Pragmatic Arguments Research Articles

Symptomatic thoracic epidural lipomatosis with syringomyelia: illustrative case.

Spinal epidural lipomatosis is a rare but well-described disease. Here the authors present an extraordinary co-occurrence of spinal epidural lipomatosis with syringomyelia that did not improve after laminoplasty but required duroplasty as a definitive treatment. This is the seventh case in the literature describing a co-occurrence of spinal epidural lipomatosis and syringomyelia. The pragmatic argument for a causative relationship between 2 phenomena is syrinxes reduction after surgery for spinal epidural lipomatosis. Additionally, duroplasty for spinal epidural lipomatosis in the setting of syringomyelia has not previously been reported. Duroplasty offers much better reconstruction of the subarachnoid space as compared with extradural decompression surgeries. It is one of the treatment options for spinal epidural lipomatosis. Last, most of the patients described in the literature with secondary syringomyelia were women with diabetes mellitus. The co-occurrence of spinal epidural lipomatosis and syringomyelia is extremely rare. Neurological deficits in such cases respond well to surgical treatment. Accordingly, each case described in the literature resulted in syringomyelia reduction or resolution after surgery. Duroplasty may be necessary in selected cases of spinal epidural lipomatosis. Close follow-up and ongoing management of patients with epidural lipomatosis is therefore important.

Sambandha as a ‘Śakti-of-Śaktis’: Bhartṛhari’s Influence on the Relational Realism of Pratyabhijñā

Contemporary scholarship has significantly advanced our understanding of the grammarian Bhartṛhari’s influence on the Pratyabhijñā Śaivism of Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta. One area that has been somewhat neglected, however, is the subject of relation (sambandha). Here, I examine the influence of Bhartṛhari’s sambandha-vāda on the Pratyabhijñā school. As I see it, Bhartṛhari’s understanding of the holistic movement of sphoṭa—the practical process of ‘encoding’ and ‘decoding’ linguistic information—leads to a necessary reevaluation of the general logical form of sambandha, i.e., ‘relationality-as-such.’ On this account, Bhartṛhari articulates a basically transcendental conception of sambandha as a ‘śakti-of-śaktis’ in his ‘Exposition of Relation’ (Sambandhasamuddeśa [SSam]). This effectively means that one cannot designate the general logical form of sambandha in linguistic terms without also thereby changing its essential nature as such (cf. Houben: 170–4). I maintain that Utpaladeva’s ‘Proof of Relation’ (Sambandhasiddhi [SS]) leverages this insight into a series of pragmatic arguments to demonstrate that vimarśa, or recognitive judgment, is the true locus of relational action—i.e., unity-in-diversity (bhedābheda). In doing so, he effectively salvages a coherent understanding of relation as necessarily real (satya) from the deconstructive agenda of the Buddhist eliminativist, even though the referent may indeed appear paradoxical from the perspective of theoretical reason alone.

Hope and Despair: Understanding Change in Turkey-EU Relations

Joining the European Union has been a long-lasting priority in Turkish foreign policy and one which has fluctuated from relatively short episodes of hope to longer periods of frustration or even despair. The article reviews the intensity, drivers and justification of change during five critical periods: the 1959 application for association that led to the signature in 1963 of the Treaty of Ankara; the request for full membership in 1987 that led to the signature of the Customs Union in 1995; the Helsinki decision in 1999 to grant Turkey candidate status; the unenthusiastic opening of the accession negotiations in 2005; and the gradual evolution toward a transactional cooperation ever since, which coexists with signs of an increasingly adversarial relationship. Foreign policy changes in Turkey are one of the factors explaining the evolution of this relationship. This article emphasizes the need to take into consideration foreign policy changes in the EU and within some of its member states, as well as global and regional transformations. It also points out the extraordinary resilience of EU-Turkey relations, and how pragmatic, ideational and normative arguments have so far contributed to avoidance of an abrupt divorce.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Theistic Arguments from Horrendous Evils

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Theistic Arguments from Horrendous Evils

Argumentative patterns based on pragmatic argumentation at China’s diplomatic press conferences

Within the theoretical framework of Pragma-Dialectics, this research investigates prototypical argumentative patterns based on pragmatic argumentation that manifest themselves in the spokespersons’ argumentative replies at the regular press conferences of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As is shown by the research results, constrained by the institutional point of the communicative activity type (justifying China’s attitude and actions regarding controversial issues) and its institutional preconditions, argumentative patterns based on pragmatic argumentation prototypically occur in three variants, viz. the ‘solvency type’, the ‘maintenance type’, and the ‘counter-plan type’; it can be observed that in complex pragmatic argumentation each of these three variants may also occur in combination with other variants.

Between Conflict and Harmony: Understanding Contestation of Iftirāq Al-Ummah Hadiths in the Contemporary Era

Iftirāq al-ummah hadith in the contemporary era is considered a problematic hadith both at the level of understanding and practice. The meaning of the hadith is considered to be contrary to the Qur'an and other hadiths which uphold the spirit of unity and brotherhood. At the practical level, this hadith is considered to be a trigger for division and conflict among Muslims. This study aims to map contemporary scholars' understanding models of iftirāq al-ummah hadith. To track this understanding model, the main questions are: 1) what is the model for the tendency of contemporary scholars to understand the hadith, 2) what is the impact of each model of understanding on the scientific world of hadith and also the praxis of people's lives, and 3) how to construct arguments built. This research is a narrative-historical approach, as well as content analysis that combines descriptive, critical and hermeneutical analysis, this study shows that the understanding of contemporary scholars of the iftirāq al-ummah hadith can be grouped into three models, namely 1) exclusive understanding model; 2) rejective understanding model; 3) inclusive understanding model; 4) introspective understanding model. The first understanding tends to cause conflict among Muslims, while the other three are criticisms of the first model. Each understanding put forward coherent arguments and pragmatic arguments to strengthen his opinion.

Accuracy and Probabilism in Infinite Domains

Abstract The best accuracy arguments for probabilism apply only to credence functions with finite domains, that is, credence functions that assign credence to at most finitely many propositions. This is a significant limitation. It reveals that the support for the accuracy-first programme in epistemology is a lot weaker than it seems at first glance, and it means that accuracy arguments cannot yet accomplish everything that their competitors, the pragmatic (Dutch book) arguments, can. In this paper, I investigate the extent to which this limitation can be overcome. Building on the best arguments in finite domains, I present two accuracy arguments for probabilism that are perfectly general—they apply to credence functions with arbitrary domains. I then discuss how the arguments’ premisses can be challenged. We will see that it is particularly difficult to characterize admissible accuracy measures in infinite domains.

"Tampoco no" (y otros fenómenos de concordancia negativa) en las variedades vernáculas del español contemporáneo

"The negative adverb tampoco has not raised enough attention from linguists and, therefore, no monographic analysis has been devoted to its study. This article explores one of the most salient features of this adverb in non-standard Spanish varieties: its tendency to maintain the negative adverb no in preverbal position. This construction is not limited to bilingual varieties, as previous literature has taken for granted. The hypothesis presented in this article proposes that this construction materializes a silent head (no) of Polarity Phrase. To sustain this hypothesis, lexical, syntactic, pragmatic, and diachronic arguments will be considered. This study is based on the analysis of around 700 tokens of tampoco no with data taken from oral and colloquial corpora. The article finally propounds this phenomenon as a Spanish vernacular universal."

Why Monarchy Should Be Abolished

AbstractMonarchy is a form of government that, roughly, dictates that the right to rule is inherited by birth by a single ruler. But monarchy (absolute or constitutional) breaches fundamental moral principles that undergird representative democracy, such as basic moral equality, dignity and desert. Simply put, the monarchs (and their family) are treated as morally superior to ordinary citizens and as a result ordinary citizens are treated in an unfair and undignified manner. For example, monarchs are respected, enjoy dignity, income, opportunity, public office and exalted social status just because of their inherited office, which is due to the mere historical accident of family lineage. Hence, we have good moral reason to abolish monarchy. Finally, I briefly reply to the pragmatic argument for constitutional monarchy, namely, the argument that monarchy can be allowed to play a largely ceremonial role in the context of democracy because it is beneficial for the function of society. As I argue, societies run by presidential democracies can function equally well and, what is more, no matter what the pragmatic reasons for constitutional monarchy are, we still have stronger moral reasons against it. Therefore, it should be abolished.

More on the Issue of the Articles in the Bulgarian Language

The definite articles in the Bulgarian language are distinguished by some specific features, some of which are: first, for m.r. ed.h. there are two forms; second - in writing the same is noted in four ways; third - the use of the full and short article depends on syntactic conditions, etc. The author expresses her opinion for accepting only the full form of the defining article for the masculine gender, using scientific and pragmatic arguments and proving the unnecessariness of the short form.

American Slavery, American Imperialism: US Perceptions of Global Servitude, 1870–1914

American Slavery, American Imperialism: US Perceptions of Global Servitude, 1870–1914

How Should your Beliefs Change When your Awareness Grows?

Abstract Epistemologists who study credences have a well-developed account of how you should change them when you learn new evidence; that is, when your body of evidence grows. What's more, they boast a diverse range of epistemic and pragmatic arguments that support that account. But they do not have a satisfactory account of when and how you should change your credences when you become aware of possibilities and propositions you have not entertained before; that is, when your awareness grows. In this paper, I consider the arguments for the credal epistemologist's account of how to respond to evidence, and I ask whether they can help us generate an account of how to respond to awareness growth. The results are surprising: the arguments that all support the same norms for responding to evidence growth support a number of different norms when they are applied to awareness growth. Some of these norms seem too weak, others too strong. I ask what we should conclude from this, and argue that our credal response to awareness growth is considerably less rigorously constrained than our credal response to new evidence.

Ideologischer oder pragmatischer Mehrwertausgleich? Eine interkantonale Untersuchung zum Einfluss der politischen Legitimation auf die Ausgestaltung des Ausgleichs planungsbedingter Vorteile in der Schweiz

As one of the few examples worldwide, Swiss law serves for an instrument to compensate for planning-related increases in land value. The provision at the federal level however is not directly applicable, but merely a binding legislative mandate to the cantons. Beyond the minimum requirements under federal law, the cantons are given far-reaching discretion in the legislative process. This paper exploits this constellation in order to examine how the political legitimacy of the instrument affects the concrete legal configuration. Based on the planning literature, two schools of thought hold precedence. First, that pragmatic arguments would lead to farreaching cantonal regulations, e.g., through the explicit considerationof rezoning and upzoning as further taxable eventsin addition to the federal law requirement of zoning. Second, that ideological arguments are likely to only lead to minimal implementations, e.g., to a levy rate that does not exceed the minimum 20 percent prescribed by federal law. However, thiscomparative study based on the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, and Bern instead points to a reverse correlation. In contrast to international experience, ideological arguments in Switzerland lead to amore far-reaching design of value added capture under planning law.

Theistic Arguments from Horrendous Evils

AbstractWhile the existence of horrendous evils has generally been taken to be evidence against the existence of God, some philosophers have suggested that it may be evidence for the existence of God. This paper introduces three main kinds of theistic arguments from horrendous evils: the argument from objectively horrifying evils, the pragmatic argument from evil, and an argument from reasonable responses. For each of these arguments, I will first reconstruct a standard version of the argument, before suggesting ways the argument may be challenged, or further developed.

Экономика языка и многоязычие: опыт исследования в Татарстане

Acknowledgements. The reported study was funded by RFBR and DFG, project number № 21-512-12002 ННИО_а “Prognostic methods and future scenarios in language policy – multilingual Russia as an example”. Abstract. This interdisciplinary article is written at the intersection of ethnography of language policy and language economy – a science, underestimated both by (socio)linguists and economists. It aims to identify whether the competence in a minority language affects people's income taking the example of one of the regions of the Russian Federation – the Republic of Tatarstan. The data were collected in October 2021 through a sociolinguistic survey, interviewing, and ethnographic observation. The empirical analysis revealed the absence of a positive correlation between the income of the majority of respondents and their knowledge of the Tatar language. At the same time, for a third of the respondents such knowledge brings both direct and indirect benefits, from establishing business and personal contacts with the Turkic-speaking world to employment opportunities and part-time jobs in the areas where knowledge of Tatar is necessary. The negative relationship between the Tatar language proficiency and income is primarily due to the state language policy and legislation of the country aimed at promoting the Russian language. Overall, the study concludes that the economic value of minority languages remains low and that there are different types of arguments for language choice. The choice of a minority language is motivated by the importance of language for culture and ethnic identity, while the choice of a dominant language is motivated by economic and pragmatic arguments (soft arguments vs. hard arguments). The importance of the monetary component in people’s language decisions allows making a rather pessimistic forecast about the future of minority languages.

The Perils of Polysemy: Racial Realism in the Real World

This paper critiques the biological race realism of Quayshawn Spencer. Spencer's recent embrace of “radical race pluralism” (RRP) is welcome but incomplete, because it needs methods that distinguish different communicative contexts for how American English speakers use “race” and related terms. I offer a pragmatic approach to identifying such contexts that combines pragmatic argumentation theory, rhetorical polysemy, and a pragmatic approach to definition. One consequence of embracing RRP is that Spencer's theory of “OMB race talk” is unsupportable because it collapses three distinct communicative contexts: genomic research, legal and regulatory governance, and ordinary talk. By so doing, OMB race talk blocks attempts to fight racism and violates ethical standards that should allow people the agency to define their own identities.

Democratic legitimacy and authority in times of Corona: Angela Merkel’s address to the nation (18 March 2020)

This article explores the discursive and argumentative procedures that build the legitimacy and authority of Chancellor Angela Merkel in her first TV address on Covid-19. Establishing a necessary distinction in these two correlated and often confused notions, the analysis uncovers a global “rhetoric of the coronavirus”: staging of institutional legitimacy reinforced by the unity of the rulers (an all-encompassing “we”) and building of authority by the argument of epistemic authority (experts); justification of anti-Covid measures by pragmatic arguments or by historical examples; construction of an ethos that ensures credibility. The analysis also reveals procedures specific to emergency situations: enhancement of an absolute and illusory political consensus, at the expense of open democratic deliberation; reduction of scientific discourse to the discourse of experts likely to provide certainty to decision-makers, transformed into managers; calls on the public to accept of its own free will measures already enacted. Finally, the article highlights the specificities of Merkel's speech on this occasion: the meta-discourse that tackles head-on the relationship to democracy, but also to argumentation, the insistence on human values considered superior to the democratic values violated, the posture of proximity supposed to contribute to moral legitimation and to strengthen the authority of the Chancellor. The ethical dimension of the discourse is all the more salient because it relies heavily on pragmatic arguments. Another characteristic of Angela Merkel’s singular self-presentation is the confession of her own fragility, the image of a sensitive woman who unites reason and feeling, the emphasis on an ethic strongly imbued with affectivity that gives her a very human accent and calls for “solidary action” rather than for mere obedience.

Minnow introductions in mountain lakes result in lower salmonid densities

Small fish species such as minnows (Phoxinus sp.) are introduced into mountain lakes by anglers that use them as live bait for fishing salmonids that were previously introduced in these naturally fishless habitats. Introduced fish severely impact native biota but minnows are nevertheless released believing to provide forage for game fish, i.e., salmonids. However, our results indicate that minnows negatively interact with game fish, reducing their relative densities. On some occasions, minnows can remain the only present fish following trout extinction. We believe that this information should be urgently disseminated among anglers as a pragmatic argument to also convince anglers less sensitive to conservation issues that carrying minnows to the mountains is not a good idea whatever the main interest is, e.g., nature conservation or outdoor recreation.

Persuasive and Unpersuasive Critiques of Torture

Torture critics have offered two types of arguments in the hope of swaying public opinion against torture: A pragmatic (consequentialist) argument that “torture doesn’t work” and a moral (deontological) argument about the immorality and cruelty of torture. I present findings from two survey experiments about public support for torture among U.S. adults. The great majority of the respondents in these surveys did not endorse pragmatic arguments. They believed that torture was a quick and effective means of extracting information from detainees who had information about terror attacks. Respondents were unpersuaded by the suggestion that evidence extracted by means of torture might be fragmentary, outdated, or merely corroborative. However, when respondents were informed about the protracted nature of torture, which often requires weeks or months of interrogation before yielding results, their support for torture was lower by 14% in one survey and by 30% in a second survey. Survey participants refused to endorse prolonged torture not because they perceived torture to be ineffective, but because they felt that prolonged torture was cruel. Torture critics would be well advised to steer away from less persuasive arguments about torture inefficacy and instead confront audiences with sobering truths about the cruelty of torture.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПОДГОТОВКИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЕЙ МУЗЫКИ ВО ФРАНЦУЗСКИХ УНИВЕРСИТЕТАХ: МУЗЫКАНТ-ИНТЕРВЕНАНТ

The study attempts to comprehend the foundations of an effective metamorphosis in one of the branches of the modern system of music teacher training in French universities. The versatility of the new relevant specialty “musicien-intervenant”, comparable to the concept of universalism, calls for a holistic study of all aspects determining its evolution. Without resorting to the profound social basis of the commitment of contemporary society in general and music education in particular to a revival of the phenomenon of universalism (which, according to some philosophers and futurologists, is to some extent a sign of the so-called New Middle Ages), we examine the organization of the profession and its implementation. We take into account two pragmatic arguments of the relevance of the universal musician profession, which arose, on the one hand, as a response to public demand for a teacher-educator, versed in all musical styles, capable to build broad intercultural and interpersonal relationships, ultimately breaking conservative stereotypes of mass musical and pedagogical consciousness; and on the other hand, as the desire of French music universities to solidarize with the European strategy of music and pedagogical education aimed at the free movement of students from one university to another thanks to a common system of credit units, expanding educational opportunities and employment prospects.