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1
Boven, Erica, and Marieke Winkler, eds. The Construction and Dynamics of Cultural Icons. NL Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.5117/9789463728225.
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Departing from the present need for cultural models within the public debate, this volume offers a new contribution to the study of cultural icons. From the traditional religious icon to the modern mass media icon, from the recognizable visual icon to the complex entanglement of image and collective narratives: The Construction and Dynamics of Cultural Icons offers an overview of existing theories, compares different definitions and proposes a comprehensive view on the icon and the iconic. Focusing in particular on the making of iconic representations and their changing social-cultural meanings through time, scholars from cultural memory studies, art history and literary studies present concrete operationalizations of the ways different types of cultural icons can be studied.
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Balackiy, Evgeniy, Natal'ya Ekimova, Aleksandr Rudnev, and Aleksandr Gusev. New approaches to modeling economic development. ru: INFRA-M Academic Publishing LLC., 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.12737/1862597.
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The monograph presents new results of the authors' long-term research on various topical issues of economic development. All the proposed new approaches are given in the broad context of already existing theories and models, as well as illustrated by numerous vivid examples from the history of different countries. Most of the topics covered belong to the category of the most burning social issues of our time, which gives the work an element of scientific "freshness" and discussion. All the fundamental theses are accompanied by the necessary models, equations, formulas, graphs and figures, but in general the material is not overloaded with technical details, which makes it quite accessible to any interested reader.
The peculiarity of the monograph is that all its sections are based on the "paradox principle", the essence of which is to formulate the original problem in the most acute form, taking the form of a logical paradox. The range of topics under consideration covers the history of mankind from antiquity to the modern state. For example, why did humanity, which had been vegetating in the Malthusian trap for 10 thousand years, break out of it at the turn of the XVII and XVIII centuries? What is needed so that the economic growth that has begun does not "choke" in a short time and does not degenerate again into prolonged stagnation? How are economic growth and return on capital related? How are income inequality and the country's investment activity related? How to measure and in practice link the dialectical properties of institutions that presuppose order and freedom? Is it possible to diagnose "failures" in the regulatory activities of central banks? How to explain the transcendent technological creativity of Russian researchers and engineers with Russia's systematic technological lag behind Western countries? Does Russia have a chance to join the club of the most developed and prosperous countries in the world and what is needed for this? And much, much more.
It is addressed to both professional specialists and everyone interested in modern problems of human development.
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Healey, Richard. Theories, Models, and Representation. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198714057.003.0008.
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Quantum theory involves a novel, indirect use of models to further the aims of fundamental science. It is revolutionary because of the way it improves our use and understanding of representations of the universe we could offer without it. The so-called semantic approach takes a scientific theory to supply a collection of models to be used to represent phenomena: but models of quantum theory are applied more indirectly to provide good advice on the significance and credibility of claims about physical things whose existence is assumable here. Inferentialism takes these claims to derive their content through inferential links to others. They are objective, as are the probabilities they are assigned, and some are objectively true.
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French, Steven. There Are No Such Things As Theories. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198848158.001.0001.
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What is a scientific theory? Is it a set of propositions? Or a family of models? Or is it some kind of abstract artefact? These options are examined in the context of a comparison between theories and artworks. On the one hand, theories are said to be like certain kinds of paintings, in that they play a representational role; on the other, they are compared to musical works, insofar as they can be multiply presented. I shall argue that such comparisons should be treated with care and that all of the above options face problems. Instead, I suggest, we should adopt a form of eliminativism towards theories, in the sense that a theory should not be regarded as any thing. Nevertheless, we can still talk about them and attribute certain qualities to them, where that talk is understood to be made true by certain practices. This shift to practices as truth-makers for theory talk then has certain implications for how we regard theories in the realism debate and in the context of the nature and role of representation in science.
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Krause, Decio, and Jonas R. B. Arenhart. Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
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Krause, Decio, and Jonas R. B. Arenhart. Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
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Krause, Decio, and Jonas R. B. Arenhart. Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
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Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
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Krause, Decio, and Jonas R. B. Arenhart. Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.
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Krause, Decio, and Jonas R. B. Arenhart. Logical Foundations of Scientific Theories: Languages, Structures, and Models. Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.
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11
Dresher, B. Elan, and Harry van der Hulst, eds. The Oxford History of Phonology. Oxford University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198796800.001.0001.
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This volume is an up-to-date history of phonology from the earliest known examples of phonological thinking through the rise of phonology as a field in the 20th century and up to the present time. The volume is divided into five parts. Part I, Early insights in phonology, begins with writing systems and has chapters devoted to the great ancient and medieval intellectual traditions of phonological thought that form the foundation of later thinking and continue to enrich phonological theory. Part II, The founders of phonology, describes the important schools and individuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who shaped phonology as an organized scientific field. Part III takes up Mid-twentieth-century developments in phonology in the Soviet Union, Northern and Western Europe, and North America; it continues with precursors to generative grammar, and culminates in a chapter on Chomsky & Halle’s The Sound Pattern of English (SPE). Part IV, Phonology after SPE, shows how phonological theorists responded to SPE with respect to derivations, representations, and phonology-morphology interaction. Theories discussed include Dependency Phonology, Government Phonology, Constraint-and-Repair theories, and Optimality Theory. This part ends with a chapter on the study of variation. Part V, New methods and approaches, has chapters on phonetic explanation, corpora and phonological analysis, probabilistic phonology, computational modelling, models of phonological learning, and the evolution of phonology. This exploration of the history of phonology from various viewpoints provides new perspectives on where phonology has been and throws light on where it is going.
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Massimi, Michela. Perspectival Realism. Oxford University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197555620.001.0001.
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What does it mean to be a realist about science if one takes seriously the view that scientific knowledge is always perspectival, namely historically and culturally situated? In Perspectival Realism, Michela Massimi articulates an original answer to this question. The result is a philosophical view that goes under the name of ‘perspectival realism’ and it offers a new lens for thinking about scientific knowledge, realism, and pluralism in science. Perspectival Realism begins with an exploration of how epistemic communities often resort to several models and a plurality of practices in some areas of inquiry, drawing on examples from nuclear physics, climate science, and developmental psychology. Taking this plurality in science as a starting point, Massimi explains the perspectival nature of scientific representation, the role of scientific models as inferential blueprints, and the variety of realism that naturally accompanies such a view. Perspectival realism is realism about phenomena (rather than about theories or unobservable entities). The result of this novel view is a portrait of scientific knowledge as a collaborative inquiry, where the reliability of science is made possible by a plurality of historically and culturally situated scientific perspectives. Along the way, Massimi offers insights into the nature of scientific modelling, scientific knowledge qua modal knowledge, data-to-phenomena inferences, and natural kinds as sortal concepts. Perspectival realism offers a realist view that takes the multicultural roots of science seriously and couples it with cosmopolitan duties about how one ought to think about scientific knowledge and the distribution of benefits gained from scientific advancements.
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Magnanini, Suzanne, ed. A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in the Age of the Marvelous. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350094666.
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How have fairy tales from around the world changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about different cultures and societies? Drawing on the contributions of scholars working on Italian, French, English, Ottoman Turkish, and Japanese tale traditions, this book underscores the striking mobility and malleability of fairy tales written in the years 1450 to 1650. The essays examine how early modern scientific theories, debates on the efficacy of witchcraft, conceptions of race and gender, religious beliefs, the aesthetics of landscape, and censorial practices all shaped the representations of magic and marvels in the tales of this period. Tracing the fairy tale’s swift movement across linguistic and geographic borders, through verse and prose versions, from the printed page to the early modern stage, this volume demonstrates the ways in which these fantastic literary texts explored the ideological borders constructed by different societies. An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of literature, history and cultural studies, contributors explore themes including: forms of the marvelous, adaption, gender and sexuality, humans and non-humans, monsters and the monstrous, space, socialization, and power.
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Lejri, Sélima. ‘Remedies for Life’: Curing Hysterica Passio in Shakespeare’s Othello, Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale. Edinburgh University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474427814.003.0004.
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Sélima Lejri is similarly interested in the coexistence of long-established folklore beliefs in demonism and witchcraft and the emerging scientific etiologies propounded by the physicians of the time. Lejri shows that it is thanks to Edward Jorden’s A Briefe Discourse of A Disease Called the Suffocation of the Mother (1603) that the interpretations of demonic vexation started to give way to the rational alternative of hysteria. It was then that Shakespeare’s interest in the medical theories of physiology, mainly humorism, became palpable. This testifies to the considerable influence of Timothy Bright’s or Edward Jorden’s ideas. Within this context of early modern scientific ‘revolution’ that ushered in the end of witch-hunting and gave large credit to reason over superstition, Shakespeare’s representation of the female body in his Jacobean plays bears the contemporary stamp of his new sources of information. It is Shakespeare’s response to such contemporary scientific theories that Lejri’s chapter aims at tackling through the particular example of Hysterica Passio, a feminine disease much discussed at the time and explicitly referenced in King Lear.
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Dechert, W. D., and William A. Brock. Growth Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics and Economic Modelling: Scientific Essays of William Allen Brock. Elgar Publishing Limited, Edward, 2001.
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(Editor), W. Davis Dechert, ed. Growth Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics and Economic Modelling: Scientific Essays of William Allen Brock (Economists of the Twentieth Century). Edward Elgar Publishing, 2001.
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Krajewski, Władysław, and Ryszard. THEORIES AND MODELS IN SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES. Proceedings of AFOS '94 Workshop, August 15-26, Madralin and IUHPS '94 Conference, August 27-29, Warszawa. Rodopi Bv Editions, 1995.
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E, Herfel William, AFOS Workshop (1994 : Mądralin, Poland), and IUHPS Conference (1994 : Warsaw, Poland), eds. Theories and models in scientific processes: Proceedings of AFOS '94 Workshop, August 15-26, Mądralin and IUHPS '94 Conference, August 27-29, Warszawa. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1995.
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19
Skow, Brad. Scientific Explanation. Edited by Paul Humphreys. Oxford University Press, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199368815.013.15.
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This chapter argues that the notion of explanation relevant to the philosophy of science is that of an answer to a why-question. From this point of view it surveys most of the historically important theories of explanation. Hempel’s deductive-nomological, and inductive-statistical, models of explanation required explanations to cite laws. Familiar counterexamples to these models suggested that laws are not needed, and instead that explanations should cite causes. One theory of causal explanation, David Lewis’s, is discussed in some detail. Many philosophers now reject causal theories of explanation because they think that there are non-causal explanations; some examples are reviewed. The role of probabilities and statistics in explanation, and their relation to causation, is also discussed. Another strategy for dealing with counterexamples to Hempel’s theory leads to unificationist theories of explanation. Kitcher's unificationist theory is presented, and a new argument against unificationist theories is offered. Also discussed in some detail are Van Fraassen’s pragmatic theory, and Streven’s and Woodward’s recent theories of causal explanation.
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Krajewski, Władysław, William E. Herfel, and Ilkka Niiniluoto. THEORIES AND MODELS IN SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES. Proceedings of AFOS '94 Workshop, August 15-26, Madralin and IUHPS '94 Conference, August 27-29, Warszawa. ... of the Sciences and the Humanities). Rodopi Bv Editions, 1995.
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Gebuis, Titia, and Bert Reynvoet. Number Representations and their Relation with Mathematical Ability. Edited by Roi Cohen Kadosh and Ann Dowker. Oxford University Press, 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642342.013.035.
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In this chapter we review research on the processes that underlie the development of mathematical abilities. It is proposed that numerical deficiencies might arise from domain specific problems. The approximate number system that supports reasoning with non-symbolic numbers, on the one hand, and the symbolic number system on the other hand were put forth as possible candidates. To gain insight into the two different systems, we will describe the development of non-symbolic and symbolic number processing and introduce the two main theories about numerical deficiencies: the approximate number system and the access deficit hypothesis. The paradigms used to study both accounts differ in several ways and are of importance for research on the relation between non-symbolic and symbolic number and mathematical abilities. Then, we will review how the studies investigating both accounts relate to two different sets of developmental models that describe the neural representation of number.
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Wing, Ian Sue, and Edward J. Balistreri. Computable General Equilibrium Models for Policy Evaluation and Economic Consequence Analysis. Edited by Shu-Heng Chen, Mak Kaboudan, and Ye-Rong Du. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199844371.013.7.
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This chapter reviews recent applications of computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling in the analysis and evaluation of policies that affect interactions among multiple markets. At the core of this research is a particular approach to the data and structural representations of the economy, elaborated through the device of a canonical static multiregional model. This template is adapted and extended to shed light on the structural and methodological foundations of simulating dynamic economies, incorporating “bottom-up” representations of discrete production activities, and modeling contemporary theories of international trade with monopolistic competition and heterogeneous firms. These techniques are motivated by policy applications including trade liberalization, development, energy policy and greenhouse gas mitigation, the impacts of climate change and natural disasters, and economic integration and liberalization of trade in services.
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Beckfield, Jason. Scientific Challenges to Engaging Political Sociology and Social Epidemiology. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190492472.003.0003.
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Social epidemiology demonstrates clearly that social structure has profound consequences for the distribution of health, illness, and death, but it remains the case that political-sociological variables tend to be imprecisely incorporated into social epidemiological models. If the preceding chapters suggest how researchers could make a start on such incorporation, this chapter highlights the challenges to doing so in a convincing manner. Given the push from ecosocial, fundamental-cause, and social-determinants theories of disease distribution for concepts and measures for investigating politics and policies, the macroscope of political sociology holds great promise for generating new questions, new answers, and even new accountability for the generation of health inequity.
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Darrigol, Olivier. Models, structure, and generality in Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. Edited by Karine Chemla, Renaud Chorlay, and David Rabouin. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198777267.013.12.
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This article examines the gradual development of James Clerk Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory, arguing that he aimed at general structures through his models, illustrations, formal analogies, and scientific metaphors. It also considers a few texts in which Maxwell expounds his conception of physical theories and their relation to mathematics. Following a discussion of Maxwell’s extension of an analogy invented by William Thomson in 1842, the article analyzes Maxwell’s geometrical expression of Michael Faraday’s notion of lines of force. It then revisits Maxwell’s honeycomb model that he used to obtain his system of equations and the concomitant unification of electricity, magnetism, and optics. It also explores Maxwell’s view about the Lagrangian form of the fundamental equations of a physical theory. It shows that Maxwell was guided by general structural requirements that were inspired by partial and temporary models; these requirements were systematically detailed in Maxwell’s 1873 Treatise on electricity and magnetism.
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Egan, Frances. Representationalism. Edited by Eric Margolis, Richard Samuels, and Stephen P. Stich. Oxford University Press, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195309799.013.0011.
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The article gives an overview of several distinct theses demonstrating representationalism in cognitive science. Strong representationalism is the view that representational mental states have a specific form, in particular, that they are functionally characterizable relations to internal representations. The proponents of strong representationalism typically suggest that the system of internal representations constitutes a language with a combinatorial syntax and semantics. Braddon-Mitchell and Jackson argued that mental representations might be more analogous to maps than to sentences. Waskan argued that mental representations are akin to scale models. Fodor and Fodor and Pylyshyn argued that certain pervasive features of thought can only be explained by the hypothesis that thought takes place in a linguistic medium. A physical symbol system (PSS) hypothesis is a version of strong representationalism, the idea that representational mental states are functionally characterizable relations to internal representations. The representational content has a significant role in computational models of cognitive capacities. The internal states and structures posited in computational theories of cognition are distally interpreted in such theories. The distal objects and properties that determine the representational content of the posited internal states and structures serve to type-individuate a computationally characterized mechanism. Strong Representationalism, as exemplified by the PSS hypothesis, construes mental processes as operations on internal representations.
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Snyder, Bob. Memory for music. Edited by Susan Hallam, Ian Cross, and Michael Thaut. Oxford University Press, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199298457.013.0010.
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This article focuses on musical memory: on how adult listeners form mental representations of music, and on how those representations affect music listening. It is divided into three sections, which will outline general concepts of memory, address research and theory about musical expectations, and consider listeners' ability to remember various aspects of music. The study of memory in music listening is relatively recent, although the scientific study of human memory dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. The ways in which mind and brain are used in the perception and comprehension of music appear to be much in line with the way they are used in processing in other domains, although there are theories proposing that music is partly modularized in cognition and brain organization.
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Baulieu, Laurent, John Iliopoulos, and Roland Sénéor. Beyond the Standard Model. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198788393.003.0026.
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The motivation for supersymmetry. The algebra, the superspace, and the representations. Field theory models and the non-renormalisation theorems. Spontaneous and explicit breaking of super-symmetry. The generalisation of the Montonen–Olive duality conjecture in supersymmetric theories. The remarkable properties of extended supersymmetric theories. A brief discussion of twisted supersymmetry in connection with topological field theories. Attempts to build a supersymmetric extention of the standard model and its experimental consequences. The property of gauge supersymmetry to include general relativity and the supergravity models.
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Caramello, Olivia. Classifying toposes and the ‘bridge’ technique. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198758914.003.0004.
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This chapter consists of two parts. The first part reviews the fundamental notion of classifying topos of a geometric theory and discusses the appropriate kinds of interpretations between theories which induce morphisms between the associated classifying toposes; the theoretical presentation is accompanied by a few concrete examples of classifying toposes of theories naturally arising in mathematics. A characterization theorem for universal models of geometric theories inside classifying toposes is also established. The second part presents the general unifying technique ‘toposes as bridges’. This technique, which allows one to extract ‘concrete’ information from the existence of different representations for the classifying topos of a geometric theory, is systematically exploited in the course of the book to establish theoretical results as well as applications. The ‘decks’ of topos-theoretic ‘bridges’ are normally given by Morita equivalences, while the ‘arches’ are given by site characterizations of topos-theoretic invariants.
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Lappin, Shalom. Semantics. Edited by Ruslan Mitkov. Oxford University Press, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199276349.013.0005.
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This article introduces some of the basic concepts and issues of computational semantics and briefly compares two models of semantic representation, which have been proposed in the literature, and considers the ways in which each of them deals with the syntax-semantics interface. It then shows the contrast between the general approach to the syntax-semantics interface, which is common to most systems of computational semantics, and an alternative view that characterizes Chomsky's derivational view of syntax on the other. Furthermore, it focuses on the possibility of using underspecified representations of meaning while still sustaining a systematic relation between the meaning of an expression and the meanings of its constituents. It briefly looks at the move from static to dynamic theories of meaning in an attempt to model the interpretation of utterances in discourse and dialogue.
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Sahni, Rohini, and V. Kalyan Shankar. The Details Are in the Fine Print. Edited by Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199915248.013.9.
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This chapter examines some of the existing definitional problems in qualifying and tapping sex workers in India. Drawing on research notes and data from the First Pan-India Survey of Sex Workers, it discusses the diversity of practices under “sex work” and highlights multiple overlaps across the variables both in sites and in occupational identities, which can lead to confounding results. Based on the results, the chapter calls for more nuanced typologies addressing grassroots operational realities, particularly where sex work interacts with other forms of informal labor. It argues that such definitional clarity would be essential for constructing the universe of sex workers during surveys and for more balanced representations. It also looks at the implications of incorporating heterogeneity into analyzing sex markets for social-scientific research both in terms of developing useful models (e.g., monopolistic competition) and in regard to sample selection.
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Glas, Gerrit. Anxiety and Phobias. Edited by K. W. M. Fulford, Martin Davies, Richard G. T. Gipps, George Graham, John Z. Sadler, Giovanni Stanghellini, and Tim Thornton. Oxford University Press, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.013.0035.
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Philosophical issues with respect to anxiety and its pathological variants arise at the border between everyday and clinical understanding of anxiety, between clinical and scientific approaches and between scientific concepts and the philosophical frameworks they refer to. These four ways of understanding can be seen as epistemic levels that point at different aspects and qualities of anxiety. After a brief historical introduction the three interfaces will be discussed. Philosophical questions at the interface between the first two levels (everyday understanding and clinical knowledge) relate to the issue of where to draw the boundary between normal and pathological manifestations of anxiety and of how to balance the medical view with everyday understandings of anxiety. At the interface between clinical and scientific approaches, the question arises whether scientific theories and models are adequate, more particularly, which aspects of the clinical picture can be explained by scientific theories and concepts. The third interface, between scientific concepts and the philosophical frameworks they presuppose, is the origin of debates about what belongs to science and what should be regarded as meta-theoretical or paradigmatic. To what extent does a particular scientific concept stand on its own and to what extent does it borrow from pre-theoretical and/or philosophical views?
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Kelly, Phil. Defending Classical Geopolitics. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.279.
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Three successive parts are presented within this article, all intended to raise the visibility and show the utility of classical geopolitics as a deserving and separate international-relations model: (a) a common traditional definition, (b) relevant theories that correspond to that definition, and (c) applications of certain theories that will delve at some depth into three case studies (the Ukrainian shatterbelt, contemporary Turkish geopolitics, and a North American heartland).The placement of states, regions, and resources, as affecting international relations and foreign policies, defines classical geopolitics. This definition emphasizes the application of spatially composed unbiased theories that should bring insight into foreign-affairs events and policies. Specifically, a “model” contains theories that correspond to its description. A “theory” is a simple sentence of probability, with “A” happening to likely affect “B.” Importantly, models are passive; they merely hold theories. In contrast, theories possess their own titles and perform actively when taken from such models.Various methodological challenges are presented: (a) combining concepts with theories, (b) estimating probability for testing theories, (c) claiming the “scientific,” (d) accounting for determinism, (e) revealing a dynamic environment for geopolitics, (f) separating realism from geopolitics, and (g) drawing classical geopolitics away from the critical. Certain theories that are placed within the geopolitical model are examined next: (a) heartlands and rimlands, (b) land and sea power, (c) choke points and maritime lines of communication, (d) offshore balancing, (e) the Monroe doctrine, (f) balances of power, (g) checkerboards, (h) shatterbelts, (i) pan-regions, (j) influence spheres, (k) dependency, (l) buffer states, (m) organic borders, (n) imperial thesis, (o) borders/wars, (p) contagion, (q) irredentism, (r) demography, (s) fluvial laws, (t) petro-politics, and (u) catastrophic events in nature. Additional theories apply elsewhere in the article as well.Of the three case studies, the Ukrainian shatterbelt represents the sole contemporary geopolitical configuration of this type, a regional conflict coupling with a strategic rivalry. Here, partisans of the civil war between the eastern and the western sectors of the country have joined with the Russians against the Europeans and Americans, respectively. Next, Turkey’s pivotal location has afforded it both advantages and disadvantages, a topic discussed at some length earlier in the article. Its “zero-problems” strategy of seeking positive relations with neighbors has now been forced to change tactics, reflective of new forces within and beyond the country. Finally, a North American heartland compares nicely to Halford Mackinder’s earlier Eurasia heartland thesis, with the American perhaps proving more stable, wealthy, and enduring, based in large part on its stronger geopolitical features.
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Ferraro, Kenneth F. The Gerontological Imagination. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/med/9780190665340.001.0001.
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The Gerontological Imagination provides an integrative overview of the scientific study of aging. Although investigators from many disciplines study aging, concerns have been raised about the intellectual coherence of gerontology precisely because it draws from and contributes to a wide array of disciplines. Biologists, psychologists, and sociologists may claim an interest in gerontology, but do they have a common image of aging or a set of principles to guide their research? This book develops a paradigm for the study of aging by articulating and integrating six axioms related to causality, life course analysis, multifaceted change, heterogeneity, accumulation, and ageism. The proposed paradigm provides an efficient way to identify essential ideas, findings, models, and theories across multiple disciplines. Gerontology examines aging across multiple systems and the interplay of factors that shape adaptation. Illustrations are drawn from fields such as biology, epidemiology, genetics, medicine, psychology, sociology, and zoology. The axioms are best viewed as a gestalt for the intellectual work of research on aging—and how to optimize the aging experience.
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Morrow, James D. The Interaction of Theory and Data. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.334.
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Theory shapes how data is collected and analyzed in at least three ways. Theoretical concepts inform how we collect data because data attempt to capture and reflect those concepts. Theory provides testable hypotheses that direct our research. Theory also helps us draw conclusions from the results of empirical research. Meanwhile, research using quantitative methods seeks to be rigorous and reproducible. Mathematical models develop the logic of a theory carefully, while statistical methods help us judge whether the evidence matches the expectations of our theories. Quantitative scholars tend to specialize in one approach or the other. The interaction of theory and data for them thus concerns how models and statistical analysis draw on and respond to one another. In the abstract, they work together seamlessly to advance scientific understanding. In practice, however, there are many places and ways this abstract process can stumble. These difficulties are not unique to rigorous methods; they confront any attempt to reconcile causal arguments with reality. Rigorous methods help by making the issues clear and forcing us to confront them. Furthermore, these methods do not ensure arguments or empirical judgments are correct; they only make it easier for us to agree among ourselves when they do.
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Bueno, Otávio, and Steven French. Applying Mathematics. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198815044.001.0001.
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What has been called ‘the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics’ sets a challenge for philosophers. Some have responded to that challenge by arguing that mathematics is essentially anthropocentric in character whereas others have pointed to the range of structures that mathematics offers. Here a middle way is offered that focuses on the moves that have to be made in both the mathematics and the relevant physics in order to bring the two into appropriate relation. This relation can be captured via the inferential conception of the applicability of mathematics which is formulated in terms of immersion inference and interpretation. In particular the roles of idealizations and of surplus structure in science and mathematics respectively are brought to the fore and captured via an approach to models and theories that emphasizes the partiality of the available information: the partial structures approach. The discussion as a whole is grounded in a number of case studies drawn from the history of quantum physics and extended to contest recent claims that the explanatory role of certain mathematical structures in scientific practice supports a realist attitude towards them. The overall conclusion is that the effectiveness of mathematics does not seem unreasonable at all once close attention is paid to how it is actually applied in practice.
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Woollings, Tim. Jet Stream. Oxford University Press, 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198828518.001.0001.
Full textAbstract:
A number of extreme weather events have struck the Northern Hemisphere in recent years, from scorching heatwaves to desperately cold winters and from floods and storms to droughts and wildfires. Is this the emerging signal of climate change, and should we expect more of this? Media reports vary widely, but one mysterious agent has risen to prominence in many cases: the jet stream. The story begins on a windswept beach in Barbados, from where we follow the ascent of a weather balloon that will travel all around the world, following the jet stream. From this viewpoint we can observe the effect of the jet in influencing human life around the hemisphere, and witness startling changes emerging. What is the jet stream and how well do we understand it? How does it affect our weather and is it changing? These are the main questions tackled in this book. We learn about how our view of the wind has developed from Aristotle’s early theories up to today’s understanding. The jet is shown to be intimately connected with dramatic contrasts between climate zones and to have played a key historical role in determining patterns of trade. We learn about the basic physics underlying the jet and how this knowledge is incorporated into computer models which predict both tomorrow’s weather and the climate of future decades. We discuss how climate change is expected to affect the jet, and introduce the urgent scientific debate over whether these changes have contributed to recent extreme weather events.