to project into the external world the information gathered by scientifically objective methods and even the theoretical concepts in terms of which the information is interpreted. Whatever is so projected is objective in a second sense of the term, i.e., assigned by us to the external world of objects. (shrink)

In cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to produce images of brain functions. These images play a central role in the practice of neuroscience. In this paper we are interested in how these brain images become understandable and meaningful for scientists. In order to explore this problem we observe how scientists use such semiotic resources as gesture, language, and material structure present in the socially and culturally constituted environment. A micro-analysis of video records of scientists interacting with each (...) other and with fMRI images reveals action as cognition, that is, actions that constitute thinking for the scientists. (shrink)

Nietzche claimed that once we know why to live, we’ll suffer almost any how.1 Artificial intelligence (AI) is used widely for the how, but Ferrario et al now advocate using AI for the why.2 Here, I offer my doubts on practical grounds but foremost on ethical ones. Practically, individuals already vacillate over the why, wavering with time and circumstance. That AI could provide prosthetics (or orthotics) for human agency feels unrealistic here, not least because ‘answers’ would be largely unverifiable. Ethically, (...) the concern is that AI stands to frack our humanity. We form a fragile ecosystem of ethical subjects, our responsiveness to others’ suffering, enabled by our own. To deliberate together for incapacitated others is among those solemn privileges that verify our humanity. Having AI mine these delicate pain-forests risks treating our suffering as the new oil—to be extracted and exploited, but beyond our vision and at our cost. Let’s briefly develop each idea, starting with the how/why distinction. This is palpable, even for more prosaic questions like how or why to drive. The former admits of increasingly sophisticated technological fixes and nudge; the latter often remains very particular and personal. How much greater then, the difference between …. (shrink)

The writer of this paper is not an expert on probability from either the mathematical or the philosophical side, but a theoretical physicist forced by the exigencies of work in his own field to make his peace with the concept of probability. The present contribution is a sequel to remarks on two different types of probability in a recent paper on the relation between statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.

Since its inception, experimental social psychology has arguably been of two minds about the nature and role of theory. Contemporary social psychology's experimental approach has been strongly informed by the “nomological-deductive” approach of Carl Hempel in tandem with the “hypothetico-deducive” approach of Karl Popper. Social psychology's commitment to this hybrid model of science has produced at least two serious obstacles to more fruitful theorizing about human experience: the problem of situational specificity, and the manifest impossibility of formulating meaningful general laws (...) of human social behavior. It is argued that a social psychology based on the search for this kind of lawfulness, under the auspices of either a strict or loose interpretation of the largely Hempelian model, is ultimately unworkable. An alternative approach to social psychology that is attentive both to the need for understanding individual situations and behaviors and to the need for generalized understanding of actual human behaviors is offered. This approach is grounded in the hermeneutic tradition. (shrink)

Parity of esteemdescribes an aspiration to see mental health valued as much as physical. Proponents point to poorer funding of mental health services, greater stigma and poorer physical health for those with mental illness. Stubborn persistence of such disparities suggests a need to do more than stipulate ethical and legal obligations toward justice or fairness. Here, I propose that we should rely more on our legal obligations toward informed consent. The latter requires clinicians to disclose information about risks in a (...) way that is sufficient to satisfy what a prudent patient would reasonably want to understand in their circumstances. I argue that inadequate disclosure of the mental health complications of common surgeries risks exposing the craft specialists performing them to clinical negligence claims. Patients could argue they were counselled about said risks, improperly or not at all: improperly, if advised by a craft specialist lacking sufficient expertise in mental health; not at all, if mental health complications were simply forgotten. From this, I argue that a prudent approach for craft specialists would be to support and fund ‘integrative’ specialists (from rehabilitation medicine, liaison psychiatry and health psychology), more often to work alongside them within a multidisciplinary team that is better placed to navigate consent (via a prehabilitation process, for example). Based on duties toward consent, the extension of this type of coworking is another way to improve the resource and understanding accorded to mental health—but by starting within the citadels of physical health. (shrink)

If “on what matters” captures Parfit’s search for objective moral truths (Parfit 2011), perhaps “on who matters (and why)” might be a working title for Shepherd’s enquiry into the moral status of n...

A large and important part of social relations is gender relations between men and women. Over time, the manifestation of such relations has often been one of violence, particularly violence against women. Different approaches have been deployed to deal with the experience of gender-based violence (GBV). One popular approach is the human rights framework that suggest that GBV can be addressed by granting certain rights to women. We argue that while a human rights framework holds some promise in resolving GBV, (...) it is limited in some ways because it does not take the cultural perceptions of gender relations that envision gender duties into account. As part of our argument, we show that social relations in African communities ought to be primarily based on the principle of duty to the other, rather than an emphasis on rights. We conclude that there is a need to complement the rights-based approach with a duty-based approach to effectively address GBV. (shrink)

The Īśvara Gītā, translated by Andrew J. Nicholson in Lord Śiva’s Song: The Īśvara Gītā, is a quintessentially Hindu post-Vedic devotional text. Extolling Lord Śiva as the highest Truth, it sets out to establish its credentials in ways typical of the devotional traditions: it is located in one of the Purāṇas, already considered to be the fifth Veda by the time of the Chandogya Upaniṣad, thereby appropriating the paramount sacrosanctity of the Śruti tradition. It adopts the setting of Sūta’s address (...) to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya, made famous by the Bhāgavata Purāṇa for its own outer narrative frame. It engages the great sage Vyāsa as its primary narrator, thereby invoking the cachet of the foremost authority.. (shrink)