Hypothetical Reasoning Research Articles

An Educational Reconstruction of Special Relativity Theory for Secondary Education

Einstein’s derivation of special relativity theory (SRT), based on hypothetical reasoning and thought experiments, is regarded as a prime example of physics theory development. In secondary education, the introduction of SRT could provide a great opportunity for students to engage in physics theorizing, but this opportunity is largely being missed in current teaching practice. One reason could be that secondary students lack some knowledge of electromagnetism that was central to Einstein’s argument. Therefore, we conducted an educational reconstruction to develop a teaching approach that would not rely on advanced understanding of electromagnetism, yet retain the modes of reasoning that were characteristic of Einstein’s approach. In our reconstruction, we identified the light postulate, which is notoriously difficult for students to grasp, as a central concept. We developed a teaching and learning sequence in which students perform relativistic thought experiments and try different interpretations of the light postulate. Through these activities, students experienced how the new concepts meet the requirements for a good theory. Experimental evaluation of the teaching and learning sequence indicates that this can be a fruitful approach to introduce SRT to secondary students.

"Hypotheses fingimus": Cartesian Natural Philosophy

In this paper, I would like to present the methodological views of two representatives of the early modern Cartesian school: Jacques Rohault and Pierre-Sylvain Régis. Firstly, I want to present the methodological objections of Cartesians to Aristotelian and Scholastic natural philosophy. Then, I want to show how Cartesians strived for a combination of empirical and speculative procedures in their explanations of natural processes. Lastly, I would like to explain the reasons and forms of the hypothetical methodology which was significant for Cartesian natural philosophy. My aim is to refute the idea of the methodological naivety of Cartesians and point out the importance of hypothetical reasoning in the genesis of modern science.

Nonground Abductive Logic Programming with Probabilistic Integrity Constraints

AbstractUncertain information is being taken into account in an increasing number of application fields. In the meantime, abduction has been proved a powerful tool for handling hypothetical reasoning and incomplete knowledge. Probabilistic logical models are a suitable framework to handle uncertain information, and in the last decade many probabilistic logical languages have been proposed, as well as inference and learning systems for them. In the realm of Abductive Logic Programming (ALP), a variety of proof procedures have been defined as well. In this paper, we consider a richer logic language, coping with probabilistic abduction with variables. In particular, we consider an ALP program enriched with integrity constraints à la IFF, possibly annotated with a probability value. We first present the overall abductive language and its semantics according to the Distribution Semantics. We then introduce a proof procedure, obtained by extending one previously presented, and prove its soundness and completeness.

S.T. コウルリッジにおける仮説思考の射程:経験科学における Hypothesis/Hypopœēsisの方法論的問題と想像力概念

S.T. コウルリッジにおける仮説思考の射程:経験科学における Hypothesis/Hypopœēsisの方法論的問題と想像力概念

The Firewalls of the State

With China’s Great Firewall it is necessary to go over why a country would apply such a system. This paper will go over US and EU’s hypothetical reasoning for a firewall, as well as China’s actual reasoning with citizens being the stakeholders. The introduction will be about the concept of walls leading to what a firewall does. States in this paper are what we would consider countries, while nation can be used it infers only countries designed by ethnicity. The main subject is the national firewall, but it will also be referred to as a great firewall since this is also a common term for the idea. Background information will be provided in the main body about China, US, and EU’s history with firewalls. After the background information, general impact and views on a national firewall policy will be discussed and a how this affects IT. A hypothetical ideal outcome will be before a summary where the best practices should be mimicked. The People’s Republic of China will be referenced multiple times as PRC or just China with no situation referring to Taiwan. Northern Europe will also be referred to and this includes the Nordic countries and Finland. It also should be noted that the technical aspects of firewall aren’t the subject while the policy of firewalls is.

Asian Admixture in European Echinococcus multilocularis Populations: New Data From Poland Comparing EmsB Microsatellite Analyses and Mitochondrial Sequencing.

The cestode Echinococcus multilocularis is the causative agent of a severe zoonotic disease: alveolar echinococcosis (AE). The parasite is distributed over a vast area in northern Eurasia and North America, but the impact of AE on human health is highly uneven between different regions. One hypothetical reason for this difference in virulence may be the genetic structure of E. multilocularis which—based on mitochondrial sequences and EmsB microsatellite profiles—forms four distinct clades. These clades correspond approximately to their continents of origin: Asia, Europe, and North America, with a fourth clade apparently restricted to Mongolia and neighboring regions, even though this clade has not yet been described by EmsB genotyping. However, there are various records of genetic variants from the “wrong” region, e.g., “European” haplotypes in Western Canada, which may be the result of introduction or natural migration of host animals. One such example, prompting this study, is the recent record of an “Asian” mitochondrial haplotype in worms from foxes in Poland. At the time, this could not be confirmed by EmsB microsatellite analysis, a method that has proven to possess greater discriminatory power with the E. multilocularis nuclear genome than sequencing of mitochondrial markers. Therefore, worms collected from foxes in Poland were examined both by EmsB analysis and sequencing of the full mitochondrial cox1 gene in order to allocate the samples to the European or Asian cluster. Based on EmsB analyses of 349 worms from 97 Polish red foxes, 92% of the worms clearly showed “European-type” EmsB profiles, but 27 worms (8%) from seven foxes showed profiles that clustered with samples of Asian origin. According to cox1 sequences, a total of 18 worms from 8 foxes belonged to the Asian cluster of haplotypes. The two methods did not fully agree: only 13 worms from three foxes belonged to Asian clusters by both EmsB and cox1, whereas 18 worms from nine foxes belonged to different clusters, according to each marker. Cross-fertilization between worms of Asian origin and those from the European Polish population may explain these conflicting results. The presence of clearly Asian elements in the Polish E. multilocularis population could be the result of introduction of E. multilocularis with host animals (e.g., domestic dogs), or the migration of foxes. In the absence of genetic data from eastern European countries, especially those bordering Poland, it cannot be concluded whether this Asian admixture is typical for a larger area toward central/eastern Europe, or the Polish parasite population is the western extreme of a gradient where both European and Asian elements mingle. Further studies are needed on this subject, preferably using both mitochondrial sequencing and EmsB microsatellite analysis.

Anticonvulsants: The Psychotropic and Medically Protective Drugs of the Future

After more than a century of scientific study and philosophical debate, the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders is still unclear. However, an emerging hypothesis contends that psychiatric and related functional symptoms are rooted in an inherent hyperexcitability of the neurological system. Particularly under the influence of stress, too many neurons fire for too long, resulting in circuit-specific psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia, inattention, and obsessional thinking as well as various physical symptoms that have no identifiable organic cause, such as migraine headache, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, and chronic pain. Based on this hypothesis, anticonvulsant drugs, which could more aptly be called “Neuroregulators” because of their proposed mechanism of action, should have emerged as the drugs of choice for most of these disorders. Yet the use of anticonvulsants, at least for psychiatric disorders, dwindles in comparison to antidepressants, antipsychotics, psychostimulants, and sedative hypnotics. This article addresses the dearth of anticonvulsant drug use and the hypothetical reasons that several other classes of drugs continue to be used ahead of anticonvulsants despite the expanding base of evidence in support of the neuronal hyperexcitability hypothesis. The article will also propose new ways that anticonvulsants could be used to optimize their effectiveness for the wide range of disorders they should be able to treat, and it will discuss the means by which anticonvulsants could, in theory, be used prophylactically to prevent the development of an equally wide range of general medical conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, dementia, and cancer.

Information and Diagrammatic Reasoning: An Inferentialist Reading

In current philosophy of information, different authors have been supporting the veridicality thesis (VT). According to this thesis, an epistemically-oriented concept of information must have truth as one of its necessary conditions. Two challenges can be raised against VT. First, some philosophers object that veridicalists erroneously ignore the informativeness of false messages. Secondly, it is not clear whether VT can adequately explain the information considered in hypothetical reasoning. In this sense, logical diagrams offer an interesting case of analysis: by manipulating a logical diagram we can verify that a certain conclusion follows from a set of premises, but it cannot help us to determine the actual truth-value of a given set of propositions. Focusing on the latter challenge, in this paper I claim that logical diagrams set out potential counterexamples to VT and, consequently, pose a real challenge to this thesis. First, a veridicalist analysis of logical diagrams requires the assumption of metatheoretical properties which are not satisfied by some logical systems (and, consequently, are not satisfied by some systems of logical diagrams). So, VT does not fit well as a general framework for a theory of logical diagrammatic information. Secondly, based on semantic inferentialism, one can propose a normative interpretation of the inferential content of logical diagrams not exposed to the problems faced by VT. Moreover, there are several reasons to believe that veridicalism cannot accommodate such a normative interpretation. In other words, normativism represents a real (though still underexplored) alternative to veridicality. Due to these reasons, I conclude that, until further research, we should adopt a more parsimonious standpoint and say that logical diagrams provide inferential information simply.

Класифікація факторів впливу на рівень інноваційного забезпечення сталого розвитку підприємств

The article determines that a systematic approach to the classification of factors influencing the level of innovative support for sustainable development of enterprises is characterized by a comprehensive assessment of the identification of various objective factors. Knowledge of these factors, the ability to identify their impact on the innovative support of the enterprise can influence the level of application of a systematic approach under the influence of dominant factors, to create an effective mechanism for managing them. Since each indicator reflects a certain economic category and is formed under the influence of certain economic and other factors, the factors are hypothetical reasons that affect a number of indicators under analysis. In this sense, economic factors such as economic categories, which are reflected in the indicators, are objective in nature. It is concluded that the list of factors influencing the level of innovative support for sustainable development of the enterprise is always individual and depends on the internal capabilities of the enterprise to counteract the factors of potential threat. External factors characterize the general conditions of deterioration, but with proper management, perfect organization and qualified decision-making, the company has the opportunity to avoid negative impact on the level of innovation support for sustainable development of the enterprise, despite the significant impact of the external environment. It is specified that a bankruptcy situation is largely due to internal reasons, and primarily ineffective management. All other causes are the result of errors and ineffective managerial decisions. However, these classifications are not constant, they change over time, in particular depending on the stage of the life cycle of the market product.

Cognitive Niche Construction and Extragenetic Information: A Sense of Purposefulness in Evolution

My book Abductive Cognition. The Epistemological and Eco-Cognitive Dimensions of Hypothetical Reasoning (2009) basically refers to all kinds of human hypothetical cognition, also of creative kind. During the research related to the preparation of that book I soon had the opportunity to examine the studies regarding the human process of continuous delegation and distribution of cognitive functions to the environment to lessen cognitive limitations, also and especially in the case of what has been called ‘manipulative abduction’. These design activities are closely related to the process of cognitive niche construction, which I will specifically address in this article. Niche construction should be regarded as a second major participant, after natural selection, in evolution. Indeed, by altering their environment and partly controlling some of the energy and matter fluxes in their ecosystems, organisms are capable of changing some of the natural selective pressures in their local environments (also affecting other ones). The question I plan to answer is the following: we need to hypothesize a fundamental role of non-genetic (or extragenetic) information in the evolution, but what kind of evolution could we obtain in this case? I will illustrate that in building various mediating structures, humans transform the environment and create cognitive niches. Thus, humans and other non-human animals become ecological engineers and chance seekers, involved in the processing, the alteration, and even the creation of external structures to reduce or suppress their cognitive limitations. Hence, this article will address a detailed analysis of the role of extragenetic information in evolution and what this process of selection selects for purposeful organisms, so niche-constructing ones.

HR-SQL: Extending SQL with hypothetical reasoning and improved recursion for current database systems

In this work we present a formalization, backed with a contrasted implementation, of a relational database language (called HR-SQL) that extends SQL in two aspects. On the one hand, including non-linear and mutual recursion. On the other hand, including hypothetical relations and queries. Regarding expressiveness, HR-SQL allows a novel form of hypothetical reasoning, completely integrated with recursive definitions. In addition, aggregate functions are added. Regarding formalization, the extended language is founded on a stratified fixpoint semantics based on logic programming techniques. We include results of the existence of such fixpoints. An algorithm that transforms a database containing hypothetical definitions into an equivalent one without hypothesis and its correctness proof are presented. Regarding the implementation, we introduce here a system that incorporates the aforementioned benefits and enhances former implementations in several areas. The current HR-SQL system is targeted to several state-of-the-art relational database systems, and could be used with any SQL-based system with minor modifications in the implementation.

General Characterization of Implication's Distributivity Properties: The Preference Implication

It is widely accepted that distributivity properties play a key role in fuzzy research, especially in fuzzy control. Making use of the solution of the autodistributivity functional equations, we give a characterization of all the four types of distributivity of fuzzy implication. The necessary and sufficient condition for all the four distributive equation is that the operator belongs to the pliant operator class. This theorem leads to a new implication called preference implication. It is well known that there is no implication in (continuous-valued) fuzzy logic that satisfies all the properties that are valid in (classical) two-valued logic. We show that preference implication fulfills: 1) the law of contraposition, 2) the $T$ -conditionality, 3) the ordering property, 4) the exchange principle, 5) the law of importation, 6) the identity principle, and 7) the general hypothetical reasoning. Preference implication has a $\nu$ parameter, i.e., the fixed point of the negation. This $\nu$ value serves as a threshold and with this value we can go back by projection to the two-valued logic case. At the end of the article, we indicate that the preference implication is closely related to the preference relation used in multicriteria decision making. We point out that if the preference implication is multiplicative, transitive, and reciprocal, then the pliant system is reduced to some particular generator function of Dombi.

AlphaGo, Locked Strategies, and Eco-Cognitive Openness

Locked and unlocked strategies are at the center of this article, as ways of shedding new light on the cognitive aspects of deep learning machines. The character and the role of these cognitive strategies, which are occurring both in humans and in computational machines, is indeed strictly related to the generation of cognitive outputs, which range from weak to strong level of knowledge creativity. I maintain that these differences lead to important consequences when we analyze computational AI programs, such as AlphaGo, which aim at performing various kinds of abductive hypothetical reasoning. In these cases, the programs are characterized by locked abductive strategies: they deal with weak (even if sometimes amazing) kinds of hypothetical creative reasoning, because they are limited in what I call eco-cognitive openness, which instead qualifies human cognizers who are performing higher kinds of abductive creative reasoning, where cognitive strategies are instead unlocked.

Practical Teaching Strategies for Hypothesis Testing

ABSTRACTTeaching the concept of inferential statistics is one of the most challenging tasks for statistics educators. Often, students cannot make logical connections between inferential statistics and other topics such as descriptive statistics and probability. The source of difficulty may be that inferential statistics is based on complex ideas such as hypothetical reasoning, data analytic methods, and probabilistic thinking. This article presents classroom practices that teachers can easily adapt for their statistics classes to teach fundamental ideas of inferential statistics. The expected educational outcome is the conceptual understanding of the elements of statistical testing rather than learning about a specific testing methodology. Using the proposed practices, students are guided to propose their own hypotheses, collect actual data, and make their own inferences, rather than following a predetermined sequence of procedures. The practice material is divided into three subtasks, so that teachers can plan their curriculum effectively and perform formative assessments regarding students' progress.

THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS AND DISGUISED ARGUMENTS

One of the most controversial methods of philosophy is the use of thought experiments. If, on the one hand, philosophers usually agree that a hypothetical reasoning or an imaginative example can refute a previously well-supported theory or hypothesis, on the other there is a strong skepticism about the use of thought experiments in Philosophy. The skepticism is reinforced by the fact that scientific thought experiments are profoundly influenced by the expectation that the outcome of a thought experiment may reflect the outcome of an actual experiment, whereas in Philosophy the use of this tool does not necessarily reflects what happens in the world. In other words, scientific thought experiments seem to have well delimited criteria, while philosophical thought experiments do not. In this work I will argue in favor of the thesis that not all thought experiments are disguised arguments, but that nevertheless they should not be considered as lacking in criteria of correction.

Frailty phenotype and the role of levodopa challenge test in geriatric inpatients with mild parkinsonian signs.

Deficiency in dopaminergic system function may be one of the hypothetical reasons of the frailty syndrome but its role still remains unclear. The aim of our study was to assess the frailty phenotype prevalence in geriatric inpatients with mild parkinsonian signs (MPS) and to investigate levodopa test in the frail patients with MPS. We examined 118 participants: 90 with MPS and 28 in control group (without MPS). The frailty syndrome presence was evaluated by the Fried criteria. Deficiency in dopaminergic system function was assessed by one of the modifications of an acute levodopa challenge test (LCT): in MPS group every patient was examined by performing Up and Go Test and also Step Test before and 3h after taking 125mg of Madopar (levodopa+benserazide). Sixty-nine study subjects (58%) met criteria for frailty. Fifty-five participants in MPS group (61.1% of MPS group) and fourteen (50%) in control group. All of the patients that scored positive in walk speed criterion of frailty were frail. When all MPS patients were considered, the number of components scored positive for frailty was directly related to the walk speed (r=-0.70, p<0.0001). In MPS group LCT scores were significantly higher for frailty patients compared to non-frailty (p=0.0027). When all MPS patients were considered, the number of components scored positive for frailty was directly related LCT score (r=0.37, p=0.0004). There was a relationship between LCT and walk speed (r=-0.31, p=0.0032). Our observations provide new information about the relationship between frailty and MPS, suggest the need for increased awareness of frailty in MPS patients and conversely. Our study provides data for a discussion on pathophysiological background of the frailty syndrome (FS), emphasizing the theories of the important impact of dopaminergic system deficit and encourages further research on the role of LCT in measuring it.

Abduction for Juridical Science and Practice

The authors study the characteristic features that distinguish abduction from other methods of scientific research by comparing a number of methods: deductive, inductive, hypothetical-deductive, comparison with analogy. Abduction has emerged as a special way of searching for explanatory hypotheses because of the lack of a view of the need to limit the tasks of methodology, and also because of the view that the philosophy of science and logic must necessarily engage in the conceptual analysis of the emergence of new ideas and hypotheses in science. Abduction has such a way of reasoning that it corresponds to the scheme of real scientific research, starting the way with the establishment of some observable properties of phenomena, the scientist in conclusion tries to establish basic explanatory ideas. Critics of the model of abductive reasoning made attempts to structure abduction to hypothetical reasoning, moreover, to the ordinary modified deductive scheme, that is, from the effect to the ground, and from action to inference. It does not reflect the specifics of the abductive course of reasoning from facts to an explanatory hypothesis. This specificity of abductive reasoning is difficult to structure, which becomes clear when referring to their epistemological analysis. According to the authors, abduction is one of the most important methods of studying any scientific category, a cognitive procedure, a method of scientific research that belongs to a class of plausible reasoning of a non-deductive nature, possessing a quasi-structure rather than a full-fledged stable structure.

Fear of knowledge: Clinical hypotheses in diagnostic and prognostic reasoning.

Patients are interested in receiving accurate diagnostic and prognostic information. Models and reasoning about diagnoses have been extensively investigated from a foundational perspective; however, for all its importance, prognosis has yet to receive a comparable degree of philosophical and methodological attention, and this may be due to the difficulties inherent in accurate prognostics. In the light of these considerations, we discuss a considerable body of critical thinking on the topic of prognostication and its strict relations with diagnostic reasoning, pointing out the distinction between nosographic and pathophysiological types of diagnosis and prognosis, underlying the importance of the explication and explanation processes. We then distinguish between various forms of hypothetical reasoning applied to reach diagnostic and prognostic judgments, comparing them with specific forms of abductive reasoning. The main thesis is that creative abduction regarding clinical hypotheses in diagnostic process is very unlikely to occur, whereas this seems to be often the case for prognostic judgments. The reasons behind this distinction are due to the different types of uncertainty involved in diagnostic and prognostic judgments.

On the implications of integrating linear tracing procedure with imprecise probabilities

This paper explores the implications of integrating the so-called linear tracing procedure with uncertainty modeling using sets of probabilities for equilibrium refinements under strategic uncertainty. We first reexamine the linear tracing procedure [10] by studying the relationship between priors and Nash equilibria. A prior belongs to the source set of a Nash equilibrium if the linear tracing procedure based on this prior leads to that equilibrium. We show that the source set of any Nash equilibrium is always nonempty and closed, but not generally convex. We then motivate the idea of iteratively applying this procedure to the auxiliary games that are used to model hypothetical reasoning under the procedure. Based on this idea, we propose a notion of robustness for equilibria that allows for modeling of players' initial expectations in the linear tracing procedure through sets of probability distributions. By considering ϵ-contaminated classes for modeling uncertainty, we illustrate this concept with two examples, and then discuss the role of strategic uncertainty in coordination failure.

Conducting Physical Activity Intervention Afterward School Times: A Meta-analysis

Framework: Students’ mainstream doesn’t be involved in enough amounts of day by day, health-maximizing bodily exercise. One particular system to raise exercise is only about to endorse this inside the immediately after hours of school. A meta-analysis was carried out briefing the conducted study at this point concerning success of right subsequent school hour’s activity for raising bodily exercise. Procurement of Evidence: Article reviews, journals and database content have been searched for this review paper. The objective of this review paper is to conduct a systematic analysis. Integrated researches possessed subsequent traits: results certain towards immediately afterward school hour’s involvement within the school setting; an intervention part created to boost bodily exercise; final result analysed bodily exercise, associated paradigms or else health of body. Examine results were extracted into various areas: “bodily exercise, fitness of body, composition of body, thickness of blood as well as about mental health and also inactive things to do. Within the studies for each pooled domain sizes of effect domain were being computed independently. Combined Evidence: Inside numerous articles content found, out of 13, 11 distinctive researches describing results for programs right afterward school time intervention being studied. Though bodily exercise remained major element of whole examined involvements, only 8 researches calculated bodily activity. Within the six domains, positive effect sizes have been demonstrated, the effect size of physical exercise was 0.04 for fitness of body was 0.16, for composition of body 0.07 as well as for the thickness of blood it was 0.02. Conclusions: Minimal 1evidence indicates that right subsequent hours of school activities programs could boost bodily activity concentrations as well as various body fitness associated factors. Other researches are essential which give higher thoughtfulness to hypothetical reasoning, level of implementation and measures about bodily activity indoors as well as outdoors the involvement.