When individuals learn from what others tell them, the information is subject to transmission error that does not arise in learning from direct experience. Yet evidence shows that humans consistently prefer this apparently more unreliable source of information. We examine the effect this preference has in cases where the information concerns a judgment on others’ behaviour and is used to establish cooperation in a society. We present a spatial model confirming that cooperation can be sustained by gossip containing a high (...) degree of uncertainty. Accuracy alone does not predict the value of information in evolutionary terms; relevance, the impact of information on behavioural outcomes, must also be considered. We then show that once relevance is incorporated as a criterion, second-hand information can no longer be discounted on the basis of its poor fidelity alone. Finally we show that the relative importance of accuracy and relevance depends on factors of life history and demography. (shrink)

We study the non-Fregean propositional logic with propositional quantifiers, denoted by $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$. We prove that $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$ does not have the finite model property and that it is undecidable. We also present examples of how to interpret in $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$ various mathematical theories, such as the theory of groups, rings, and fields, and we characterize the spectra of $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$-sentences. Finally, we present a translation of $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$ into a classical two-sorted first-order logic, and we use the translation to prove some model-theoretic properties of (...) $\mathsf{SCI}_{\mathsf{Q}}$. (shrink)

The paper concerns Grzegorczyk’s non-Fregean logics that are intended to be a formal representation of the equimeaning relation defined on descriptions. We argue that the main Grzegorczyk logics discussed in the literature are too strong and we propose a new logical system, \, which satisfies Grzegorczyk’s fundamental requirements. We present a sound and complete semantics for \ and we prove that it is decidable. Finally, we show that many non-classical logics are extensions of \, which makes it a generic non-Fregean (...) logic. (shrink)

In critical care medicine, teaching and mentoring practices are extremely important in regard to attracting and retaining young trainees and faculty in this important subspecialty that has a scarcity of needed personnel in the USA. To this end, we argue that Foucault’s Technologies of the Self is critical background reading when endeavoring to effect the positive transformation of faculty into effective teachers and mentors.

This paper introduces Basic Intuitionistic Set Theory BIST, and investigates it as a first-order set theory extending the internal logic of elementary toposes. Given an elementary topos, together with the extra structure of a directed structural system of inclusions on the topos, a forcing-style interpretation of the language of first-order set theory in the topos is given, which conservatively extends the internal logic of the topos. This forcing interpretation applies to an arbitrary elementary topos, since any such is equivalent to (...) one carrying a dssi. We prove that the set theory BIST+Coll is sound and complete relative to forcing interpretations in toposes with natural numbers object . Furthermore, in the case that the structural system of inclusions is superdirected, the full Separation schema is modelled. We show that all cocomplete and realizability toposes can be endowed with such superdirected systems of inclusions.A large part of the paper is devoted to an alternative notion of category-theoretic model for BIST, which, following the general approach of Joyal and Moerdijkʼs Algebraic Set Theory, axiomatizes the structure possessed by categories of classes compatible with BIST. We prove soundness and completeness results for BIST relative to the class-category semantics. Furthermore, BIST+Coll is complete relative to the restricted collection of categories of classes given by categories of ideals over elementary toposes with nno and dssi. It is via this result that the completeness of the original forcing interpretation is obtained, since the internal logic of categories of ideals coincides with the forcing interpretation. (shrink)

We show that there are continuum many different extensions of SCI (the basic theory of non-Fregean propositional logic) that lie below WF (the Fregean extension) and are closed under substitution. Moreover, continuum many of them are independent from WB (the Boolean extension), continuum many lie above WB and are independent from WH (the Boolean extension with only two values for the equality relation), and only countably many lie between WH and WF.

A study was carried out involving persons representing high-anxious, low-anxious and repressor types according to the classification of Weinberger, Davidson & Schwartz, selected using the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and the trait anxiety scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. In seeking indicators of anxiety in repressors and high-anxious groups, the authors decided to analyse the level of dogmatism observed in utterance texts. The research was intended to determine whether styles of coping with threatening stimuli condition the level of dogmatism, (...) which was regarded as a cognitive defence mechanism against anxiety. The method of formal analysis of texts was used to identify their level of dogmatism, measured using the Dogmatism Quotient developed by Ertel. The highest value of the Dogmatism Quotient was recorded for repressors, and the lowest for the low-anxious subjects; a similar pattern was also observed for certain particular dimensions of dogmatism. Statistically significant differences in the level of dogmatism were found between the repressor and lowanxious groups and between the high-anxious and low-anxious groups. The study confirmed the previously discovered pattern whereby repressors exhibit more similarities to high-anxious than to low-anxious persons. (shrink)

We present two proof systems for first-order logic with identity and without function symbols. The first one is an extension of the Rasiowa-Sikorski system with the rules for identity. This system is a validity checker. The rules of this system preserve and reflect validity of disjunctions of their premises and conclusions. The other is a Tableau system, which is an unsatisfiability checker. Its rules preserve and reflect unsatisfiability of conjunctions of their premises and conclusions. We show that the two systems (...) are dual to each other. The duality is expressed in a formal way which enables us to define a transformation of proofs in one of the systems into the proofs of the other. (shrink)

The current study explores the effects of a brief training program on complex problem solving (CPS) and dynamic decision making (DDM) performance in two computer-simulated tasks with different task characteristics, ChocoFine (N = 76) and WinFire (N = 99). Half of the participants in each simulation group received a brief training on 16 frequent CPS and DDM errors. We hypothesized that participants who received the training in errors would show better performance, report fewer errors, and show fewer behavioral errors compared (...) to those who did not receive the error training prior to the start of the simulated tasks. The results showed that participants in both training groups had better performance scores. Participants in the training condition reported fewer self-reported errors compared to the no-training group only in the ChocoFine simulation. Regarding behavioral errors, status-quo bias was related to weaker performance in both simulations. These findings have implications for leaders who are prone for the status-quo bias and for organizations which could implement trainings programs for DDM and CPS. (shrink)

The non-Fregean logic SCI is obtained from the classical sentential calculus by adding a new identity connective = and axioms which say ?a = ß' means ?a is identical to ß'. We present complete and sound proof system for SCI in the style of Rasiowa-Sikorski. It provides a natural deduction-style method of reasoning for the non-Fregean sentential logic SCI.

The co-occurrence of stress-induced posttraumatic stress disorder and obesity is common, particularly among military personnel but the link between these conditions is unclear. Individuals with comorbid PTSD and obesity manifest other physical and psychological problems, which significantly diminish their quality of life. Current understanding of the pathways connecting stress to PTSD and obesity is focused largely on behavioral mediators alone with little consideration of the biological regulatory mechanisms that underlie their co-occurrence. In this work, we leverage prior knowledge to systematically (...) highlight such bio-behavioral mechanisms and inform on the design of confirmatory pilot studies. We use natural language processing to extract documented regulatory interactions involved in the metabolic response to stress and its impact on obesity and PTSD from over 8 million peer-reviewed papers. The resulting network describes the propagation of stress to PTSD and obesity through 34 metabolic mediators using 302 documented regulatory interactions supported by over 10,000 citations. Stress jointly affected both conditions through 21 distinct pathways involving only two intermediate metabolic mediators out of a total of 76 available paths through this network. Moreover, oxytocin, Neuropeptide-Y, and cortisol supported an almost direct propagation of stress to PTSD and obesity with different net effects. Although stress upregulated both NPY and cortisol, the downstream effects of both markers are reported to relieve PTSD severity but exacerbate obesity. The stress-mediated release of oxytocin, however, was found to concurrently downregulate the severity of both conditions. These findings highlight how a network-informed approach that leverages prior knowledge might be used effectively in identifying key mediators like OXT though experimental verification of signal transmission dynamics through each path will be needed to determine the actual likelihood and extent of each marker’s participation. (shrink)

Qualitative description of movements can be very important for representation and reasoning about dynamic systems which are complex in structure or whenever numerical data are incomplete or inaccessible. For this reason, we present a hybrid approach based on the combination of qualitative reasoning, quantitative data and logical methods. In this article, we introduce a new propositional dynamic logic QM for representation and reasoning with relative movements of objects. In this way, we can infer additional information about movements by using axioms (...) and the logic apparatus. We present a sound and complete deduction system in dual tableaux style for the logic QM. The system can be used for verification of validity of formulas of the logic in question. (shrink)

Atypical emotion interpretation has been widely reported in individuals with borderline personality disorder ; however, empirical studies reported mixed results so far. We suggest that discrepancies in observations of emotion interpretation by iBPD can be explained by biases related to their fear of rejection and abandonment, i.e., the three moral emotions of anger, disgust, and contempt. In this study, we hypothesized that iBPD would show a higher tendency to correctly interpret these three displays of social rejection and attribute more negative (...) valence. A total of 28 inpatient iBPDs and 28 healthy controls were asked to judge static and dynamic facial expressions in terms of emotions, valence, and self-reported arousal evoked by the observed faces. Our results partially confirmed our expectations. The iBPD correctly interpreted the three unambiguous moral emotions. Contempt, a complex emotion with a difficulty in recognizing facial expressions, was recognized better by iBPD than by healthy controls. All negative emotions were judged more negatively by iBPD than by controls, but no difference was observed in the neutral or positive emotion. Alexithymia and anxiety trait and state levels were controlled in all analyses. (shrink)

We show that there are continuum many different non-Fregean sentential logics that have adequate models. The proof is based on the construction of a special class of models of the power of the continuum.

Interval temporal logics provide both an insight into a nature of time and a framework for temporal reasoning in various areas of computer science. In this paper we present sound and complete relational proof systems in the style of dual tableaux for relational logics associated with modal logics of temporal intervals and we prove that the systems enable us to verify validity and entailment of these temporal logics. We show how to incorporate in the systems various relations between intervals and/or (...) various time orderings. (shrink)

We present a dual tableau system, RLK, which is itself a deterministic decision procedure verifying validity of K-formulas. The system is constructed in the framework of the original methodology of relational proof systems, determined only by axioms and inference rules, without any external techniques. Furthermore, we describe an implementation of the system RLK in Prolog, and we show some of its advantages.

The study analyses the readability and clarity of economic specialised texts on supplementary individual pensions. The research includes agreements on individual pension products available on the Polish market at the beginning of 2017. The level of comprehensibility of language has been assessed using the “Jasnopis” application, based, among others, on the FOG index, while the structure of the content of the agreements has been assessed by an expert linguist (the expert linguist is one of the authors of this and a (...) number of other publications on clear and understandable texts). In addition, one of the texts was subject to a survey, the so-called cloze text, which provided more accurate information about readability for a specific reader group. The results obtained allow the conclusion that the language of agreements on individual pension products is very difficult and their understanding requires higher education or expertise in the field of finance. (shrink)

Logics of binary relations corresponding, among others, to the class RRA of representable relation algebras and the class FRA of full relation algebras are presented together with the proof systems in the style of dual tableaux. Next, the logics are extended with relational constants interpreted as point relations. Applications of these logics to reasoning in non-classical logics are recalled. An example is given of a dual tableau proof of an equation which is RRA-valid, while not RA-valid.

We present a dual tableau system, RLK, which is itself a deterministic decision procedure verifying validity of K-formulas. The system is constructed in the framework of the original methodology of relational proof systems, determined only by axioms and inference rules, without any external techniques. Furthermore, we describe an implementation of the system in Prolog, and we show some of its advantages.

In 2011, Andrzej Grzegorczyk formulated Logic of Descriptions, a new logical system in which the classical equivalence has been replaced with the descriptive equivalence. Two sentences are descriptively equivalent whenever they describe the same state of affairs. Grzegorczyk’s logic LD is built from the ground up by revising the axioms of classical propositional logic and rejecting those that do not correspond to the intended interpretation of the descriptive equivalence as the connective expressing equimeaning relations between sentences. Grzegorczyk’s last paper, which (...) introduced in detail philosophical motivations of LD and its axiomatization, has become an inspiration for investigating the properties of LD and its various modifications. In this paper we present the basics of Grzegorczyk’s logic LD and then we survey the recent results on LD that have shed light on mysterious properties of the Grzegorczyk’s descriptive equivalence connective. (shrink)

A non-Fregean framework aims to provide a formal tool for reasoning about semantic denotations of sentences and their interactions. Extending a logic to its non-Fregean version involves introducing a new connective $$\equiv $$ ≡ that allows to separate denotations of sentences from their logical values. Intuitively, $$\equiv $$ ≡ combines two sentences $$\varphi $$ φ and $$\psi $$ ψ into a true one whenever $$\varphi $$ φ and $$\psi $$ ψ have the same semantic correlates, describe the same situations, or (...) have the same content or meaning. The paper aims to compare non-Fregean paraconsistent Grzegorczyk’s logics (Logic of Descriptions $$\textsf{LD}$$ LD, Logic of Descriptions with Suszko’s Axioms $$\textsf{LDS}$$ LDS, Logic of Equimeaning $$\textsf{LDE}$$ LDE ) with non-Fregean versions of certain well-known paraconsistent logics (Jaśkowski’s Discussive Logic $$\textsf{D}_2$$ D 2, Logic of Paradox $$\textsf{LP}$$ LP, Logics of Formal Inconsistency $$\textsf{LFI}{1}$$ LFI 1 and $$\textsf{LFI}{2}$$ LFI 2 ). We prove that Grzegorczyk’s logics are either weaker than or incomparable to non-Fregean extensions of $$\textsf{LP}$$ LP, $$\textsf{LFI}{1}$$ LFI 1, $$\textsf{LFI}{2}$$ LFI 2. Furthermore, we show that non-Fregean extensions of $$\textsf{LP}$$ LP, $$\textsf{LFI}{1}$$ LFI 1, $$\textsf{LFI}{2}$$ LFI 2, and $$\textsf{D}_2$$ D 2 are more expressive than their original counterparts. Our results highlight that the non-Fregean connective $$\equiv $$ ≡ can serve as a tool for expressing various properties of the ontology underlying the logics under consideration. (shrink)

BackgroundIn this study, we analyze the association of social isolation in the first phase of the pandemic with perceived stress among residents of Poland and Italy with a look at how these populations adjust to and comply with implemented regulations, guidelines, and restrictions.Materials and MethodsInternet survey with Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and questions regarding mobility patterns, attitude, and propensity to adjust toward the implemented measures and current health condition was made among Polish and Italian residents (Cronbach’s alpha 0.86 and 0.79, (...) respectively). The sample size was 7,108 (6,169 completed questionnaires in Poland and 939 in Italy).ResultsThe Polish group had a higher stress level than the Italian group (mean PSS-10 total score 22,14 vs 17,01, respectively;p< 0.01). There was a greater prevalence of chronic diseases among Polish respondents. Italian subjects expressed more concern about their health, as well as about their future employment. Italian subjects did not comply with suggested restrictions as much as Polish subjects and were less eager to restrain from their usual activities (social, physical, and religious), which were more often perceived as “most needed matters” in Italian than in Polish residents.ConclusionHigher activity level was found to be correlated with lower perceived stress, but the causality is unclear. Difference in adherence to restrictions between Polish and Italian residents suggests that introducing similar lockdown policies worldwide may not be as beneficial as expected. However, due to the applied method of convenience sampling and uneven study groups, one should be careful with generalizing these results. (shrink)

In the first part of my paper I briefly present Jerzy Pelc’s functional approach to logical semiotics of natural language. This approach focuses on the use of natural language expressions and on its dependence on context and conversational situation. One of the important goals of this analysis is to appreciate the role of sentences in natural language and stress that it is by means of sentences that language fulfills its main roles. However, for Pelc almost any expression can be used (...) as a sentence, despite not being a grammatical sentence. In the second part I try to place Pelc’s standpoint within the framework of contemporary semantic minimalism – contextualism debate. I pay special attention to his treatment of subsentential expressions used to express propositions and argue that his view belongs to pragmatics-oriented approaches to subsentential speech acts. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to show that the subvaluation theory isnot a good theory of vagueness. It begins with a short review of supervaluation and subvaluation theories and procedes to evaluate the subvaluation theory. Subvaluationism shares all the main short-comings of supervaluationism.Moreover, the solution to the sorites paradox proposed by subvaluationists isnot satisfactory. There is another solution which subvaluationists could availthemselves of, but it destroys the whole motivation for using a paraconsistentlogic and is not different from the one offered (...) by supervaluationism. (shrink)

W artykule zwracam uwagę na trudności jakie napotyka ktoś, kto chce wcielać w życie postulaty krytycyzmu dotyczące precyzji językowej. Zgodnie z tymi postulatami powinno się mówić jednoznacznie i precyzyjnie, a zatem unikać wyrażeń wieloznacznych, nieostrych i chwiejnych znaczeniowo. Jednakże postulaty te jest znacznie trudniej spełnić niż mogłoby się wydawać, bowiem istotne wątpliwości dotyczą samych zjawisk niejasności, nieostrości czy wieloznaczności. Wydaje się, że chcąc nauczyć innych unikania na przykład wypowiedzi wieloznacznych, powinniśmy dysponować adekwatną charakterystyką wieloznaczności i potrafić ją właściwie diagnozować. Tymczasem, (...) sytuacja jest niesamowicie zagmatwana i w literaturze czy to filozoficznej, czy językoznawczej, nie ma jednej ustalonej definicji, czy choćby zgody co do tego, które wyrażenia są wieloznaczne. Nie ma także zgody co do tego, w jaki sposób charakteryzować polisemię i jak odróżniać ją np. od zależności kontekstowej. Wątpliwości budzi także charakterystyka nieostrości i właściwego klasyfikowania przypadków granicznych wyrażeń nieostrych. Nie ma natomiast wątpliwości, że większość wyrażeń języka naturalnego jest i nieostra, i zależna od kontekstu, i jednocześnie polisemiczna. Co więcej w wielu wypadkach te cechy wcale nie są defektami naszego języka, a wręcz usprawniają komunikację i umożliwiają nam szybkie przekazanie treści. Postulat unikania tego rodzaju wyrażeń jest po prostu nierealizowalny. Kierowanie się zasadami krytycyzmu pozwala jednak na łatwiejsze dostrzeżenie i unikanie wadliwości i uchybień wobec poprawności językowej w tych sytuacjach, gdy takie wadliwości utrudniają sprawną komunikację. (shrink)

W dniach 9–13 września 2016 roku na Uniwersytecie Humboldtów w Berlinie odbyła się konferencja „What is said – what is meant”. Konferencja miała dwie wyraźnie oddzielone części: pierwsza „What is said” odbywała się w dniach 9–10 września, a druga „What is meant” – w dniach 12–13 września. Odróżnienie tego, co powiedziane, od tego, co w inny sposób komunikowane, wywodzi się zwykle z filozofii Paula Grice’a...

The book presents logical foundations of dual tableaux together with a number of their applications both to logics traditionally dealt with in mathematics and philosophy (such as modal, intuitionistic, relevant, and many-valued logics) and to various applied theories of computational logic (such as temporal reasoning, spatial reasoning, fuzzy-set-based reasoning, rough-set-based reasoning, order-of magnitude reasoning, reasoning about programs, threshold logics, logics of conditional decisions). The distinguishing feature of most of these applications is that the corresponding dual tableaux are built in a (...) relational language which provides useful means of presentation of the theories. In this way modularity of dual tableaux is ensured. We do not need to develop and implement each dual tableau from scratch, we should only extend the relational core common to many theories with the rules specific for a particular theory. (shrink)