bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Heme dynamics and trafficking factors revealed by genetically encoded fluorescent heme sensors
Authors: Hanna David A. , Harvey Raven M. , Martinez-Guzman Osiris , Yuan Xiaojing , Chandrasekharan Bindu , Raju Gheevarghese , Outten F. Wayne , Hamza Iqbal , Reddi Amit R.
Published: June 2016

Significance

All heme-dependent functions require the mobilization of labile heme (LH), of which there is little understanding of its nature and dynamics. To probe LH pools, we developed genetically encoded fluorescent heme sensors and deployed them in the unicellular eukaryoteSaccharomyces cerevisiae. We find that LH is relatively abundant in the cytosol, but exceedingly low in the mitochondria and nucleus. Further, we find that LH can be mobilized by signaling molecules like nitric oxide. We also find that the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase constitutes a major heme buffer and is responsible for regulating the activity of a heme-dependent transcription factor. Altogether, our work will have profound implications for understanding the mechanisms of heme utilization.
Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale
Authors: Yeager David S. , Walton Gregory M. , Brady Shannon T. , Akcinar Ezgi N. , Paunesku David , Keane Laura , Kamentz Donald , Ritter Gretchen , Duckworth Angela Lee , Urstein Robert , Gomez Eric M. , Markus Hazel Rose , Cohen Geoffrey L. , Dweck Carol S.
Published: June 2016

Significance

In the United States, large, persistent gaps exist in the rates at which racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups complete postsecondary education, even when groups are equated on prior preparation. We test a method for preventing some of those gaps by providing individuals with a lay theory about the meaning of commonplace difficulties before college matriculation. Across three experiments, lay theory interventions delivered to over 90% of students increased full-time enrollment rates, improved grade point averages, and reduced the overrepresentation of socially disadvantaged students among the bottom 20% of class rank. The interventions helped disadvantaged students become more socially and academically integrated in college. Broader tests can now be conducted to understand in which settings lay theories can help remedy postsecondary inequality at scale.
Hierarchy of prediction errors for auditory events in human temporal and frontal cortex
Authors: Dürschmid Stefan , Edwards Erik , Reichert Christoph , Dewar Callum , Hinrichs Hermann , Heinze Hans-Jochen , Kirsch Heidi E. , Dalal Sarang S. , Deouell Leon Y. , Knight Robert T.
Published: June 2016

Significance

To survive, organisms must constantly form predictions of the future based on past regularities. When predictions are violated, action may be needed. Different scales of environmental regularity need to encompass both subsecond repetitions and complex structures spanning longer timescales. How different parts of the brain monitor these temporal regularities and produce prediction error signals is unclear. Utilizing subdural electrocorticographic electrodes with an auditory paradigm involving local and global regularities, we show that frontal cortex is sensitive to the big picture, responding with high γ-band activity exclusively to globally unpredictable changes, whereas the temporal cortex equally responds to any change in the immediate history. These results reveal a hierarchy of predictive coding recorded directly from the human brain.
Draft genome of the peanut A-genome progenitor (Arachis duranensis) provides insights into geocarpy, oil biosynthesis, and allergens
Authors: Chen Xiaoping , Li Hongjie , Pandey Manish K. , Yang Qingli , Wang Xiyin , Garg Vanika , Li Haifen , Chi Xiaoyuan , Doddamani Dadakhalandar , Hong Yanbin , Upadhyaya Hari , Guo Hui , Khan Aamir W. , Zhu Fanghe , Zhang Xiaoyan , Pan Lijuan , Pierce Gary J. , Zhou Guiyuan , Krishnamohan Katta A. V. S. , Chen Mingna , Zhong Ni , Agarwal Gaurav , Li Shuanzhu , Chitikineni Annapurna , Zhang Guo-Qiang , Sharma Shivali , Chen Na , Liu Haiyan , Janila Pasupuleti , Li Shaoxiong , Wang Min , Wang Tong , Sun Jie , Li Xingyu , Li Chunyan , Wang Mian , Yu Lina , Wen Shijie , Singh Sube , Yang Zhen , Zhao Jinming , Zhang Chushu , Yu Yue , Bi Jie , Zhang Xiaojun , Liu Zhong-Jian , Paterson Andrew H. , Wang Shuping , Liang Xuanqiang , Varshney Rajeev K. , Yu Shanlin
Published: June 2016

Significance

We present a draft genome of the peanut A-genome progenitor,Arachis duranensis, providing details on total genes present in the genome. Genome analysis suggests that the peanut lineage was affected by at least three polyploidizations since the origin of eudicots. Resequencing of syntheticArachistetraploids reveals extensive gene conversion since their formation by human hands. TheA. duranensisgenome provides a major source of candidate genes for fructification, oil biosynthesis, and allergens, expanding knowledge of understudied areas of plant biology and human health impacts of plants. This study also provides millions of structural variations that can be used as genetic markers for the development of improved peanut varieties through genomics-assisted breeding.
Mechanosensory hairs in bumblebees (
Bombus terrestris
) detect weak electric fields
Authors: Sutton Gregory P. , Clarke Dominic , Morley Erica L. , Robert Daniel
Published: June 2016

Significance

Electroreception in terrestrial animals is poorly understood. In bumblebees, the mechanical response of filiform hairs in the presence of electric fields provides key evidence for electrosensitivity to ecologically relevant electric fields. Mechanosensory hairs in arthropods have been shown to function as fluid flow or sound particle velocity receivers. The present work provides direct evidence for additional, nonexclusive functionality involving electrical Coulomb-force coupling between distant charged objects and mechanosensory hairs. Thus, the sensory mechanism is proposed to rely on electromechanical coupling, whereby many light thin hairs serve the detection of the electrical field surrounding a bumblebee approaching a flower. This finding prompts the possibility that other terrestrial animals use such sensory hairs to detect and respond to electric fields.
Morphine paradoxically prolongs neuropathic pain in rats by amplifying spinal NLRP3 inflammasome activation
Authors: Grace Peter M. , Strand Keith A. , Galer Erika L. , Urban Daniel J. , Wang Xiaohui , Baratta Michael V. , Fabisiak Timothy J. , Anderson Nathan D. , Cheng Kejun , Greene Lisa I. , Berkelhammer Debra , Zhang Yingning , Ellis Amanda L. , Yin Hang Hubert , Campeau Serge , Rice Kenner C. , Roth Bryan L. , Maier Steven F. , Watkins Linda R.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Pain after disease/damage of the nervous system is predominantly treated with opioids, but without exploration of the long-term consequences. We demonstrate that a short course of morphine after nerve injury doubles the duration of neuropathic pain. Using genetic and pharmacological interventions, and innovative Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs disruption of microglia reactivity, we demonstrate that opioid-prolonged neuropathic pain arises from spinal microglia and NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome formation/activation. Inhibiting these processes permanently resets amplified pain to basal levels, an effect not previously reported. These data support the “two-hit hypothesis” of amplification of microglial activation—nerve injury being the first “hit,” morphine the second. The implications of such potent microglial “priming” has fundamental clinical implications for pain and may extend to many chronic neurological disorders.
Enantiomer excesses of rare and common sugar derivatives in carbonaceous meteorites
Authors: Cooper George , Rios Andro C.
Published: June 2016

Significance

The majority of biological sugars and their derivatives contain higher abundances of the “
d
” mirror-image forms relative to the “
l
” forms. For example, nucleic acids are composed of only
d
sugars. Carbonaceous meteorites can potentially assist in understanding the long-sought origin of such phenomena; They preserve a record of the earliest (∼4.5 Gy) chemical processes in the Solar System. To date, there have been no systematic studies of
d/l (
i.e., enantiomer) ratios of meteoritic sugar derivatives. In multiple meteorites, we demonstrate that rare and common sugar acids contain large excesses of the
d
enantiomer. Such data indicate that early meteoritic compounds may have influenced the enantiomer profile of subsequent biological sugars and their derivatives.
Mass spectrometry-based absolute quantification reveals rhythmic variation of mouse circadian clock proteins
Authors: Narumi Ryohei , Shimizu Yoshihiro , Ukai-Tadenuma Maki , Ode Koji L. , Kanda Genki N. , Shinohara Yuta , Sato Aya , Matsumoto Katsuhiko , Ueda Hiroki R.
Published: June 2016

Significance

A method for absolute quantification of proteins for targeted proteomics is developed. It introduces a simple and high-throughput synthesis of internal standards for peptide quantification and thereby facilitates both multiplexed and sensitive absolute quantification of proteins. Application of this method to the systems-level dynamic analysis of core circadian clock proteins and detection of internal body time using quantified values of circadian clock proteins is shown. The results demonstrate the validity of the developed method in which quantified values from wild-type mice can predict the endogenous state of the circadian clock.
The adenovirus E4-ORF3 protein functions as a SUMO E3 ligase for TIF-1γ sumoylation and poly-SUMO chain elongation
Authors: Sohn Sook-Young , Hearing Patrick
Published: June 2016

Significance

Viruses interplay with the host sumoylation system to manipulate diverse cellular responses. The adenovirus (Ad) early region 4 (E4)-ORF3 protein forms a dynamic nuclear network to interfere with and exploit host processes. Here we provide the first direct evidence to our knowledge that the Ad5 E4-ORF3 protein is a new type of viral small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) E3 ligase that promotes substrate sumoylation and poly-SUMO3 chain formation. This explains the interrelationship between E4-ORF3–mediated substrate sumoylation and proteasomal degradation. Our study reveals that E4-ORF3 functions directly to regulate cellular enzymatic processes. Because E4-ORF3 does not share homology with any known ubiquitin or SUMO E3 ligases, these results confer an important clue to understand the mechanism by which E3 ligases transfer SUMOs from charged E2 to selected substrates and mediate chain elongation.
Argininosuccinate synthetase regulates hepatic AMPK linking protein catabolism and ureagenesis to hepatic lipid metabolism
Authors: Madiraju Anila K. , Alves Tiago , Zhao Xiaojian , Cline Gary W. , Zhang Dongyan , Bhanot Sanjay , Samuel Varman T. , Kibbey Richard G. , Shulman Gerald I.
Published: June 2016

Significance

The CDC projects that by the year 2050 one in three adults will be affected by diabetes in the United States alone. A key feature of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance, which is associated with ectopic lipid deposition in tissues such as the liver. We have discovered a novel regulatory mechanism in the liver linking protein catabolism and ureagenesis to increased lipid oxidation. By increasing urea production, flux through the enzyme argininosuccinate synthetase is enhanced, leading to activation of AMP-activated protein kinase and increased hepatic fat oxidation. These findings may lead to the development of new drugs designed to reduce fat accumulation in the liver and reverse insulin resistance.
A statistical property of fly odor responses is conserved across odors
Authors: Stevens Charles F.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Although the brain has long been considered to use combinatorial codes (a defined population of neurons whose pattern of rates is specific to a particular object), in no case has the code been well-characterized. Here I characterize the fly odor code by showing it is maximum entropy; what this means is that the response to all odors is statistically the same. This characterization is a significant first step in cracking the odor code.
Whole-exome sequencing to analyze population structure, parental inbreeding, and familial linkage
Authors: Belkadi Aziz , Pedergnana Vincent , Cobat Aurélie , Itan Yuval , Vincent Quentin B. , Abhyankar Avinash , Shang Lei , El Baghdadi Jamila , Bousfiha Aziz ,   the Exome/Array Consortium, Alcais Alexandre , Boisson Bertrand , Casanova Jean-Laurent , Abel Laurent , Al-Herz Waleed , Arikan Cigdem , Arkwright Peter , Aydogmus Cigdem , Bernard Olivier , Blancas-Galicia Lizbeth , Boisson-Dupuis Stéphanie , Bonnet Damien , Stambouli Omar Boudghene , Boussofara Lobna , Boutros Jeannette , Bustamante Jacinta , Ciancanelli Michael , Cole Theresa , Condino-Neto Antonio , Desai Mukesh , Fieschi Claire , Franco José Luis , Ichai Philippe , Jouanguy Emmanuelle , Keser-Emiroglu Melike , Kilic Sara S , Mahdaviani Seyed Alireza , Mahlhoui Nizar , Mansouri Davood , Parvaneh Nima , Picard Capucine , Puel Anne , Raoult Didier , Rezaei Nima , Sanal Ozden , Ramon Silvia Sanchez , Vandenesch François , Vogt Guillaume , Zhang Shen-Ying
Published: June 2016

Significance

We compared the information provided by whole-exome sequencing (WES) and genome-wide single-nucleotide variant arrays in terms of principal component analysis, homozygosity rate estimation, and linkage analysis using 110 subjects originating from different regions of the world. WES provided an accurate prediction of population substructure using high-quality variants with a minor allele frequency > 2% and reliable estimation of homozygosity rates using runs of homozygosity. Finally, homozygosity mapping in 15 consanguineous families showed that WES led to powerful linkage analyses, particularly in coding regions. Overall, our study shows that WES could be used for several analyses that are very helpful to optimize the search for disease-causing exome variants.
K
ATP
channel gain-of-function leads to increased myocardial L-type Ca
2+
current and contractility in Cantu syndrome
Authors: Levin Mark D. , Singh Gautam K. , Zhang Hai Xia , Uchida Keita , Kozel Beth A. , Stein Phyllis K. , Kovacs Atilla , Westenbroek Ruth E. , Catterall William A. , Grange Dorothy Katherine , Nichols Colin G.
Published: June 2016

Significance

ATP-sensitive potassium (K
ATP
) channels are present in cardiac and smooth muscle; when activated, they relax blood vessels and decrease cardiac action potential duration, reducing cardiac contractility. Cantu syndrome (CS) is caused by mutations in K
ATP
genes that result in overactive channels. Contrary to prediction, we show that the myocardium in both CS patients and in animal models with overactive K
ATP
channels is hypercontractile. We also show that this results from a compensatory increase in calcium channel activity, paralleled by specific alterations in phosphorylation of the calcium channel itself. These findings have implications for the way the heart compensates for decreased excitability and volume load in general and for the basis of, and potential therapies for, CS specifically.
Envelope residue 375 substitutions in simian–human immunodeficiency viruses enhance CD4 binding and replication in rhesus macaques
Authors: Li Hui , Wang Shuyi , Kong Rui , Ding Wenge , Lee Fang-Hua , Parker Zahra , Kim Eunlim , Learn Gerald H. , Hahn Paul , Policicchio Ben , Brocca-Cofano Egidio , Deleage Claire , Hao Xingpei , Chuang Gwo-Yu , Gorman Jason , Gardner Matthew , Lewis Mark G. , Hatziioannou Theodora , Santra Sampa , Apetrei Cristian , Pandrea Ivona , Alam S. Munir , Liao Hua-Xin , Shen Xiaoying , Tomaras Georgia D. , Farzan Michael , Chertova Elena , Keele Brandon F. , Estes Jacob D. , Lifson Jeffrey D. , Doms Robert W. , Montefiori David C. , Haynes Barton F. , Sodroski Joseph G. , Kwong Peter D. , Hahn Beatrice H. , Shaw George M.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Simian–human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) are an invaluable tool for assessing HIV-1 vaccines, developing therapeutic “cure” strategies, and understanding viral immunopathogenesis. However, only limited success has been achieved in creating SHIVs that incorporate HIV-1 envelopes (Envs) that retain the antigenic features of clinically relevant viruses. Here we focus on a critical residue of the CD4-binding region, Env375, which is under strong positive selection across the broad range of primate lentiviruses. We find that genotypic variation of residue 375 allows for the creation of pathogenic SHIVs that retain the antigenicity, tier 2 neutralization sensitivity, and persistence properties characteristic of primary HIV-1 strains. Taken together, our findings suggest a new paradigm for SHIV design and modeling with important applications to HIV-1 vaccine, cure, and pathogenesis research.
The Influence of Agents
Authors: Wallace James D.
Published: June 2016

… We learn from anatomy, that the immediate object of power in voluntary motion, is not the member itself which is moved, but certain muscles, and nerves, and animal spirits, and, perhaps, something still more minute and more unknown, through which the motion is successively propagated, ere it reach the member itself whose motion is the immediate object of volition. Can there be a more certain proof, that the power, by which the whole operation is performed … is, to the last degree, mysterious and unintelligible?

Recent metaphysical theories, which stress the importance of an agent as a sort of cause, raise again the question of where and how in the chain of events involved in voluntary motion the human agent “immediately” exerts his influence. The matter is still every bit as mystifying as Hume suggests. We know that when a human being moves voluntarily, there are events in his central nervous system which are causes of the motion. Of course, nothing whatever need be known about these events in order to move voluntarily. Either human agents produce these events or they do not.
Another Perspective on the Speckled Hen
Authors: Johnson David M.
Published: June 2016

Philosophers in the tradition of Berkeley say that the first step in gaining knowledge from perception is to report or describe one's perceptual data, or that which one sees (feels, hears, smells, tastes) ‘immediately'. Further, perceptual data (1) are existing things of some sort, and (2) always are exactly as they appear to be since, as H. H. Price says, “in the sphere of the given … what seems, is”. However, these two claims about perceptual data are sometimes incompatible, as the following case shows. Suppose a man looking at a speckled hen reports that it has many speckles but is not able to report the exact number of speckles it has. If (2) above is correct, the man's perceptual datum, as opposed to the physical hen itself which he sees—according to Berkeleians—in a merely indirect sense, would have to be indeterminate in character. Yet we assume that everything which exists (cf. requirement (1)) is and has to be completely determinate. A person's knowledge is indeterminate if he knows that the planet Mars has either two or three satellites and doesn't know which. But Mars itself at any moment has to have some definite number of satellites.
The Concept of Incorrigibility
Authors: Robinson Richard
Published: June 2016

In the last thirty-five years philosophers have often referred to corrigible and incorrigible statements or judgements. This usage probably began with the Inaugural lecture of the Wykeham Professor of logic at Oxford University on 5 March, 1936, which was called ‘Truth and Corrigibility’ and discussed the theory that ‘all judgements are corrigible'. Price did not say there that he himself invented this usage. On the contrary, he said that “it is maintained by many philosophers that all judgements are corrigible”. But he gave no reference to support this statement; and it seems that in fact only Bradley preceded him in writing of a ‘corrigible statement', and Bradley did so only in a single (though thrice repeated) paragraph, once taken up by Russell. The effective disseminator of the notion was probably Price himself.

The Oxford English Dictionary in 1893, when its C volume appeared, knew of no such thing as a corrigible judgement or statement. The possible owners of corrigibility then were things, men, disorders, votes, faults, weaknesses, passions, abuses, dispositions, inclinations, offenders, sinners, and necks. (“Bending down his corrigible neck”, Antony and Cleopatra, 4, 14, 74).
The Causality of God in Spinoza’s Philosophy
Authors: Watt A. J.
Published: June 2016

Spinoza’s Ethics must contain some of philosophy’s most baffling statements. All things are animate; the order and connection of ideas is the same as the order and connection of things: what would I be committed to in agreeing (or disagreeing) with these doctrines? His austere mode of exposition, sparing of illustrations and discursive explanations, ensures that any answer must be highly speculative.

His weakness for dark sayings seems to have communicated itself to some of his best-known commentators. Of course where a philosopher’s thought is itself opaque one would be unreasonable to expect lucidity in a commentator’s exposition of it. However he has been described as holding puzzling, to my mind unintelligible opinions on subjects concerning which, as far as I can see, his own statements more naturally suggest a much clearer and more comprehensible interpretation. There are problems enough in understanding his thought without adding needlessly to the list. I think there has been such an addition in discussion of his doctrines about the causal relationship between God and finite creatures, and this paper is devoted to suggesting another account of his thought on that topic which combines, I think, the advantages of being more intelligible and a more natural construction to place on his own statements, than the set of opinions generally laid at his door.
Comment
Authors: Harris Errol E.
Published: June 2016

The interesting and suggestive interpretation offered by A. J, Watt in this journal (pp. 171-89 above) of Spinoza’s account of God’s causality to some extent anticipates the discussion of the topic which I am undertaking in a forthcoming book on Spinoza’s philosophy. To a greater extent it is, of course, anticipated by Stuart Hampshire in his study of Spinoza. I agree with Mr. Watt’s objections to some of the traditional interpretations of Spinoza’s doctrine and I think it is in fact immune from the strictures of some critics who attempt to explain the succession of finite modes in Substance as a product of imaginal thinking, a view which must lead to a paralogism in Spinoza’s thought so gross that he could not have been unaware of it and could not have committed unless he had been. I shall not enter into this part of the discussion, as I have no wish to contest what Mr. Watt has written with respect to it, but shall confine my attention to his own (and incidentally Hampshire’s) interpretation.
A Short Refutation of Ethical Egoism
Authors: Campbell Richmond
Published: June 2016

The theory I want to refute is sometime called Impersonal Ethical Egoism (IEE): the view that everyone ought (morally) to do what will benefit him the most in any given situation. It might be thought that this view can be distinguished from Personal Ethical Egoism (PEE): the view that I ought (morally) to do what will benefit me the most in any given situation. But to whom does “I” refer in PEE? To any person who states the view? And is the view supposed to be true no matter who states it? If the answers to the last two questions are Yes, then PEE and IEE come to the same thing. To distinguish the views, we might take “I” to refer to a specific person, say, the person who just stated the view. Put unambiguously, without the personal pronoun, PEE then becomes: RC ought (morally) to do what will benefit RC the most in any given situation. IEE would then logically imply PEE, but not conversely. But the reason why PEE would not imply IEE is not that it would be a conflicting, or even an alternative and competing, form of ethical egoism; it is simply that PEE would be formulated much less generally than IEE. In fact, since PEE would concern only what one particular person ought to do, it would not be obvious that the view itself should be called a form of egoism. For if anyone else subscribed to the view, that would hardly make him an egoist; so there would seem to be nothing inherently egoistic about the view. But, in any case, what I aim to refute is a general theory about what anyone ought to do in a given situation, not a theory limited in scope to the actions of only one individual.
The Language-Game View of Religion and Religious Certainty
Authors: Kellenberger James
Published: June 2016

There is a certain view of religion, deriving from Wittgenstein’s thought, that might be called the language-game view of religion. It has many parts, but in essence it holds–in its own terms–that religion is a language-game (or cluster of languagegames) in fact engaged in by men; or, what seems to be an alternative way of saying the same thing, or very nearly the same. thing, religion is a form of life participated in by men. As such it is in order. Although one needs to enter into the torm ot lite and engage in the language-game to learn its grammar or logic and to see the order that it has. For its order has internal criteria: what count as, e.g., rational and meaningful within religion are determined not by criteria appropriate to physics or chess playing but by criteria appropriate to religion as it is lived by the religious.
Necessity and Identity
Authors: Goble L. F.
Published: June 2016

Quine and others have put many problems to quantified modal logic. Their purpose is to show the logic to be paradoxical or at least very peculiar. Many of these problems center around the interplay between modality, quantification and identity.
Carl Hempel: Explanations by Reasons
Authors: Patten Steven C.
Published: June 2016

Carl Hempel has proposed the following model for explanations by reasons.

(R) (i) A was in a situation of type C.

(ii) A was a rational agent at the time.

(iii) In a situation of type C, any rational agent will do X.

(iv) Therefore, A did X.

According to Hempel (R) overcomes the shortcomings of alternative accounts of explaining by reasons such as William Dray's model, in that the so-called evaluative principle is replaced by an empirical law. It is William Dray's contention that to understand the action of a rational agent is to see that his action was appropriate in his situation. Following Dray this then means that in explaining such an action one makes use of a normative ‘principle of action', not an empirical law, which has the form ‘when in a situation of type C1… Cn the thing to do is X'.
A Critique of Pure Anarchism
Authors: Beauchamp Tom L. , Witkowski Ken
Published: June 2016

In defense of anarchism Robert Paul Wolff contends that the moral autonomy of individuals cannot be made compatible with legitimate political authority. A state is legitimate, he maintains, if (and perhaps only if) authorities in the state have a right to command where subjects correlatively have an obligation to obey. However, he also holds both that all autonomous individuals have a primary obligation to refuse to be ruled by all authorities and that all men are normally obliged to remain autonomous. It allegedly follows that anarchism is the only political theory consistent with autonomy (9, 18f). We propose to show that his arguments concerning legitimacy contain a crucial inconsistency and that his conclusions concerning the incompatibility of authority and autonomy fail.
The Paradox of Omnipotence Revisited
Authors: Cowan J. L.
Published: June 2016

A. (1) Either God can create a stone which He cannot lift, or He cannot create a stone which He cannot lift.

(2) If God can create a stone which He cannot lift, then He is not omnipotent (since He cannot lift the stone in question).

(3) If God cannot create a stone which He cannot lift, then He is not omnipotent (since He cannot create the stone in question).

(4) Therefore, God is not omnipotent.

In a paper published in Analysis I tried to show (a) that any attempt to find something wrong with all arguments of the general form of A above, any attempt to resolve the “paradox,” must fail, (b) that the reason these attempts must fail is that at least some arguments of this form are essentially sound, and (c) that the only thing which makes these arguments seem paradoxical, their conclusion to the effect that God is not omnipotent, is, like at least some versions of the arguments to this conclusion, quite correct.
Kripke on Naming and Necessity
Authors: De Sousa R. B.
Published: June 2016

Some wag (was it Mark Twain?) reported the following story: Scholars have recently established that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not, after all, written by Homer. They were actually written by another author, of the same name.

The majority of current theories of naming and reference, including ones as divergent in other respects as those of Russell and Searle, would rule this story impossible. They would do so on roughly these grounds: the sense and reference (one or the other, or one through the other, depending on the theory) of the name ‘Homer’ is determined, given the absence of other reliable testimony, by the sole description: ‘Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey’. ‘Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey’ is therefore known a priori, hence necessarily true. There could not be another author of that name and claim to fame.

In lectures delivered at Princeton in the Winter of 1970, Saul Kripke offered a lucid alternative to such theories (which I shall lump together under the term ‘descriptivism’).
Acting Under Duress
Authors: Baker Brenda
Published: June 2016

My discussion of duress falls into three parts. In part I of the paper, I argue chiefly that Xings done under duress remain clear cases of action, and that they are special cases of acting for a reason. In part II, I propose a five-point analysis of acting under duress. In part III, I examine how duress operates as a defence. I maintain that duress is sometimes an excuse and sometimes a justification for conduct, although I further argue that nevertheless it would not be unreasonable to classify duress as an excuse.
Physiological Changes and the Emotions
Authors: Lyons William
Published: June 2016

I want to attempt to analyze a forgotten area in the philosophy of emotions, the relations between physiological changes and the emotions. I want to do this:

(1) by first of all briefly setting out some distinctions necessary to the understanding of the position I will be arguing for,

(2) then by trying to elucidate what exactly is to be understood by the term ‘physiological change’ in the context of an emotion,

(3) by showing that particular physiological changes are not part of the concept of any particular emotion and are only linked causally to the cognitive-appetitive part of an occurrent emotional state (the description of which part, forms the concept of that particular emotion),

(4) by showing, however, that the notion of a physiological change is part of the concept of an emotional state,

(5) and, finally, by drawing out some consequences of this analysis.
Referring to What Does Not Exist
Authors: Vision Gerald
Published: June 2016

Under the title of ‘the axiom of existence’, hereafter (AE), John R. Searle has reduced to compact dictum a view to which many philosophers subscribe:

(AE) ‘Whatever is referred to must exist’.

(A less equivocal, though inelegant formulation would be: ‘It is necessary that whatever is referred to exist at some time or other’.) In this paper I shall offer two major arguments against adopting (AE), at least on certain assumptions. There have been a number of defenses of (AE), among them those arguing that it is fundamental to any systematic philosophy of language or logic. With the exception of discussing some of Searle's remarks in part Ill of this paper I shall not comment on any of these defenses.
The-Meaning-of-a-Word
Authors: Munsat Stanley
Published: June 2016

In his paper “The Meaning of a Word” J. L. Austin argues that a set of questions and (hence?) a set of answers to these questions is nonsensical. The philosophical claim that a question or answer is nonsense is an important part of the philosopher's stock and trade; for to ask and to propose answers to nonsensical questions is to reveal confusion and the tracking down and unraveling of confusion is one of the valuable contributions that philosophy has to make in the advancement of understanding.

At the same time one must not accept too easily the charge that a question or a form of answer to a question is nonsensical, for to do this is to block off a whole avenue of inquiry and therein direct one's efforts away from a route that might yield positive results.
The Utility of Quality: An Understanding of Mill
Authors: Bronaugh Richard N.
Published: June 2016

Henry Sidgwick remarked in The Methods of Ethics regarding pleasure that the “distinctions of quality that Mill and others urge may … be admitted as grounds of preference, but only in so far as they can be resolved into distinctions of quantity.” Sidgwick had not believed that Mill intended that resolution and commented in his history that “it is hard to see in what sense a man who of two alternative pleasures chooses the less pleasant on the ground of its superiority in quality can be affirmed to take ‘greatest’ happiness or pleasure as his standard of preference.” Though Mill's view has been discussed rather often (especially in elementary texts), the state of the criticism has more or less stabilized with Sidgwick's conclusion.
Aquinas on Inner Space
Authors: Centore F. F.
Published: June 2016

Can one deny the intelligibility of “extramental nonbeing” in pure ontology while affirming its intelligibility in physics? When one sweeps the heavens clean of matter does one also necessarily affirm the existence of absolute nonbeing in those “clean” spaces? Does talking about space necessarily mean talking about nonbeing? How could there possibly be “space” which is not absolute nothingness? How, if at all, can statements about space be reconciled with such self-contradictory statements as “What is not, is“?

The purpose of this brief paper is not to argue, within the context of the physical sciences, about whether or not there exist voids or absolutely empty spaces in the universe. Neither is it to discuss the existence or nonexistence of the aether. And although I shall be using texts taken from several famous historical figures, my purpose is not primarily historical.
On Causal Consequences
Authors: Frey R. G.
Published: June 2016

In his Generalization in Ethics, Marcus Singer distinguishes between individual and collective consequences. According to Singer, the collective consequences of everyone's acting in a certain way is for certain kinds of acts not the sum of—or, more exactly, is greater than the sum of—the individual consequences of each individual act. The point is put more straightforwardly by Sir Roy Harrod:

There are certain acts which when performed on n similar occasions have consequences more than n times as great as those resulting from one performance . ... For example, it may well happen that the loss of confidence due to a million lies uttered within certain limits of time and space is much more than a million times as great as the loss due to any one in particular.
The Cartesian Method of Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding
Authors: Schouls P. A.
Published: June 2016

Locke tells us that his purpose inAn Essay Concerning Human Understandingis “to inquire into the original, certainty, and extent of human knowledge, together with the grounds and degrees of belief, opinion, and assent” (1.1.2). He provides a characterization ofgeneralhuman knowledge as universal truths in propositional form. In doing this he presupposes a striking doctrine about the “extent” of man's general knowledge, and he draws freely upon a theory meant to explain both the materials (the “original”) out of which this knowledge is constructed and the way in which it is constructed. He holds that the “certainty” which characterizes general knowledge is obtained only if we proceed from the right materials or foundations in the right way, and that the right foundations themselves can only be obtained in one specific way. In this study I try to show how much more Cartesian Locke is than many commentators would allow. I argue that on Locke's own view the way to obtain the foundations for general knowledge is that of Cartesiananalysis,and the way to construct general knowledge once these foundations have been obtained is that of Cartesiansynthesis.
Is Aristotle's Account of Incontinence Inconsistent?
Authors: McConnell Terrance
Published: June 2016

Included among the many topics on which Aristotle writes in the Nicomacheon Ethics is an account of incontinence or akrasia. Many controversies have arisen among interpreters of Aristotle on this issue, and a few of these disputes will be discussed in this paper. In the first part of this paper I shall indicate the usual way of reading Aristotle's account of incontinence, which I shall call the natural interpretation. In the second section I shall raise some apparent difficulties with the natural interpretation by pointing out three passages in the Nicomacheon Ethics which seem to be inconsistent with it. Finally, in the concluding three sections of this paper I shall argue that the three passages allegedly inconsistent with the natural interpretation can be shown to be consistent with the general line of argument that the natural interpretation takes Aristotle to be following. In showing how these passages can be reconciled with the usual way of reading Aristotle's account of akrasia, a much clearer and more complete picture of what his view is emerges. In addition, this reading makes Aristotle's account of incontinence more philosophically acceptable - though it is not without its problems - than it is normally supposed to be.
Dreaming an Impossible Dream
Authors: Mannison D. S.
Published: June 2016

Norman Malcolm wrote:

That something is implausible or Impossible does not go to show that I did not dream it. In a dream I can do the impossible in every sense of the word.

Malcolm nowhere suggests why this remark should be regarded as true. Indeed, many philosophers would regard it is palpably false. After all, it is not at all obvious that one can hope for, intend to do, or believe what is in every sense of the word, impossible. I think, however, that Malcolm's observation is correct; and this paper is devoted to showing why it is correct. In the concluding section I present an account of dreaming that shows why it is that impossible dreams are possible.

“What can a person dream?” This is an odd query; and what it might mean to put this question (if, indeed, it is a sensible question) is not at all transparent. It is not like asking what a person might dream, when this is understood as a request for what someone is likely to dream, or what one may reasonably expect someone to dream, say, on the evening of a day in which one had visited a dentist.
The Omnipotence Paradox
Authors: Walton Douglas
Published: June 2016

Can an omnipotent being create a stone too heavy for him to lift? If not, he is not omnipotent. But if so, he is not omnipotent either, since there is something he cannot lift. Hence there can be no omnipotent being. J .L. Cowan's recent reformulation of this paradox of omnipotence (thisJournal,vol. III, no. 3, March, 1974) has been sharpened through a number of objections and clarifications, and, in its final form, constitutes a significant problem for the analysis of the concept of an omnipotent agent. I will develop fragments of two systems in which the problem can be defined more exactly, and try to indicate some formal guidelines within which constructive steps towards a solution may be possible. I will argue that the paradox shows the need for a special kind of restriction on omnipotence that can be distinguished from some related restrictions.
The Unmakable-Because-Unliftable Stone
Authors: McLean Murdith
Published: June 2016

It is customary to dismiss such queries as ‘Can God create a being he cannot control?’ and ‘Can God create a knot he cannot untie?’ with the comment that such questions in fact fail to specify a task for God to perform. The reason given is that omnipotence is included in the idea of God, with the alleged result that such expressions as ‘a being God cannot control’ and ‘a knot God cannot untie’ contain contradictions. J .L. Cowan has argued that this conventional response is mistaken, and subsequently expanded upon this contention in reply to some of its critics. I shall try to show that Cowan's defense of the coherence of expressions like these is mistaken, and with it his conclusion that since an omnipotent God clearly cannot perform such tasks the concept of omnipotence is self-contradictory.

Cowan has no quarrel with one assumption of the customary reply. If the specification of a task is self-contradictory, he agrees that the inability of God to perform it is no blemish on his omnipotence.
Mathematical Knowledge and Pattern Cognition
Authors: Resnik Michael D.
Published: June 2016

This paper is concerned with the genesis of mathematical knowledge. While some philosophers might argue that mathematics has no real subject matter and thus is not a body of knowledge, I will not try to dissuade them directly. (One might do so by developing a theory of meaning and truth, which together with observations from the sociology of mathematics would imply that mathematical knowledge exists. Mathematicians do seem to make knowledge claims, so all one needs is a theory which shows that here at least appearances are real.) I shall not attempt such a refutation because it seems clear to me that mathematicians do know such things as the Mean Value Theorem, The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic, Godel's Theorems, etc. Moreover, this is much more evident to me than any philosophical view of mathematics I know of — including my own. So I am going to take mathematics as my starting point.
David Lewis On Convention
Authors: Jamieson Dale
Published: June 2016

A convention is a regularity in behavior, sustained by a system of preferences and expectations, that has a possible alternative: so claims David Lewis. That it is not, is what I hope to show.

In Convention; A Philosophical Study, Lewis gives an analysis of what he hopes is “our common, established concept of convention.” In developing his analysis, Lewis extensively employs the technical vocabulary of game theory. According to Lewis conventions are established by “populations” in order to solve recurring “coordination problems.” Lewis gives eleven examples of “coordination problems” which he claims are solved by convention. One example is the following:

Suppose several of us are driving on the same winding two-lane roads. It matters little to anyone whether he drives in the left or the right lane, provided the others do likewise. But if some drive in the left lane and some in the right, everyone is in danger of collision.
Karl Popper's Philosophy Of Science
Authors: Churchland Paul M.
Published: June 2016

Proper recognition came belatedly to the work of Karl Popper. The novelty and power of his comprehensive philosophy went largely unnoticed for decades, his views being misapprehended, to the extent they were apprehended at all, as an uncompelling variation on the dominant Positivist theme. In the past two decades, however, recognition has become widespread. He can lay claim to being the initial figure in a vital and flourishing tradition in the contemporary literature; his views find expression even in undergraduate curricula; and he finds himself the welcome subject of a two-volume issue in the Schilpp series, The Library of Living Philosophers. The appearance of this collection is the occasion of this notice.

Unfortunately, the spectre of misapprehension surrounds Popper still, and haunts what should have been some of the most interesting pages in this collection. At issue here is Popper's conception of rational scientific methodology, a conception which has received substantial criticism from inductivist and anti-inductivist quarters alike. Partly from conviction, and partly for the sake of argument (Popper is an anti-inductivist), I shall adopt the latter viewpoint in this essay. My sympathies, however, will be with his critics.
Karl Popper As Social Philosopher
Authors: Mardiros Anthony M.
Published: June 2016

In these days of inflation, perhaps we should not be surprised that the fourteenth and latest addition to the Library of Living Philosophers, should require two volumes. Previous subjects, including Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein and G.E. Moore, were adequately accomodated within the covers of one volume. This expansion is hardly justified by the contents of the volumes. The most interesting and useful material is to be found in Popper's opening autobiographical section, but the other contributors and critics for the most part are disappointing in their lack of critical bite.

For this reason perhaps Popper's reply to his critics adds little to our understanding of his philosophical positions, although even when his critic is as acute as A.J. Ayer, Popper's reply has an air of defensive obfuscation.

Another recent book giving a brief but clear exposition of Popper's philosophy by a former student, Bryan Magee also fails to give his views the critical examination they deserve.
Justifying “Wholesale Slaughter”
Authors: VanDeVeer Donald
Published: June 2016

In a recent trial in the United States a physician was convicted of manslaughter during the performance of a hysterotomy on a woman pregnant from twenty to twenty eight weeks. Some members of the jury, in their deliberations, were much impressed by seeing a photograph of a fetus of about the same age. The experience apparently provided some jurors with reason to conclude that the fetus which did die during or immediately after the hysterotomy was a human being or a person or, at least, was so like a child that the killing of it was prohibited by the law of homicide. If being a human being is not the same as being a pre-natal progeny of homo sapiens, it is difficult to understand how one could “tell by looking” whether the fetus is a human being. But the sight of a fetus of twenty weeks or longer does, I think, tempt us to think that from a moral standpoint we ought to extend the same treatment to such fetuses, or virtually the same, as we extend to newborn babies and young children. The visual similarities between middle or late stage fetuses and newborn babies is striking.
Some Aspects To The Doctrine of Double Effect
Authors: Frey R. G.
Published: June 2016

The doctrine of double effect (hereafter abbreviated to DDE) is a principle of conduct that allows its adherents in certain difficult cases, provided certain conditions are satisfied, to bring about an effect indirectly that they are forbidden to bring about directly. By ‘indirectly', I mean that the effect in question is aimed at neither as an end in itself nor as a means to an end. In terms of Bentham's distinction between ‘oblique’ and ‘direct’ intention, DDE may be characterized as the thesis that, in certain difficult cases, provided certain conditions are satisfied, one may bring about (it is permissible to bring about) by oblique intention, as the merely foreseen consequence of an act, what one may not directly intend, either as end or as means.

The conditions in question are four, and failure to satisfy any one of them ensures the inapplicability of DDE to a particular situation. The first condition is that the act to be done, considered in itself and apart from its consequences, must not be intrinsically wrong.