Actual Truth Research Articles

'One of the Challenges that Can Plausibly Be Raised Against Them?' On the Role of Truth in Debates About the Legitimacy of International Criminal Tribunals

International criminal tribunals (ICTs) are epistemic engines in the sense that they find (or claim to find) factual truths about such past events that qualify as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The value of this kind of knowledge would seem to be beyond dispute. Yet, in general the truth-finding aspect of ICTs plays only a very limited role in the often heated debates about their legitimacy. Furthermore, those who actually do address the issue seem widely divided as to whether critiques of the epistemic function of ICTs in fact constitute, in Andreas Follesdal’s words, one of ‘the challenges that can plausibly be raised against them’ – and if so, in what ways. In this paper, I address the first of these questions asking whether truth-finding should at all be considered a desideratum for ICTs. To this end, I discuss the widespread claim that it should not because the legal truth found in ICT judgements is in fact sui generis; i.e. something categorically different from ordinary truth because exclusively tied to and determined by the legal process as defined in accordance with ideals of due process/fair trial. I argue that this position is ill-founded. Properly under-stood, truth in law is intimately connected to ordinary truth. Truth-finding capacity therefore does belong in legitimacy debates as a challenge that can plausibly be raised against them. This, in turn makes it relevant, in future research, to map, analyse and interrelate the various critiques that have been launched against the actual truth conduciveness of ICTs.

Increasing skepticism toward potential liars: effects of existential threat on veracity judgments and the moderating role of honesty norm activation.

With the present research, we investigated effects of existential threat on veracity judgments. According to several meta-analyses, people judge potentially deceptive messages of other people as true rather than as false (so-called truth bias). This judgmental bias has been shown to depend on how people weigh the error of judging a true message as a lie (error 1) and the error of judging a lie as a true message (error 2). The weight of these errors has been further shown to be affected by situational variables. Given that research on terror management theory has found evidence that mortality salience (MS) increases the sensitivity toward the compliance of cultural norms, especially when they are of focal attention, we assumed that when the honesty norm is activated, MS affects judgmental error weighing and, consequently, judgmental biases. Specifically, activating the norm of honesty should decrease the weight of error 1 (the error of judging a true message as a lie) and increase the weight of error 2 (the error of judging a lie as a true message) when mortality is salient. In a first study, we found initial evidence for this assumption. Furthermore, the change in error weighing should reduce the truth bias, automatically resulting in better detection accuracy of actual lies and worse accuracy of actual true statements. In two further studies, we manipulated MS and honesty norm activation before participants judged several videos containing actual truths or lies. Results revealed evidence for our prediction. Moreover, in Study 3, the truth bias was increased after MS when group solidarity was previously emphasized.

The Fitch-Church Paradox and First Order Modal Logic

Reformulation strategies for solving Fitch’s paradox of knowability date back to Edgington (Mind 94:557–568, 1985). Their core assumption is that the formula \(p\rightarrow \Diamond Kp\), from which the paradox originates, does not correctly express the intended meaning of the verification thesis (VT), which should concern possible knowledge of actual truths, and therefore the contradiction does not represent a logical refutation of verificationism. Supporters of these solutions claim that (VT) can be reformulated in a way that blocks the derivation of the paradox. Unfortunately, these reformulation proposals come with other problems, on both the logical and the philosophical side (see Percival in Aust J Philos 69:82–97, 1991; Williamson in Knowledge and its limits, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000; Wright in Realism, meaning and truth, Blackwell, Oxford, 1987). We claim that in order to make the reformulation idea consistent and adequate one should analyze the paradox from the point of view of a quantified modal language. An approach in this line was proposed by, among others, Kvanvig (Nous 29:481–499, 1995; The knowability paradox, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006) but was not fully developed in its technical details. Here we approach the paradox by means of a first order hybrid modal logic (FHL), a tool that strikes us as more adequate to express transworld reference and the rigidification needed to consistently express this idea. The outcome of our analysis is ambivalent. Given a first order formula we are able to express the fact that it is knowable in a way which is both consistent and adequate. However, one must give up the possibility of formulating (VT) as a substitution free schema of the kind \(p\rightarrow \Diamond Kp\). We propose that one may instead formulate (VT) by means of a recursive translation of the initial formula, being aware that many alternative translations are possible.

Research Analysis on Barriers to Green Supply Chain Management in Pharmaceutical Industries

This paper describes the behaviour related to the barriers green supply chain management with respect to pharmaceutical companies in Karachi. Responses have been signature after collection of their genuine response with respect to barriers in green supply chain Tests have been divided in various constructs, named cost, training, management, government concerns, awareness, knowledge, legislation, SOPS, competitor, region which has been label according to their nature. This study is related to the barriers or hurdles in the implementation of the green supply Chain Management. Pharmaceutical industry is trying to implement green environment but due to some factors indicated in this study they are unable to portray the green environment. This study is covering almost all aspects that indicate green supply chain management barriers. The instrument is being developed on the basis of literature review which is covering almost all the external and internal drivers. The internal and external drivers include some organizational related factors, like top management, resources, trainings, professionalism. Some external factors also include resources, TQEM (Total quality environmental management) and awareness. Barriers in the implementation of the green supply chain management are both internal and external. To reveal the actual truth behind the implementation of green environment we conducted study by running exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Designed an instrument and conducted the interviews of the persons revealing the hurdles in the implementation of the green environment. Respondents will be answering the questions of the instrument and their data has been recorded. The number of constructs is six in this instrument with 38 variables. Data of respondents is collected from the pharmaceutical organizations of supply chain professionalism. This research has been conducted in various pharmaceutical Companies of Pakistan including Abbot, GSK, Getz pharmaceutical etc. KMO and Bartlett as test, this test scored significance level.

You have to be joking: Are communities loosing respect for health and safety policy, programs and systems?

OHS management systems and professionals have done much to ensure the health and safety of workers and societies in general. However, where these systems have become complex, overbearing and authoritarian, they have stifled workers and the community’s ability to respond to unique or unanticipated occurrences of occupational and general risk. This predicament is exacerbated when the general public lose faith in an OHS culture that has “gone mad”, or become “out of control”, and where “open season” has been declared by the media on safety regulators, their systems and regulations. This may be a perceived rather than actual truth, however, perceptions drive personal attitudes and responses, and the reputation and effectiveness of OHS is at stake. Driving some contemporary attitudes towards OHS is a barrage of lampoon, satire and angry comment pervade by mischief-makers, the press and the electronic media. The profession has also looked into the mirror and revealed areas of self-doubt. This paper looks at an unfolding and worrying scenario for occupational health.

Asymmetrical hyperpolyglot potential in women? – Looking at linguistic chauvinism in the twenty-first century

Abstract This article focuses on renditions of hyperglossia in a recently published popular linguistics text entitled Babel No More. The article aims to examine in detail the seemingly asymmetrical portrayal of female polyglot prowess relative to spotlighted male linguistic proficiency in the extensive diachronic and synchronic case studies presented in the text and presents historical evidence of female polyglot contributions – past and present – to fill a perceived gap in the proffered record in this widely circulating twenty-first-century text. The seeming contrast of awe for language accumulators versus doubt for actual multilingual competence in a book bearing the subtitle The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners it is argued needs discoursal scrutiny both for what is says and for its brilliant use of covert linguistic strategies to revive and reconstruct eighteenth-century accounts of global asymmetry in women’s cognitive potential 300 years later. By examining three brilliantly crafted critical discourse strategies of Underdefinition, Underreportage; and Selective Visualization, which author Erard employs to simultaneously and systematically “other,” marginalize and trivialize some multilingual speakers while privileging past and present male hyperpolyglots in particular regions of the world, we understand how global exhibitionism of power and cultural knowledge is both revived and sustained in a seemingly interconnected and deterritorialized world of “cosmopolitan” access in the twenty-first century. Eventually then, this article seeks to examine what we lose when we limit ourselves to agenda rather than the pursuit of actual historical and present-day truths with globally spanning rather than regionally oriented evidence. Indeed, the article prods readers to consider what we risk to lose in fields as esoteric as linguistics when current analyses fail to focus on 51% of the world’s population – women.

The problem of extras and the contingency of physicalism

Perhaps all concrete phenomena obtain solely in virtue of physical phenomena. Even so, it seems that the world could have been otherwise. It seems that physicalism, if true, is contingently true. In fact, many believe that the actual truth of physicalism allows metaphysically possible worlds duplicating the actual world in all physical respects while containing immaterial extras, e.g. ghosts, spirits, or Cartesian souls, that no physicalist would believe actually exist. Here I focus on physicalism regarding mentality and argue that the doctrine does not allow possible worlds that physically duplicate the actual world while differing mentally. By revealing what physicalism (regarding the mind) does not allow, this essay helps us get clear on what the view really amounts to and why it is contingent.

Interpreting our lives: memory, truth and fiction

Interpreters is a novel that explores the secrets and lies within families, the parent–child relationship, the interpretation of the past and the collective and personal guilt of a generation who grew up in Nazi Germany. Mindful of the moral and ethical issues inherent in memoir and autobiography, I explore the challenges and dilemmas encountered in creating a work of autobiographical fiction that draws on the experiences of those who may never have expected, or wanted, their stories to be told. I attempt to ensure ethical and artistic integrity by recording emotional rather than actual truths, by changing the stories’ and the characters’ natures, and liberating myself from the constraints of conventional life writing with its requirement for historical accuracy, logical timeframe and expectation of truthfulness.

Colère romaine, fureur barbare : Sièges et suicides collectifs dans la troisième décade de Tite-Live

Several accounts of sieges in Titus-Livius’s The History of Rome end in the defenders collective suicide. Our analysis, centred on the case of the Hispanic city of Astapa, approaches these stories from four different viewpoints. 1/ Their mixed nature : the superimposition of a barely adapted basic annalistic outline, and a historiographical and literary motif widespread in Greece since the 5th century . 2/ Their ideological load : Through the accounts, Titus-Livius poses the question of the legitimacy of violence and more specifically in Book XXVIII where the differing fortunes of the cities are put into perspective considering an antithetic background of the Roman’s controlled legitimate anger (ira) and the irrational fury of the Barbarians (furor). 3/ Moral stake : As opposed to most Classic historians, Titus-Livius condemns these extreme practices which he considers to be against nature. This aversion may stem from one of the more disturbing effects of civil wars i. e., the resurgence of the archaic custom of Roman soldier’s mutual suicide under a deviant form illustrated by Lucanius. 4/ Finally , one may pose the question of the level of actual truth in Titus-Livius‘ s tales within a Hispanic context because of local practices related to devotion to the leader which could lead to suicide.

The crisis behind the crisis

The present crisis is a financial crisis only at the surface. In actual truth there is a much more consequential growth crisis behind it. This “view point” discusses why this is so and what consequences follow from this diagnosis when seeking for remedies for the crisis. Particular attention is given in the discussion to the fact that the crisis occurs just at a time when the necessity to cope with the climate change is getting ever more pressing.

What lies beneath: How the distance between truth and lie drives dishonesty

Based on the assumption that dishonesty poses a threat to one's self view, recent research has put forward the notion that people avoid major lies. However, existing empirical work has not tested this notion conclusively, given that studies have associated larger degrees of dishonesty with larger payoffs. It thus remains unclear whether people actually do avoid major lies or rather shy away from large (unjustified) payoffs, e.g. since the latter are generally more likely to trigger suspicion. Thus, we critically tested the hypothesis that the probability of dishonesty is a decreasing function of the distance between the actual truth and the lie that is necessary to increase ones gains. In a modified dice-game paradigm, a highly specific behavioral pattern was predicted by this hypothesis and results from a large (N=765), incentivized and fully anonymous study confirmed the latter, thus corroborating that people indeed avoid major lies.

The Fate of 'Backwardness'

In Portugal, terms such as 'modernisation', 'progress' and 'development' are continually invoked by a wide range of social actors, representing the right path and ultimate goal of all political and social change, but on the other hand conceal the actual truth that, to use Latour's expression: 'We have never been modern'. The result is that the demand for modernisation is accompanied by the parallel reification of 'backwardness'. Alluding to Portugal's peripheral condition, to its distance from the rest of Europe and so forth, is part of common everyday discourse, and the country is typically portrayed as a kind of European backwater, forever lagging behind more advanced states. This article aims to present and discuss how backwardness and modernisation are recurrently present in political discourse as a leitmotiv for social, economic and cultural change and the way it is incorporated into a broader and rooted self-representation of the Portuguese modus vivendi and national features.

Friendship with the Fairest of the Children of Men: Relating the Ars celebrandi to Actuosa participatio

Friendship with the Fairest of the Children of Men: Relating the Ars celebrandi to Actuosa participatio Owen Vyner Introduction On 18 April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, an astute judge of culture , addressed the cardinals assembled in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope. At the Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice he warned of a “dictatorship of relativism,” by which he meant a tyranny of intolerance in the name of “tolerance.” Friendship with Christ, he said, is the only path that enables us “to distinguish the true from the false, and deceit from truth.”1 Nearly a week later, in his first homily as Pope Benedict XVI, he spoke again of friendship with Christ, this time saying of it that nothing is more beautiful.2 It is primarily in the Church’s sacred liturgy where Christians encounter the friendship that enables them to know the truth. For this reason, authentic liturgical renewal has been a central concern of Ratzinger, both as theologian and as Vicar of Christ. Many Catholics waited with great anticipation for Benedict to issue his first papal document on the Eucharist, Sacramentum caritatis of 2007 (henceforth S.Car.). In this apostolic exhortation responding to the October 2005 Synod of Bishops, he writes: The primary way to foster the participation of the People of God in the sacred rite is the proper celebration of the rite itself. The ars celebrandi is the best way to ensure their actuosa participatio.3 1 Homily of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals , 18 April 2005, at . 2 Homily of Benedict XVI at the inauguration of his pontificate, 24 April 2005, at . 3 Benedict XVI, Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis (22 February 2007), in Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission (Washington DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2007) §38, p. 35. All citations of this document are drawn from this edition. Antiphon 14.3 (2010): 261-272 262 Owen Vyner I would even go so far as to say that the art of celebrating the liturgy (ars celebrandi) is foundational to the work of promoting the active participation (actuosa participatio) of the Catholic people in the liturgical celebration. In this essay I will try to show the connection between those two themes, first by exploring Pope Benedict’s understanding of beauty as an encounter with Christ, and then by applying this insight to the matter of liturgical celebration. I. The Epistemic Importance of Beauty In an article entitled “Wounded by the Arrow of Beauty,” published in 2004,4 then-Cardinal Ratzinger reflects on an apparent paradox in the Liturgy of the Hours between two antiphons which frame Psalm 45[44], the royal wedding song. The antiphon used during Lent in Vespers for Monday of Week II of the four-week Psalter rightly identifies the bridegroom-king with Jesus Christ, describing him in the psalmist’s words as “the fairest of the children of men” (v. 3).5 In contrast, the antiphon used on Monday of Holy Week, based as it is on the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah, presents a very different image of Christ: “He had no beauty, no majesty to draw our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him” (cf. Is 53:2).6 So Ratzinger asks: Was Christ beautiful? And if so, how can we reconcile these two antiphons, which the Church presents to deepen our reflection on the mystery of the Redeemer? As he sees it, the two antiphons are contrasting but not contradictory.7 This reflection leads Ratzinger to consider the nature of beauty. In light of the horrors of the twentieth century, he asks “whether beauty is true or whether perhaps ugliness leads us to the actual truth of reality.”8 Then he resolves the question straightaway: Whoever believes in… the God who revealed himself precisely in the distorted figure of Christ crucified as Love ‘to the end’ (Jn 13:1), knows that beauty is truth and truth beauty; but in the suffering Christ he also learns that the beauty of truth also involves wounds, pain, and even the obscure mystery of death….9 4 Joseph Ratzinger, On the...

Scale transformation of Leaf Area Index product retrieved from multiresolution remotely sensed data: analysis and case studies

Climate and land–atmosphere models rely on accurate land-surface parameters, such as Leaf Area Index (LAI). It is crucial that the estimation of LAI represents actual ground truth. Yet it is known that the LAI values retrieved from remote sensing images suffer from scaling effects. The values retrieved from coarse resolution images are generally smaller. Scale transformations aim to derive accurate leaf area index values at a specific scale from values at other scales. In this paper, we study the scaling effect and the scale transformation algorithm of LAI in regions with different vegetation distribution characteristics, and analyse the factors that can affect the scale transformation algorithm, so that the LAI values derived from a low resolution dataset match the average LAI values of higher resolution images. Using our hybrid reflectance model and the scale transformation algorithm for continuous vegetation, we have successfully calculated the LAI values at different scales, from reflectance images of 2.5 m and 10 m spatial resolution SPOT-5 data as well as 250 m and 500 m spatial resolution MODIS data. The scaling algorithm was validated in two geographic regions and the results agreed well with the actual values. This scale transformation algorithm will allow researchers to extend the size of their study regions and eliminate the impact of remote sensing image resolution.

Das Zweite Gesetz zur Regelung des Urheberrechts in der Informationsgesellschaft (Zweiter Korb) – ein Beitrag aus Wissenschaftssicht

The latest changes in Germany's copyright law which are relevant to the scientific community are open to critical analysis. The dependency of scientists on access to information they need is a unique feature of the »ascientific copyright« which at present is increasingly being strengthened within the context of digital marketing. Subsequently there are considerable doubts as to whether the attempts to balance the interests of all parties involved solely through limitations on copyright can be successful.This is all the more true since limitations specifically aimed at scientific works are based on the intent to give priority to publishing houses; but, in actual truth, the scientific market lacks the competitive environment which would be required. Hence, it is worth going beyond an analysis of the practicality of the new or revised limitations and considering further solutions. These would deal, on the one hand, with the legal regulation of competition.

Hales’s Argument for Philosophical Relativism

Hales’s Argument for Philosophical Relativism

On Ethics and Documentary: A Real and Actual Truth

This article brings recent psychoanalytic theory to bear on contemporary moral opinion about ethical practice in documentary film and video. A critical distinction is made between ethics and morals, and Alain Badiou’s (1993/2001) philosophical conception of an ethic of truths is used to challenge the restrictions put upon documentary. It is argued that visual perception remains the truth of any documentary, and three modes are proposed according to which an ethic of disclosing this truth may be practiced with a view to overcome the obstacles of morality-based ethical systems.

Inverse estimation of multi‐substance concentrations in coastal surface waters based on a four flux model

A method based on a four flux model is proposed to accurately estimate multiple‐substance concentrations in seawater. Simulations are used to confirm the uniqueness and sensitivity of the solutions of the proposed method when applied to sample water cases in which three selected substances, i.e. phytoplankton, suspended minerals and dissolved organic matter, of various concentrations are combined. The analysis is performed in the visible and near‐infrared bands equivalent to Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor output. The results of inverse estimation using simulated data show that solution uniqueness is maintained within the range of concentration values examined of our target area, i.e. the northern part of Tokyo Bay. We find that the atmospheric noise remaining after atmospheric noise calibration significantly impacts the estimation accuracy. However, if the calibration is reasonably accurate and adequate optical properties are known for each substance, the concentration estimated from both airborne Multi‐spectral Scanner (MSS) data and actual Landsat TM data are in good agreement with actual sea truth data for deep areas wherein the reflectance from the sea bottom can be ignored.

Programming with Models — Modeling with Code The Role of Models in Software Development.

In practice, engineers work with partial descriptions (models) and add/remove model elements at each level of abstraction. Models describe a slice of life – not life itself. Modelers use many different models to explore different aspects of the thing being modeled such as requirements, data, behavior, event/time, security, flow, process, activity, performance, quality, usability, etc. These models can take many forms and be expressed through many different tools including systems dynamics, prototypes, textual and visual models of artifacts and their relationships. It is important to note that UML is just one of many models representations which may be used in this process. The set of central relations in model-driven engineering and object-oriented technology are fundamentally different. The two central relations in object-oriented technology are isA and isPartOf. In model engineering the key relations are isBasedOn, isLike, and isRepresentedBy. These inherently one-to-many and partial relationships are often mistakenly confused with OOP relationships. Trying to use one set of relations, as a central interpretation, in the wrong context, can lead to serious problems. Models provide a representation of partial truths about the software system, but only the final code contains the actual truth.

Modality Realization as Contrast in Discourse

In discourse, frequently the truth value of a proposition is an issue under discussion. When speakers determine the actual truth value of an issue, they often mark this with phonetic focus on the finite verb. The phonetic focus in these utterances is argued to be a contrastive marking, signaling a contrast between the unspecified modality of some information in an earlier state and the determined truth value.