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Causal Relation (causal + relation)
Selected AbstractsHempel's Paradox, Law-likeness and Causal RelationsPHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS, Issue 3 2009Severin Schroeder It is widely thought that Bayesian confirmation theory has provided a solution to Hempel's Paradox (the Ravens Paradox). I discuss one well-known example of this approach, by John Mackie, and argue that it is unconvincing. I then suggest an alternative solution, which shows that the Bayesian approach is altogether mistaken. Nicod's Condition should be rejected because a generalisation is not confirmed by any of its instances if it is not law-like. And even law-like non-basic empirical generalisations, which are expressions of assumed underlying causal regularities, are not so confirmed if they are absurd in the light of our causal background knowledge or if their instances are not also possible instances of the relevant causal claim. [source] Benign intracranial hypertension associated with arteriovenous malformationDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 2 2002E B A Vorstman MRCPCH This is a report of a 9-year-old female with a clinical presentation of benign intracranial hypertension (BIH) who was found to have an unruptured pial arteriovenous malformation (AVM) with a significant fistula. The AVM was completely embolized using a recently developed liquid embolic system, Onyx, after which gradual clinical improvement followed. A few cases of BIH associated with AVM have been described in adults and adolescents. Possible causal relation is discussed. [source] Bayes nets and babies: infants' developing statistical reasoning abilities and their representation of causal knowledgeDEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2007David M. Sobel A fundamental assumption of the causal graphical model framework is the Markov assumption, which posits that learners can discriminate between two events that are dependent because of a direct causal relation between them and two events that are independent conditional on the value of another event(s). Sobel and Kirkham (2006) demonstrated that 8-month-old infants registered conditional independence information among a sequence of events; infants responded according to the Markov assumption in such a way that was inconsistent with models that rely on simple calculations of associative strength. The present experiment extends these findings to younger infants, and demonstrates that such responses potentially develop during the second half of the first year of life. These data are discussed in terms of a developmental trajectory between associative mechanisms and causal graphical models as representations of infants' causal and statistical learning. [source] How many cases of Type 2 diabetes mellitus are due to being overweight in middle age?DIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 1 2007Evidence from the Midspan prospective cohort studies using mention of diabetes mellitus on hospital discharge or death records Abstract Aims To relate body mass index (BMI) in middle age to development of diabetes mellitus. Methods Participants were 6927 men and 8227 women from the Renfrew/Paisley general population study and 3993 men from the Collaborative occupational study. They were aged 45,64 years and did not have reported diabetes mellitus. Cases who developed diabetes mellitus, identified from acute hospital discharge data and from death certificates in the period from screening in 1970,1976 to 31 March 2004, were related to BMI at screening. Results Of Renfrew/Paisley study men 5.4%, 4.8% of women and 5% of Collaborative study men developed diabetes mellitus. Odds ratios for diabetes mellitus were higher in the overweight group (BMI 25 to < 30 kg/m2) than in the normal weight group (BMI 18.5 to < 25 kg/m2) and highest in the obese group (BMI , 30 kg/m2). Compared with the normal weight group, age-adjusted odds ratios for overweight and obese Renfrew/Paisley men were 2.73 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.05, 3.64] and 7.26 (95% CI 5.26, 10.04), respectively. Further subdividing the normal, overweight and obese groups showed increasing odds ratios with increasing BMI, even at the higher normal level. Assuming a causal relation, around 60% of cases of diabetes could have been prevented if everyone had been of normal weight. Conclusions Overweight and obesity account for a major proportion of diabetes mellitus, as identified from hospital discharge and death records. With recent increases in the prevalence of overweight, the burden of disease related to diabetes mellitus is likely to increase markedly. Primordial prevention of obesity would be a major strategy for reducing the incidence of diabetes mellitus in populations. [source] How ideology shapes the evidence and the policy: what do we know about cannabis use and what should we do?ADDICTION, Issue 8 2010John Macleod ABSTRACT In the United Kingdom, as in many places, cannabis use is considered substantially within a criminal justice rather than a public health paradigm with prevention policy embodied in the Misuse of Drugs Act. In 2002 the maximum custodial sentence tariff for cannabis possession under the Act was reduced from 5 to 2 years. Vigorous and vociferous public debate followed this decision, centred principally on the question of whether cannabis use caused schizophrenia. It was suggested that new and compelling evidence supporting this hypothesis had emerged since the re-classification decision was made, meaning that the decision should be reconsidered. The re-classification decision was reversed in 2008. We consider whether the strength of evidence on the psychological harms of cannabis has changed substantially and discuss the factors that may have influenced recent public discourse and policy decisions. We also consider evidence for other harms of cannabis use and public health implications of preventing cannabis use. We conclude that the strongest evidence of a possible causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia emerged more than 20 years ago and that the strength of more recent evidence may have been overstated,for a number of possible reasons. We also conclude that cannabis use is almost certainly harmful, mainly because of its intimate relation to tobacco use. The most rational policy on cannabis from a public health perspective would seem to be one able to achieve the benefit of reduced use in the population while minimizing social and other costs of the policy itself. Prohibition, whatever the sentence tariff associated with it, seems unlikely to fulfil these criteria. [source] Aggregate Investment and Political Instability: An Econometric InvestigationECONOMICA, Issue 279 2003Nauro F. Campos Although in theory the long-run effect of uncertainty on investment is ambiguous, available econometric evidence widely supports a negative association between aggregate investment and political instability. A shortcoming of this body of evidence is that it has failed to investigate the existence and direction of causality between these two variables. This paper fills this gap by testing for such causal and negative long-run relationship between political instability and investment. We find there is a causal relation going from instability to investment, but it is positive and particularly strong in low-income countries. This finding is robust to various sensitivity checks. [source] Cannabis and schizophrenia: model projections of the impact of the rise in cannabis use on historical and future trends in schizophrenia in England and WalesADDICTION, Issue 4 2007Matthew Hickman ABSTRACT Aims To estimate long-term trends in cannabis use and projections of schizophrenia assuming a causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia. Methods Trends in cannabis use were estimated from a national survey, 2003; and incidence of schizophrenia was derived from surveys in three English cities, 1997,99. A difference equation cohort model was fitted against estimates of schizophrenia incidence, trends in cannabis exposure and assumptions on association between cannabis and schizophrenia. The model projects trends in schizophrenia incidence, prevalence and attributable fraction of cannabis induced schizophrenia. Results Between 1970 and 2002 cannabis exposure increased: incidence by fourfold; period prevalence by 10-fold; and use among under 18-year-olds by 18-fold. In 1997,99 incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia were 17 per 100 000 and 0.63% among men and 7.3 per 100 000 and 0.23% among women, respectively. If cannabis use causes schizophrenia, earlier increases in cannabis use would lead to increases in overall schizophrenia incidence and prevalence of 29% and 12% among men between 1990 and 2010. By 2010 model projections which assume an association between schizophrenia and light and heavy users suggest that approximately one-quarter of new schizophrenia cases could be due to cannabis, whereas if the association is twofold and confined to heavy cannabis users, then approximately 10% of schizophrenia cases may be due to cannabis. Conclusions If cannabis use causes schizophrenia, and assuming other causes are unchanged, then relatively substantial increases in both prevalence and incidence of schizophrenia should be apparent by 2010. More accurate data on cannabis consumption and future monitoring of schizophrenia are critical. [source] Causal Links between Brain Cytokines and Experimental Febrile Convulsions in the RatEPILEPSIA, Issue 12 2005James G. Heida Summary:,Purpose: Despite the prevalence of febrile convulsions (FCs), their pathophysiology has remained elusive. We tested the hypothesis that components of the immune response, particularly the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1, (IL-1,) and its naturally occurring antagonist interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) may play a role in the genesis of FC. Methods: Postnatal day 14 rats were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 200 ,g/kg, i.p.) followed by a subconvulsant dose of kainic acid (1.75 mg/kg, i.p.). Brains were harvested at and 2 h after onset of FCs to measure brain levels of IL-1, and IL-1ra. Separate groups of animals were given intracerebroventricular (ICV) injections of IL-1,, or IL-1ra in an attempt to establish a causal relation between the IL-1,/IL-1ra system and FCs. Results: Animals with FCs showed increased IL-1, in the hypothalamus and hippocampus but not in the cortex compared with noFC animals that also received LPS and kainic acid. This increase was first detected in the hippocampus at onset of FCs. No detectable difference in IL-1ra was found in brain regions examined in either group. When animals were treated with IL-1, ICV, a dose-dependant increase was noted in the proportion of animals that experienced FCs, whereas increasing doses of IL-1ra, given to separate groups of animals, were anticonvulsant. Conclusions: Our results suggest that excessive amounts of IL-1, may influence the genesis of FCs. This may occur by overproduction of IL-1,, or by alteration in the IL-1,/IL-1ra ratio in the brain after an immune challenge. [source] Contemporary kinematics of the southern Aegean and the Mediterranean RidgeGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004Corné Kreemer SUMMARY This study focuses on the kinematics of the southern Aegean and the Mediterranean Ridge (MR). A quantification of the deformation of the MR is essential for both evaluating physical models of accretionary wedges in general and for obtaining a self-consistent model of the surface deformation over the entire Nubia,Eurasia (NU,EU) plate boundary zone in the eastern Mediterranean. Previous kinematic studies have not properly considered the deformation field south of the Hellenic arc. Although this study focuses on the deformation field of the MR, we also discuss the kinematics of the southern Aegean, because the geometry and movement of the Hellenic arc determine to a large extent the kinematic boundary conditions for kinematic studies of the MR. We calculate a continuous velocity and strain rate field by interpolating model velocities that are fitted in a least-squares sense to published Global Positioning System (GPS) velocities. In the interpolation, we use information from a detailed data set of onshore and offshore active faulting to place constraints on the expected style and direction of the model strain rate field. In addition, we use the orientations of tracks left by seamounts travelling into the wedge to further constrain the offshore deformation pattern. Our model results highlight the presence of active shear partitioning within the Mediterranean ridge. High compressional strain rates between the ridge crest and the deformation front accommodate approximately 60,70 per cent of the total motion over the wedge, and the outward growth rate of the frontal thrust is , 4 mm yr,1. Strain partitioning within the wedge leads to 19,23 mm yr,1 of dextral motion at the wedge,backstop contact of the western MR, whereas the Pliny and Strabo trenches in the eastern MR accommodate 21,23 mm yr,1 of sinistral motion. The backstop of the western MR is kinematically part of the southern Aegean, which moves as a single block [the Aegean block (AE)] at 33,34 mm yr,1 in the direction of S24°W ± 1° towards stable Nubia (NU). Our model confirms that there is a clear divergence between the western and eastern Hellenic arc and we argue for a causal relation between the outward motion of the arc and the gradient in the regional geoid anomaly. Our results suggest that a significant driving source of the surface velocity field lies south of the Hellenic arc and only for the southeastern Aegean could there be some effect as a result of gravitational collapse associated with density differences within the overriding plate. [source] Obesity,hypertension: an ongoing pandemicINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, Issue 2 2007E. A. Francischetti Summary Considerable evidence has suggested that excessive weight gain is the most common cause of arterial hypertension. This association has been observed in several populations, in different regions of the world. Obesity,hypertension, a term that underscores the link between these two deleterious conditions, is an important public health challenge, because of its high frequency and concomitant risk of cardiovascular and kidney diseases. The obesity,hypertension pandemic imposes a considerable economic burden on societies, directly reflecting on healthcare system costs. Increased renal sodium reabsorption and blood volume expansion are central features in the development of obesity,hypertension. Overweight is also associated with increased sympathetic activity. Leptin, a protein expressed in and secreted by adipocytes, is the main factor linking obesity, increased sympathetic nervous system activity and hypertension. The renin,angiotensin,aldosterone system has also been causally implicated in obesity,hypertension, because angiotensinogen is expressed in and secreted by adipose tissue. Hypoadiponectinemia, high circulating levels of free fatty acids and increased vascular production of endothelin-1 (ET-1) have been reported as potential mechanisms for obesity,hypertension. Lifestyle changes are effective in obesity,hypertension control, though pharmacological treatment is frequently necessary. Despite the consistency of the mechanistic approach in explaining the causal relation between hypertension and obesity, there is yet no evidence that one class of drug is superior to the others in controlling obesity,hypertension. In this review, we present the current knowledge and research in obesity,hypertension, exploring the epidemiologic evidence of the association, its probable pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment issues. [source] Reviews: A review of hereditary and acquired coagulation disorders in the aetiology of ischaemic strokeINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STROKE, Issue 5 2010Lonneke M. L. De Lau The diagnostic workup in patients with ischaemic stroke often includes testing for prothrombotic conditions. However, the clinical relevance of coagulation abnormalities in ischaemic stroke is uncertain. Therefore, we reviewed what is presently known about the association between inherited and acquired coagulation disorders and ischaemic stroke, with a special emphasis on the methodological aspects. Good-quality data in this field are scarce, and most studies fall short on epidemiological criteria for causal inference. While inherited coagulation disorders are recognised risk factors for venous thrombosis, there is no substantial evidence for an association with arterial ischaemic stroke. Possible exceptions are the prothrombin G20210A mutation in adults and protein C deficiency in children. There is proof of an association between the antiphospholipid syndrome and ischaemic stroke, but the clinical significance of isolated mildly elevated antiphospholipid antibody titres is unclear. Evidence also suggests significant associations of increased homocysteine and fibrinogen concentrations with ischaemic stroke, but whether these associations are causal is still debated. Data on other acquired coagulation abnormalities are insufficient to allow conclusions regarding causality. For most coagulation disorders, a causal relation with ischaemic stroke has not been definitely established. Hence, at present, there is no valid indication for testing all patients with ischaemic stroke for these conditions. Large prospective population-based studies allowing the evaluation of interactive and subgroup effects are required to appreciate the role of coagulation disorders in the pathophysiology of arterial ischaemic stroke and to guide the management of individual patients. [source] Dynamic treatment effect analysis of TV effects on child cognitive developmentJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMETRICS, Issue 3 2010Fali Huang We investigate whether TV watching at ages 6,7 and 8,9 affects cognitive development measured by math and reading scores at ages 8,9, using a rich childhood longitudinal sample from NLSY79. Dynamic panel data models are estimated to handle the unobserved child-specific factor, endogeneity of TV watching, and dynamic nature of the causal relation. A special emphasis is placed on the last aspect, where TV watching affects cognitive development, which in turn affects future TV watching. When this feedback occurs, it is not straightforward to identify and estimate the TV effect. We develop a two-stage estimation method which can deal with the feedback feature; we also apply the ,standard' econometric panel data approaches. Overall, for math score at ages 8,9, we find that watching TV during ages 6,7 and 8,9 has a negative total effect, mostly due to a large negative effect of TV watching at the younger ages 6,7. For reading score, there is evidence that watching no more than 2 hours of TV per day has a positive effect, whereas the effect is negative outside this range. In both cases, however, the effect magnitudes are economically small. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava and its causal relation to hepatocellular carcinomaLIVER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2006M. C. Kew Abstract: Although rare in most countries, membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava (MOIVC) occurs more frequently in Nepal, South Africa, Japan, India, China, and Korea. The occlusive lesion always occurs at approximately the level of the diaphragm. It commonly takes the form of a membrane, but may be a fibrotic occlusion of variable length. Controversy exists as to whether MOIVC is a developmental abnormality or a result of organization of a thrombus in the hepatic portion of the inferior vena cava. The outstanding physical sign associated with MOIVC are large truncal collateral vessels with a cephalad flow. A dilated vena azygous is seen on chest radiography. Definitive diagnosis is made by contrast inferior vena cavography. The long-standing obstruction to hepatic venous flow causes severe centrolobular fibrosis and predisposes to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Percutaneous balloon angioplasty, transatrial membranotomy, or more complex vena caval and portal decompression surgery should be performed to prevent these complications. HCC occurs in more than 40% of South African Black and Japanese patients with MOIVC, but less often in other populations. It is thought to result from the tumour-promoting effect of continuous hepatocyte necrosis, although the associated environmental risk factors have not been identified. [source] Is physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis a risk factor for the development of asthma?ALLERGY, Issue 8 2010L. Van Den Nieuwenhof To cite this article: van den Nieuwenhof L, Schermer T, Bosch Y, Bousquet J, Heijdra Y, Bor H, van den Bosch W, van Weel C. Is physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis a risk factor for the development of asthma? Allergy 2010; 65: 1049,1055. Abstract Background:, There is strong evidence that there is a relationship between allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma, but it is unclear whether there is a causal relation between AR and asthma. The aim of this study was to assess prospectively whether AR is a risk factor for the diagnosis of asthma in a large primary care population. Methods:, We performed a historic cohort study of life-time morbidity that had been recorded prospectively since 1967 in four general practices. Two groups of subjects were selected: (i) patients with diagnosis of AR, (ii) a control group matched using propensity scores. We assessed the risk of physician-diagnosed asthma in patients with physician-diagnosed AR compared to subjects without a diagnosis of AR (controls). Results:, The study population consisted of 6491 subjects (n = 2081 patients with AR). Average study follow-up was 8.4 years. In patients with AR, the frequency of newly diagnosed asthma was 7.6% (n = 158) compared to 1.6% (n = 70) in controls (P < 0.001). After adjusting the effect of AR on asthma diagnosis for registration time, age, gender, eczema and socioeconomic status, having AR was a statistically significant risk factor for asthma (hazard ratio: 4.86, P < 0.001, 95% confidence interval: 3.50,6.73, controls as reference). Conclusion:, A diagnosis of AR was an independent risk factor for asthma in our primary care study population. Having physician-diagnosed AR increased the risk almost fivefold for a future asthma diagnosis. [source] Personality constructs and measuresPSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 3 2007Hedwig Teglasi A psychological construct, such as personality, is an abstraction that is not directly seen but inferred through observed regularities in cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses in various settings. Two assumptions give meaning to the idea of construct validity. First, constructs represent real phenomena that exist apart from the potential ways in which they are measured. Second, constructs have a causal relation to their measures (see D. Boorsboom, G.J. Mellenbergh, & J. van Heerden, 2004). According to these twin assumptions, variation in a construct such as personality or intelligence causes individual differences in responses to items on measures; it also accounts for performance in real life settings. An alternative perspective equates a construct with the operation used for its measurement (M. Friedman, 1991) without a presumption of causality. This article elaborates on the implications of different assumptions about measurement, operation-referenced and construct-referenced, for advancing the science and practice of psychology. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 44: 215,228, 2007. [source] Neighbors Matter: Causal Community Effects and Stock Market ParticipationTHE JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Issue 3 2008JEFFREY R. BROWN ABSTRACT This paper establishes a causal relation between an individual's decision whether to own stocks and average stock market participation of the individual's community. We instrument for the average ownership of an individual's community with lagged average ownership of the states in which one's nonnative neighbors were born. Combining this instrumental variables approach with controls for individual and community fixed effects, a broad set of time-varying individual and community controls, and state-year effects rules out alternative explanations. To further establish that word-of-mouth communication drives this causal effect, we show that the results are stronger in more sociable communities. [source] Prostate cancer: a newly discovered route for testosterone to reach the prostateANDROLOGIA, Issue 5 2009Treatment by super-selective intraprostatic androgen deprivation Summary The prostate, an androgen-regulated exocrine gland, is an integral part of the male reproductive system which has an essential function in sperm survival and motility in its long hostile route to meet and fertilise the egg in the Fallopian tube. Testosterone is known to be the key, obligatory regulator of the prostate that promotes the development and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). Yet, the pathophysiological mechanism of PCa remains unclear and its causal relation to serum testosterone has not been established. Here, we report on the discovery of a previously unrecognized route of flow of free testosterone (FT), at a concentration of 130 times the physiological levels, reaching the prostate via the testicular and prostate venous drainage systems, bypassing the systemic circulation. This condition results from the malfunction of the vertically oriented testicular venous drainage system in humans, a phenomenon with a prevalence that increases rapidly with age, which causes deviation of the testicular venous flow from its normal route. Early results of an interventional radiological procedure, super-selective intraprostatic androgen deprivation therapy are discussed. This treatment has resulted in decrease in prostate volume, and serum PSA, with disappearance of cancerous cells on repeat biopsies in five of six patients. Some of the unresolved biological enigmatic questions associated with PCa are discussed. We conclude that pathological flow of FT from the testes directly to the prostate in an extremely high concentration via the testicular-prostate venous drainage systems was identified may explain the mechanism for the development of PCa. We suggest a time-window for eradication of localised, androgen-sensitive, PCa cells. We anticipate that this treatment may retard, stop or even reverse the development of the disease. A mechanism for the evolution of PCa is discussed. [source] Reversal of benign prostate hyperplasia by selective occlusion of impaired venous drainage in the male reproductive system: novel mechanism, new treatmentANDROLOGIA, Issue 5 2008Y. Gat Summary The prostate is an androgen-regulated exocrine gland producing over 30% of the noncellular components of the semen and promoting optimal conditions for survival and motility of sperm in the vagina. Benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common benign neoplasm in men. Its aetiology is not clear, and therefore, current medical treatments are directed towards the symptoms. Though testosterone is known to be the promoter of prostate cell proliferation, no causal relation between serum testosterone levels and BPH has been found. In this study, we propose a novel and tested pathophysiological mechanism for the evolution of BPH and suggest a tested and effective treatment. We found that in all BPH patients, the one-way valves in the vertically oriented internal spermatic veins are destroyed (clinically manifested as varicocele), causing elevated hydrostatic pressure, some 6-fold greater than normal, in the venous drainage of the male reproductive system. The elevated pressure propagates to all interconnected vessels leading to a unique biological phenomenon: venous blood flows retrograde from the higher pressure in the testicular venous drainage system to the low pressure in the prostatic drainage system directly to the prostate (law of communicating vessels). We have found that free testosterone levels in this blood are markedly elevated, with a concentration of some 130-fold above serum level. Consequently, the prostate is exposed to: (i) increased venous pressure that causes hypertrophy; (ii) elevated concentration of free testosterone causing hyperplasia. We have treated 28 BPH patients using a technique that restores normal pressure in the venous drainage in the male reproductive system. The back-pressure and the back-flow of blood from the testicular to the prostate drainage system were eliminated and, consequently, a rapid reduction in prostate volume and a regression of prostate symptoms took place. [source] Do differences in event descriptions cause differences in duration estimates?APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2002Alice C. I. Pedersen The relationship between the way in which people describe an event and people's estimates of the duration of the event is investigated in three studies. People are told to use different writing styles designed to produce different characteristics. For example, a ,tabloid' condition was designed to produce words with higher implied action. Across all three studies, differences among the event descriptions only produced small differences in the duration estimates. These results question the direct causal relation between language use and duration estimates. We discuss these findings in relation to memory reconstruction and eyewitness testimony. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] PLANNING IN REACTIVE ENVIRONMENTSCOMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Issue 4 2007A. Milani The diffusion of domotic and ambient intelligence systems have introduced a new vision in which autonomous deliberative agents operate in environments where reactive responses of devices can be cooperatively exploited to fulfill the agent's goals. In this article a model for automated planning in reactive environments, based on numerical planning, is introduced. A planner system, based on mixed integer linear programming techniques, which implements the model, is also presented. The planner is able to reason about the dynamic features of the environment and to produce solution plans, which take into account reactive devices and their causal relations with agent's goals by exploitation and avoidance techniques, to reach a given goal state. The introduction of reactive domains in planning poses some issues concerning reasoning patterns which are briefly depicted. Experiments of planning in reactive domains are also discussed. [source] Triangulation: Davidson, Realism and Natural KindsDIALECTICA, Issue 1 2001William Child Is there a plausible middle position in the debate between realists and constructivists about categories or kinds? Such a position may seem to be contained in the account of triangulation that Donald Davidson develops in recent writings. On this account, the kinds we pick out are determined by an interaction between our shared similarity responses and causal relations between us and things in our environment. So kinds and categories are neither imposed on us by the nature of the world, nor imposed by us on an intrinsically unstructured reality. But the picture derivable from Davidson's account of triangulation can be interpreted in either of two ways. On one interpretation, it collapses into constructivism. On the other, it turns out to be very close to the most plausible versions of realism. It is argued that Davidson's attempts to distinguish his view from Putnam's realism about natural kinds are unsuccessful. So Davidson's account of triangulation does indeed suggest a plausible view of kinds. But that view is a version of traditional realist views, not an alternative to them. [source] EXPLICATION, EXPLANATION, AND HISTORYHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2008CARL HAMMER ABSTRACT To date, no satisfactory account of the connection between natural-scientific and historical explanation has been given, and philosophers seem to have largely given up on the problem. This paper is an attempt to resolve this old issue and to sort out and clarify some areas of historical explanation by developing and applying a method that will be called "pragmatic explication" involving the construction of definitions that are justified on pragmatic grounds. Explanations in general can be divided into "dynamic" and "static" explanations, which are those that essentially require relations across time and those that do not, respectively. The problem of assimilating historical explanations concerns dynamic explanation, so a general analysis of dynamic explanation that captures both the structure of natural-scientific and historical explanation is offered. This is done in three stages: In the first stage, pragmatic explication is introduced and compared to other philosophical methods of explication. In the second stage pragmatic explication is used to tie together a series of definitions that are introduced in order to establish an account of explanation. This involves an investigation of the conditions that play the role in historiography that laws and statistical regularities play in the natural sciences. The essay argues that in the natural sciences, as well as in history, the model of explanation presented represents the aims and overarching structure of actual causal explanations offered in those disciplines. In the third stage the system arrived at in the preceding stage is filled in with conditions available to and relevant for historical inquiry. Further, the nature and treatment of causes in history and everyday life are explored and related to the system being proposed. This in turn makes room for a view connecting aspects of historical explanation and what we generally take to be causal relations. [source] Introduction to the Epistemology of CausationPHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2009Frederick Eberhardt This survey presents some of the main principles involved in discovering causal relations. They belong to a large array of possible assumptions and conditions about causal relations, whose various combinations limit the possibilities of acquiring causal knowledge in different ways. How much and in what detail the causal structure can be discovered from what kinds of data depends on the particular set of assumptions one is able to make. The assumptions considered here provide a starting point to explore further the foundations of causal discovery procedures, and how they can be improved. [source] ,So that we might have roses in December': The functions of autobiographical memoryAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2009John F. Kihlstrom Autobiographical memory is not merely declarative and episodic in nature. It also entails explicit self-reference, chronological organization and causal relations. It entails conscious recollection, in terms of remembering, knowing, feeling or believing. Its functions may be agentic or nonagentic, but all are assigned, not intrinsic, and thus are observer-relative features of reality. Questions about function risk committing the adaptationist fallacy. Intrapersonally, autobiographical memory is a critical component in the mental representation of self. Interpersonally, autobiographical memory provides a basis for establishing and maintaining social relationships. Autobiographical memory is an individual right, and it may also be an ethical obligation. The popularity of memoir as a literary genre indicates that it is also a means of making money. In a future world of artificial minds with infinite capacity for data storage, there still will be no substitute for the human capacity to remember what really matters and forget what does not. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Sociology of Space: A Use,Centered ViewCITY & COMMUNITY, Issue 4 2002Herbert J. Gans The revival of spatial sociology justifies a renewed exploration of the various connections between "space" and "society." I argue that sociologists must avoid both the reification of space and studies that mainly demonstrate that all social life exists in space. Instead, researchers should focus on the causal relations between space and society: (1) on the few but important ways in which natural space affects social life and collectivities; and (2) on the innumerable ways in which these collectivities turn natural space into social space and shape its uses. Treating use, users, and effects as primary concepts, the paper discusses a variety of topics in spatial sociology to illustrate my causal point and to suggest research and other questions that deserve answers. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||