storsves

[storsves]

(via hk1x2huf1k191.jpg (JPEG Image, 828 × 972 pixels))

[storsves]

“…why are you all sitting at one side of the table, huh?”

The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci (c.1490) WATCHMEN, Zack Snyder (2009)  Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson (2014) The X-files (1993-2018) ALIEN: Covenant, Ridley Scott (2017) That'70s show (1998-2006)  M*A*S*H, Robert Altman (1970) Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh (2017) Viridiana, Luis Buñuel (1961) The Simpsons (1989 —)

[storsves]

Mercury, Venus, and Saturn align with the Pyramids of Giza for the 1st time in 2,737 years on December 3, 2012.

[storsves]

Reflective Reasoning & Philosophy

Nick Byrd

Philosophy Compass

First published: 29 September 2021

Abstract

Philosophy is a reflective activity. So perhaps it is unsurprising that many philosophers have claimed that reflection plays an important role in shaping and even improving our philosophical thinking. This hypothesis seems plausible given that training in philosophy has correlated with better performance on tests of reflection and reflective test performance has correlated with demonstrably better judgments in a variety of domains. This article reviews the hypothesized roles of reflection in philosophical thinking as well as the empirical evidence for these roles. This reveals that although there are reliable links between reflection and philosophical judgment among both laypeople and philosophers, the role of reflection in philosophical thinking may nonetheless depend in part on other factors, some of which have yet to be determined. So progress in research on reflection in philosophy may require further innovation in experimental methods and psychometric validation of philosophical measures.

From the Conclusion

Reflective reasoning is central to both philosophy and the cognitive science thereof. The theoretical and empirical research about reflection and its relation to philosophical thinking is voluminous. The existing findings provide preliminary evidence that reflective reasoning may be related to tendencies for certain philosophical judgments and beliefs over others. However, there are some signs that there is more to the story about reflection’s role in philosophical thinking than our current evidence can reveal. Scholars will need to continue developing new hypotheses, methods, and interpretations to reveal these hitherto latent details.

The recommendations in this article are by no means exhaustive. For instance, in addition to better experimental manipulations and measures of reflection (Byrd, 2021b), philosophers and cognitive scientists will also need to validate their measures of philosophical thinking to ensure that subtle differences in wording of thought experiments do not influence people’s judgments in unexpected ways (Cullen, 2010). After all, philosophical judgments can vary significantly depending on slight differences in wording even when reflection is not manipulated (e.g., Nahmias, Coates, & Kvaran, 2007). Scholars may also need to develop ways to empirically dissociate previously conflated philosophical judgments (Conway & Gawronski, 2013) in order to prevent and clarify misleading results (Byrd & Conway, 2019; Conway, GoldsteinGreenwood, Polacek, & Greene, 2018).

A pdf is here.

[storsves]

Conceived as a crime deterrent, some ladies makeup compacts fashioned in the shape of an inoperable pistol; complete with powder, cheek rouge and lipstick in the shape of a bullet. These were popular with Flappers from the 1920s.

[storsves]

Madonna taken by her boyfriend Dan Gilroy on the bus in New York in 1979.

[storsves]

Chicago is currently reporting 32,089 people fully vaccinated: 1.2% of the population: Who is dying and who is vaccinated? ~ @ChiVaxBot

[storsves]

(via dvox86jh8fa61.jpg (1170×955))

[storsves]

(via edbdcmptn6261.jpg (796×833))

[storsves]

A “drugstore cowboy” preparing to deliver orders on his bicycle in Texas, 1938. Photographed by Luis Marden.

[storsves]

kung Magnus Eriksson – 1316-1374

Magnus Eriksson hör inte till någon av de kändare kungarna i vår kungalängd. Ändå är han den kung som efter Carl XVI Gustav regerat längst. Han är även den svenske kung som reagerat över störst landyta, ty innan han som 2-åring blev vald till Sveriges kung 1319 hade han redan ärvt den norska kronan efter sin morfar Håkan Magnusson. Norge var till ytan betydligt större än idag tack vare skatteländer såsom Island, Grönland, Färöarna och Shetlandsöarna. Sedermera lät Magnus även köpa Skåne av de tyska herrar som fått landskapet som pant för stora lån till den danske kungen Kristofer II. Sålunda kom hans titel att bli Mædh Gudz nadhum Konunger Swerikis, Norighis ok Skanes. Även om Magnus genomförda ett antal viktiga reformer, och inte minst lät stifta vår första rikstäckande landslag, har han gått till historien som en odugling. Han hade nämligen otur att vara samtida med Heliga Birgitta som inte skrädde på orden i sitt negativa omdöme. Bland annat lät hon sprida rykten om att kungen var homosexuell och gav honom öknamnet Magnus Smek. Homosexualitet sågs som sodomibrott, och mycket talar för att det var just denna anklagelse som låg till grund när stormännen lät avsätta honom som svensk kung 1364. Den norska kronan hade han lämnat över till sin näst äldste son Håkan Magnusson redan 1355. Från och med 1371 bodde Magnus hos Håkan i Norge, där han levde fram till att en drunkningsolycka i Bømlafjord avslutade hans liv i december 1374.

[storsves]

Folkhemmet

Den första maj 1945 kom äntligen beskedet: Freden var ett faktum! Det Andra världskriget hade skördat många offer och stora delar av Europa låg i grus och aska. Sverige hade dock klarat sig och vi kunde snabbt återgå till vardagen. Här stod vi med våra maskiner, vår malm och vår skog. Snabbt kom vi igång igen och med lätthet sprang vi om våra konkurrenter på världsmarknaden. Tack vare framgångarna kunde vi äntligen bygga det folkhem vi drömt om sedan 1930-talet.

[storsves]

Döda storgator

Flobys centrums skyltfönster gapar tomma. Hur många Storgator i Sverige har dött under de senaste åren? Hundratals? Tanken är hisnande. Och varför har vi låtit detta hända? För det var väl inte så här vi ville att det skulle bli.Jag minns när jag följde med farmor på hennes ”shoppingrundor” i Jörn. Nu finns där nästan ingenting kvar. Det är kanske bara nostalgi, men jag är övertygad om att ett levande centrum hade ökat trivselfaktorn högst väsentligt.

[storsves]

Understanding Unbelief: Atheists and agnostics around the world

Stephen Bullivant, Miguel Farias, Jonathan Lanman, & Lois Lee Research Report - 2019 Eight key findings 1. Atheists (i.e., people who ‘don’t believe in God’) and agnostics (i.e., people who ‘don’t know whether there is a God or not, and don’t believe there is a way to find out’) exhibit significant diversity both within, and between, different countries. Accordingly, there are very many ways of being an unbeliever (i.e., atheists/agnostics combined). 2. In all six of our countries, majorities of unbelievers identify as having ‘no religion’. Nevertheless, in Denmark fully 28% of atheists and agnostics identify as Christians; in Brazil the figure is 18%. 8% of Japan’s unbelievers say they are Buddhists. Conversely, in Brazil (79%), the USA (63%),  Denmark (60%), and the UK (52%), a majority of unbelievers were brought up as Christians. 3. Relatively few unbelievers select ‘Atheist’ or ‘Agnostic’ as their preferred (non)religious or secular identity. 38% of American atheists opt for ‘Atheist’, compared to just 19% of Danish atheists. Other well-known labels – ‘humanist’, ‘free thinker’, ‘sceptic’, ‘secular’ – are the go-to identity for only small proportions in each country. 4. Popular assumptions about ‘convinced, dogmatic atheists’ do not stand up to scrutiny. Atheists and agnostics in Brazil and China are less confident that their beliefs about God are correct than are Brazilians and Chinese as a whole. Although American atheists are typically fairly confident in their views about God, importantly, so too are Americans in general. 5. Unbelief in God doesn’t necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena. Atheists and (less so) agnostics exhibit lower levels of supernatural belief than do the wider populations. However, only minorities of atheists or agnostics in each of our countries appear to be thoroughgoing naturalists. 6. Another common supposition – that of the purposeless unbeliever, lacking anything to ascribe ultimate meaning to the universe – also does not bear scrutiny. While atheists and agnostics are disproportionately likely to affirm that the universe is ‘ultimately meaningless’ in five of our countries, it still remains a minority view among unbelievers in all six countries. 7. Also perhaps challenging common suppositions: with only a few exceptions, atheists and agnostics endorse the realities of objective moral values, human dignity and attendant rights, and the ‘deep value’ of nature, at similar rates to the general populations in their countries. 8. There is remarkably high agreement between unbelievers and general populations concerning the values most important for ‘finding meaning in the world and your own life’. ‘Family’ and ‘Freedom’ ranked highly for all. Also popular – albeit less unanimously so – were ‘Compassion’, ‘Truth’, ‘Nature’, and ‘Science’. The research is here.

[storsves]

Moscow 1953

[storsves]

Bodies are removed from the coal mine at Senghenydd, Wales, site of the worst coal mining disaster in the British isles. In 1913, an explosion killed 436 workers, including children. Eighty one miners had been killed in an explosion in 1901. After an investigation, the manager of the mine was fined £24, while the owners of the mine were fined £10 for their negligence.

{WHF.com}

[storsves]

Complexities for Psychiatry's Identity As a Medical Specialty

Mohammed Abouelleil Rashed Kan Zaman Originally posted November 23, 2018 Here is an excerpt: Doctors, researchers, governments, pharmaceutical companies, and patient groups each have their own interests and varying abilities to influence the construction of disease categories. This creates the possibility for disagreement over the legitimacy of certain conditions, something we can see playing out in the ongoing debates surrounding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a condition that “receives much more attention from its sufferers and their supporters than from the medical community” (Simon 2011: 91). And, in psychiatry, it has long been noted that some major pharmaceutical companies influence the construction of disorder in order to create a market for the psychotropic drugs they manufacture. From the perspective of medical anti-realism (in the constructivist form presented here), these influences are no longer seen as a hindrance to the supposedly objective, ‘natural kind’ status of disease categories, but as key factors involved in their construction. Thus, the lobbying power of the American Psychiatric Association, the vested interests of pharmaceutical companies, and the desire of psychiatrists as a group to maintain their prestige do not undermine the identity of psychiatry as a medical specialty; what they do is highlight the importance of emphasizing the interests of patient groups as well as utilitarian and economic criteria to counteract and respond to the other interests. Medical constructivism is not a uniquely psychiatric ontology, it is a medicine-wide ontology; it applies to schizophrenia as it does to hypertension, appendicitis, and heart disease. Owing to the normative complexity of psychiatry (outlined earlier) and to the fact that loss of freedom is often involved in psychiatric practice, the vested interests involved in psychiatry are more complex and harder to resolve than in many other medical specialties. But that in itself is not a hindrance to psychiatry’s identity as a medical speciality. The info is here.