Assumptions Of Logic Research Articles

Fuzzy‐logical self‐organisation system modelling—Illustrating case of self‐organisation Czech restaurants during the Covid‐19 pandemic

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to show how Niklas Luhmann's concept of self‐organization can be formalized using fuzzy logic. This approach is based on the shared assumptions of systems theory and fuzzy logic and focuses on natural language expression and the complexity of social processes. It involves modelling the operations of the system in relation to the fuzziness of the environment, that is, the transformation of environmental stimuli in gradual uncertainty to binary codes of communication. Based on these operations, it is possible to formalize their unified pattern, which shows the observation of past operations and the simultaneous observation of the environment. An example is given of the formalization of restaurant self‐organization in the Czech Republic during the Covid‐19 pandemic. The model illustrates and explains how the restaurant system reduces lockdown as an environment, in other words, how the system stabilizes its behaviour in a complex pandemic period.

Neutral Free Logic: Motivation, Proof Theory and Models

Free logics are a family of first-order logics which came about as a result of examining the existence assumptions of classical logic (Hintikka The Journal of Philosophy, 56, 125–137 1959; Lambert Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 8, 133–144 1967, 1997, 2001). What those assumptions are varies, but the central ones are that (i) the domain of interpretation is not empty, (ii) every name denotes exactly one object in the domain and (iii) the quantifiers have existential import. Free logics reject the claim that names need to denote in (ii). Positive free logic concedes that some atomic formulas containing non-denoting names (including self-identity) are true, negative free logic treats them as uniformly false, and neutral free logic as taking a third value. There has been a renewed interest in analyzing proof theory of free logic in recent years, based on intuitionistic logic in Maffezioli and Orlandelli (Bulletin of the Section of Logic, 48(2), 137–158 2019) as well as classical logic in Pavlović and Gratzl (Journal of Philosophical Logic, 50, 117–148 2021), there for the positive and negative variants. While the latter streamlines the presentation of free logics and offers a more unified approach to the variants under consideration, it does not cover neutral free logic, since there is some lack of both clear formal intuitions on the semantic status of formulas with empty names, as well as a satisfying account of the conditional in this context. We discuss extending the results to this third major variant of free logics. We present a series of G3 sequent calculi adapted from Fjellstad (Studia Logica, 105(1), 93–119 2017, Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics, 30(3), 272–289 2020), which possess all the desired structural properties of a good proof system, including admissibility of contraction and all versions of the cut rule. At the same time, we maintain the unified approach to free logics and moreover argue that greater clarity of intuitions is achieved once neutral free logic is conceptualized as consisting of two sub-varieties.

A More Unified Approach to Free Logics

Free logics is a family of first-order logics which came about as a result of examining the existence assumptions of classical logic. What those assumptions are varies, but the central ones are that (i) the domain of interpretation is not empty, (ii) every name denotes exactly one object in the domain and (iii) the quantifiers have existential import. Free logics usually reject the claim that names need to denote in (ii), and of the systems considered in this paper, the positive free logic concedes that some atomic formulas containing non-denoting names (namely self-identity) are true, while negative free logic rejects even the latter claim. Inclusive logics, which reject (i), are likewise considered. These logics have complex and varied axiomatizations and semantics, and the goal of this paper is to present an orderly examination of the various systems and their mutual relations. This is done by first offering a formalization, using sequent calculi which possess all the desired structural properties of a good proof system, including admissibility of contraction and cut, while streamlining free logics in a way no other approach has. We then present a simple and unified system of abstract semantics, which allows for a straightforward demonstration of the meta-theoretical properties, and offers insights into the relationship between different logics (free and classical). The final part of this paper is dedicated to extending the system with modalities by using a labeled sequent calculus, and here we are again able to map out the different approaches and their mutual relations using the same framework.

Sustainable Value Co-Creation and Digital Health: The Case of Trentino eHealth Ecosystem

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework based on recent service theories, such as service-dominant logic and service science, and on the concept of service ecosystems. The identification of the main elements of service ecosystems allows for pinpointing the main drivers for sustainable value co-creation, which is intended as the creation in the long run of new service solutions set up with and for end-users to guarantee a better service for the whole society. Given the high interactivity required in the relationship between players involved in digital health services, we decided to apply the developed framework to eHealth, to re-read the eHealth sector as a service ecosystem. The model is tested through a case study represented by digital healthcare in the Autonomous Province of Trento, which represents a best practice in this sector. The results confirm the presence of the main elements of the service ecosystem (actors, resource integration, technology, institutions) in the eHealth sector and show how their integration favours the creation of new resources, new uses of technology and new institutions that produce innovation and sustainable value co-creation. The originality of the work lies in the reconceptualization of the digital health sector from a new perspective based on the assumptions of service-dominant logic, that allow us to analyze the eHealth ecosystem in a holistic and system view.

Prawda i fałsz wypowiedzi literackiej

The article “Truth and Falsity of Literary Statements” investigates the issue of logical values, and consequently communication related status of sentences in indicative mood occurring in works of literature. The problem is discussed with reference to theoretical assumptions of classical logic, intuitionistic logic, and other possible intensional logics as well as phenomenological concepts proposed by Roman Ingarden. In this context it is suggested that intensional systems, mainly intuitionistic logic be adequately applied to identify logical value of literary sentences. As a result, it is assumed that the logical value of literary sentences depends on the specific logical system selected; according to the standards of intuitionistic logic, literary statements are true, likely or false. In this context it seems necessary to revise Roman Ingarden’s phenomenological assumption that sentences in indicative mood in a work of fiction do not have objective point of reference. It is suggested that such sentences be recognised as false, and therefore indicative of the group of their intentional meanings as a specific model of reality which can be deemed true or false.

Nesne Ontolojisi, Varlıksal Öndayanaklar ve Bağımsız Mantıklar

In modern logic, each singular term must denote an object in the domain of quantification. This is due to the ontological assumptions of first order quantification logic with identity. However, this results in certain anomalies, i.e. expressibility and validity of inference problems. Free logic is a useful tool to analyze propositions and test the validity of arguments containing empty singular terms which have no referent in the domain of quantification. In this study, we will examine systematic definitions and extensional interpretations of free logics. One of the most promising future orientations of modern logic, free logic as a logic free of existential assumptions, does not take the concept of existence as a logical necessity. Instead, the fundamental assumption is that of ontological possibility, and hence it will be possible for propositions containing empty terms to have extensional interpretations.

Shining a light on Asian night markets: vendors’ and visitors’ views

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to build on both the theoretical work concerning the co-creation of experiences, and the need for micro-businesses to adopt a consumer-friendly orientation. The researchers examined the compatibility of vendors’ views of their visitors’ perspectives and the visitors’ own assessments of two Hong Kong night markets. Using a large sample survey with over 1,900 tourists and 120 vendors, and examining the data through mean difference testing and factor analysis, the comparability of the views was examined. Key findings were that vendors consistently overestimated the positivity of the visitors’ views. Value for money, trustworthiness of the vendors and product variety were items indicating strong differences where vendors assumed visitors perceived night markets more favorably than did the visitors themselves. The work challenges some assumptions of service design logic and speculates that the durability of night markets is at risk without better vendor understanding of the visitors’ perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe study builds on both the theoretical work concerning the co-creation of experiences, and the need for micro-businesses to adopt a consumer-friendly orientation. The researchers examined the compatibility of vendors’ views of their visitors’ perspectives and the visitors’ own assessments of two Hong Kong night markets. Using a large sample survey with over 1,900 tourists and 120 vendors and examining the data through mean difference testing and factor analysis, the comparability of the views was examined.FindingsKey findings were that vendors consistently overestimated the positivity of the visitors’ views. Value for money, trustworthiness of the vendors and product variety were items indicating strong differences where vendors assumed visitors perceived night markets more favorably than did the visitors themselves. The work challenges some assumptions of service design logic and speculates that the durability of night markets is at risk without better vendor understanding of the visitors’ perspectives.Research limitations/implicationsFor the present work, it would be desirable to ascertain that the figures reported apply to other night markets in Hong Kong and China. Further, the generalizability of the results for different market types, those that offer food or cater to specific interests needs examination. The possibility exists that the general night market will fold as specific tailored options, such as craft, art, flower and homewares themed spaces replace the basic all-purpose format.Practical implicationsThe implications from this work are that vendors may have to form new group alliances to understand and then deliver the overall atmosphere, quality of goods and service interactions prized by tourists. Vendors need to sustain their appeal and sales through maintenance of these overall night market characteristics. The vendors may be able to escape individual censure and rejection for a while due to the transient customer base, but broader destination and attraction image concerns are likely to be a longer-term force requiring attention.Social implicationsThe implications from this work are that vendors may have to form new group alliances to understand and then deliver the overall atmosphere, quality of goods and service interactions prized by tourists. Vendors need to sustain their appeal and sales through maintenance of these overall night market characteristics. The vendors may be able to escape individual censure and rejection for a while due to the transient customer base, but broader destination and attraction image concerns are likely to be a longer-term force requiring attention.Originality/valueThe broad aim of the study can be identified as the desire to examine the compatibility of vendor and tourists’ views, and the more specific aims of this broad agenda will be articulated after reviewing the core conceptual ideas driving the work.

Servant Leadership: Approaching the Paradox from the Life-Stories of Ping Fu

Servant is a paradox ... How can a person be a leader and a at the same time? Although seems contradictory and challenges our traditional beliefs about leadership, it is an approach that offers a unique perspective.(Northouse, 2013: 219)I was still shy then ... I was assertive in our assignments, going above and beyond ... and driving our team to achieve excellence. Years later, I would find this approach written about in business management textbooks: it was a style known as servant leadership.(Fu & Fox, 2012: 64)The paradoxical notion of the leader was originated by Greenleaf (1970), largely based on his belief that service towards others is an essential element of human nature (Leduc, 2003). However, despite its introduction four decades ago and empirical studies that started more than 10 years ago (Laub, 1999), there is still no consensus about a definition and theoretical framework of leadership (van Dierendonck, 2011: 1229). In an attempt to resolve this conceptual confusion, van Dierendonck (2011) the plethora of models inspired by Greenleaf's ideas, to offer a broad framework emphasizing the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of leadership. Regrettably, we still lack sufficient studies that describe in practice, as the preponderance of leader writing has been prescriptive (Northouse, 2013). This leaves many fundamental questions unanswered (Parris & Peachey, 2013). As a result, Whetstone (2002: 390) suggested that the questions surrounding might be best answered by observing leaders genuinely adopting leadership.The above autobiographical reference to her own style was made by an extraordinary entrepreneurial leader, Ping Fu, the founder and CEO of Geomagic, a 3D digital technology company. As we will show, the story of her strength, courage, and resilience in serving those in her sphere of influence is remarkable. With current calls for more examinations of leaders actually practicing leadership, we argue that consideration of a contemporary leader whose philosophy, motivations, and practices resonate with, and in some ways reconcile, the paradoxical concept of leader as is warranted. Accordingly, we her life- stories (Shamir & Eilam, 2005) to further inform the debate.We begin by describing the assumptions of logic, method, and theoretical lens directing our interpretive study. We then briefly review the current state of theory, focusing on the recent theoretical framework proposed by van Dierendonck (2011). Next, we introduce Ping Fu and attempt to situate her motives, attributes, and behaviors within van Dierendonck's (2011) conceptual model of leadership. Finally, noting the unique and incongruous aspects of Fu's leadership, we integrate insights gleaned from her case to illustrate the leader core emerging from her life-stories.Assumptions and ApproachAlthough studies of contemporary organizational leaders can be phenomenological, tending to favor realism over internal validity (Chatman & Flynn, 2005), Shamir and Eilam (2005) argued that the experiences chosen by a leader to appear in their life-stories reflects the leader's self-concepts, their concept of leadership, and the processes that enable their practice. From this perspective, objectivity in the recounting of events is of lesser importance than the construction and interpretation of events (Neisser, 1994), as leaders select the elements of their stories. In doing so, they often ascribe to prior events that may not have held significant at the time of manifestation (Josselson, 1993). Thus, life-stories can be examined as depositories of meaning (Gabrial, 2000: 15) and analyzed to discover those meanings (Shamir & Eilam, 2005: 413). …

Leading Aesthetically: Insights from the Founders of the San Antonio Conservation Society

IntroductionRena Maverick Green and I on March 22nd, 1924, planted an acorn that today has grown into a large spreading live oak tree. Neither of us could have done it alone, but she had the experience and I had the time, and everyone we invited to join with us had accepted. It was as artists that we organized and we asked artists and lovers of art to join with us to save what was distinctive of San Antonio.(Emily Edwards, March 22, 1979)While scholarly interest in artful perspectives of leadership has flourished (Barry & Meisiek, 2010), research development of these concepts remains at a nascent stage (Springborg, 2010). Assorted fusions of art and leadership have appeared in the past decade in practitioner (e.g., Green, 2004; Fisher, Jr., 2004) and academic (e.g., Hansen, Ropo, & Sauer, 2007; Taylor & Ladkin, 2009) venues, though many seem to embody rather awkward amalgamations. As a result, numerous authors have called for more examinations of artistic leaders (e.g., Barnes, Humphreys, Oyler, Pane Haden, & Novicevic, 2013; Ladkin & Taylor, 2010; Novicevic, Humphreys, Buckley, Cagle, & Roberts, 2011) and further development of aesthetic leadership constructs (Bathurst, Jackson, & Statler, 2010; Biehl-Missal, 2010). Yet, a review of the extant literature reveals no broad conceptual framework for leading aesthetically. Developing such a framework is important for the advancement of aesthetic leadership practices and the development of aesthetically-aware leaders.In an attempt to fill this gap, and heeding the call for more consideration of nontraditional groups and leaders (Peiro & Melia, 2003), we analyzed the historical case of the San Antonio Conservation Society (SACS) and its prominent artist-leaders, Emily Edwards and Rena Maverick Green. Grounded in emerging theoretical concepts related to the artist-leader and aesthetic leadership, we reason that an examination of these aesthetically-aware leaders who actually exhibited authentic aesthetic leadership is warranted.We begin by describing our assumptions of logic and historical method of interpretation. To provide appropriate historical context, we then chronicle the establishment of SACS. As shown by the beginning quotation, any discussion of SACS has Emily Edwards and Rena Maverick Green inevitably entwined, so their inspirational histories follow. Next, we review the literatures related to the theme of leadership as art and aesthetic leadership. Finally, grounding our interpretations of the historical case in aesthetic leadership theories, we present a hermeneutic approach to authentic aesthetic leadership.Assumptions of Logic and Historical ApproachWhen theory is at a nascent phase, studies of unique cases can be very powerful; delivering more compelling insights than broad empirical studies can offer (Siggelkow, 2007). Consequently, historical case studies can be particularly beneficial as inspiration for the extension of theory (Shamir, 2011) by providing interpretive evidence prior to empirical research (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007). Accordingly, the case of SACS, with its unique artist-leaders, was not randomly selected (see Siggelkow, 2007), as we reasoned it offered compelling insights with regard to leading aesthetically.Historical case research requires that authors present clear procedures and precise language so that readers may evaluate the persuasiveness (Siggelkow, 2007) and plausibility (Weick, 1989) of the interpretations of case data (Benjamin, 2006). As we applied an interpretivist approach to the archival data, we presumed Bevir's (2002) philosophy of postfoundational intentionalism, capturing not only the intent of case subjects but also indicative meanings extending from the original contextual intent of the documented language. Considering data from this perspective allows researchers to act as translators explaining the people of the past to us today using our own personal lens of discovery (Novicevic, Harvey, Buckley, Brown, & Evans, 2006, p. …

Book Review: Matthew W Hughey, White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race

Dr Kathy A. Mills provides a critical synthesis and review of the new book by Matthew W. Hughey entitle: White Bound: Nationalists, Antiractists, and the Shared Meanings of Race, published by Standford University Press in 2012. A sample of Dr Mills' review reads: author positions race squarely at the center to challenge the shared assumptions of white supremacist logic on both sides of the debate. The clever thesis blurs the boundaries between “good whites” and “bad whites”, rendering the white reader intellectually stimulated, but existentially unchanged – White Bound – as the author ponders: “Perhaps we have met the enemy, and he [it] is us” (p.193)...The unanswered question that remains is: How do we resist the various “shades” of white supremacy to pursue counter-hegemonic practices?

How to Understand Custodial Belonging

Debates about ecological responsibility are interested in different forms of belonging. This article develops an understanding of a custodial form of belonging based on the logic of relation, which we distinguish from a proprietorial form of belonging based on the logic of identity. Theorists working on questions of belonging use a language of custodianship when describing a sense of responsibility and care that arises through connection or relation. We argue, however, that the full significance of custodial belonging cannot be appreciated when understandings of connection are derived from within the terms of identity logic. In other words, when belonging is understood in terms of identity and identification, custodianship is inadvertently reduced to a proprietorial form of responsibility and care. We develop this argument by addressing Australian research on custodial belonging. Focusing on the influential work of Deborah Bird Rose, we argue that there are tensions between, on the one hand, her attempts to recognise connected forms of belonging, and, on the other, her conceptual reliance on the assumptions of identity logic. Our primary concern here is to indicate relational possibilities in her work precluded by the language of identity. In particular, we suggest that the concept of ecological being allows for a specificity and inclusiveness that are not recognised by Rose’s concept of the ‘ecologically emplaced self’.

The posts continue: becoming

This paper describes assumptions of representational logic and phenomenology that organize much of Enlightenment humanism and one of its knowledge projects, conventional humanist qualitative methodology. The author argues that the ontological critiques of “post” theorists, including Foucault, Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Deleuze and Guattari, were set aside in favor of epistemological projects following World War II and that, in general, the “posts” had little effect on that methodology. Those critiques are now being put to work and extended in the new empiricism and new materialism to re-imagine being, always an ethical task. Whether humanist qualitative inquiry can survive the ontological turn is a question to consider.

Supervenience arguments under relaxed assumptions

When it comes to evaluating reductive hypotheses in metaphysics, supervenience arguments are the tools of the trade. Jaegwon Kim and Frank Jackson have argued, respectively, that strong and global supervenience are sufficient for reduction, and others have argued that supervenience theses stand in need of the kind of explanation that reductive hypotheses are particularly suited to provide. Simon Blackburn’s arguments about what he claims are the specifically problematic features of the supervenience of the moral on the natural have also been influential. But most discussions of these arguments have proceeded under the strong and restrictive assumptions of the S5 modal logic. In this paper we aim to remedy that defect, by illustrating in an accessible way what happens to these arguments under relaxed assumptions and why. The occasion is recent work by Ralph Wedgwood, who seeks to defend non-reductive accounts of moral and mental properties together with strong supervenience, but to evade both the arguments of Kim and Jackson and the explanatory challenge by accepting only the weaker, B, modal logic. In addition to drawing general lessons about what happens to supervenience arguments under relaxed assumptions, our goal is therefore to shed some light on both the virtues and costs of Wedgwood’s proposal.

Reliability and Risk - Logical and Probabilistic Model

Reliability and Risk - Logical and Probabilistic Model Each real system and its surrounding can be synthetic described by two values: positive potential and negative potential. The first one expresses system ability to task realization and the second one shows sum of conditions which system has to realize. Defining order relations (bigger, smaller) between those potentials, the system reliability can be universally defined. But defining order relations with parameters of system activity "consequences", the risk can be defined. This is one of safety potential conception version postulated once by author. In the lecture are presented assumptions of new logic and probabilistic model of reliability and risk, basing on this idea.

<i>Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism Mary Jo Klinker (bio) Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism Edited by Robin L. Riley, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, and Minnie Bruce Pratt (London: Zed Books, 2008) Feminism and War: Confronting US Imperialism aims to "make visible the ways in which the USA has gendered, racialized, and sexualized its practice of imperialist wars—that is, wars being waged through military and economic policy to advance and consolidate the profit-driven system of capitalism" (3). The collection of essays, engendered by the 2006 Feminism and War Conference in New York, is broken into four sections: Feminist Geopolitics of War, Feminist Mobilizing Critiques of War, Women's Struggles and the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Feminists Organizing Against Imperialism and War. Through poetry, story, and essay, the text makes clear that "this is the time for feminist revolutions" (McFadden 66). The book is most powerful when examining systemic oppression in U.S. society and its connection to the larger geopolitical context of U.S. imperialism. Angela Davis argues that we must "place state violence, war, prison violence, torture, [and] capital punishment on a spectrum of violence" (25) in order to understand the complexity of U.S. militarism. Nellie Hester Bailey connects the systemic inequality of gentrification and the feminization of poverty as unrecognized forms of war. She explains that "gentrification is class warfare waged against poor and working-class people of color. This catastrophe is directly linked to U.S. imperialist war, and is happening not only in Harlem but throughout the country" (236). While much of the text specifically analyzes the brute force of militarism utilized to uphold U.S. hegemony, Breta Joubert-Ceci theorizes that neoliberalist policies of privatization and deregulation are also a war front. She argues that the U.S. dominated institutions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have proliferated capitalism to violently exploit Latin America's resources and labor, as well as the global South. The authors attempt to reclaim the importance of feminism to anti-war movements after the Bush administration co-opted feminist rhetoric to excuse the imperialist endeavor in Afghanistan. Jennifer Fluri argues that the Afghanistan war had nothing to do with confronting Islamic patriarchy. In reality these efforts entail the imposition of U.S. governmental discourses on human rights, proliferated through the systemic destruction of people in order to ensure military superiority and impose a "free" market structure (Fluri 155). Similarly, Elizabeth Philipose states "Muslims and Muslim states are held as the example par excellence of misogyny in the Western imagination, an imagination that provokes the colonialist narrative that white men, in their enlightened masculinity, have the duty to save brown women from brown men" (113). The third section analyzes the continued neocolonialism that results from U.S. [End Page 59] imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan. An integral component of analysis is the critique of what Shahnaz Khan terms "colonial feminism." She argues that "Western" values, like democracy and freedom, have been used in the rhetoric of the "war on terror." This process has been fueled by the idea of saving women. Reiterating Chandra Mohanty's important theories of the monolithic construction of Third World women as victims and First World women as liberated or liberators, she analyzes the conditions of women's lives in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war on terror. Despite claims in the United States that the war has been won, Khan argues that there is a misunderstanding of the history and geopolitics of the Middle East. Upon further analysis, it becomes apparent that these women have not reached equality; rather they have been pushed further into economic exploitation through sex work and poverty. Isis Nusair furthers this argument through the lens of Edward Said's Orientalism to discuss the sexual violences at Abu Ghraib, which were masculinized violence constructed to systemically dominate through continued assumptions of orientalist logic (182). The final section speaks to the radical potentialities of feminists organizing against war. As Leslie Cagan points out, war is the antithesis of feminist principles because, "all of the values of feminism are contradicted—if not rendered impossible to achieve—by the realities of war and the...

Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Science of the Future

The central goal of ecological psychology is to develop a theory of how humans cope successfully with everyday tasks such as navigating safely through the environment. Achieving this seemingly simple goal has proved to be exceedingly difficult. The authors suggest that one of the reasons for the difficulty comes from a perhaps surprising source: the tension between two radically different ways of knowing, artistic (aesthetic) and scientific (empirical–theoretical). James J. Gibson utilized both ways of knowing throughout his career. His creativity cannot be denied, as evidenced by his many novel and intuitive ideas (e.g., the field of safe travel, perceptual systems, affordances); and he often sought to learn from artists. Nevertheless, Gibson never gave up on empirical research, consistently applying rigorous scientific methodology in his experimental work. Robert E. Shaw too utilized both ways of knowing, often seeking insights from art and applying these in his theory building and empirical research. In this article, the authors argue that reconciling these two seemingly disparate ways of knowing is a difficult, but nonetheless worthwhile, task that could benefit the field. As a basis for this claim, they first use a phenomenological and hermeneutic critique of science to argue that ecological scientists need to assess critically the representationalist tradition in experimental science, focusing particularly on key assumptions of geometry and logic. The authors then propose that, if it is to achieve its goals, ecological psychology must find novel ways to understand how humans cope with everyday tasks. Finally, they argue that lessons from modern and postmodern artists' rejection of formal logic and the representationalist tradition, as well as their search for novel techniques, can be instructive and informative for the students of ecological psychology.

An Emerging Logic of Urban Water Management, Cochabamba, Bolivia

This paper examines the emergence of a new logic of water management in developing cities. We argue that water provision is characterised by two largely disconnected circuits of water supply. Formally organised distribution networks provide a publicly subsidised service to higher-income users, while an informal system of water vendors provides a more expensive supply to marginalised communities. A new style of water management is now challenging the productionist logic that has created and maintained these dual networks. The case study of water privatisation in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, illustrates how this emerging logic is reconfiguring the management of urban water networks with a shift from large supply options towards greater consideration of user needs and extension of the network to unconnected communities. The productionist logic is in a period of profound transition as efforts are being made to mesh together more effectively the formal and informal networks. While this process is highly contested, many of the central assumptions of the productionist logic are challenged and new opportunities for a more socially inclusionary and environmentally sensitive style of water management are emerging.

The existential assumptions of traditional logic

There have been and continue to be disagreements about how to consider the traditional square of opposition and the traditional inferences of obversion, conversion, contraposition and inversion from the perspective of contemporary quantificational logic. Philosophers have made many different attempts to save traditional inferences that are invalid when they involve empty classes. I survey some of these attempts and argue that the only satisfactory way of saving all the traditional inferences is to make the existential assumption that both the subject and predicate classes and their complement classes are non-empty for all the propositions we admit. I briefly indicate the room for continued controversy over how properly to interpret Aristotle’s statements regarding these inferences, but find some plausibility in the views of Manley Thompson and A.N.Prior that Aristotle had in mind a particular arrangement of existential import unfamiliar to most contemporary logicians

Passing through the Needle's eye: Can a feminist teach logic?

Is it possible for one and the same person to be a feminist and a logician, or does this entail a psychic rift of such proportions that one is plunged into an endless cycle of self-contradiction? Andrea Nye's book, Words of Power (1990), is an eloquent affirmation of the psychic rift position. Although eloquent, I believe it is mistaken in certain serious ways, which I shall address in this paper. Nye advances this position in her concluding essay to Words of Power (Ibid.). In brief, her position is that the logical enterprise is inherently self-contradictory for feminist thinkers. Feminists who attempt to use logic to demonstrate its shortcomings are doomed to failure; arguing against logical claims is self-defeating, for the critic will be sucked into the maelstrom of logical tradition. Hydra-headed, the logical monster will thrive rather than perish under the sharpened edge of argument; hence the critic succeeds only in strengthening the very endeavour whose shortcomings she attempts to expose. This is guaranteed to happen, according to Nye, because in entering the debate, one is thereby committed to the terms of the debate. The critic herself will be devoured in the process, for logic was constructed to eliminate the voices and concerns of women. ‘The feminist logician speaks from a script in which the master always wins' (Ibid., p. 180). If feminists cannot use logic itself to attack the arrogant and unsupportable assumptions of logic, what are our alternatives? Nye sketches two alternatives - one is to simply turn our backs on logic, ignoring it in all of its masculine arrogance, and talk among ourselves in our own women's language about our own concerns. Nye does not recommend this alternative, for although it escapes the criticism of arrogance, it does so at the price of impotence. What she does recommend is the second alternative, that as feminists we direct our energy towards reading other people's work, including that of the logicians, and responding to it in ways ‘that can mortally wound’ (Ibid., p. 184) the authors; women, Nye believes, are particularly adept at reading. ‘It is a skill we have perfected’ (Ibid.) in the course of our oppression. In what follows, I shall discuss Nye's proscription of logic as well as her perceived alternatives of a woman's language and reading. This will be followed by a discussion more sharply focused on Nye's feminist response to logic, namely, her claim that feminism and logic are incompatible. I will end by offering a sketch of a class in the life of a feminist teaching logic, a sketch which is both a response to Nye (in Nye's sense of the word) and a counter-example to her thesis that logic is necessarily destructive to any genuine feminist enterprise.

A dynamic spatial model of shifting cultivation in the highlands of Guinea, West Africa

A dynamic spatial model of tropical deforestation and land-use change was developed from remotely sensed data for the Fouta Djallon mountain range in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. The objective was to simulate patterns of forest clearing for shifting cultivation in terms of farmers' selection behavior for new fields based on topography and proximity to villages. Data describing the current and historic condition of the vegetation cover and land use for a watershed in Guinea were derived from aerial photography and ground sampling. Maps of these conditions were prepared and entered in a geographic information system (GIS) together with topographic data. From these data, maps of secondary variables (slope, village proximity, site productivity, and labor) were derived using the spatial operators contained in the GIS. These variables were ranked for agricultural preference and then combined following a pair-wise hierarchy to generate a composite agricultural site-preference map. Shifting agriculture was simulated by running the model through 18 iterations on a two-year time increment which corresponds to the typical duration of cultivation for any one field. An empirically derived number of cells from the agricultural site-preference map were converted from forest to active farms for each iteration to simulate deforestation. Different variable combinations and underlying assumptions of model logic were tested to determine influence on simulation results. To validate the model, the spatial characteristics of the projected landscape were compared with land-use data collected in 1989, using tests for (1) size and distribution of agricultural sites, (2) image similarity (Kappa test), and (3) physical characteristics (slope and distance from population centers) of the site. Although the model did not simulate the farmers' selection behavior for topography and village proximity successfully, test results with individual variables suggest that site productivity as determined by the length of fallow is a critical variable in the site selection process. Thus, aside from documenting the dynamics of shifting cultivation, this model allows planners to evaluate alternative strategies of land-use conversion with a graphic display of zones of potential hazards. Finally, the data contained in the GIS serve as a structure for monitoring long-term change in the region.