bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fallibilism, Objectivity, and the New Cynicism
Authors: Haack Susan 
Published: July 2008

Nobody seriously doubts the possibility, or the usefulness, of finding things out; that is something we all take for granted when we inquire about our plane schedule, the state of our bank account, the best treatment for our child's illness, and so forth – a presupposition of the most ordinary, everyday looking into things as well as of the most sophisticated scientific research, not to mention of the legal system. Of course, nobody seriously doubts, either, that sometimes, instead of really looking into things, people fake, fudge, and obfuscate to avoid discovering unpalatable truths or having to give up comfortable tenets; that is something we all take for granted when we ask who paid for a reassuring (or a damning) study, who stands to gain from an Official Inquiry, which party an expert witness works for, and so on.Of late, however, radical feminists, multiculturalists, sociologists and rhetoricians of science, and (I am embarrassed to say) a good many philosophers as well – though they look into questions about their plane schedules, bank accounts, medical treatments, etc., just like everyone else – profess to have seen through what the rest of us take for granted.
Social Epistemology and the Politics of Omission
Authors: Talisse Robert B. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTContemporary liberal democracy employs a conception of legitimacy according to which political decisions and institutions must be at least in principle justifiable to all citizens. This conception of legitimacy is difficult to satisfy when citizens are deeply divided at the level of fundamental moral, religious, and philosophical commitments. Many have followed the later Rawls in holding that where a reasonable pluralism of such commitments persists, political justification must eschew appeal to any controversial moral, religious, or philosophical premises. In this way, the Rawlsian account of public political justification involves a politics of omission, where citizens are expected to bracket off their most fundamental commitments and seek justifications that draw only from uncontroversial premises. This politics of omission is necessary, Rawls argues, for political stability. But there is good social epistemic evidence for the view that the politics of omission encourages insularity among like-minded groups, and that this insularity in turn generates extremism. So omission is likely to lead to instability, not stability.
Two aggregation paradoxes in social decision making: the Ostrogorski paradox and the discursive dilemma
Authors: Pigozzi Gabriella 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTThe Ostrogorski paradox and the discursive dilemma are seemingly unrelated paradoxes of aggregation. The former is discussed in traditional social choice theory, while the latter is at the core of the new literature on judgment aggregation. Both paradoxes arise when, in a group, each individual consistently makes a judgment, or expresses a preference, (in the form of yes or no) over specific propositions, and the collective outcome is in some respect inconsistent. While the result is logically inconsistent in the case of the discursive paradox, it is not stable with respect to the level of aggregation in the case of the Ostrogorski paradox. In the following I argue that, despite these differences, the two problems have a similar structure. My conclusion will be twofold: on the one hand, the similarities between the paradoxes support the claim that these problems should be tackled using the same aggregation procedure; on the other hand, applying the same procedure to these paradoxes will help clarify the strengths and weaknesses of the aggregation method itself. More specifically, I will show that an operator defined in artificial intelligence to merge belief bases can deal with both paradoxes.
Re-thinking the Duplication of Speaker/Hearer Belief in the Epistemology of Testimony
Authors: Buenting Joel 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTMost epistemologists of testimony assume that testifying requires that the beliefs to which speakers attest are identical to the beliefs that hearers accept. I argue that this characterization of testimony is misleading. Characterizing testimony in terms of duplicating speaker/hearer belief unduly resticts the variety of beliefs that might be accepted from speaker testimony.
Epistemic Systems
Authors: Koppl Roger 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEpistemic systems are social processes generating judgments of truth and falsity. I outline a mathematical theory of epistemic systems that applies widely. Areas of application include pure science, torture, police forensics, espionage, auditing, clinical medical testing, democratic procedure, and the market economy. I examine torture and police forensics in relative detail. This paper is an exercise in comparative institutional epistemics, which considers how the institutions of an epistemic system influence its performance as measured by such things as error rates and the volume of judgments generated.
Openness versus Secrecy in Scientific Research
Authors: Resnik David B. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTOpenness is one of the most important principles in scientific inquiry, but there are many good reasons for maintaining secrecy in research, ranging from the desire to protect priority, credit, and intellectual property, to the need to safeguard the privacy of research participants or minimize threats to national or international security. This article examines the clash between openness and secrecy in science in light of some recent developments in information technology, business, and politics, and makes some practical suggestions for resolving conflicts between openness and secrecy.
The Epistemic Features of Group Belief
Authors: Mathiesen Kay 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTRecently, there has been a debate focusing on the question of whether groups can literally have beliefs. For the purposes of epistemology, however, the key question is whether groups can haveknowledge.More specifically, the question is whether “group views” can have the key epistemic features of belief, viz., aiming at truth and being epistemically rational. I argue that, while groups may not have beliefs in the full sense of the word, group views can have these key epistemic features of belief. However, I argue that on Margaret Gilbert's influential “plural subject” account of group belief, group views are unlikely to be epistemically rational.
Epistemic Trust and Social Location
Authors: Daukas Nancy 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEpistemic trustworthiness is defined as a complex character state that supervenes on a relation between first- and second-order beliefs, including beliefs about others as epistemic agents. In contexts shaped by unjust power relations, its second-order components create a mutually supporting link between a deficiency in epistemic character and unjust epistemic exclusion on the basis of group membership. In this way, a deficiency in the virtue of epistemic trustworthiness plays into social/epistemic interactions that perpetuate social injustice. Overcoming that deficiency and, along with it, normalized practices of epistemic exclusion, requires developing a self-critical perspective on the partial, socially-located character of one's perspective and the consequent epistemic value of inclusiveness.
Norms of Epistemic Diversity
Authors: Solomon Miriam 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEpistemic diversity is widely approved of by social epistemologists. This paper asks, more specifically, how much epistemic diversity, and what kinds of epistemic diversity are normatively appropriate? Bothlaissez-faireand highly directive approaches to epistemic diversity are rejected in favor of the claim that diversity is a blunt epistemic tool. There are typically a number of different options for adequate diversification. The paper focuses on scientific domains, with particular attention to recent theories of smell.
Objectivity and Perspective in Empirical Knowledge
Authors: Kukla Rebecca 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEpistemologists generally think that genuine warrant that is available to anyone must be available to everyone who is exposed to the relevant causal inputs and is able and willing to properly exercise her rationality. The motivating idea behind this requirement is roughly that an objective view is one that is not bound to a particular perspective. In this paper I ask whether the aperspectivality of our warrants is a precondition for securing the objectivity of our claims. I draw upon a Sellarsian account of perception in order to argue that it is not; rather, inquirers can have contingent properties and perspectives that give them access to forms of rational warrant and objective knowledge that others do not have. The universal accessibility of reasons, on my account, is not a precondition for the legitimacy of any actual warrant, but rather a regulative ideal governing inquiry and communication.
Powerlessness and Social Interpretation
Authors: Fricker Miranda 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTOur understanding of social experiences is central to our social understanding more generally. But this sphere of epistemic practice can be structurally prejudiced by unequal relations of power, so that some groups suffer a distinctive kind of epistemic injustice—hermeneutical injustice. I aim to achieve a clear conception of this epistemicethical phenomenon, so that we have a workable definition and a proper understanding of the wrong that it inflicts.
Deliberative Democracy and the Epistemic Benefits of Diversity
Authors: Bohman James 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTIt is often assumed that democracies can make good use of the epistemic benefits of diversity among their citizenry, but difficult to show why this is the case. In a deliberative democracy, epistemically relevant diversity has three aspects: the diversity of opinions, values, and perspectives. Deliberative democrats generally argue for an epistemic form of Rawls' difference principle: that good deliberative practice ought to maximize deliberative inputs, whatever they are, so as to benefit all deliberators, including the least effective. The proper maximandum of such a principle is not the pool of reasons, but rather the availability of perspectives. This sort of diversity makes robustness across different perspectives the proper epistemic aim of deliberative processes. Robustness also offers a measure of success for those democratic practices of inquiry based on the deliberation of all citizens.
Deliberating Groups versus Prediction Markets (or Hayek's Challenge to Habermas)
Authors: Sunstein Cass R. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTFor multiple reasons, deliberating groups often converge on falsehood rather than truth. Individual errors may be amplified rather than cured. Group members may fall victim to a bad cascade, either informational or reputational. Deliberators may emphasize shared information at the expense of uniquely held information. Finally, group polarization may lead even rational people to unjustified extremism. By contrast, prediction markets often produce accurate results, because they create strong incentives for revelation of privately held knowledge and succeed in aggregating widely dispersed information. The success of prediction markets offers a set of lessons for increasing the likelihood that groups can obtain the information that their members have.
From Epistemic Diversity to Common Knowledge: Rational Rituals and Cooperation in Democratic Athens
Authors: Ober Josiah 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTClassical Athens provides a historical case study of effective joint action by a democratic community, at scale, over time, and across a socially and epistemically diverse population. Athens was concerned both with aggregating diverse knowledge for decision-making and with building common knowledge for coordinated joint action. A preserved prosecution speech delivered in an Athenian treason trial reveals how common knowledge was generated by democratic institutions and employed in legal arguments. Common knowledge facilitated effective coordination among citizens through productive alignment cascades. Yet Athenian lawcourt procedures rendered cascading difficult, pointing to an institutionalized awareness that coordination among jurors might violate fairness as equality before the law; such violations threatened democratic values and the equilibrium between elite and non-elite citizens. Common knowledge was promoted by repeated public rituals, public monuments, and public architecture that allowed for the interpresence of large numbers of deliberative and intervisible citizens.
A Neutral Conception of Reasonableness?
Authors: Weinstock Daniel M. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTMuch liberal theorizing of the past twenty years has been built around a conception of neutrality and an accompanying virtue of reasonableness according to which citizens ought to be able to view public policy debates from a perspective detached from their comprehensive conceptions of the good. The view of “justificatory neutrality” that emerges from this view is discussed and rejected as embodying controversial views about the relationship of individuals to their conceptions of the good. It is shown to be based upon a “protestant” assumption according to which conceptions of the good can be cashed out in terms of propositionalbeliefs. An alternative conception of reasonableness, grounded in the stable disposition of individuals to prefer social peace over conflict is described. It is argued that it better satisfies the neutralist requirement than do theories of justificatory neutrality.
Epistemic Subjectivism
Authors: White Roger 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTEpistemic subjectivism, as I am using the term, is a view in the same spirit as relativism, rooted in skepticism about the objectivity or universality of epistemic norms. I explore some ways that we might motivate subjectivism drawing from some common themes in analytic epistemology. Without diagnosing where the arguments go wrong, I argue that the resulting position is untenable.
Moderate Epistemic Relativism and Our Epistemic Goals
Authors: Weinberg Jonathan M. 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTAlthough radical forms of relativism are perhaps beyond the epistemological pale, I argue here that a more moderate form may be plausible, and articulate the conditions under which moderate epistemic relativism could well serve our epistemic goals. In particular, as a result of our limitations as human cognizers, we find ourselves needing to investigate the dappled and difficult world by means of competing communities of highly specialized researchers. We would do well, I argue, to admit of the existence of unresolvable disputes between such communities, but only so long as there is a sufficient amount of fruitful exchange between them as well. I close with some speculation about when it is or is not legitimate to make an “appeal to discipline”: responding to another’s argument by saying something like, “we should do it this way, because we are philosophers (/linguists/psychologists/…), and that’s just what we do”.
Conspiracy Theories and the Internet: Controlled Demolition and Arrested Development
Authors: Clarke Steve 
Published: July 2008

ABSTRACTFollowing Clarke (2002), a Lakatosian approach is used to account for the epistemic development of conspiracy theories. It is then argued that the hypercritical atmosphere of the internet has slowed down the development of conspiracy theories, discouraging conspiracy theorists from articulating explicit versions of their favoured theories, which could form the hard core of Lakatosian research programmes. The argument is illustrated with a study of the “controlled demolition” theory of the collapse of three towers at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Compounding
Authors: Schöppner Volker , Kloke Philipp 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
This article deals with compounding of polymer and rubber products in general. In the field of polymer processing, compounding means incorporating certain additives into a polymer matrix. Although the rubber industry utilizes the compounding process to realize defined rubber properties, the plastics industry wants to enhance the raw material by incorporating certain additives.
In the following article, the ingredients of compounding, which can be divided into two classes, are presented. On the one hand, there are the additives which are intruded in small amounts to change or strengthen the plastics' properties. On the other hand, there are the fillers and reinforcing agents that are used to improve the stiffness and impact strength by incorporating an amount up to 80 wt%.
For handling of these different kinds of additives, a special infrastructure is needed to generate a compound. The infrastructure depends on the diversity of feeding units to the different kinds of machine concepts. Especially, the machine concept of the tightly intermeshing, corotating twin‐screw extruder for plastics, and the internal mixer for developing rubber compounds are the most common technologies utilized. In addition, other machines are described as well.
Furniture
Authors: Kuhlke William C. , Giornelli Ray 
Published: July 2008

Abstract
Plastics are used in home, office, and institutional furniture and stadium seating. Typical applications of various resins and their methods of fabrication are given. Flexible polyurethane foam is one of the most popular materials used in furniture and bedding. Plastics have been used to simulate wood parts. Before finishing, the resin used must be cleaned to remove contaminants. Conventional paints and stains cannot be used on plastics. A barrier coat must be used before coating. Plastic‐molded components facilitate integrated design. New biofoams based on natural oil polyols are a rising trend in the furniture and bedding industries.
Networks, Elastomeric
Authors: Mark J. E. , Erman B. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe most striking features of a rubber‐like material are its ability to undergo very large deformations with essentially complete recoverability. In order for a material to exhibit such unusual behavior, it must consist of relatively long polymeric chains that have a high degree of flexibility and mobility and are joined into a network structure. The requirement of flexibility and mobility is associated with the very high deformability. As a result of an externally imposed stress, the long chains may alter their configurations which take place relatively rapidly due to their high mobilities. The requirement of linking the chains into a network structure is associated with the solid‐like features, where the chains are prevented from flowing relative to each other under external stresses. As a result, a typical rubber or elastomer may be stretched up to about 10 times its original length. Upon removal of the external force, it rapidly recovers its original dimensions, with essentially no residual or nonrecoverable strain. As a result of these unique mechanical properties, elastomers find important usages ranging from automobile tires to heart valves, to gaskets in jet planes and space vehicles.The article discusses the preparation and structure of networks, the effects of network structure on properties as well as reviews elasticity theories and experimental results for a number of elastomers.
Polyampholytes
Authors: Kudaibergenov Sarkyt E. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThis article highlights the synthetic polyampholytes that are able to mimic the behavior of natural polyampholytes, proteins, and illustrates some examples that merge the interface between artificial and natural materials. The electrochemical behavior, solubility, viscosity, mobility, hydrodynamic properties, phase, and conformational transitions of polyampholytes are considered. Adsorption of polyampholytes onto solid, liquid, and gas interfaces is discussed from polarization‐induced attraction forces point of view. The so‐called “isoelectric effect,” which is realized at the isoelectric point of polyampholytes, is emphasized. Complexation of polyampholytes with proteins, polyelectrolytes, metal ions, and surfactants is analyzed. Practical significance of polyampholytes in water purification, desalination, protein separation, oil industry, catalysis, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and medicine is outlined.
Meta‐Analysis in Nonclinical Risk Assessment
Authors: Jones David R. , Sutton Alex , Peters Jaime 
Published: July 2008

AbstractSystematic review and meta‐analysis methods seek to combine all relevant evidence in transparent, reproducible, updatable, and quantifiable ways. They are well established in evidence‐based medicine and some other fields but remain relatively uncommon in risk assessment. Systematic review and meta‐analysis methods should be adopted both for assessing evidence from human epidemiological studies alone or from animal studies alone and in combining animal and human data in risk assessment processes.
Oriented Poly(dialkylstannane)s
Authors: Choffat Fabien , Fornera Sara , Smith Paul , Caseri Walter R. , Breiby Dag W. , Andreasen Jens W. , Nielsen Martin M. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractThe inorganic (or ‘organometallic’) polymers poly(dibutylstannane), poly(dioctylstannane), and poly(didodecylstannane) have been oriented by shear forces, the tensile drawing of blends with polyethylene, and deposition from solution onto glass slides coated with an oriented, friction‐deposited poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) layer. Orientation of the polystannanes has been examined by polarization microscopy, UV‐vis spectroscopy with polarized light, and X‐ray diffraction and their direction is found to depend on the length of the alkyl side groups and the method of orientation. Remarkably, in some cases the polystannane backbones are oriented parallel and in other instances perpendicular to the direction of the external orientation stimuli. The latter structural arrangement is most conspicuous for polymers substituted with dodecyl side groups, which are found to align parallel to the applied orientation direction, which forces the polymer backbone into a perpendicular position. Finally, UV‐vis spectra indicate that changes in the backbone conformation of certain polystannanes might be induced by applying mechanical stress.
Self‐Assembly of DNA‐Templated Polypyrrole Nanowires: Spontaneous Formation of Conductive Nanoropes
Authors: Pruneanu Stela , Al‐Said Said A. Farha , Dong Liqin , Hollis Tom A. , Galindo Miguel A. , Wright Nicholas G. , Houlton Andrew , Horrocks Benjamin R. 
Published: July 2008

AbstractPolypyrrole nanowires formed by polymerization of pyrrole on a DNA template self‐assemble into rope‐like structures. These ‘nanoropes’ may be quite smooth (diameters 5–30 nm) or may show frayed ends where individual strands are visible. A combination of electric force microscopy, conductive atomic force microscopy and two‐terminal current–voltage measurements show that they are conductive. Nanoropes adhere more weakly to hydrophobic surfaces prepared by silanization of SiO2 than to the clean oxide; this effect can be used to aid the combing of the nanoropes across microelectrode devices for electrical characterization.
Large‐Scale Synthesis of New Pyranoid Building Blocks Based on Aldolase‐Catalysed Carbon‐Carbon Bond Formation
Authors: Wolberg Michael , Dassen Ben H. N. , Schürmann Martin , Jennewein Stefan , Wubbolts Marcel G. , Schoemaker Hans E. , Mink Daniel 
Published: July 2008

AbstractA new large‐scale approach to the synthetically versatile chloromethyl‐substituted, α,β‐unsaturated δ‐lactone 3 is described. The synthesis is based on a biocatalytic process performed on an industrial scale. Conjugate addition of C‐, N‐, O‐, and S‐nucleophiles to lactone 3 affords a variety of new pyranoid building blocks in a highly diastereoselective manner. The operational simplicity of the whole sequence allows for preparing these building blocks on an attractive scale.