Circular Argumentation Research Articles

Mit o “svetim trokutima” temeljenima na “sunčevom kutu” – analiza “astronomije” ranih Slavena

A number of interconnected scholarly publications discussing the phenomenon of the so-called sacred triangles have appeared lately. The authors who believe in the existence of this phenomenon argue that such triangles are based on a precisely determined value of the obliquity of the ecliptic. However, a detailed analysis of some of the key tenets discussed in their publications has revealed the gratuitous nature of this hypothesis, as well as its fundamentally unscientific character and the methodological flaws inherent in its overall development. Especially worrying is the falling into the pitfall of circular argumentation (circulus vitiosus) by the authors adhering to this hypothesis, their avoidance of any dialogue with relevant scholarly literature and their questionable understanding of fundamental phenomena upon which their hypothesis is built. A glaring example of the lattermost is the misunderstanding of the obliquity of the ecliptic on the part of the adherents of the so-called sacred triangles hypothesis.

Transforming Therapy: Mental Health Practice and Cultural Change in Mexico

Transforming Therapy: Mental Health Practice and Cultural Change in Mexico

Cortical parcellation based on structural connectivity: A case for generative models

One of the major challenges in systems neuroscience is to identify brain networks and unravel their significance for brain function –this has led to the concept of the ‘connectome’. Connectomes are currently extensively studied in large-scale international efforts at multiple scales, and follow different definitions with respect to their connections as well as their elements.Perhaps the most promising avenue for defining the elements of connectomes originates from the notion that individual brain areas maintain distinct (long-range) connection profiles. These connectivity patterns determine the areas’ functional properties and also allow for their anatomical delineation and mapping. This rationale has motivated the concept of connectivity-based cortex parcellation.In the past ten years, non-invasive mapping of human brain connectivity has led to immense advances in the development of parcellation techniques and their applications. Unfortunately, many of these approaches primarily aim for confirmation of well-known, existing architectonic maps and, to that end, unsuitably incorporate prior knowledge and frequently build on circular argumentation. Often, current approaches also tend to disregard the specific apertures of connectivity measurements, as well as the anatomical specificities of cortical areas, such as spatial compactness, regional heterogeneity, inter-subject variability, the multi-scaling nature of connectivity information, and potential hierarchical organisation. From a methodological perspective, however, a useful framework that regards all of these aspects in an unbiased way is technically demanding.In this commentary, we first outline the concept of connectivity-based cortex parcellation and discuss its prospects and limitations in particular with respect to structural connectivity. To improve reliability and efficiency, we then strongly advocate for connectivity-based cortex parcellation as a modelling approach; that is, an approximation of the data based on (model) parameter inference. As such, a parcellation algorithm can be formally tested for robustness –the precision of its predictions can be quantified and statistics about potential generalization of the results can be derived. Such a framework also allows the question of model constraints to be reformulated in terms of hypothesis testing through model selection and offers a formative way to integrate anatomical knowledge in terms of prior distributions.

The Formalization of Critical Discussion

This paper makes an independent start with formalizing the rules for the argumentation stage of critical discussions (van Eemeren and Grootendorst A systematic theory of argumentation:The pragma-dialectical approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, Ch. 6). It does not deal with the well-known code of conduct consisting of ten rules (the “ten commandments”) but with the system consisting of fifteen (or seventeen) rules on which the code of conduct is based. The rules of this system are scrutinized and problems they raise are discussed. Then a formal dialectical system is defined that reflects most of the contents of these rules. The aim is to elucidate the way the rules work and to show how a formal approach can be useful to achieve this. It is also shown how the present method can be used to study the nature of circular argumentation. While, generally, the formalization follows closely the original rules for the argumentation stage of critical discussions, there will also be proposed some modifications of the original protocol.

Indicators as ‘circular argumentation constructs’? An input–output analysis of the variable structure of five environmental sustainability country rankings

This paper is concerned with the normative underpinnings of popular sustainability indicators and country rankings. Attempts to quantify national sustainability in the form of composite indicators and rankings have increased rapidly over past decades. However, questions regarding validity and interpretability remain. This article combines theoretical and statistical tools to explore how input variables in five popular sustainability indicators can be related to different theoretical paradigms: weak and strong sustainability. It is shown that differences in theoretical interpretations affect input variable selection, which in turn affects indicator output. This points towards the risk of indicators becoming a sort of ‘circular argumentation construct’. The article argues that sustainability indicators and country rankings must be treated as theoretical just as much as statistical instruments. It is proposed that making underlying normative assumptions explicit, and making input variable selection more clear in a theoretical sense, can enhance indicator validity and usability for policy makers and researchers alike.

Symptom Validity Testing in Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders: A Critical Review

When patients present with unusual, atypical, and difficult-to-understand complaints known as dissociative and somatoform disorders or medically unexplained symptoms, clinicians may administer symptom validity tests (SVTs) to determine whether or not the patient exhibits negative response bias. Such tests are especially informative in a context where incentives play a substantial role (e.g., the legal arena). If patients fail SVTs and exhibit negative response bias, how should that bias be interpreted? Some authors have argued that psychological problems (e.g., unconscious conflicts and depression) and circumstances (e.g., a cry for help) may explain such bias. In the current article, we critically review this “psychopathology = superordinate” position. We argue that (1) there is no empirical evidence to suggest that psychological problems may foster SVT failure per se and (2) that the “psychopathology = superordinate” position invites circular argumentation: to clarify the nature of the atypical symptoms, SVTs are administered and a negative response bias is found, which is explained away by the atypical symptoms. Negative response bias allows for only one conclusion: the patient’s self-report of symptoms and life history can no longer be taken at face value.

Reply to the discussion of the reply by R.L. Romer and U. Kroner on “Geochemical signature of Ordovician Mn-rich sedimentary rocks on the Avalonian shelf” 1Appears in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 49(11): 1372–1377 [doi:10.1139/e2012-049

Romer and Kroner (2012) stated “the core of the Harlech Dome (i) in part is made up of Ordovician deposits and (ii) contains tectonic repetitions”. In their comment, Schofield et al. (this issue) distort this statement and state that (i) we claim the entire sedimentary sequence of the Harlech Dome is Ordovician and (ii) we misinterpreted their zircon data. We disagree. In our reply, we demonstrate that the argumentation of Schofield et al. (this issue) is driven by circular argumentation and that their use and interpretation of U–Pb zircon data is inadequate.

THE CHIMERA OF RELATIVISM

In this contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium “Comparative Relativisim,” Smith argues that relativism is a chimera, half straw man, half red herring. Over the past century, she shows, objections to the supposed position so named have typically involved either crucially improper paraphrases of general observations of the variability and contingency of human perceptions, interpretations, and judgments or dismaying inferences gratuitously drawn from such observations. More recently, the label relativism has been elicited by the display, especially by anthropologists or historians, of attitudes of epistemic tolerance or efforts at explanatory or evaluative symmetry. Objections here commonly involve mistaken, unwarranted universalizing of those attitudes or recommendations. Purported refutations of what is identified as relativism commonly have no force for alleged relativists because relativism-refuters commonly deploy and depend on the very concepts (e.g., truth and reason) and relations (e.g., between what are referred to as facts and evidence) that are at issue. The result is circular argumentation, intellectual nonengagement, and perfect deadlock. Although there are signs that this tragicomic episode of intellectual history has run its course, two contemporary sites of antirelativist energy are worth noting. One is the claim that so-called cultural relativism is refuted by the existence of cognitive universals. The other is the fear that evaluative symmetry leads to ethically or politically debilitating neutrality. Consideration of the nature of cognitive universals indicates that their existence does not contradict observations of the significance of cultural variability. Consideration of anxieties about the supposed quietistic implications of commitments to epistemic tolerance or symmetry indicates that such anxieties are misplaced.

Ocho criterios para la investigación académica en áreas de práctica de proyecto

Este artigo trata de dois problemas centrais da pesquisa em áreas de prática projetual, o assim denominado practice-based research: a identificação de condições fundamentais, e, portanto, a identificação de exemplos de fato. O artigo faz uma crítica aos métodos usados em estudos de caso anteriores que empregaram a assim chamada argumentação circular. Assume-se, aqui, que a pesquisa nas indústrias criativas e culturais está situada na grande área de pesquisa acadêmica, consistindo em processo cumulativo. A partir dessa abordagem estabeleceram-se critérios para o desenvolvimento de condições necessárias para tal pesquisa, assim possibilitando a identificação de exemplos concretos. Essa abordagem resolve o problema circular que ocorria em estudos de casos anteriores. O artigo conclui que existem, para a pesquisa acadêmica em áreas de prática projetual, quatro critérios genéricos e outros quatro específicos às disciplinas nas áreas. A partir desses critérios, outras conseqüências seguem para o conteúdo de practice-based research. Esses oito critérios estão, atualmente, sendo usados pelos autores na identificação e investigação de casos de practice-based research.

De-attributing the Missa Naray je jamais

In considering authorial attributions of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century compositions, musicologists have drawn upon musical, historical, and biographical factors to contest ascriptions in the sources, as well as to assign authorship to anonymously transmitted pieces. Such conclusions are often grounded in value judgments concerning the aesthetic quality of the items in question, with scholars defending their Renaissance artist-composers from flawed creations or claiming celebrated works in order to raise the status of underappreciated masters. The endeavour threatens constantly to falter on ideological grounds and to devolve into circular argumentation. A possible way out of the hermeneutic circle of this canon-building process is offered by statistical examination of low-level contrapuntal features, which may not have been consciously manipulated by composers but rather betray their individual hands at a detailed level. Prime examples of this type of underlying technical characteristic include rhythmic...

3 Maccabees and the Jews of Egypt

N. CLAYTON CROY. 3 Maccabeca. Septuagint Commentary Series. Boston and Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006. Pp. xxii + 143.JOSEPH MELEze MODRZEJEWSKI. Trofie/ne livre des Maccabeo). La bible d'Alexandrie 15.3. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2008. Pp. 190.3 Maccabees was written in Greek by an anonymous Jew from Alexandria. These two premises are agreed upon by almost all scholars who deal with this book. On other questions concerning 3 Mace opinions are more diverse: what was its purpose? how historically accurate is it? what was the Sitz im Leben of the its author? The answers to each of these questions derive from the dating of 3 Mace, and on this topic scholars propose dates that sprawl from the second century B.C.E. to the middle of the first century CE. - dates which often depend on the answers to the questions above. We have here then a circular argumentation, and there is yet no consensus about 3 Mace's date. The dividing line is 30 B.C.E., when Ptolemaic Egypt became a Roman province. Dating on either side of this line elicits a different understanding of the purpose of the author and the situation of the Egyptian Jewish community of his time.1The ramifications of these questions reach far beyond 3 Mace itself. They relate to other writings that belong to Jewish Hellenistic (mostly Alexandrian) literature, such as the letter of Aristeas and 2 Maccabees, and to the history of the Jewish communities in Egypt, their relations with the rulers there (either Ptolemaic or Roman), their attitude toward their host society and the internal relations within their own community. These raise also the subject of the Hellenization of Judaism in general and in the Diaspora in particular. How do we define the Hellenization ol the Jews? What did they preserve of their own culture and what was adapted from the victorious Greek civilization? What components of the Greek East did they adapt or reject? (Why, for example, did Jews adapt its language and reject its religion?) Some insight into this questions can surely be extracted from 3 Maccabees. Jewish Hellenistic literature and Diaspora Judaism has long attracted scholarly interest and continues to do so,2 and the two books on 3Macc reviewed here contribute, each one in its own way, to our understanding of this text and beyond.The first, by Croy, includes a short introduction (pp. ix- xxii) and a long commentary (pp. 39-121). Between the two parts the reader will find a Greek text of 3 Mace and an English translation on the facing pages (pp. 2-33). The printed Greek text is not a critical edition of the text but a reproduction of only one manuscript, the Alexandrinus, a somewhat awkward decision despite the occasional references to alternative readings in the commentary. Both the text and the translation contribute to the convenience of readers who, while using the commentary, wish to refer to the text of the book itself. The second book, by Modrzejewski, is arranged differently. The introduction is detailed (pp. 29-127) and the concise commentary (pp. 128-74) accompanies a French translation and refers often to the relevant sections of the introduction.The introduction of Modrzejewski's book is updated and innovative. The author's expertise in papyrology and history of law brings new insights to his discussion. It contributes on the one hand to a deeper understanding of 3 Mace and the history of Egyptian Jewry, and illuminates aspects of the administration of the Ptolemaic regime in Egypt on the other. Modrzejewski refers to the Herakleopolis papyri, first published in 2001, that mention the Jewish politeuma there, a key to understanding the status of JeAiVS and the Jewish communities in Egypt (the xdra) and in Alexandria (pp. 76-82). His discussion on this subject may terminate the argument about the definition of the politeumata. It should be clarified that the argument about this question is not about the right of the Jews to live according to their ancestral laws but about the significance of defining a Jewish community politeuma for its rights and conduct. …

Petitio principii and circular argumentation as seen from a theory of dialectical structures

This paper investigates in how far a theory of dialectical structures sheds new light on the old problem of giving a satisfying account of the fallacy of petitio principii, or begging the question. It defends that (i) circular argumentation on the one hand and petitio principii on the other hand are two distinct features of complex argumentation, and that (ii) it is impossible to make general statements about the defectiveness of an argumentation that exhibits these features. Such an argumentation, in contrast, has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. “Petitio principii”, this paper thence suggests, is one name for, in fact, a multitude of different and quite complex dialectical situations which require specific analysis and evaluation.

Cyclic vs. circular argumentation in the Conceptual Metaphor Theory

In current debates Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory has been charged with the circularity of the relation between the data and the hypotheses. If these charges were justified, they would be fatal for Conceptual Metaphor Theory, because circularity is one of the most serious objections that can be raised against a scientific approach. Accordingly, the paper addresses the following problems: (1) Are the charges claiming that Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory is circular adequate? (2) In what kind of metatheoretical framework can it be decided whether a given argumentation is circular? (3) Is Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory built on circular argumentation? The paper answers these questions as follows: (1) The charges mentioned are not adequate because they are based on defective notions of circularity. (2) An approach to plausible argumentation is proposed. It includes a novel account of fallacies, which facilitates a more adequate definition of circularity than those which the charges use. (3) This novel account yields the result that Lakoff and Johnson's (Metaphors we live by, The University of Chicago Press, 1980) and Lakoff's (The contemporary theory of metaphor, Cambridge University Press, 1993) argumentation is cyclic rather than circular, but the way it treats data includes circular aspects as well.

Eight criteria for practice-based research in the creative and cultural industries

This article addresses two core problems in practice-based research: the identification of fundamental conditions and, therefore, the identification of actual examples. It is critical of the methods in many earlier case studies involving circular argumentation. The article assumes that research in the creative and cultural industries is both situated in the larger field of academic research and that it is a cumulative process. From this it develops a criterion-based approach to the necessary conditions for such research, thereby enabling the identification of actual examples. This approach solves the circularity problem of earlier case studies. The article concludes that there are four generic and four discipline-specific criteria for academic research in the field. From these criteria other consequences follow for the content of practice-based research. These eight criteria are currently being used by the authors to identify and study cases of practice-based research.

Epistemic and Dialectical Models of Begging the Question

This paper addresses the problem posed by the current split between the two opposed hypotheses in the growing literature on the fallacy of begging the question the epistemic hypothesis, based on knowledge and belief, and the dialectical one, based on formal dialogue systems. In the first section, the nature of split is explained, and it is shown how each hypothesis has developed. To get the beginning reader up to speed in the literature, a number of key problematic examples are analyzed illustrating how both approaches can be applied. Useful tools are brought to bear on them, including the automated argument diagramming system Araucaria, and profiles of dialogue used to represent circular argumentation in a dialogue tableau format. These tools are used to both to model circular reasoning and to provide the contextual evidence needed to properly determine whether the circular reasoning in a given case is better judged fallacious or not. A number of technical problems that have impeded the development of both hypotheses are studied. One central problem is the distinction between argument and explanation. It is concluded that the best way to move forward and solve these problems is to reformulate the two hypotheses in such a way that they might be able to co-exist. On this basis, a unified methodology is proposed that allows each hypothesis to move forward as a legitimate avenue for research using the same tools.

Pozo Moro, Child Sacrifice, and the Greek Legendary Tradition

I. The Pozo Moro Relief Since antiquity, references in Hebrew scriptures and remarks in ancient Greek and Roman authors have been cited to prove that various Northwest Semitic peoples practiced child sacrifice.1 These include population whom Hebrew Scriptures call Canaanites; people whom modern scholars, following Greeks, call Phoenicians; and Phoenicians who settled in western Mediterranean and whom modern scholars, following Romans, call Punic. In fact, at sites of Punic settlements have been found burial grounds that contain cremated remains only of young children and animals. Archaeologists call such burial grounds tophets after Hebrew term for place where children were sacrificed.2 Shelby Brown, who sums up evidence, believes that these tophets house remains of sacrificed children and thereby support literary testimony of child sacrifice.3 In 1971, one enigmatic piece of evidence, a relief that probably illustrates practice, was unearthed at Pozo Moro, Spain. It is carved on a stone funerary monument that dates to approximately 500-490 B.C.E. and is currently housed in Museo ArqueolOgico Nacional in Madrid (figs. 1 and 2). The relief (fig. 3) depicts a banquet prepared for a monster that sits, facing right, in left part of image. The monster has a human body and two heads, one above other. The heads have open mouths with lolling tongues. In its left hand it holds rear leg of a supine pig lying on a banquet table in front of it. In its right hand, it holds a bowl. Just over rim of bowl can be seen head and feet of a small person. In background, a figure in a long garment raises a bowl in a gesture of offering. Opposite monster is mutilated image of a third figure. It is standing and raising in its right hand a sword with a curved blade. Its head is in shape of a bull or horse. Its left hand is touching head of a second small person in a bowl on a second table or a tripod near banquet table.4 The funerary tower on which this relief is carved comes from an area that, in period of its construction, was clearly subject to Punic or Phoenician influence and resembles monuments from Achaemenid western Asia.5 The relief itself resembles eastern Mediterranean depictions of offerings or sacrifices, and sword with curved blade, associated with sacrifice, supports resemblance.6 It appears that small figures, most likely children, are being offered in bowls to two-headed monster. Accordingly, it is reasonable to believe that relief, however imaginatively, represents Northwest Semitic child sacrifice.7 The relief is mysterious. In her study of Carthaginian child sacrifice, Brown wrote that the scene is more provocative than helpful.8 The excavator of Pozo Moro, Marton Almagro-Gorbea, wrote that its interpretation is enormously complex.9 Lamentably, it is locally unique and not associated with any written text. In order to make sense of it, we must look at phenomena often equally obscure and quite distant in time and place from milieu of Pozo Moro in early fifth century B.C.E. This is a hazardous undertaking; if an investigator claims that relief repeats a motif found elsewhere in Mediterranean cultural tradition, each may be used to support interpretation of other, and it becomes possible to construct invalid interpretations relying solely on circular argumentation. The relief, however, presents such powerful imagery that it automatically stimulates speculation. As I hope to demonstrate in this article, a Hellenist may see in it eerie echoes of Greek legendary tradition. The body of this article will explore these possible connections between Pozo Moro relief and Greek legendary tradition. section II will explore possibility that animal-headed figure on right of relief is an image associated with Minotaur of Greek folklore. …

Einfuhrung in die allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (review)

Reviewed by: Einführung in die allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft by August Dauses Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain Einführung in die allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft. By August Dauses. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1997. Pp. 123. With this book, August Dauses has provided the field with the first short introduction to linguistic typology written in German. The intended audience, presumably either undergraduate students in the field or linguists wishing to inform themselves about the basics of typology, will benefit from its clear and precise language and compact length. The first chapter consists of a short (eighteen-page) description of nine languages, including both Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages. The descriptions are by no means complete, given their length, but they do touch on phonological, morphological, and syntactic characteristics. This information is used to illustrate the point that the grammatical categories students may have learned for German or foreign languages they have already studied are not generalizable to all languages. The remaining six chapters discuss primarily the Indo-European languages in light of the types of characteristics and categories outlined for the languages presented in Ch. 1. Comparisons are consistently made with non-Indo-European languages in order to avoid circular argumentation. Ch. 2 gives an overview of typology, Chs. 3–5 discuss general principles of the field, and Chs. 6 and 7 discuss how these principles are realized diachronically. Several disagreements within the field are also presented and discussed neutrally (though occasionally simplistically) throughout. The main weakness of this book for classroom use is a complete lack of citation (it does not even contain a list of references). Without references to other works, the ideas presented here appear to be coming solely from D when it is clear to readers with a broader knowledge base about typology that he is drawing on a huge body of work done by many scholars for many decades. Though the choice to do this was likely made with the intention of making the text easier for the student to read, this problem might have been better solved by having a list of additional readings on each topic at the end of the book, aimed at the advanced student who might be ready for a more scholarly discussion of the issues presented here. Typologists will find no new material here as this book is clearly aimed at an audience new to the field. Instructors of introductory courses in basic linguistics and typology in the German-speaking countries will, however, find this to be a welcome addition to their coursebooks. Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain University of Alberta Copyright © 2001 Linguistic Society of America

The magic of the moment: what it means to be a punctual verb

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A Theory of Consonantal Interaction

Co-occurrence restrictions on word-initial consonant clusters are traditionally viewed as a consequence of the relative sonority of both members of the CC. In the first part of this paper, I aim to show that the reasoning underlying this approach is circular. The observation that sonority does increase in word-initial clusters is relabelled explanation in saying that sonority must increase. Since the crucial part of this circular argumentation is expressed by a constraint (sonority must increase within word-initial clusters), I address the more general issue of constraints in linguistic theory. In the second part of the paper, I propose a constraint-free theory where restrictions on word-initial clusters follow from the interaction of more general principles. The main principles I draw on are Government-Licensing (Charette 1990), segmental complexity (Harris 1990) and a strict CVCV syllable-structure (Lowenstamm 1996). None of these devices makes special reference to word-initial consonant clusters. Since word-initial restrictions crucially depend on idiosyncratic properties of the consonants involved, I also investigate the internal structure of consonants. In the representations I introduce, the set of observations commonly subsumed under the label sonority is assigned no phonological status. Rather, it is shown to be a function of known phonological primitives. Finally, a theory of consonantal interaction built on the consonantal identities developed and the principles mentioned is presented. This theory cannot possibly do with the reverse phenomenology, predicting that word-initial RT-clusters (where 'T'=obstruent, 'R' = sonorant) are impossible in languages of the Indo-European (IE) type. In 1, the traditional way of handling word-initial clusters is examined. 2 investigates the theoretical status of constraints. The way to proceed in order to build a constraint-free theory is outlined in 3 and 4. In 5, conson

The identification of foreground‐background information in on‐line oral descriptive discourse∗

Abstract The identification of discourse relations, like foreground‐background information, in natural text data represents a critical methodological issue in research into the functions of syntax in discourse. Currently, methods of identification are either syntax‐dependent or exclusively introspective, resulting in circular or vague argumentation concerning the role of syntactic form in coding discourse relations. An empirically‐grounded methodology for identifying foreground‐background information in natural discourse data is presented and motivated. An experiment is described in which 15 native English speaking subjects described on‐line a 108 second animated videotape. Results show that independently determined event significance correlates significantly with the frequences with which subjects report events. These results permit the formulation of a syntax‐independent and operationally explicit methodology for identifying foreground‐background information in on‐line descriptive discourse.