bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fossil Angiosperm Leaves: Paleobotany's Difficult Children Prove Themselves
Authors: Wilf Peter
Published: June 2019

The great bulk of the angiosperm fossil record consists of isolated fossil leaves that preserve abundant shape and venation (leaf architectural) information but are difficult to identify because they are not attached to other plant organs. Thus, poor taxonomic knowledge has tempered the tremendous potential of fossil leaves for constructing finely resolved records of biodiversity through time, extinction and recovery, past climate change and biotic response, paleoecology, and plant-animal associations. Moreover, paleoecological and paleoclimatic interpretations of fossil leaves are in great need of new approaches. Recent work is rapidly increasing the scientific value of fossil angiosperm leaves through advances in traditional paleobotanical reconstruction, phylogenetic understanding of both leaf architecture and the response of leaf shape to climate, quantitative plant ecology using measurable, correlatable leaf traits, and improved understanding of insect leaf-feeding damage. These emerging areas offer many novel opportunities to link paleoecology and neoecology. Increased collaboration across traditionally separate research areas is critical to continued success.
Neoproterozoic—Cambrian Biological Revolutions
Authors: Lipps Jere H.
Published: June 2019

The Neoproterozoic—Cambrian biological and geological events between 630 to 530 or so million years ago, are among the most fascinating topics in life history today because the first animals appeared and radiated amidst environmental changes of major magnitude. Not only are paleontologists and geologists interested in these events, but so are the general public, biologists, and theologians, among others. Indeed, this interest was manifested in a cover story in Time Magazine (Nash, 1995), another in the National Geographic (Monastersky, 1998), and in newspapers and other outlets. It is an intriguing time period, for most people are interested in our origins-of life itself, of animals, and of humans. The topics of this book then are nearly unique in this respect. The Paleontological Society is therefore pleased to present a Short Course and book summarizing the evidence, interpretations and hypotheses relating to this interval of time, with a focus on the origin and early evolution of the first known animals through a period of about 100 million years. Like all of the Society's Short Course books, this one is designed to provide a current review an important topic in paleontology for college instructors, interested professionals, and students. Such a book cannot cover the topics in great detail, but the authors have provided up-to-date references to additional sources.
Theoretical Ecospace for Ecosystem Paleobiology: Energy, Nutrients, Biominerals, and Macroevolution
Authors: Bush Andrew M. , Pruss Sara B.
Published: June 2019

Changes in nutrient cycles and energy fluxes (i.e., ecosystem dynamics) likely drove numerous trends and disruptions in the history of life. Advances in geochemistry offer great insights into paleoecosystem function, as does an understanding of the biogeochemical roles played by ancient organisms. A theoretical ecospace that describes the chemical exchanges between organisms and their environments is presented. Previous descriptions of ecospace principally described spatial and physical aspects of ecology; the new ecospace description broadens the concept to encompass a wider range of ecological processes that control abundance and diversity of fossil organisms. Organisms require materials from the environment for generating energy and building tissues, and these factors are broken down, ultimately specifying particular substances acquired from the environment. Different organisms require specific substances in different amounts depending on factors such as physiology, environmental conditions, etc.; thus, physiological ecospace describes an organism's sensitivity to ecosystem/earth system perturbations and trends. Several examples relating to organisms' requirements for skeletal minerals are reviewed, and a new analysis of extinction selectivity related to ocean acidification is presented. Selective extinction of heavily calcified metazoa is demonstrated to have occurred at least eight times during the Phanerozoic, including the early Cambrian, Frasnian (Late Devonian), and Aptian (Early Cretaceous). Multidimensional structure of ecospace occupation (e.g., correlations among ecological traits) strongly controls the effects of an extinction such that the same kill mechanism applied at different times will affect the ecological composition of the biosphere in a variety of ways.
Microbial Sedimentology of Stromatolites in Neoproterozoic Cap Carbonates
Authors: Bosak Tanja , Mariotti Giulio , MacDonald Francis A. , Perron J. Taylor , Pruss Sara B.
Published: June 2019

Stromatolite shapes, sizes, and spacings are products of microbial processes and interactions with topography, sedimentation, and flow. Laboratory experiments and studies of modern microbial mats and sediments can help reconstruct processes that shaped some typical stromatolite forms and some atypical microbially influenced sediments from Neoproterozoic cap carbonates. Studies of modern, cohesive microbial mats indicate that microbialaminite facies in the lower Rasthof Formation (Cryogenian) formed in the presence of very low flow and were not deformed by strong waves or currents. Giant wave ripples, corrugated stromatolites, and tube-hosting stromatolites in basal Ediacaran cap carbonates record interactions between microbes, flow, and evolving bedforms. Preferential cementation in and close to the giant ripple crests is attributed to interactions between flow and local topography. These interactions pumped alkaline porewaters into ripple crests and helped nucleate elongated stromatolites. The similar textures of giant wave ripples and elongated, corrugated, and tube-hosting stromatolites suggest growth in the presence of organic-rich, rounded particles and microbial mats, and in flow regimes that permitted mat growth. These hypotheses can be tested by experiments and models that investigate lithification and the macroscopic morphology of microbial mats as a function of the flow regime, preexisting topography, redox-stratification in sediments, and delivery of organic-rich particles. The widespread microbially influenced textures in Cryogenian microbialaminites and basal Ediacaran cap dolostones record a strong reliance of carbonate deposition on the presence of organic nuclei, supporting carbonate accumulation rates comparable to those in modern reefs. Therefore, the unusual macroscopic morphologies of microbially influenced facies in Neoproterozoic cap carbonates may not reflect oceans that were greatly oversaturated with respect to carbonate minerals.
Mass Extinctions and the Structure and Function of Ecosystems
Authors: Hull Pincelli M. , Darroch Simon A. F.
Published: June 2019

Mass extinctions shape the history of life and can be used to inform understanding of the current biodiversity crisis. In this paper, a general introduction is provided to the methods used to investigate the ecosystem effects of mass extinctions (Part I) and to explore major patterns and outstanding research questions in the field (Part II). The five largest mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic had profoundly different effects on the structure and function of ecosystems, although the causes of these differences are currently unclear. Outstanding questions and knowledge gaps are identified that need to be addressed if the fossil record is to be used as a means of informing the dynamics of future biodiversity loss and ecosystem change.
Konservat-Lagerstätten 40 Years On: The Exceptional Becomes Mainstream
Authors: Briggs Derek E. G.
Published: June 2019

Since Dolf Seilacher coined the term Konservat-Lagerstätten in 1970, these deposits have migrated from the margins to the mainstream of paleontological research. With greater understanding of the controls on their occurrence, new examples of exceptional preservation continue to be discovered. They provide critical data for phylogenies and stratigraphic ranges. Together with molecular data, they calibrate the history of many infrequently preserved taxa. Ostracods, tiny crustaceans with a biomineralized carapace, illustrate the importance of recent discoveries in Konservat-Lagerstätten. The rare examples with fossilized appendages are preserved in a diversity of ways, organically or through authigenic mineralization. They confirm that ostracods were present at least by the late Ordovician, provide evidence of relationships obscured by the morphology of the routinely preserved valves, and extend the stratigraphic range of particular groups. They reveal extraordinary features of the soft-tissue anatomy of ostracods, including reproductive morphology and strategy. While other taxa would provide equally compelling examples of research progress, it is clear that the concept of exceptional preservation is expanding. Future discoveries and new analytical methods will match the reconstruction of coloration in feathered dinosaurs, for example, for unexpected novelty.
Silicification
Authors: Butts Susan H.
Published: June 2019

Silicification is the replacement of original skeletal material accomplished through the concurrent dissolution of calcium carbonate and precipitation of silica. The processes is aided by the nucleation of silica to organic matter which surrounds the mineral crystallites within the shell. Factors that control silicification are those that influence the dissolution/precipitation process: shell mineralogy, shell ultrastructure (and, therefore, surface area), the amount and location of organic matter, and the character of the enclosing matrix. Silicification, like all types of fossilization, can produce taphonomic biases: it is far more common in Paleozoic than younger deposits, is more likely to occur in organisms with low-magnesium calcite shells, in carbonate sediments, and in environments with elevated dissolved silica.
Pyritization of Soft Tissues in the Fossil Record: An Overview
Authors: Farrell Úna C.
Published: June 2019

Authigenic pyrite preserves non-biomineralized tissues in the fossil record under exceptional circumstances. Diagenetic models and taphonomic experiments demonstrate that active, localized sulfate reduction in iron-rich pore waters results in a strong concentration gradient, which confines pyrite precipitation to decaying organic matter. The locus and timing of pyrite precipitation is also influenced by the original composition of the organic matter. In recent decades, new sites with three-dimensional pyritized soft tissues have been discovered, although the Hunsrück Slate (Devonian) and Beecher's Trilobite Bed (Ordovician), known since the late 1800s, remain the primary examples in terms of diversity, abundance, and quality of preservation. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses at these sites have shown that rapid burial in fine-grained, reworked sediments sets up the high iron, low organic carbon conditions necessary for soft-tissue pyritization. Soft-tissue pyritization may also occur in association with other taphonomic modes, in particular with Burgess Shale-type preservation and carbonaceous preservation in lakes, although many of these specimens are now weathered. Continued comparison among sites and between specimens with variable degrees of preservation could help clarify the limits to soft-tissue pyritization and its distribution in ancient sediments.
Of Time and Taphonomy: Preservation in the Ediacaran
Authors: Kenchington Charlotte G. , Wilby Philip R.
Published: June 2019

The late Neoproterozoic witnessed a revolution in the history of life: the transition from a microbial world to the one known today. The enigmatic organisms of the Ediacaran hold the key to understanding the early evolution of metazoans and their ecology, and thus the basis of Phanerozoic life. Crucial to interpreting the information they divulge is a thorough understanding of their taphonomy: what is preserved, how it is preserved, and also what is not preserved. Fortunately, this Period is also recognized for its abundance of soft-tissue preservation, which is viewed through a wide variety of taphonomic windows. Some of these, such as pyritization and carbonaceous compression, are also present throughout the Phanerozoic, but the abundance and variety of moldic preservation of body fossils in siliciclastic settings is unique to the Ediacaran. In rare cases, one organism is preserved in several preservational styles which, in conjunction with an increased understanding of the taphonomic processes involved in each style, allow confident interpretations of aspects of the biology and ecology of the organisms preserved. Several groundbreaking advances in this field have been made since the 1990s, and have paved the way for increasingly thorough analyses and elegant interpretations.
Amber
Authors: Labandeira Conrad C.
Published: June 2019

The amber fossil record provides a distinctive, 320-million-year-old taphonomic mode documenting gymnosperm, and later, angiosperm, resin-producing taxa. Resins and their subfossil (copal) and fossilized (amber) equivalents are categorized into five classes of terpenoid, phenols, and other compounds, attributed to extant family-level taxa. Copious resin accumulations commencing during the early Cretaceous are explained by two hypotheses: 1) abundant resin production as a byproduct of plant secondary metabolism, and 2) induced and constitutive host defenses for warding off insect pest and pathogen attack through profuse resin production. Forestry research and fossil wood-boring damage support a causal relationship between resin production and pest attack. Five stages characterize taphonomic conversion of resin to amber: 1) Resin flows initially caused by biotic or abiotic plant-host trauma, then resin flowage results from sap pressure, resin viscosity, solar radiation, and fluctuating temperature; 2) entrapment of live and dead organisms, resulting in 3) entombment of organisms; then 4) movement of resin clumps to 5) a deposition site. This fivefold diagenetic process of amberization results in resin→copal→amber transformation from internal biological and chemical processes and external geological forces. Four phases characterize the amber record: a late Paleozoic Phase 1 begins resin production by cordaites and medullosans. A pre-mid-Cretaceous Mesozoic Phase 2 provides increased but still sparse accumulations of gymnosperm amber. Phase 3 begins in the mid-early Cretaceous with prolific amber accumulation likely caused by biotic effects of an associated fauna of sawflies, beetles, and pathogens. Resiniferous angiosperms emerge sporadically during the late Cretaceous, but promote Phase 4 through their Cenozoic expansion. Throughout Phases 3 and 4, the amber record of trophic interactions involves parasites, parasitoids, and perhaps transmission of diseases, such as malaria. Other recorded interactions are herbivory, predation, pollination, phoresy, and mimicry. In addition to litter, amber also captures microhabitats of wood and bark, large sporocarps, dung, carrion, phytotelmata, and resin substrates. These microhabitats are differentially represented; the primary taphonomic bias is size, and then the sedentary vs. wandering life habits of organisms. Organismic abundance from lekking, ant-refuse heaps, and pest outbreaks additionally contribute to bias. Various techniques are used to image and analyze amber, allowing assessment of: 1) ancient proteins; 2) phylogenetic reconstruction; 3) macroevolutionary patterns; and 4) paleobiogeographic distributions. Three major benefits result from study of amber fossil material, in contrast to three different benefits of compression-impression fossils.
Experimental Decay of Soft Tissues
Authors: Sansom Robert S.
Published: June 2019

The exceptionally preserved fossil record of soft tissues sheds light on a wide range of evolutionary episodes from across geological history. Understanding how soft tissues become hard fossils is not a trivial process. A powerful tool in this context is experimentally derived decay data. By studying decay in a laboratory setting and on a laboratory timescale, an understanding of the processes and patterns underlying soft-tissue preservation can be achieved. The considerations and problems particular to experimental decay are explored here in terms of experimental aims, design, variables, and utility. Aims in this context can relate to either reconstruction of the processes of soft-tissue preservation, or to elucidation of the patterns of morphological transformation and data loss occurring during decay. Experimental design is discussed in terms of hypotheses and relevant variables: i.e., the subject organism being decayed (phylogeny, ontogeny, and history), the environment of decay (biological, chemical, and physical) and the outputs (how to measure decay). Variables and practical considerations are illustrated with reference to previous experiments. The principles behind application of experimentally derived decay data to the fossil record are illustrated with three case studies: the interpretation of fossil color, feasibility of fossil embryos, and phylogenetic bias in chordate preservation. A rich array of possibilities for further decay experiments exists and it is hoped that the methodologies outlined herein will provide guidance and a conceptual framework for future studies.
The Decline of Reason?
Authors: Lipps Jere H.
Published: June 2019

We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster.

Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, 1996.
Dealing with Antievolutionism
Authors: Scott Eugenie C.
Published: June 2019

In November of 1995, the Alabama Department of Education required all biology textbooks used in the state to display a disclaimer informing the young reader that

This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things, such as plants, animals and humans. No one was present when life first appeared on earth, therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered as theory, not fact.
Students as Museum Scientists
Authors: Lofgren Donald L.
Published: June 2019

The Typical visitor thinks of a natural history museum as a place to go to view interesting displays. They expect to come away from the experience with increased knowledge and appreciation of the educational message of each exhibit. However, few visitors are aware that a natural history museum is much more than exhibits. Typically, such a museum has less than five percent of its specimens on display. What function does the other ninety-five percent serve? How are specimens obtained? What happens to specimens once they are included in a museum's permanent collections? These are questions which few visitors think about as they view displays in a natural history museum.
Paleontology on the World Wide Web
Authors: Schimmrich Steven H.
Published: June 2019

The Explosive growth of the World Wide Web, a vast network of interconnected computers, has resulted in the availability of large amounts of information useful to K-16 teachers. The Web allows you to seamlessly access multimedia information (text, images, and binary files) from servers anywhere in the world. The problem is finding this information and being sure it's correct (almost anyone can create a Web page). This paper is an attempt to bring some order to the chaos. It refers to a listing of many paleontology resources on the Web which may be of interest to K-16 students and instructors; and provides some tips on how these resources may be used in a classroom setting.
Why is the Museum on the Web?
Authors: Scotchmoor Judith , Hedegaard Claus
Published: June 2019

The Classic usage of the term museum implies a collection of objects, not a display, though this has been the common usage since the late 19th century. The University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP) is predominantly a museum in the classic sense. In this case the collection of objects is a research and study collection of fossil and Recent organisms. Visitors will find a few display cases, a very impressive Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton accompanied by a Pteranodon ingens flying overhead, a couple of dinosaur skulls, and plans for expansion. However, the overwhelming part of the collections is not usually accessible to the public. Nonetheless it is the mission of UCMP “…to facilitate the understanding of the history of life through service to research to education, and to the public.” It is the use of technology that has allowed us to more effectively reach the public sector.
Building a Topographic Model Submarine Mountains A Model of Sea Floor Spreading
Authors: Metzger Ellen P.
Published: June 2019

The Activities that follow are from The Best of BAESI, a collection of 19 hand-on lessons modeled by teacher-participants in the Bay Area Earth Science Institute. BAESI was founded in 1990 at San Jose University. A non-profit organization supported by the National Science Foundation, San Jose State University, and a consortium of government, corporate, and academic partners, BAESI is built on the following observations:
“Round Rocks”: Teaching the Principles of Earth Science and Paleontology
Authors: Allmon Warren D. , Griffing David H.
Published: June 2019

Suppose You are given one hour to tell someone about paleontology. The audience is naive but interested. They want to know something about paleontology but have not previously received, and may ever again receive, formal instruction in the subject. What will you choose to talk about?
Can Mammoths Go to School? No, But Schools can Go to the Mammoth Site!
Authors: Heindel Sharon K.
Published: June 2019

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc. is the largest accumulation of Columbian Mammoths discovered in their primary context in the world. The site was found in 1974, during excavation for a housing project. Over one million visitors from all over the world have come to see the bone remains of 48 Columbian and 3 Woolly mammoths, plus 25 species of other animals that lived together 26,000 years ago.
Denver Museum of Natural History Prehistoric JourneySm: Teacher Resources and School Programs
Authors: Smith Rebecca L.
Published: June 2019

Prehistoric Journey, the museum's newest permanent exhibition, offers students and teachers the opportunity to explore the history of life on Earth through spectacular fossil specimens, interactive exhibits, and re-created environments depicting crucial points in life's history. A rich array of educational resources and programs are offered in conjunction with this exhibition. Opportunities for K-12 students include guided and unguided visits for school groups, Classroom Adventures on prehistoric subjects, an outreach assembly program, and the Prehistoric Universe show in Gates Planetarium. Teacher resources include teacher workshops, the comprehensive Prehistoric Journey Educators' Sourcebook, the Prehistoric Journey Previsit Video for Teachers (including portions for students in Spanish), and the Prehistoric Journey: A History of Life on Earth exhibit book. Prehistoric Journey educational materials and programs are correlated with the Colorado Standards for Science Teaching. All of these resources and programs, ordering information, and registration procedures are described in the museum school brochure which is mailed to Colorado schools and teachers in August (with an update in January). If you are not currently receiving this brochure, please call (303) 370-6314 to be placed on the mailing list.
The Dinosaur Education Project: A Curriculum Model for Standards-Based Education
Authors: Wixom Jo
Published: June 2019

Take One dinosaur, add a class of students (any age), mix liberally with an experiential standards-based curriculum, and you have the delightfully successful effort in systemic reform called “The Dinosaur Education Project.”
Foraminifera in the Middle School Classroom
Authors: Olson Hilary Clement
Published: June 2019

Foraminifera Represent a group of marine, microscopic, shell-producing organisms belonging to the Protista. Many of these organisms are benthic (bottom-dwelling), and their distribution reflects variations in substrate and characteristics of bottom waters. Other foraminifera are planktonic (floating), giving us insight into the nature of surface water masses around the world. The integration of the study of foraminifera into the life sciences and earth sciences classroom creates an opportunity for students to exercise critical thinking skills in applying the variety of knowledge they have learned in their current curriculum. This scenario is particularly true in the middle school classroom with students at an age where they are moving between concrete learning and more abstract thinking skills. Encouraging students to think about how information learned in class pertains to foraminifera forces them to process abstract concepts and apply them to a concrete example.
Experience and Reason in Perception
Authors: Brewer Bill
Published: June 2019

The question I am interested in is this. What exactly is the role of conscious experience in the acquisition of knowledge on the basis of perception? The problem here, as I see it, is to solve simultaneously for the nature of this experience, and its role in acquiring and sustaining the relevant beliefs, in such a way as to vindicate what I regard as an undeniable datum, that perception is a basic source of knowledge about the mind-independent world, in a sense of ‘basic’ which is also to be elucidated. I shall sketch the way in which I think that this should be done. In section I, I argue that perceptual experiences must provide reasons for empirical beliefs. In section II, I explain how they do so. My thesis is that a correct account of the sense in which perceptual experiences are experiences of mind-independent things is itself an account of the way in which they provide peculiarly basic reasons for beliefs about the world around the perceiver.
Intentionality and Interpretation
Authors: McCulloch Gregory
Published: June 2019

According to Brentano in a much-quoted passage,

Every psychological phenomenon is characterized by…intentional inherent existence of … an object… In the idea something is conceived, in the judgement something is recognized or discovered, in loving loved, in hating hated, in desiring desired, and so on.
Explanation—Opening Address
Authors: Smart J. J. C.
Published: June 2019

It is a pleasure for me to give this opening address to the Royal Institute of Philosophy Conference on ‘Explanation’ for two reasons. The first is that it is succeeded by exciting symposia and other papers concerned with various special aspects of the topic of explanation. The second is that the conference is being held in my old alma mater, the University of Glasgow, where I did my first degree. Especially due to C. A. Campbell and George Brown there was in the Logic Department a big emphasis on absolute idealism, especially F. H. Bradley. My inclinations were to oppose this line of thought and to espouse the empiricism and realism of Russell, Broad and the like. Empiricism was represented in the department by D. R. Cousin, a modest man who published relatively little, but who was of quite extraordinary philosophical acumen and lucidity, and by Miss M. J. Levett, whose translation of Plato's Theaetetus formed an important part of the philosophy syllabus.
Explanation in Biology: Let's Razor Ockham's Razor
Authors: Sober Elliott
Published: June 2019

When philosophers discuss the topic of explanation, they usually have in mind the following question: given the beliefs one has and some proposition that one wishes to explain, which subset of the beliefs constitutes an explanation of the target proposition? That is, the philosophical ‘problem of explanation’ typically has bracketed the issue of how one obtains the beliefs; they are taken as given. The problem of explanation has been the problem of understanding the relation ‘x explains y’. Since Hempel (1965) did so much to canonize this way of thinking about explanation, it deserves to be called ‘Hempel's problem’.
Explanation in Physics: Explanation
Authors: Redhead Michael
Published: June 2019

In what sense do the sciences explain? Or do they merely describe what is going on without answering why-questions at all. But cannot description at an appropriate ‘level’ provide all that we can reasonably ask of an explanation? Well, what do we mean by explanation anyway? What, if anything, gets left out when we provide a so-called scientific explanation? Are there limits of explanation in general, and scientific explanation, in particular? What are the criteria for agoodexplanation? Is it possible to satisfy all the desiderata simultaneously? If not, which should we regard as paramount? What is the connection between explanation and prediction? What exactly is it that statistical explanations explain? These are some of the questions that have generated a very extensive literature in the philosophy of science. In attempting to answer them, definite views will have to be taken on related matters, such as physical laws, causality, reduction, and questions of evidence and confirmation, of theory and observation, realism versus antirealism, and the objectivity and rationality of science. I will state my own views on these matters, in the course of this essay. To argue for everything in detail and to do justice to all the alternative views, would fill a book, perhaps several books. I want to lead up fairly quickly to modern physics, and review the explanatory situation there in rather more detail.
The Limits of Explanation: The Limits of Explanation
Authors: Swinburne Richard
Published: June 2019

In purporting to explain the occurrence of some event or process we cite the causal factors which, we assert, brought it about or keeps it in being. The explanation is a true one if those factors did indeed bring it about or keep it in being. In discussing explanation I shall henceforward (unless I state otherwise) concern myself only with true explanations. I believe that there are two distinct kinds of way in which causal factors operate in the world, two distinct kinds of causality, and so two distinct kinds of explanation. For historical reasons, I shall call these kinds of causality and explanations ‘scientific’ and ‘personal’; but I do not imply that there is anything unscientific in a wide sense in invoking personal explanation.
Integrity and Self-Identity
Authors: Sutherland Stewart R.
Published: June 2019

The title of this paper proclaims its central interest—the relationship which holds between the concept of integrity and the concept of the identity of the self, or, for short, self-identity. Unreflective speech often suggests a close relationship between the two, but in the latter half of this century, notwithstanding one or two notable exceptions, they have been discussed with minimum cross-reference as if they belonged to two rather different philosophical menus which tended not to be available at the same restaurant on the same night. My intention is to argue that our account of the one carried implications for the other and that this relationship is reflexive. My argument will proceed by stating and criticizing a common account of the relationship between each of these concepts which tends to offer mutual support for the implied account of each. Thereafter an alternative account will be outlined.
Invincible Knowledge
Authors: Bambrough Renford
Published: June 2019

As there is a condition of mind which is characterized by invincible ignorance, so there is another which may be said to be possessed of invincible knowledge; and it would be paradoxical in me to deny to such a mental state the highest quality of religious faith,—I mean certitude. (J. H. Newman, Grammar of Assent, 138–139)

‘She's an artist. She keeps saying the same thing without repeating herself. (Iris Murdoch, The Good Apprentice, 66)

In being initiated into our life as human beings we are subject to causal influences; guiding, teaching, restraint, compulsion, incentives, rewards, warnings, penalties. Until such influences have achieved their most important work we do not share the human understanding within which there can be ratiocination, evidence, argument. So there is and must be a causal story of how we come to acquire a human understanding; a causal story for the species as a whole and a causal story for each of us; and there is not and could not be any acceptable account, either for the species or for the individual, of how we reasoned or argued our way into our initial and fundamental understanding. I say the same thing without repeating myself if I call such knowledge and understanding invincible. It is not possible to Overthrow it by reasoning any more than it is possible to establish it by reasoning.
Emmanuel Levinas: Responsibility and Election
Authors: Chalier Catherine
Published: June 2019

Although some people argue Emmanuel Levinas is a Jewish thinker because he introduces in his philosophical work ideas which come from the Jewish tradition, I want to present him as a philosopher. A philosopher who tries to widen the philosophical horizon which is traditionally a Greek one but, at the same time, a philosopher who does not want to abandon it. In one of his main books Totality and Infinity (1969), he describes western civilization as an hypocritical one because it is attached both to the True and to the Good, but he adds:

It is perhaps time to see in hypocrisy not only a base contingent defect of man, but the underlying rending of a world attached to both the philosophers and the prophets, (p. 24)

When reading Levinas we may realize that such an ‘hypocrisy’ might well be a blessing from a philosophical point of view. One of Levinas's philosophical aims is to refer to the Greek language of philosophy—a language he asserts to be of universal significance—in order to elucidate ideas that come from the Hebrew world view, from the prophets and from the sages. He wants to give a new insight into Greek categories and concepts but he refuses to abnegate the philosophical requirements for accuracy. That is why when he refers to biblical verses or to Talmudic apologues, he does not want to prove anything. His philosophical writings are indeed philosophical because he does not yield to the temptation of substituting the authority of a certain verse or of a certain name to the philosophical requirement of argumentation.
Morals and Politics
Authors: Quinton Anthony
Published: June 2019

My title, as it stands, is not very informative. The two terms that occur in it are so commonly conjoined, in the philosophical world, at any rate, that it can be no surprise to find them together. My aim, however, is to go some way, at least, towards disconnecting them. My thesis is, to put it briefly, that it is a mistake to see political philosophy as a subordinate part of moral philosophy and thus to suppose that the characteristic problems of the former are of the same kind as those of the latter. More concretely, the problems of politics itself are not generally or primarily, let alone exclusively, moral in nature. We all know that political problems are not, to any great extent, approached by those involved with them, from a moral point of view. I shall argue that it is not reasonable that they should be. But the philosophical habit of running the two things together encourages a kind of moral absolutism in political thinking, and from time to time in political practice, which has bad results, not necessarily morally bad, just bad.
Ethics, Fantasy and Self-transformation
Authors: Grimshaw Jean
Published: June 2019

In this paper I want to discuss an issue (usually perceived as an ethical one) which has generated a great deal of feminist discussion and some profound disagreement. The issue arises as follows. One of the most important targets of feminist action and critique has been male sexual violence and control of women, as expressed in rape and other forms of violent or aggressive sexual acts, and as represented in much pornography. Pornography itself has been the subject of major and sometimes bitter disagreements among feminists, especially around the issue of censorship. But it is not that with which I am concerned here. The issue which I want to discuss involves the question of sexual desire and fantasy, and their apparent potential incompatibility with political and ethical principles. This is by no means, of course, an issue of exclusively feminist concern; but I shall focus on some recent feminist argument, since it is that with which I am most familiar.
Justice without Constitutive Luck
Authors: Hurley S. L.
Published: June 2019

What fundamental aim should be seen as animating egalitarian views of distributive justice? I want to challenge a certain answer to this question: namely, that the basic aim of egalitarianism is to neutralize the effects of luck on the distribution of goods in society. I shall also sketch part of a different answer, which I think does a better job of supporting egalitarianism.

My arguments here are not presented in a way that is intended to win over those who have no sympathy with egalitarianism to begin with; they move within the compass of egalitarian concern. Moreover, it is difficult, for familiar reasons, to separate the question of what the basic aim of egalitarianism is from the question of what it should be. If one aim does a better job of supporting egalitarian results than another, then, even if few egalitarians recognize this, it may be regarded as a stronger candidate for what the basic aim of egalitarianism is. As with other essentially contested concepts, a new conception does not change the subject.
Institutional Ethics
Authors: Singer Marcus G.
Published: June 2019

My title may generate some perplexity. It is certainly not a familiar one. So I should make it plain at the outset that I shall not be talking about the ethics of organizations or associations or groups. I want to direct attention to the ethical and valuational questions
associated with social institutions, and I distinguish institutions from associations and organizations. One question I am aiming at is whether the principles and standards applicable to moral judgments of actions (either tokens or types) and of persons—call them individual principles—are also applicable, or applicable with only minor changes, to the judgment and critique and evaluation of institutions and practices. This is not the sole question of institutional ethics, but it is a main one.
The divine mind
Authors: Leslie John
Published: June 2019

By ‘a blank’, let us mean a situation including no actual existents: nothing beyond such platonic realities as that three groups of five apples, were there to exist such groups, would contain fifteen apples in total. Now, why is there a world and not a blank?
‘Beyond reality’: Plato's Good revisited
Authors: Evans David
Published: June 2019

In our post-modern cultural climate we are often told that reality is value-free. Indeed sometimes it is even said to be fact-free. Yet almost all philosophers have been deeply concerned with matters of value, in addition to their other main pre-occupation: that is the nature of truth and our knowledge of it. The question therefore arises: why should these two – good and truth – be so powerfully connected? And why should this business of value continue to exert the hold on philosophers that it evidently does?
Is the esse of intrinsic value percipi?: pleasure, pain and value
Authors: Sprigge T. L. S.
Published: June 2019

In this paper I shall speak sympathetically of a hedonistic theory of intrinsic value which, ignoring any other such theories, I shall simply call the hedonistic theory of value. How far I am finally committed to it will partly appear at the end.
Misplacing freedom, displacing the imagination: Cavell and Murdoch on the fact/value distinction
Authors: Mulhall Stephen
Published: June 2019

The view that matters of fact and matters of value are categorically distinct, and that any credible account of ethics must begin from an acknowledgement of that distinction, has been a constant topic of debate in analytical moral philosophy throughout the twentieth century. It is not, however, as simple as it may at first appear to establish an uncontroversial articulation of the view under discussion, because in the course of the debate's evolution that view has been defined in a number of very different and not obviously equivalent ways.
Welcome to Wales: Searle on the Computational Theory of Mind
Authors: Fellows Roger
Published: June 2019

In a recent book devoted to giving an overview of cognitive science, Justin Lieber writes:

…dazzingly complex computational processes achieve our visual and linguistic understanding, but apart from a few levels of representation these are as little open to our conscious view as the multitudinous rhythm of blood flow through the countless vessels of our brain.

It is the aim of hundreds of workers in the allied fields of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence to unmask these computation processes and install them in digital computers.
Tools, Machines and Marvels
Authors: Clark Stephen R. L.
Published: June 2019

Technology, according to Derry and Williams's Short History, ‘comprises all that bewilderingly varied body of knowledge and devices by which man progressively masters his natural environment’. Their casual, and unconscious, sexism is not unrelated to my present topic. Women enter the story as spinners, burden bearers and, at long last, typists. ‘The tying of a bundle on the back or the dragging of it along upon the outspread twigs of a convenient branch are contributions [and by implication the only contributions] to technology which probably had a feminine origin’. Everything else was done by men, and what they did was master, conquer, and control. It is also significant that Derry and Williams take it for granted that ‘the men [sic] of the Old Stone Age, few and scattered, developed little to help them to conquer their environment’: until the advent of agriculture, and settled civilization, there was, they say, neither leisure nor surplus.
Values, Means and Ends
Authors: Grant Robert
Published: June 2019

Morals and politics occupy themselves, if not exclusively, then at any rate centrally, with questions of value. Politicians and moralists deplore the alleged decline of values while pressing supposedly new ones upon us. The fiercest sympathies and antipathies, whether between individuals or between societies, are those which stem either from a community or from a divergence of values. ‘So natural to mankind,’ said Mill, ‘is intolerance in whatever they really care about.’
“Leading a Life of One's Own: On Well-Being and Narrative Autonomy”
Authors: BrÄnnmark Johan
Published: June 2019

We all want things. And although we might disagree on just how significant our wants, desires, or preferences are for the matter of how well we fare in life, we would probably all agree on some of them having some significance. So any reasonable theory about the human good should in some way acknowledge this. The theory that most clearly meets this demand is of course preferentialism, but even pluralist theories can do so. However, then they will at the same time bring aboard a classical problem for preferentialism, namely that of discriminating among preferences. Not all preferences would seem to make contributions to our well-being and there should be some set of criteria which at least makes it intelligible why there is such a difference and that perhaps can even be used in order to evaluate hard cases.
“Content-Related and Attitude-Related Reasons for Preferences”
Authors: Piller Christian
Published: June 2019

In the first section of this paper I draw, on a purely conceptual level, a distinction between two kinds of reasons: content-related and attitude-related reasons. The established view is that, in the case of the attitude of believing something, there are no attitude-related reasons. I look at some arguments intended to establish this claim in the second section with an eye to whether these argument could be generalized to cover the case of preferences as well. In the third section I argue against such generalizations and present a case in favour of accepting attitude-related reasons for preferences. In the fourth section I present an objection to which I react in the fifth section where I try to strengthen my case for attitude-related reasons for preferences. Finally, I discuss and reject criticisms raised by two opponents of the view defended here.
Reasons to be Fearful: Strawson, Death and Narrative
Authors: Behrendt Kathy
Published: June 2019

When attempting to face the prospect of one's own death, it has been said that ‘the mind blanks at the glare’. Perhaps we should not treat our attitude towards our death as rational or reflective of our views on the self and on life. But to exempt views on death from the scrutiny of rational discourse seems to be a last resort (albeit one we may need recourse to in the end). There is a general tendency to neglect death within those discussions of the self that fall outside the confines of a certain strain of continental thought roughly construed, or at best to treat it as a topic that resides beyond the borders of the rational. I do not aim to rectify this situation here, nor do I think it obvious that death is something that can be clearly and consistently dealt with by those theories of persons and selves that primarily represent, to use Thomas Nagel's words, ‘an internal view that sees only this side of death—that includes only the finitude of [one's] expected future consciousness’. But I do believe that those who have spent a good deal of time thinking about the life of the self ought to spare a thought or two for its demise, and that such thoughts may contribute to our over-all assessment of their view.
Duodenal infusion of conjugated linoleic acid mixture influences milk fat synthesis and milk CLA content in dairy cows
Authors: Kraft J. , Lebzien P. , Flachowsky G. , Möckel P. , Jahreis G.
Published: June 2019

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are potent anticarcinogens secreted into the milk of ruminants. The present study was carried out to detect the post–ruminal effects of a duodenally infused commercial CLA product on milk–fat synthesis and fatty acid pattern in lactating cows. Four Holstein cows, fistulated with duodenal cannulae, were infused with 200 g of a CLA mixture daily into the duodenum over a period of 5 days (period II), while no application of CLA acted as controls in period I and III. In contrast to the marginal effect of the CLA application on milk yield, an obvious decrease of milk fat content of 40% was measured. The fat yield decreased during the infusion period to about half of the control period, whereas protein and lactose content in milk was not significantly influenced. The CLA percentage of milk fat increased sevenfold during infusion of the CLA supplement. The data demonstrate that duodenal infusion of CLA inhibits the milk fat synthesis, resulting in the decrease of milk fat content and fat yield. It can be concluded, that CLA supplements increase the CLA concentration in milk fat, which probably has to be rumen protected for oral administration.