bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Roman Pestilence
Authors: Gardner Hunter H.
Published: August 2019

This chapter addresses the tradition of plague writing in antiquity and outlines the innovations that Roman epic poets have made within the discourse. It observes a distinction between eyewitness accounts of plague and the relatively fictive representations of epidemic disease in Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura, Vergil’s Georgics, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The plague narrative experiences a revival in the late Roman Republic, prompting an investigation into the ideological work such narratives perform: why did the Romans of this period favor epidemic disease as a way of illustrating the collapse of the social order? How were epic accounts of plague informed not only by political rhetoric tethering the language of pestis (“plague”) to the chaos of the late Republic, but also by epidemic diseases discussed in medical writers, didactic treatises, and historical anecdotes? After identifying characteristics that accompany notices of “real” plague in the late Republic, the chapter examines twentieth-century theorists whose work addresses those characteristics: Artaud (1958), Foucault (2003), Sontag (1988), and Girard (1974). While no single theory explains the features of Latin plague, collectively these thinkers address bodily decay and liquefaction, the opportunities for state intervention in the context of an outbreak, and the friction between individual and collective concerns that define Roman treatments of epidemic disease. Perhaps most significantly, the work of these theorists underscores the alternatingly corrosive and purifying power of plague, which gestures toward a new order, while also dwelling on the aftermaths and remainders of the old.
Human and Civic Corpora in Lucretius’ Athenian Plague
Authors: Gardner Hunter H.
Published: August 2019

Lucretius’ treatment of the Athenian plague uses imagery of corpora (“bodies”) to close his poem, underscoring the futility of Athenian citizens clinging to the material remnants of personal identity, as they struggle over the corpses of their kin (rixantes potius quam corpora desererentur, 6.1286). At the same time, the poet’s sensitivity to kinship within the community reconstitutes corpora as individuals whose humanity is expressed through their roles and relationships as parents and children (6.1256–8). Despite his general antipathy toward metaphors, the poet transfers the physical suffering brought about by plague not only to the moral condition of its victims, but also to the moral condition of the unenlightened human race. While links between the plague and civil strife are less explicit in Lucretius than in his successors, recent analysis of the language of contemporary political struggles woven throughout the poem has dated its completion to 49 bce, at the commencement of civil war between Pompey and Caesar. By describing the symptoms of the Athenian plague in language that echoes earlier polemic in De Rerum Natura against desire for honores among Rome’s political elite, the poet primes pestis for further figurative use in addressing destructive competition undertaken to augment individual gloria.
Ovid’s Origin of the Myrmidons and the New Augustan Order
Authors: Gardner Hunter H.
Published: August 2019

We can better understand Vergil’s equivocations toward plague and its remedies as a solution to civil war by turning to Ovid’s account of plague in Metamorphoses 7.490–660: in Ovid’s narrative the citizens of Aegina, nearly eradicated from a pestilence sent by Juno, are replaced by ant-born men, the Myrmidons, characterized in a manner reminiscent of collectively oriented, uniform apian community in the Georgics. I argue that the episode should be read as a reflection of Ovid’s cynical attitude toward Augustus’ attempt to restore a war-depleted population by replacing it with a new generation of loyalists. The ant-born population of Myrmidons, bound to serve as soldiers in the war between Athens and Crete, constitute a new citizenry dreamt into existence by king Aeacus after he receives signs from Jupiter in the form of ants filing up a nearby oak tree. The privileges (grants of land) and functions (serving in war) awarded to this new population effectively sort out the confused heaps of those rotting cadavera of kin and acquaintances left in the wake of contagion. The poet’s narrative of recovery thus broaches the political utility of pestilence, in such a way that not only confronts the open-ended post-apocalyptic visions of his predecessors, but also questions the rigorous mechanisms of recovery, often in the form of population controls, implemented by the Augustan Principate.
Parameter Hierarchies and Universal Grammar
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

This book develops a minimalist approach to cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation. The principal claim is that the essential insight of the principles-and-parameters approach to variation can be maintained—albeit in a somewhat different guise—in the context of the minimalist programme for linguistic theory. The central idea is to organize the parameters of Universal Grammar (UG) into hierarchies which define the ways in which properties of individually variant categories and features may act in concert. The hierarchies define macro-, meso-, and microparameters as a function of the position of parametric options in a given hierarchy. A further leading idea, which is consistent with the overall goal of the minimalist programme to reduce the content of UG, is that the parameter hierarchies are not directly determined by UG. They are emergent properties stemming from the interaction of the three factors in language design. Universal Grammar, the first factor, provides a template for the underspecification of the formal features in terms of which parameters are defined. The second and third factors determine the organization of these formal options into hierarchies: two third-factor effects (Feature Economy and Input Generalization) play a central role. Cross-linguistic variation in word order, null subjects, incorporation, verb-movement, case/alignment, wh-movement, and negation are all analysed in the light of this approach. This book represents a significant new contribution to the formal study of cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variation on both the empirical and theoretical levels.
Introduction
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

This chapter sets the work in its general theoretical context, introducing the central ideas to be developed in the following chapters—parameter hierarchies, and parameters as emergent properties of the three factors of language design—and briefly illustrates the way in which the principles-and-parameters idea can be maintained in current minimalist syntax by showing how the Final-Over-Final Condition (FOFC), taken to be a universal ‘principle’, interacts with and constrains cross-linguistic word-order variation (parameters). Whilst this is a classic case of ‘principle’ and ‘parameter’ interaction, both the principle and the parameter must derive from more elementary notions. In this way, we move towards a minimalist approach to principles and parameters, and to morphosyntactic variation in general. The Introduction ends with a brief summary of the topics of the chapters to follow.
Null subjects
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

After a brief historical sketch of work on null subjects, and a summary of Barbosa’s proposals concerning the relation between partial and radical null subjects, the chapter presents a typology of null arguments which links their properties directly to the D-system, suggesting a cross-linguistic link between the nature of the null-subject system and the nature of the ‘article system’ in a given language. After a brief consideration of the semantics of null pronouns and the role of the Person feature in licensing null arguments, a general account of ‘licensing pro’ is put forward, which relies on the twin ideas that pro contains a variable and that all variables must be bound at the C–I interface. Finally, there is an updated and refined parameter hierarchy for φ‎-parameters. The question of the relation of variation in these features to the C–I interface and the morphophonological interface is also taken up.
Incorporation
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

The implications of the proposals in Chapter 3 for non-pronominal DPs are taken up here. First, parameters governing the N–D relation, including incorporation, are of central importance. This leads to the question of polysynthesis and Noun Incorporation (NI); here a central issue is how nouns heading complements can incorporate into the verb. Next, we turn to Huang’s proposal that Mandarin Chinese, and other varieties of Chinese past and present, show ‘deep analyticity’, which, as Huang does, we take to reflect a general lack of incorporation. We conclude by revising and generalizing the parameter hierarchy presented at the end of Chapter 3.
Verb-movement
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

The chapter begins with a very brief excursus into Davidsonian event semantics, explaining the basic motivation for positing event variables, as well as ‘separation’ of θ‎-roles from predicates. It then develops the TP-Denotation Hypothesis, i.e. the idea that events are denoted through the Tense feature. This naturally leads to a tripartite typology of Tense vs No-Tense languages, and Weak-Tense vs Strong-Tense languages. Strong-Tense (Romance), Weak-Tense (mainly English), and No-Tense (Chinese) languages are illustrated. The chapter then turns to other examples of cross-linguistic variation in verb-movement: V-initial languages and Germanic verb-second, where a novel labelling-based proposal for certain core properties is developed. The proposals regarding the changes affecting the ‘inversion’ system through the history of English made by Biberauer & Roberts are then summarized. The chapter concludes with a parameter hierarchy for Tense.
Wh-movement and negation
Authors: Roberts Ian
Published: August 2019

This chapter considers some of what is known about variation in wh-movement and negation, and the extent to which parameter hierarchies can be constructed to account for at least some of that variation. A good deal of the variation surveyed in this chapter follows from the formal options allowing these special indefinites to receive the interpretations they do. It begins with wh-parameters, in particular the very well-known parameter determining whether a language has overt wh-movement or not, as well as the parameters governing different kinds of multiple wh-movement. It then turns to negation. One interesting point which emerges is that parametric variation regarding some aspects of interrogatives and negation is very simple, and probably does not involve a hierarchy. In other areas, parameter hierarchies of the now familiar kind can be proposed.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Scientists need to learn early that the use of intellectual content must be acknowledged. Plagiarism may occur inadvertently or intentionally. Regardless of the reason, plagiarism is a serious infraction. This chapter gives a brief account of different ways in which plagiarism occurs and how to prevent it.
The Writing Mind-Set
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Your working environment influences both motivation and writing quality. This chapter describes why writing is environment-dependent and how you can change or choose environments to increase quality and productivity.
The Start
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Many scientists struggle with writing. The mechanics involved, the time spent, multiple revisions and waiting on collaborators to do their part. Scientists sometimes feel that their manuscripts do not do justice to the underlying effort and to the importance of the results. These troubles often stem from poor organization and a lack of strategy. This chapter presents the essentials of the writing mind-set and some of the basics in putting pen to paper.
Use Models!
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

A Model is an article of the highest standard that serves as a stencil for writing one’s own manuscript. Concretely, a phrase, sentence, paragraph, transition between paragraphs, overall layout of a section, table or figure all qualify as Models. A Model has earned its place: it has been worked, seen by external reviewers and editors, revised and made the journal’s quality cut. Don’t reinvent the wheel: search for success and emulate it. This chapter discusses the use of Models and walks the reader through real examples.
The Vitrine
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Scientists are reluctant to read articles without good reason. The first places many look are the title and abstract but also—importantly—figures. These three elements encapsulate a study. This chapter provides recommendations for writing these often-underrated parts as well as what makes a good figure.
The Puzzle
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Your study may be of the highest standard and provide new answers to an interesting scientific question, but yet is ignored. A great paper has an interesting puzzle that hooks the reader. This chapter stresses the importance of mastering the literature and engaging the reader in the quest to seek pieces of the puzzle.
Emphasis and Finesse
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Scientific writing should be rigorous but also needs to avoid monotony. The judicious use of adverbs can greatly enhance both communicative quality and reader engagement. This chapter presents strategies for writing interesting prose without sacrificing neutrality.
How Journals Operate
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Ask a scientist—particularly at the start of their career—how journals work and you will either get a blank stare or a logical but inaccurate reply. The only people who know journal workflows are managing editors and chief editors. Chief editors seek assessments of diverse publication criteria and accept manuscripts based on recommendations and attaining certain standards. This chapter introduces the reader to what journals want, and how they apply protocols of selectivity while maintaining fairness.
Who Really Decides?
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The roles of editors, reviewers and authors in the publication process are loosely analogous to a court of law. Authors bring their case in the form of a manuscript to the journal (the court) for publication consideration. They present arguments in the cover letter for why the journal should take a positive view on publication. The chief editor functions as the judge, examining evidence provided by the authors and critiques/recommendations by external reviewers (the jury) and syntheses/recommendations by a member of the editorial board (trial counsel). A crucial step in the publication decision is the approbation from the reviewers. This chapter discusses these analogies and the importance of writing a manuscript with reviewers in mind.
What to Expect from Journal Service
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Journal service includes the manuscript handling system, notifications, the possibility of liaising with administrative, scientific and production contacts, but also less transparent features such as the number of reviews solicited, reviewer quality control, and possibilities for resubmission and for appeals. There is no charter for journal service. What should one expect? This chapter presents the essentials of professional manuscript handling.
Choices in Publishing
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The world of publishing has changed considerably over the past 20 years. Who can view published material, who pays for content and alternative models to classic peer reviewed journals are all important in considering where to publish your work. This chapter presents choices in publication venue and discusses the pros and cons of each.
Authorship
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

There is no objective method for determining authorship or author order. Common sense and journal guidelines indicate that authorship is merited for all those contributing “significantly” to one or more core criteria. Attributing authorship is therefore ultimately a principal investigator’s decision and relies on an honor system. Author order is also important, and typically follows one of a small number of norms. This chapter discusses the issues surrounding authorship and author order.
The Publication Decision
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The publication decision email is the moment of truth. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of work hours have now been judged and—in a single click—the decision appears. Our inclination to search for key terms such as “accept” or “reject” may blind us to important elements in the letter. This chapter explains why decision letters deserve careful reading and presents strategies for replying.
Peer Review
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The main objectives of peer review are to improve manuscript quality and advise the editor regarding acceptance. But peer review’s two defining characteristics—anonymity and altruism—are ill-suited to reliably fulfill its aims. Increases in manuscript submissions has led to a “tragedy of the reviewer commons,” whereby over-solicited reviewers put less effort into reviews or stop reviewing altogether. This chapter presents problems surrounding peer review, and approaches to slowing the tragedy.
The Cost of Publishing
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The cost of publishing is hotly debated. Until the 1990s, publication was either free of charge, paid per page or per article, or covered partially or completely if subscribing to a journal or if a member of the academic society overseeing a journal. A major shift occurred in the early 2000s when new “Open Access” publishers made articles freely available for all to read and reuse, with article processing charges being covered by the author. This chapter discusses the paradigm shift and how it has changed the landscape of who pays for scientific publication.
Use of Citation Metrics
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The idea that curiosity and discovery can be transcribed into rankings strikes at the very heart of science. The emerging norm of replacing scientific content with numbers is leading to an “impact factor syndrome,” whereby metrics influence both where interesting and important research is published and how committees evaluate scientists and science. This chapter discusses different citation metrics and why the scientific community increasingly looks to them as measures of impact.
Disposable Science
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

One of the great challenges to science is the ever-increasing number of publications. More items mean greater difficulty keeping up with the literature and judging novelty and relevance. One of the dangers is “disposable science”; that is, if an article is little cited in the first few years post-publication, then—regardless of its content—it may never have a substantial impact. Readers tending to cite highly cited publications exacerbate the problem. This chapter discusses this issue and presents possible ways to reduce the loss of meritorious articles.
Developing Your Career
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The publishing landscape is changing rapidly and in complex ways. Young researchers need to navigate this and find their place in the scientific community. Your place will evolve throughout your career and your publication and communication strategies are keys to this path. This chapter provides some guidelines for how to embark on a successful scientific career.
Collaborating
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Collaborations create opportunities to learn from others and conduct higher-level science. But they also present significant challenges, including interacting as part of a group and your role in contributing necessary elements to a study and its write-up. This chapter discusses the skills that foster a great collaboration.
Reviewing Manuscripts
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Peer review is a pillar in scientific progress. Scientists-as-reviewers assess manuscripts of scientists-as-authors with the central aims of correcting errors and improving quality. Contribution to peer review is voluntary and typically solicited only once one begins to publish. Given the central importance of peer review to science, it is unfortunate that it is often learned on-the-job. This chapter presents the basics of peer review and the important features of a useful review.
Social Media
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

Email, blogs, interviews, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, conferences … are only a few of the many ways scientists communicate with each other, with institutions, journalists and the media, and the public. The ease of use and free access to social media mean that information can spread rapidly and to a massive audience. This chapter discusses how social media and networking can be employed to your advantage and some possible traps to avoid.
Old Dogs, New Tricks
Authors: Hochberg Michael
Published: August 2019

The final chapter summarizes the main messages of the book—use Models, journal choice does matte, and engage as a citizen of science—and calls on scientists to teach writing and publishing.
Palatal Sound Change in the Romance Languages
Authors: Zampaulo André
Published: August 2019

This monograph presents a thorough investigation of the main historical and present-day variation and change patterns undergone by palatal sounds in the Romance languages. By relying on phonetic and phonological information to motivate a formal account of palatal sound change, the analyses proposed in this book offer a principled, constraint-based explanation for the evolution of palatals in the Romance-speaking world. It provides a robust and up-to-date literature review on the subject, taking into consideration not only the viewpoints and data from diachronic research, but also the results from various phonetic, phonological, dialectal, and comprehensive studies. By taking into account the role of phonetic information in the shaping of phonological patterns, this book approaches sound change from its inception during the speaker-listener interaction and formalizes it as the difference in constraint ranking between the grammar of the speaker and that of the listener-turned-speaker. This perspective is intended to model how and why similar change events may take place in different varieties and/or the same language across periods of time.
Introduction
Authors: Zampaulo André
Published: August 2019

This chapter introduces the reader to the palatal sounds under study, as well as their significance within the historical phonology and dialectology of the Romance languages. It summarizes the unique features of the book in terms of its scope, argument, and place within the literature, while highlighting its general goals and contribution to Diachronic and Historical Linguistics and Linguistic Theory more broadly. Finally, an overview of the organization of the book is provided.
Theoretical considerations
Authors: Zampaulo André
Published: August 2019

This chapter provides the theoretical framework that informs the analyses in the book. It builds upon the assumptions and contributions of different—albeit complementary—theoretical approaches to sound change which are deemed appropriate to account for the evolution of Romance palatals, particularly the Ohalian listener-based model and the constraint-based model of phonetically based Optimality Theory. Specifically, it presents an approach that focuses on the origins of a sound change based upon the interaction among speakers and listeners during oral communication.
Palatal sound change in the Romance languages: A unified account
Authors: Zampaulo André
Published: August 2019

This chapter provides a phonetically based formal account of the diachronic and synchronic sound changes discussed in previous chapters, following the phonetic characterization of palatal sounds and the book’s theoretical assumptions. Specifically, the speaker-listener interaction and the constraint-based model adopted in this book provide the tools to put forth a unified proposal that not only models how and why most of the discussed sound changes could emerge in the first place, but also reveals the mechanisms through which similar change events may reoccur time and again across Romance varieties.
Introduction
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

More than thirty years ago I wrote a book called Inquiry. This was a great title for a philosophy book, with its allusion (or homage) to classic works in the empiricist tradition, and it was an appropriate title for the aspirations with which the book was written: its topic, I said in the preface, was the abstract structure of inquiry. But it is less clear that this was an appropriate title for what was actually accomplished in the book since it did not get much beyond preliminary setting up of the issues, and some exposition of and motivation for the formal apparatus that I planned to use to talk about the structure of inquiry. Before getting to the main issues, I had to explain and motivate my approach to the problem of intentionality, sketch and motivate the formal apparatus used to represent that approach (possible worlds semantics), and respond to problems that the approach faced. That took up most of the book. The rest of it focused mainly on another piece of apparatus needed to represent the dynamics of belief (a formal semantics for conditionals), and I was able to make only a start on a discussion of the role of this apparatus in forming and refining both rules for revising beliefs, and concepts for giving a theoretical description of the world....
On the Logics of Knowledge and Belief
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A model theory for a logic of both knowledge and belief (epistemic logic) is spelled out and defended. The chapter explores some consequences of the assumptions that motivate the theory, some alternative ways that the theory might be extended, and some ways in which this kind of model theory might throw light on traditional problems in epistemology. The main focus is the relation between knowledge and belief, and on some parallels between issues that emerged from the project of responding to the Gettier problem and issues in the more formal framework about the relations between the accessibility relations for belief and knowledge operators.
Luminosity and the KK Thesis
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A mental state is luminous if and only if being in a state of that kind always puts one in a position to know that one is in the state. This chapter is a critique of Timothy Williamson’s margin-of-error argument that no nontrivial states are luminous in this sense. While I agree with Williamson’s rejection of a Cartesian internalist conception of the mind, I argue that an externalist conception (one based on information theory) can be reconciled with the luminosity of intentional mental states such as knowledge. My argument, which uses an artificial and simplified model of knowledge, is not a direct rebuttal to his argument, as applied to a more realistic notion of the knowledge of human beings, but I argue that it shows that a luminosity assumption is compatible with externalism about knowledge, and it suggest an intuitively plausible strategy for resisting his argument.
Iterated Belief Revision
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A discussion of the problem of extending the basic AGM belief revision theory to iterated belief revision: the problem of formulating rules, not only for revising a basic belief state in response to potential new evidence, but also for revising one’s revision rules in response to potential new evidence. The emphasis in the chapter is on foundational questions about the nature of and motivation for various constraints, and about the methodology of the evaluation of putative counterexamples to proposed constraints. Some specific constraints that have been proposed are criticized. The chapter emphasizes the importance of meta-information—information about one’s sources of information—and argues that little of substance can be said about constraints on iterated belief revision at a level of abstraction that lacks the resources for explicit representation of meta-information.
Modeling a Perspective on the World
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

It is argued, following David Lewis, that we should model a cognitive state by a set of centered possible worlds, since this is required to represent the believer’s self-locating or indexical knowledge and belief. But it is also argued, contra Lewis, that we should take the contents of belief to be propositions, represented by sets of uncentered possible worlds, since this is required to give a perspicuous account of agreement and disagreement of different agents, and of change of belief over time. Reconciling these two thoughts requires a defense of Propositionality: roughly, the thesis that any ignorance of where one is in the world is also ignorance about what the world in itself is like. This thesis is defended against some criticisms, and motivated by an externalist picture of knowledge and intentionality.
Reflection, Endorsement, Calibration
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A discussion of van Fraassen’s reflection principle: that an agent’s current credence in a proposition should coincide with his expectation of his future credence in that proposition. It is agreed by all that the principle needs to be qualified, but even qualified versions of the principle remain controversial. This chapter proposes a way of restricting, and then generalizing the principle. It is argued that the resulting principle is defensible, and that it can help to clarify some issues in epistemology. The qualifications involve a notion of endorsement that, it is argued, has interest beyond its use in the defense of the reflection principle. The more general issue in the background concerns the role of one’s information about the information possessed by others, and by oneself at other times, in constraining and justifying one’s current credences, and one’s judgments about what one knows.
Rational Reflection and the Notorious Unmarked Clock
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

This chapter concerns a reflection principle discussed by David Christensen and Adam Elga according to which a rational agent’s credence in ϕ‎ ought to be his or her expectation of the ideal credence for the agent, which is the degree to which the evidence ideally supports ϕ‎. The principle seems to have paradoxical consequences, illustrated in its application to an example to which the title of this chapter refers, but it is argued that the paradox arises from mistaken assumptions about what determines the agent’s epistemic situation. The principle may still need qualification, and it needs to be reconciled with the possibility of epistemic modesty (uncertainty about whether one’s credences are ideal), but the clock paradox can be dissolved, and doing so helps to clarify issues concerning higher-order evidence.
Expressivism and Propositions
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A defense of a version of Allan Gibbard’s expressivist analysis of normative judgments, focusing on his account of what he calls “normative logic.” The version defended interprets his analysis in a way that is significantly different from his own interpretation, which ties expressivism to a deflationary notion of truth. It is argued that Gibbard’s general account blurs the line between expressivism and normative realism, and that a more robust notion of truth that draws a sharper line can be defended, and can be reconciled with his normative logic. The chapter concludes by considering the application of this expressivist account to epistemic norms, and more specifically to norms for assessing degrees of belief and measures of degree of confirmation.
Contextualism and the Logic of Knowledge
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A discussion of contextualist accounts of knowledge, and of the epistemic logic that is appropriate to them. David Lewis’s account is compared and contrasted with an alternative, a version of an information-theoretic, “normal conditions” analysis of knowledge. The two accounts are formulated in a common abstract framework making it possible to clarify the structural features they share, and those on which they differ. Central concerns of the discussion are the interplay between facts about the attributor’s context and facts about the subject of the knowledge attribution, and the dynamics of knowledge attribution as contexts shift in response to changes in the epistemic situation of both the attributors and the subject.
Conditional Propositions and Conditional Assertions
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

A comparison of accounts of indicative conditional statements that treat them as a distinctive kind of conditional speech act—qualified assertion of the consequent qualified by the supposition of the antecedent—and accounts that treat them as unqualified assertions of propositions that are a function of antecedent and consequent. The aim is to reconcile the two accounts by making them precise in a common pragmatic framework, and showing that the former can be seen to be equivalent to a limiting case of the latter. It is argued that this way of representing the conditional assertion account helps to explain the relation between indicative and subjunctive conditionals.
Counterfactuals and Probability
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

This chapter continues the attempt, begun in chapter 10, to reconcile the thesis that conditionals have truth conditions with accounts such as Dorothy Edgington’s that aim to explain conditionals as expressing a distinctive kind of attitude represented by conditional probability. This time the focus is on subjunctive or counterfactual conditionals. It is argued that the propositional analysis helps to explain the cases, emphasized by Edgington, where counterfactual statements seem to be retrospective assessment of what was earlier said with an indicative conditional. It is also argued that the propositional analysis can allow for cases where counterfactuals have probability values but not truth-values, and more generally that it can help to explain the relationship between counterfactuals and objective chance.
Counterfactuals and Humean Reduction
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

This chapter comprises an exposition and critique of David Lewis’s metaphysical thesis of Humean supervenience and the reductive account of counterfactuals and other concepts in the natural necessity family that is given in this framework. Hume’s rejection of primitive natural necessity was grounded in his empiricist epistemology, but Lewis’s Humean metaphysics involves a radical separation of metaphysical and epistemological principles, and it is argued in this chapter that his metaphysics is unmotivated, and requires an implausible conception of the nature of fundamental natural properties. The chapter defends an alternative picture that picks up on a different more naturalistic Humean theme, tying the cluster of concepts that involve natural necessity to their role in an explanation of inductive practice.
Dispositions and Chance
Authors: Stalnaker Robert C.
Published: August 2019

This chapter develops a suggestion of Nelson Goodman that one should see the problem of explaining dispositional predicates and the problem of constructing an adequate theory of confirmation as aspects of the same underlying problem. It is argued that projectivism—the strategy of connecting rules of inductive practice with the development of theoretical descriptive concepts—does not imply quasi-realism, but is compatible with a thoroughly realistic understanding of those concepts. After a general discussion of the role of dispositional properties, the chapter looks in more detail at one kind of dispositional theory—a propensity account of objective chance—where the conceptual connection between concepts for giving a theoretical description of the world and rules of inductive practice is particularly explicit.
Introduction
Authors: Lebens Samuel , Rabinowitz Dani , Segal Aaron
Published: August 2019

This chapter attempts to characterize analytic philosophy as an intellectual tradition, and sketches the potential it has to spark a new age in Jewish philosophy. The chapter also outlines the structure and content of the rest of the volume.
Talmudic Destiny
Authors: Hirsch Eli
Published: August 2019

My aim in this chapter is to explore various connections between the Talmudic topic of “breira” and philosophical issues related to time and destiny. I argue that it is plausible that two leading positions in the Talmudic literature correspond respectively to Aristotle’s view and Ockhamism. I then try to defend the more ambitious claim that Rashi’s position corresponds to a novel third view on the open future not found in any familiar literature. I attempt to explain this new view
Metaphysics out of the Sources of the Halakha or a Halakhic Metaphysic?
Authors: Segal Aaron
Published: August 2019

A handful of analytic philosophers have examined certain legal (halakhic) passages from the Talmud to uncover what appear to be fairly clear views on the metaphysics of material objects, actions, identity, and time. Should we take these appearances at face value? I will argue that the rabbis of the Talmud employed legal variants of concepts that are naturally and automatically employed in ordinary metaphysical theorizing, where the variant is determined in large part by what would make the rabbis’ metaphysical claims true. This latter fact has the consequence that it is very difficult for a Talmudic rabbi to stake out a controversial metaphysical claim, or even a straightforwardly metaphysical claim, period. We philosophers should continue trying to extract metaphysics from halakha, but we shouldn’t presume that what we uncover will involve the metaphysical concepts we’re accustomed to. We should rather be prepared for a halakhic reconceptualization of the world.
Hume and Maimonides on Imaginability and Possibility
Authors: Steiner Mark
Published: August 2019

Much of David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature is based on the following axiom: Possibility is identical to imaginability. From this axiom, he derives his notorious view that there are no necessary connections between events, as well as his anti-Euclidean propositions that there are minimal distances and times. Maimonides explicitly denounced this axiom as being the central doctrine of the Kalamist theologians of Islam. He proceeds to show the “absurdities” that flow from it, and works out an entire philosophy which he attributes to the Kalam—including the Humean doctrines mentioned above. Since scholars deny the historicity of Maimonides’ “Kalam,” and say that Maimonides was only caricaturing the Kalam in order to discredit it, one arrives at the startling conclusion that Maimonides, hundreds of years before the birth of David Hume, discovered Hume’s philosophy.
Dispassion, God, and Nature
Authors: Frank Daniel
Published: August 2019

Spinoza is a severe critic of Maimonides and the whole medieval theistic tradition. Nevertheless, as recent philosophical scholarship has shown, Spinoza shares much with Maimonides in his own philosophical outlook. In this chapter I point to an important commonality in their respective views of the human good, namely the emphasis each places upon dispassion as a corollary of any deep understanding of God and/or nature.
Maimonides and his Predecessors on Dying for God as “Sanctification of the Name of God”
Authors: Stern Josef
Published: August 2019

Maimonides’ view of the significance of dying for God, I will argue, is his understanding of the phrase that the rabbis appropriated (at least by the Middle Ages) for dying in martyrdom scenarios—namely, “Qiddush HaShem,” literally: “Sanctification of the Name [of God].” For Maimonides, a holy life is no more but also no less than a life constituted by perfect performance of all commandments in the Mosaic Law without exception. Does this ideal allow for—indeed mandate in specific circumstances—transgressing rather than dying, especially when coerced? Or does a truly holy life require nothing less than perfect performance of all commandments allowing for no violations under any circumstances? The view that demands perfect observance of all commandments in all circumstances, I will call “holiness perfectionism.” Maimonides, I shall argue, offers a critique of this view.
The Fabric of Faith
Authors: Wettstein Howard
Published: August 2019

Emunah (Hebrew for “faith”) is not to be thought of as cognitive assent to a proposition. It is no mere state of the head, something internal to consciousness. It is rather, in my language, a stance, an attitude in an almost nautical sense, as if the agent were facing, tracking the sun. And as with tracking the sun, faith is dynamic; one does not face God in a static way. Faith concerns living in God’s tempo. What God wants of us, what He needs, changes over time and circumstances. In this chapter, I begin to unpack these metaphors for faith.
Should Theists Eschew Theodicies?
Authors: Shatz David
Published: August 2019

Moses Nachmanides argues that people who oppose the project of theodicy are “fools who despise wisdom.” Other Jewish thinkers have argued that it is impious and/or imprudent to offer theodicies in explanation of the evils in our world. This chapter critically examines religious arguments put forward against the project of theodicy.
A Proof of Exodus
Authors: Goldschmidt Tyron
Published: August 2019

This chapter defends the historicity of central Jewish narratives: the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Mount Sinai. Part 2 draws from Saadya Gaon, Yehuda HaLevi, and Jonathan Edwards: it identifies a principle about what kinds of national traditions are true, and then applies the principle to show that the Exodus tradition is true. Part 3 draws from Jonathan Edwards, Charles Leslie, and Ezra Zuckerman-Sivan: it develops the principle and the case for the Exodus tradition further. Part 4 replies to ten objections against the argument, focusing especially on recent objections from Yehuda Gellman.
Atzmut and Sefirot
Authors: Golding Joshua
Published: August 2019

The term atzmut designates the divine essence. The sefirot, by contrast, have to do with the ways in which the divine essence is manifest or expressed. The dual doctrine of atzmut and sefirot aims to preserve the notion that while God’s essence is perfectly one, it is also true that this essence manifests itself in many different ways. In this chapter, we shall explore different ways of understanding this doctrine. The standard view is that atzmut is an entity or being, and that the sefirot are also entities or beings. The alternative approach is that neither atzmut nor sefirot designate entities or beings. Rather, atzmut designates Being itself, and the sefirot designate the ways in which Being is manifest. I shall argue that the alternative approach has several philosophical or conceptual advantages over the standard approach.
The Morality of Biblical Deception
Authors: Weiss Shira
Published: August 2019

The chapter explores the philosophical question of whether or not it is ever moral to lie or deceive. Despite the Bible’s prohibitions against lying (Ex. 20:12; Lev. 19:11; Prov. 6:17), there are many instances in biblical narrative in which deceptive means are used to achieve a desired end. Exegetes go to great lengths to temper biblical characters’ lies and philosophers allegorize or attempt to harmonize biblical texts in order to idealize biblical characters. Such biblical interpretation will be examined from the perspective of moral philosophy in order better to appreciate the ethical teachings of the Bible.
The Conversable Intellect
Authors: Milnes Tim
Published: August 2019

Hume’s rhetorical concerns underscore the ways in which the pragmatic turn in British counter-Enlightenment thought is also, in a broad sense, a linguistic turn. His understanding of the necessity of trust in sustaining the fictions of belief necessary for communication undermines the conception of meaning as representation in ways that enable thinkers like Reid and Bentham to model human thought around the pragmatics of communication. Nonetheless, Hume’s linking of truth and the social conventions of language divides common-sense thinkers like Reid and Stewart (who interpret such indispensable conventions as first principles) from materialists such as Bentham and John Horne Tooke (who see Hume’s fictions of belief as, at best, pragmatically necessary). What unites Hume, Tooke, and Bentham is their vision of language as the source of what Bentham calls ‘logical fictions’, fictions that are at once philosophically unjustifiable and necessary for coherent thought.
From Possible to Impossible Worlds
Authors: Berto Francesco , Jago Mark
Published: August 2019

Possible worlds are ways things might have been. They find applications in analysing possibility and necessity; propositions; knowledge and belief; information; and indicative and counterfactual conditionals. But possible worlds semantics faces the issue of hyperintensionality, generated by concepts that require distinctions between logical or necessary equivalents. The problems of distinguishing equivalent propositions, of logical omniscience, of information overload, of irrelevant conditionals, and of counterpossible conditionals, are all instances of the general issue. Adding impossible worlds promises to help with these puzzles. But can we genuinely think about the impossible? It is argued that we can.
Modal Logics
Authors: Berto Francesco , Jago Mark
Published: August 2019

This chapter introduces normal propositional modal logics, then non-normal systems which invalidate the Necessitation rule (N). It shows how to model these logics using non-normal or impossible worlds, thought of as ‘logic violators’. This approach comes with non-uniform truth conditions: some operators are understood in one way at normal worlds, in another way at non-normal worlds. This may or may not be a problem. The specific case of non-adjunctive and non-prime worlds are then discussed, where conjunction and disjunction can behave in unusual ways.
Epistemic Logics
Authors: Berto Francesco , Jago Mark
Published: August 2019

Standard possible-worlds epistemic logic gives rise to the problem of logical omniscience. There are attempts to deal with the problem without using impossible worlds. A number of these approaches are discussed in this chapter and all are found wanting. The impossible worlds approach is immediately more successful, but faces a deep problem: how should impossible worlds be constrained, so as to give adequate models of knowledge and belief? One option is to take impossible worlds to be closed under some weaker-than-classical logic. But this approach does not genuinely solve the problem of logical omniscience. A different approach is the dynamic one, whereby epistemic states are not closed at any one time, but nevertheless evolve towards closure in a dynamic way.
Relevant Logics
Authors: Berto Francesco , Jago Mark
Published: August 2019

Relevant logics aim to avoid the ‘paradoxes’ of the material and strict conditionals. Their most natural semantics, the Routley-Meyer semantics, is given in terms of impossible worlds. By placing certain further conditions on those worlds, we can obtain stronger relevant logics. One of the main philosophical issues surrounding the general approach concerns how to interpret the Routley-Meyer ternary relation on worlds and the Routley star. The information-theoretic interpretation has proved popular but, it is argued, it faces philosophical issues. An alternative interpretation takes its cue from ways of thinking about conditionality in general. The three options are considered, but issues are found with each of them. A final option is the truthmaker interpretation of relevant logics, which is promising but under-developed.