Reasons Fundamentalism and Rational Uncertainty – Comments on Lord, The Importance of Being Rational

In his new book "The Importance of Being Rational", Errol Lord aims to give a real definition of the property of rationality in terms of normative reasons. If he can do so, his work is an important step towards a defense of ‘reasons fundamentalism’ – the thesis that all complex normative properties can be analyzed in terms of normative reasons. I focus on his analysis of epistemic rationality, which says that your doxastic attitudes are rational just in case they are correct responses to the objective normative reasons you possess. For some fact to be an objective normative reason to do something that you possess, you have to be in a position to know this fact and be able to competently use it as a reason to do that thing. Lord’s view is thus a knowledge-first view about possessing normative reasons. Throughout the book, Lord conceptualizes belief in the traditional tripartite way – if you take any attitude at all towards a proposition, then you either believe it, or disbelieve it, or you suspend judgment about it. Lord doesn’t discuss cases in which we’re uncertain. Yet, those cases are ubiquitous. I explore how his view can be extended to them. I first discuss whether his strategy for vindicating coherence requirements in terms of normative reasons can be applied to credences. I then ask how Lord can conceive of the doxastic attitudes that encode uncertainty

Credences and suspended judgments as transitional attitudes

In this paper, I highlight an interesting difference between belief on the one hand, and suspended judgment and credence on the other hand. This difference is the following: credences and suspended judgments are suitable to serve as transitional as well as terminal attitudes in our reasoning, whereas beliefs are only appropriate as terminal attitudes. The notion of a transitional attitude is not an established one in the literature, but I argue that introducing it helps us better understand the different roles suspended judgments and credences can play in our reasoning. Transitional and terminal attitudes have interestingly different descriptive and normative properties. I also compare my account of transitional attitudes to other inquiry-guiding attitudes that have recently been characterized in the literature and explain why they are different

Der Podozyt als Zielstruktur der renalen Wirkungen der kardialen natriuretischen Peptide

Einer der wichtigsten Parameter der Nierenfunktion ist die Filtration des Blutplasmas im Glomerulus. Das Blut wird von endo- und exogenen Stoffwechselabbauprodukten befreit und gereinigt. Zudem tragen die Nieren durch die Modulation der glomerulären Filtrationsrate (GFR) maßgeblich zur Regulation des Flüssigkeitshaushalts und des arteriellen Blutdrucks bei. Die kardialen natriuretischen Peptide, atriales natriuretisches Peptid (ANP) und B-Typ natriuretisches Peptid (BNP), spielen hierbei eine wichtige Rolle. Durch die Aktivierung ihres gemeinsamen Rezeptors, der membranständigen Guanylatzyklase A (GC-A) und der nachfolgenden cGMP-Ausschüttung bewirken sie im Glomerulus eine Steigerung der GFR, fördern die Natriurese und Diurese im Tubulussystem und modulieren den Blutgefäßwiderstand durch die Relaxation glatter Muskelzellen. Die GC-A ist im gesamten Nephron in verschiedenen Zelltypen exprimiert, unter anderem auch in den Podozyten, die einen wichtigen Teil der glomerulären Filtrationsbarriere bilden. Im Rahmen dieser Doktorarbeit sollte untersucht werden, welchen Einfluss die Aktivierung der Guanylatzyklase A durch die kardialen natriuretischen Peptide ANP und BNP im Podozyten auf die Regulation der glomerulären Filtrationsrate ausübt. Anhand einer podozytenspezifischen GC-A Knockout-Maus (Podo GC-A KO) wurden renale und kardiovaskuläre Parameter sowohl nach unilateraler Nephrektomie als auch nach Infusion von BNP untersucht und mit den Wurfgeschwistern (Podo GC-A WT) verglichen. Der Verlust einer Niere führte sowohl in den Podo GC-A WT als auch in den Podo GC-A KO Mäusen innerhalb kurzer Zeit zu einem rapiden Anstieg der GFR. Auch die BNP-Infusion in narkotisierten Versuchstieren ging in beiden Genotypen mit einer Steigerung der GFR sowie einer Diurese und Natriurese einher. Somit scheinen die Podozyten, obwohl sie, verglichen mit allen anderen glomerulären Zellen die höchste Expression der GC-A aufweisen, keinen Einfluss auf die Regulation der glomerulären Filtrationsrate durch die natriuretischen Peptide zu nehmen. In einem weiteren Experiment wurde eine mögliche direkte nephroprotektive Wirkung von ANP und BNP in den Podozyten untersucht. Die Applikation des Mineralokortikoids Deoxycorticosteronacetet (DOCA) in Kombination mit einer unilateralen Nephrektomie und einer Hochsalzdiät führte sowohl in den Podo GC-A KO als auch in den Podo GC-A WT Mäusen zu einer leichten Hypertension, einer Hyperfiltration und einem Anstieg des Nierengewichts. Im Gegensatz zu den Wildtyp-Mäusen zeigten die Podo GC-A KO Mäuse jedoch eine massive Albuminurie (5400-fach vs. basal; 200-fach vs. DOCA-behandelte Podo GC-A WT), die mit einer Hypoalbuminämie und einer reduzierten glomerulären Filtrationsrate einherging. Zudem wiesen die Nieren der Podo GC-A KO Mäuse gravierende Schädigungen auf, die durch eine Expansion des glomerulären Mesangiums sowie interstitielle und tubuläre Fibrose gekennzeichnet waren. Unter dem Elektronenmikroskop waren stark veränderte Podozyten mit verbreiterten, verschmolzenen Fußfortsätzen in den Glomeruli der DOCA-behandelten Knockout-Mäuse erkennbar, während die podozytären Ausläufer der DOCA-behandelten Podo GC-A Wildtyp-Mäuse eine typische Form aufwiesen und normal miteinander interagierten. Die Podozyten der Podo GC-A KO Mäuse zeigten außerdem eine verminderte Expression der Schlitzmembran-assoziierten Proteine Podocin und Synaptopodin, während die Expression des „Transient receptor potential canonical channel 6“ (TRPC6) in den Knockouts, verglichen mit den gleich behandelten Wildtypen, erhöht war. Weiterhin wurde in den Podozyten frisch isolierter Knockout-Glomeruli nach DOCA-Behandlung ein erhöhter ATP-induzierter Calcium-Influx gemessen, der durch die Applikation des TRPC-Kanal-Blockers SKF 96365 inhibiert werden konnte. In vivo führte die begleitende Behandlung der Podo GC-A KO Mäuse mit SKF 96365 zu einer deutlichen Verminderung der durch DOCA verursachten Albuminurie und der glomerulären Schädigung sowie zum Erhalt der podozytären Proteine und der Struktur der podozytären Fußfortsätze. Somit zeigen die Ergebnisse dieser Doktorarbeit zum ersten Mal, dass die kardialen natriuretischen Peptide ANP und BNP, zumindest unter pathologischen Bedingungen, über die Aktivierung ihres Rezeptors GC-A eine direkte, zelluläre nephroprotektive Wirkung besitzen, die wahrscheinlich über die Suppression des TRPC6-Kanals in den Podozyten vermittelt wird

Mind over Manuscript. Eight Strategies for Writing Philosophy

Writing philosophy well is an essential skill in our discipline. Philosophical writing must aim for clarity, precision, and rigor, but in doing so, it can often wind up dry, long-winded and boring. It can take many drafts to produce a paper that is suitable for publication in a journal, and many aspiring (and accomplished!) academic philosophers find the process of writing arduous and frustrating. Still, some people make it look easy – if you’ve read anything by Alan Hájek, you’ve probably noticed his breezy style that effortlessly communicates complex ideas in simple terms. His concise and witty prose makes even formal epistemology, a notoriously complicated, math-heavy subject, accessible and engaging to readers. However, while it might look effortless, Hájek’s spirited style is in fact born out of deep and thoughtful engagement with the craft of writing. His motto is: “Work hard for your readers, so that they don’t have to.” Hájek’s approach is decidedly anti-genius: he believes that having good ideas and communicating them well can be taught, and he has devoted considerable energy to helping his graduate students improve their writing. He has written multiple articles about philosophical creativity, as well as an unpublished lengthy manuscript on the mechanics of writing. I have benefited myself from his advice – at least I believe I have, readers may judge for themselves. My aim in this article is to share a few of his insights that I have found most helpful for myself and for my students. I won’t try to summarize all of Hájek’s advice, and I also don’t claim that all of this is totally new. Rather, I will offer a small collection of greatest hits. I will cover eight aspects of philosophical writing, and for each one, I will explain the basic idea, and then discuss some ways of implementing it for oneself and one’s students

Servervirtualisierung mit universitären Fallstudien

In dieser Arbeit wird die Vorgangsweise zur Erstellung einer virtuellen Umgebung in Richtung wissenschaftlicher Systeme auf Universitäten für Forschung und Lehre beschrieben.In this work I describe the procedure for creating a virtual environment for research and teaching of scientific systems of universities

The Relationship Between Belief and Credence

Sometimes epistemologists theorize about belief, a tripartite attitude on which one can believe, withhold belief, or disbelieve a proposition. In other cases, epistemologists theorize about credence, a fine-grained attitude that represents one’s subjective probability or confidence level toward a proposition. How do these two attitudes relate to each other? This article explores the relationship between belief and credence in two categories: descriptive and normative. It then explains the broader significance of the belief-credence connection and concludes with general lessons from the debate thus far

Opening the black box of energy modelling: Strategies and lessons learned

The global energy system is undergoing a major transition, and in energy planning and decision-making across governments, industry and academia, models play a crucial role. Because of their policy relevance and contested nature, the transparency and open availability of energy models and data are of particular importance. Here we provide a practical how-to guide based on the collective experience of members of the Open Energy Modelling Initiative (Openmod). We discuss key steps to consider when opening code and data, including determining intellectual property ownership, choosing a licence and appropriate modelling languages, distributing code and data, and providing support and building communities. After illustrating these decisions with examples and lessons learned from the community, we conclude that even though individual researchers' choices are important, institutional changes are still also necessary for more openness and transparency in energy research

Portraying Pointillism: An Actress\u27s Journey Through Pointillism To Define The Role Of Dot In Sondheim And Lapine\u27s Musical Sunday in the Park with George

Upon receiving a role, an actor must research the major themes, concepts, and relationships associated with the play, its collaborators, and the character they are to portray. Only by layering this combination of research and analysis to the rehearsal process and performances in a detailed format can an actor cohesively transform the learned knowledge from the performer\u27s training and research to a finished product on stage. Many forms of art are created using a similar process. This thesis will explore the similarities between the Post-Impressionist technique of pointillism and the actor\u27s process in developing a role. Upon observing the basic process of each technique, one can conclude that the method of consistently adding many specific elements eventually creates a finished product whether it is in the form of a painting on a canvas or a performance on a stage. By paralleling these two artistic techniques, a new contribution to musical theatre is made by presenting a fresh outlook for performers in their approach to creating roles. Research on pointillism and George Seurat\u27s painting technique when interwoven with Stephen Sondheim\u27s techniques in music theory (specifically the examples derived from the score of Sunday in the Park with George), and compared to my technique and process as the actor playing the role of Dot in the University of Central Florida Conservatory Theatre\u27s 2006 Spring production of Sunday in the Park with George, demonstrates how the theories of pointillism and the actor\u27s process are clearly comparable and arguably inseparable

Probability without Tears

This paper is about teaching probability to students of philosophy who don’t aim to do primarily formal work in their research. These students are unlikely to seek out classes about probability or formal epistemology for various reasons, for example because they don’t realize that this knowledge would be useful for them or because they are intimidated by the material. However, most areas of philosophy now contain debates that incorporate probability, and basic knowledge of it is essential even for philosophers whose work isn’t primarily formal. In this paper, I explain how to teach probability to students who are not already enthusiastic about formal philosophy, taking into account the common phenomena of math anxiety and the lack of reading skills for formal texts. I address course design, lesson design, and assignment design. Most of my recommendations also apply to teaching formal methods other than probability theory