scholarly journals A discipline for the avoidance of unnecessary assumptions

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis H. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Scalar Case ◽  
Mean Square ◽  
William Of Ockham ◽  
Know How ◽  
Mathematical Formulas ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Do So

Although unnecessary assumptions are something we all try to avoid, advice on how to do so is much harder to come by than admonition. The most widely quoted dictum on the subject, often referred to by writers on philosophy as “Ockham's razor” and attributed generally to William of Ockham, states “Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem”. (Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity.) As pointed out in reference [I], however, the authenticity of this attribution is questionable.The same reference mentions Newton's essentially similar statement in his Principia Mathematica of 1726. Hume [3] is credited by Tribus [2c] with pointing out in 1740 that the problem of statistical inference is to find an assignment of probabilities that “uses the available information and leaves the mind unbiased with respect to what is not known.” The difficulty is that often our data are incomplete and we do not know how to create an intelligible interpretation without filling in some gaps. Assumptions, like sin, are much more easily condemned than avoided.In the author's opinion, important results have been achieved in recent years toward solving the problem of how best to utilize data that might heretofore have been regarded as inadequate. The approach taken and the relevance of this work to certain actuarial problems will now be discussed.Bias and PrejudiceOne type of unnecessary assumption lies in the supposition that a given estimator is unbiased when in fact it has a bias. We need not discuss this aspect of our subject at length here since what we might consider the scalar case of the general problem is well covered in textbooks and papers on sampling theory. Suffice it to say that an estimator is said to be biased if its expected value differs by an incalculable degree from the quantity being estimated. Such differences can arise either through faulty procedures of data collection or through use of biased mathematical formulas. It should be realized that biased formulas and procedures are not necessarily improper when their variance, when added to the bias, is sufficiently small as to yield a mean square error lower than the variance of an alternative, unbiased estimator.

Credibility and Trust in Journalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anya Schiffrin
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Media Trust ◽  
Widespread View ◽  
Do So

Questions of media trust and credibility are widely discussed; numerous studies over the past 30 years show a decline in trust in media as well as institutions and experts. The subject has been discussed—and researched—since the period between World Wars I and II and is often returned to as new forms of technology and news consumption are developed. However, trust levels, and what people trust, differ in different countries. Part of the reason that trust in the media has received such extensive attention is the widespread view shared by communications scholars and media development practitioners that a well-functioning media is essential to democracy. But the solutions discussion is further complicated because the academic research on media trust—before and since the advent of online media—is fragmented, contradictory, and inconclusive. Further, it is not clear to what extent digital technology –and the loss of traditional signals of credibility—has confused audiences and damaged trust in media and to what extent trust in media is related to worries about globalization, job losses, and economic inequality. Nor is it clear whether trust in one journalist or outlet can be generalized. This makes it difficult to know how to rebuild trust in the media, and although there are many efforts to do so, it is not clear which will work—or whether any will.

Deputation to the Lord Advocate in Regard to the Lunacy Law

1878 ◽  
Vol 23 (104) ◽  
pp. 611-612
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Similar Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Do So

On Friday, 2nd November, a deputation of asylum superintendents, members of district boards, and managers of Royal Asylums, waited on the Lord Advocate at his chambers, Edinburgh, with the view of bringing under the notice of his Lordship an omission in the Scotch lunacy law, there being no provisions at present for granting pensions to old and deserving officers in the Scotch district and parochial asylums, as in England and Ireland. The deputation consisted of Professor Balfour, Professor Maclagan, Dr. Fraser, ex-Bailie Miller, Mr. D. Scott Moncrieff, W.S., Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, Dr. Cameron, Lochgilphead; Dr. Jamieson, Aberdeen; Dr. Anderson, Rosewell; Dr. Grierson, Melrose; Dr. Wallace, Greenock; Dr. Makintosh, Murthly; Dr. Rutherford, Lenzie; Dr. Ireland, Larbert; Dr. Clouston, Morningside; Dr. Rorie, Dundee; Dr. Howden, Montrose, &c. The deputation were introduced by Professor Maclagan, who strongly supported the views of the deputation. Dr. Mackintosh, addressing his Lordship, said—The reasons which have caused the medical and other officers of the public asylums of Scotland to come before you are, I think, fairly set forth in the petition which was placed in your Lordship's hands some months ago. I need not, therefore, refer to them in detail, but would only draw your attention to the anomalous (and at the same time, disadvantageous) conditions in which such officials are placed when contrasted with their brethren in England and Ireland. Most of us had hoped that the matter would, ere this, have been taken up by the General Board of Lunacy for Scotland, but the Board (who received a deputation last February in the most courteous manner) has no intention of moving in this or any other legislation at present. Moreover, the Commissioners thought that the best course was that now adopted—via., to bring the subject before you ourselves. The service which we have the honour to represent is as much a public service as the army and navy, or as the civil and parochial services, and perhaps it is not exceeded by any of them in the increasing attention which is necessary, or by the harassing nature of the duties. It therefore seems the more reasonable (besides being a simple act of justice) to place the service on a footing in regard to superannuation allowances similar to that occupied by the public asylums of England and Ireland. In urging upon your Lordship the great need for as speedy a solution of the question as possible, we do so in the knowledge that several special amendments of a similar nature have been made. Moreover, we are satisfied that the insertion of such a clause as that indicated in the petition as an amendment into the Act, will be an important day in the history of such institutions, both as regards the efficiency and stability of the staff, and the comfort of the inmates. Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, as a member of a district lunacy board, also urged the injustice and impolicy of the present law. The Lord Advocate said that he would give the subject his most favourable consideration. It seemed a very proper matter to have been brought before him, the only question being when he could get an opportunity of introducing a clause to remedy the present defect.

scholarly journals Terms in Popular Science Communication: The Case of TV Documentaries

2018 ◽  
pp. 257-272
Author(s):  
Sylvia Jaki
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Know How ◽  
German Science ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Do So

Science documentaries on television aim to provide easy and entertaining access to research findings. To do so, producers need to know how to explain complex content for non-expert audiences in a comprehensible way. At the same time, they have to decide what aspects of a subject might be relevant for viewers, or how the subject matter could be rendered more interesting by employing strategies such as personalisation or emotionalisation. One specific decision concerns the use of terms. Both existing research and journalistic handbooks suggest that terms should be or are, in fact, avoided in popular science contexts. However, there is only little empirical research on the topic. This contribution seeks to test several pre-existing hypotheses on terms in documentaries for adults and show how often terms are used and whether/how they are explained when they appear. Examining terms in four English and four German science documentaries, the analysis points out which communicative resources are used to facilitate the comprehension of terms, and where an explanation seems to focus primarily on entertainment rather than ease of comprehension. The results challenge some of the previous views on terms in popular science communication and reveal that documentaries display highly idiosyncratic strategies when it comes to the use of terms.

Workshop on Environmental Aspects of Tourism (English version)

1983 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Nations Environment Programme ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Know How ◽  
Operational Level ◽  
World Tourism Organization ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Tourism Organization ◽  
Nations Environment ◽  
Environment Programme

The first workshop arranged by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was held in Madrid 1983 on the subject of “Environmental Aspects of Tourism”. The workshop was intended to serve aims that we had specifically identified as desirable for ensuring the best possible cooperation between the two organisations. One objective was to bring together experts in the fields of tourism and environment so as to come to terms at the operational level with specific problems of the tourism-environment interface. Another vital objective was to accelerate the rate of transfer of know-how and skills in the field of tourism and environment to the developing countries which constitute the majority of member States of our two Organizations.

Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von (1775–1854)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Bowie
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Philosophical System ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Absolute Identity ◽  
Intelligible World ◽  
The Mind

Like the other German Idealists, Schelling began his philosophical career by acknowledging the fundamental importance of Kant’s grounding of knowledge in the synthesizing activity of the subject, while questioning his establishment of a dualism between appearances and things in themselves. The other main influences on Schelling’s early work are Leibniz, Spinoza, J.G. Fichte and F.H. Jacobi. While adopting both Spinoza’s conception of an absolute ground, of which the finite world is the consequent, and Fichte’s emphasis on the role of the I in the constitution of the world, Schelling seeks both to overcome the fatalism entailed by Spinoza’s monism, and to avoid the sense in Fichte that nature only exists in order to be subordinated to the I. After adopting a position close to that of Fichte between 1794 and 1796, Schelling tried in his various versions of Naturphilosophie from 1797 onwards to find new ways of explicating the identity between thinking and the processes of nature, claiming that in this philosophy ‘Nature is to be invisible mind, mind invisible nature’. In his System des transcendentalen Idealismus (System of Transcendental Idealism) 1800) he advanced the idea that art, as the ‘organ of philosophy’, shows the identity of what he terms ‘conscious’ productivity (mind) and ‘unconscious’ productivity (nature) because it reveals more than can be understood via the conscious intentions that lead to its production. Schelling’s ‘identity philosophy’, which is another version of his Naturphilosophie, begins in 1801, and is summarized in the assertion that ‘Existence is the link of a being as One, with itself as a multiplicity’. Material nature and the mind that knows it are different aspects of the same ‘Absolute’ or ‘absolute identity’ in which they are both grounded. In 1804 Schelling becomes concerned with the transition between the Absolute and the manifest world in which necessity and freedom are in conflict. If freedom is not to become inexplicable, he maintains, Spinoza’s assumption of a logically necessary transition from God to the world cannot be accepted. Philosophische Untersuchungen über das Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit und die damit zusammenhängenden Gegenstände (Of Human Freedom) (1809) tries to explain how God could create a world involving evil, suggesting that nature relates to God somewhat as the later Freud’s ‘id’ relates to the developed autonomous ‘ego’ which transcends the drives which motivate it. The philosophy of Die Weltalter (The Ages of the World), on which Schelling worked during the 1810s and 1820s, interprets the intelligible world, including ourselves, as the result of an ongoing conflict between expansive and contractive forces. He becomes convinced that philosophy cannot finally give a reason for the existence of the manifest world that is the product of this conflict. This leads to his opposition, beginning in the 1820s, to Hegel’s philosophical system, and to an increasing concern with theology. Hegel’s system claims to be without presuppositions, and thus to be self-grounding. While Schelling accepts that the relations of dependence between differing aspects of knowledge can be articulated in a dynamic system, he thinks that this only provides a ‘negative’ philosophy, in which the fact of being is to be enclosed within thought. What he terms ‘positive’ philosophy tries to come to terms with the facticity of ‘being which is absolutely independent of all thinking’ (2 (3): 164). Schelling endeavours in his Philosophie der Mythologie (Philosophy of Mythology) and Philosophie der Offenbarung (Philosophy of Revelation) of the 1830s and 1840s to establish a complete philosophical system by beginning with ‘that which just exists…in order to see if I can get from it to the divinity’ (2 (3): 158), which leads to a historical account of mythology and Judeo-Christian revelation. This system does not, though, overcome the problem of the ‘alterity’ of being, its irreducibility to a philosophical system, which his critique of Hegel reveals. The direct and indirect influence of this critique on Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Rosenzweig, Levinas, Derrida and others is evident, and Schelling must be considered as the key transitional figure between Hegel and approaches to ‘post-metaphysical’ thinking.

Deputation to the Lord Advocate in Regard to the Lunacy Law

1878 ◽  
Vol 23 (104) ◽  
pp. 611-612
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Similar Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Do So

On Friday, 2nd November, a deputation of asylum superintendents, members of district boards, and managers of Royal Asylums, waited on the Lord Advocate at his chambers, Edinburgh, with the view of bringing under the notice of his Lordship an omission in the Scotch lunacy law, there being no provisions at present for granting pensions to old and deserving officers in the Scotch district and parochial asylums, as in England and Ireland. The deputation consisted of Professor Balfour, Professor Maclagan, Dr. Fraser, ex-Bailie Miller, Mr. D. Scott Moncrieff, W.S., Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, Dr. Cameron, Lochgilphead; Dr. Jamieson, Aberdeen; Dr. Anderson, Rosewell; Dr. Grierson, Melrose; Dr. Wallace, Greenock; Dr. Makintosh, Murthly; Dr. Rutherford, Lenzie; Dr. Ireland, Larbert; Dr. Clouston, Morningside; Dr. Rorie, Dundee; Dr. Howden, Montrose, &c. The deputation were introduced by Professor Maclagan, who strongly supported the views of the deputation. Dr. Mackintosh, addressing his Lordship, said—The reasons which have caused the medical and other officers of the public asylums of Scotland to come before you are, I think, fairly set forth in the petition which was placed in your Lordship's hands some months ago. I need not, therefore, refer to them in detail, but would only draw your attention to the anomalous (and at the same time, disadvantageous) conditions in which such officials are placed when contrasted with their brethren in England and Ireland. Most of us had hoped that the matter would, ere this, have been taken up by the General Board of Lunacy for Scotland, but the Board (who received a deputation last February in the most courteous manner) has no intention of moving in this or any other legislation at present. Moreover, the Commissioners thought that the best course was that now adopted—via., to bring the subject before you ourselves. The service which we have the honour to represent is as much a public service as the army and navy, or as the civil and parochial services, and perhaps it is not exceeded by any of them in the increasing attention which is necessary, or by the harassing nature of the duties. It therefore seems the more reasonable (besides being a simple act of justice) to place the service on a footing in regard to superannuation allowances similar to that occupied by the public asylums of England and Ireland. In urging upon your Lordship the great need for as speedy a solution of the question as possible, we do so in the knowledge that several special amendments of a similar nature have been made. Moreover, we are satisfied that the insertion of such a clause as that indicated in the petition as an amendment into the Act, will be an important day in the history of such institutions, both as regards the efficiency and stability of the staff, and the comfort of the inmates. Mr. Cowan, of Beeslack, as a member of a district lunacy board, also urged the injustice and impolicy of the present law. The Lord Advocate said that he would give the subject his most favourable consideration. It seemed a very proper matter to have been brought before him, the only question being when he could get an opportunity of introducing a clause to remedy the present defect.

scholarly journals On the nature of sleep

1837 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 179-180
Keyword(s):  
External World ◽  
Muscular Fibre ◽  
Natural Consequence ◽  
Vital Function ◽  
Spinal Marrow ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Do So

The author intends the present paper as a continuation of his in­quiries into the relations subsisting between the nervous and muscu­lar systems, which form the subject of his former papers, but which would be incomplete without the consideration of their condition during sleep. With this view he proposes to determine the particular organs, on the condition of which this peculiar state of the system depends; the laws by which it is governed ; and the influence it has upon other parts of the system. The necessity of intervals of repose applies only to those functions which are the medium of intercourse with the external world, and which are not directly concerned in the maintenance of life. The organs subservient to these two classes of functions may be viewed as in a great degree distinct from one an­ other. The brain and spinal marrow constitute alone the active por­tions of the nervous system. The law of excitement, which regulates the parts connected with the sensorial functions, including sensation, volition, and other intellectual operations, and the actions of the vo­luntary muscles, is uniform excitement, followed by a proportional exhaustion; which, when occurring in such a degree as to suspend their usual functions, constitutes sleep j all degrees of exhaustion which do not extend beyond the parts connected with the sensorial functions being consistent with health. On the other hand, the law of excitement of those parts of the brain and spinal marrow which are associated with the vital nerves, and are subservient to the vital func­tions, is also uniform excitement; but it is only when this excitement is excessive that it is followed by any exhaustion; and no degree of this exhaustion is consistent with health. The law of excitement of the muscular fibre, with which both the vital and sensitive parts of the brain and spinal marrow are associated, namely, the muscles of respi­ration, is interrupted excitement, which, like the excitement of the vital parts of these organs, is, only when excessive, followed by any degree of exhaustion. The author conceives that the nature of the muscular fibre is everywhere the same; the apparent differences in the nature of the muscles of voluntary and involuntary motion de­pending on the differences of their functions, and on the circumstances in which they are placed: and he concludes, that, during sleep, the vital, partaking in no degree of the exhaustion of the sensitive system, appears to do so simply in consequence of the influence of the latter on the function of respiration, the only vital function in which these systems co-operate. The author proceeds to make some observations on the cause of dreaming, the phenomena of which he conceives to be a natural consequence of the preceding proposition. In ordinary sleep, the sensitive parts of the brain, with which the powers of the mind are associated, are not in a state of such complete exhaustion as to preclude their being excited by slight causes of irritation, such as those which accompany the internal processes going on in the system. The sensorium is the more sensible to the impressions made by these internal causes, inasmuch as all the avenues to external impressions are closed, and the mind is deprived of the control it exercises, during its waking hours, over the train of its thoughts, by the help of the perceptions derived from the senses, and the employment of words for detaining its ideas, and rendering them objects of steady attention, and subjects of comparison.

scholarly journals Art. IX.—On the Muhammedan Science of Tâbír, or Interpretation of Dreams

1856 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 118-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Bland
Keyword(s):  
Frequent Occurrence ◽  
Mechanical Working ◽  
Superstitious Belief ◽  
Animal Economy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Brain

The subject of Dreams has invited the inquiry of science in many ages and countries. A phenomenon of such frequent occurrence in connection with one of the ordinary functions of the animal economy could not fail to interest men of all classes and temperaments. To develop its theory as a mechanical working of the brain in sleep, or a secret energy of the mind during the temporary inaction of the bodily powers, equally forms a part of physics and of metaphysics; but, further than this, the association of dreams with objects and events having no immediate affinity with the waking thoughts, pursuits, or interests of the dreamer, thus seeming to indicate a sense of things to come, has led inquirers, with more or less of superstitious belief, to rely upon this as a species of foreknowledge within the reach of all, even of ungifted persons. Mankind, naturally anxious for direction in their worldly undertakings beyond the limits of human wisdom, studied every mode of possessing that information which might be supposed attainable by mysterious agency, and, in addition to the less permissible means of sorcery and divination, have endeavoured to obtain the desired instruction from observation of their sleeping thoughts, and even to reduce this process to a system.

scholarly journals Review Article on A Fragmented Feminism: The Life and Letters of Anandibai Joshee By Meera Kosambi, Ram Ramaswamy, Madhavi Kolhatkar & Aban Mukherji

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niranjana G ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
The Body ◽  
Indian Women ◽  
Know How ◽  
Woman Doctor ◽  
Psychosocial Impacts ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

A Fragmented Feminism: The Life and Letters of Anandibai Joshee is the seminal work on social history about the first woman doctor of India, Anandibai Gopal Joshee written by the sociologist Meera Kosambi and Edited by Ram Ramaswamy, Madhavi Kolhatkar and Aban Mukherji. It provides insight into the psychosocial impacts of culture on Indian women through the life of Dr. Anandibai Gopal Joshee, India’s first women doctor. The author collected the letters written by Anandibai, newspaper reports on her, her poems in Marathi and rare photographs of her to craft the biography of her life. This book resembles an epistolary style in its narrative quality accompanied by annotations and explanations by the author and Editors. Anandibai, who was graduated in western medicine at America, lived during the nineteenth century pre-independence India where access to basic education was a distant dream. This book stands as a witness to practices of child marriage, physical and emotional abusement on women. (Kosambi, 19) ‘In childhood the mind is immature and the body undeveloped. And you know how I acted on these occasions. If I had left, you at that immature age, as you kept on suggesting, what would have happened? (And any number of girls have left their homes because of harassment from mothers-in-law and husbands). I did not do so because I was afraid that my ill-considered behaviour would tarnish my father’s honour… And I requested you not to spare me, but to kill me. In out society, for centuries there has been no legal barrier between husband and wives; and if it exists, it works against women! Such being the vase, I had no recourse but to allow you to hit me with chairs and bear it with equanimity. A Hindu woman has not right to utter a word or to advise her husband. On the contrary she has right to allow her husband to do what he wishes and to keep quiet.’

Coming Up with an Explanation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Swedberg
Keyword(s):  
Know How ◽  
To Come ◽  
Scientific Value ◽  
Do So ◽  
William Whewell

This chapter explores various ways of coming up with an explanation. These include Charles S. Peirce's notion of abduction, or his theory of how to come up with an explanation from the practical perspective of the scientist. Another is colligation, a term coined by William Whewell which means linking facts together in a new way when one makes a discovery. In Peirce's work, one can also find the term retroduction, a word which reminds that to explain a phenomenon means to look at what comes before the phenomenon. Hypothesis is another term that Peirce used in this context. It emphasizes that an abduction is just a suggestion for an explanation, and that the explanation has to be tested against facts before it can acquire scientific value. Finally, guessing indicates that the scientist does not know how to proceed when he or she is looking for an explanation, but must somehow do so anyway.

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