Identity Statements Research Articles

Weyl on Fregean Implicit Definitions: Between Phenomenology and Symbolic Construction

This paper aims to investigate certain aspects of Weyl’s account of implicit definitions. The paper takes under consideration Weyl’s approach to a certain kind of implicit definitions i.e. abstraction principles introduced by Frege. Abstraction principles are bi-conditionals that transform certain equivalence relations into identity statements, defining thereby mathematical terms in an implicit way. The paper compares the analytic reading of implicit definitions offered by the Neo-Fregean program with Weyl’s account which has phenomenological leanings. The paper suggests that Weyl’s account should be construed as putting emphasis on intentionality of human mind towards certain invariant features of the elements of initial domains of discourse that are involved in equivalence relations. Definition of terms like direction, shape, number etc. is achieved by a kind of transformation of those invariants into ideal objects that is involved in intuition. Then the paper argues that at the period of 1926 Weyl’s writings on implicit definitions, he is inclined to endorse symbolic construction as a way to explicate the objectivity of certain processes as those that are carried out in case of implicit definitions.

Crioulização em Cabo Verde e São Tomé e Príncipe: divergências históricas e identitárias

Cabo Verde e São Tomé e Príncipe foram as primeiras sociedades crioulas do mundo atlântico. Inicialmente, em muitos aspetos, a colonização dos dois arquipélagos pelos portugueses era muito semelhante. Contudo, a diferente posição geográfica e as divergências do clima e do meio ambiente condicionaram o desenvolvimento de economias distintas e diferenças no grau da miscigenação nos dois arquipélagos. Diferente desenvolvimento socioeconómico no século XIX, marcado, em São Tomé e Príncipe, pela recolonização e pelo restabelecimento da economia de plantação e, em Cabo Verde, pela consolidação da sociedade crioula e pela emigração, reforçou as divergências existentes. As diferenças refletem-se em distintas afirmações identitárias das duas sociedades crioulas. Cabo Verde afirma uma singularidade da sua sociedade crioula, enquanto, em São Tomé e Príncipe, domina uma identidade africana.

The Contemporary Structures and Historical Formation of the Khawlān and Jumā'ah Tribes in Sa'dah, Northwest Yemen

Khawlān and Jumā'ah are two out of eight tribes of the Khawlān b. 'Āmir confederation in Southwest Arabia, the territories of five of them being in Yemen and three in Saudi Arabia. Whereas the Yemeni tribes Munabbih, Sahār and Rāzih are well explored, little is known about the tribal structures of Jumā'ah and the homonymous tribe Khawlān. This article provides an overview of the present-day tribal structures of Khawlān and Jumā'ah, and traces their historical formation through comparison with the respective information available in the historical and geographical works of the Yemeni geographer and historian al-Hasan al-Hamdānī, dating back to the tenth century AD. The results of this study show that Jumā'ah and Khawlān were historically open to processes of social, spatial and genealogical changes. Whereas Jumā'ah can trace its lineage directly back to the ancestor Khawlān b. 'Āmir, Khawlān tribe represents a much looser entity of mutual alliances, which corresponds to its lack of genealogical coherence. Among Khawlān and Jumā'ah, the rhetoric of shared 'ancestry' is thus to a greater or a lesser extent a statement of identity and follows the general Middle Eastern practice in conceptualising groups as kin.

Stochastic Perron's Method and Elementary Strategies for Zero-Sum Differential Games

We develop here the stochastic Perron method in the framework of two-player zero-sum differential games. We consider the formulation of the game where both players play, symmetrically, feedback strategies as opposed to the Elliott--Kalton formulation prevalent in the literature. The class of feedback strategies we use is carefully chosen so that the state equation admits strong solutions and the technicalities involved in the stochastic Perron method carry through in a rather simple way. More precisely, we define the game over elementary strategies, which are well motivated by intuition. Within this framework, the stochastic Perron method produces a viscosity subsolution of the upper Isaacs equation dominating the upper value of the game, and a viscosity supersolution of the upper Isaacs equation lying below the upper value of the game. Using a viscosity comparison result we obtain that the upper value is the unique and continuous viscosity solution of the upper Isaacs equation. An identical statement holds true for the lower value and the lower Isaacs equation. A version of the dynamic programming principle is obtained as a byproduct. If the Isaacs condition is satisfied, the game has a value over elementary (pure) strategies.

Anti-feminist backlash: The role of system justification in the rejection of feminism

System justification theory (SJT) posits that people are motivated to believe that the social system they live in is fair, desirable, and how it should be, especially in contexts that heighten the system justification motive. Past researchers have suggested that opposition to feminists may be motivated by the threat that feminism presents to the legitimacy of the status quo, but this hypothesis has not been tested empirically. In this article, we present three studies that directly test the idea that antifeminist backlash can be motivated by system justification. Studies 1 and 2 experimentally manipulated the SJ motive and a female target’s feminist identification (feminist vs. nonfeminist). Study 3 tested the hypothesis by measuring participants’ SJ motivation via an individual difference measure. Participants disagreed more with identical statements about gender issues made by the feminist target than the nonfeminist target, but only when the system justification motive was heightened (Study 2) or chronically high (Study 3).

Type-Identity Statements and the Explanatory Gap: An Argument for Compatibility

This paper challenges a popular thesis which we call the explanatory primitiveness thesis (for short, EPT), namely, the thesis that identities leave no logical space wherein explanatory questions may be formulated and explanatory gaps may reside. We argue that while EPT is, in all likelihood, flawless when the relevant domain consists of identity statements flanked by proper names of individuals it is a mistake to hold that the thesis generalizes to cover all identity statements. In particular, we argue that EPT fails decisively with respect to an important class of identity statements, viz., those in which natural kinds are identified across different theoretical levels (i.e., the so-called inter-level type-identities). If correct, our result shows EPT to be much more limited in scope than is usually supposed. Moreover, and perhaps more significantly, it shows that there is no inherent absurdity in the idea that certain type-identity statements, in particular psychophysical type-identity statements, suffer from an explanatory gap.

Early Days in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology

SYNOPSISThis article dredges up some of my most vivid memories of the early days in humanistic and radical psychology in this country. The 1970s were very exciting for me, and also for the practice of therapy—particularly group therapy—in this country. And the formation of the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners (AHPP) was a highly significant move, followed as it was by the founding of the British Association for Counselling (or BAC, as it was then) accreditation scheme, which took over many of the ideas worked out in the AHPP. When the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) came to be formed, two of the three people who wrote the identity statement for the Humanistic and Integrative Section (as it was then) came from the AHPP.

The double life of ‘The mayor of Oakland’

The Fregean analysis of definite descriptions as referring expressions predicts that copular sentences with definite descriptions in postcopular position are invariably interpreted as identity statements. But as numerous diagnostics show, such sentences are frequently capable of receiving a predicational reading. A uniform Fregean analysis therefore won’t do. Things aren’t that simple, however. I show that descriptions which exhibit the structure [the + N + of + Proper Name] fall into two semantically distinct classes, and that the members of one of these classes of descriptions (those I call “identifying”) pattern with proper names in resisting a predicative reading. I argue that a proposal according to which referring expressions can quite generally undergo a type shift that transforms them into predicates thus fails on grounds of overgeneration. I propose that we can account for the data by instead appealing to two definite determiners: a Fregean determiner ‘ther’ which forms referring descriptions, and a determiner ‘thep’ which forms predicative descriptions. I argue that this proposal also correctly predicts that copular sentences with proper names in postcopular position fail to have a predicational reading. I conclude the paper by defending the analysis of names to which I appeal against an alternative view inspired by Burge (J Philos 70(14):425–439, 1973), and suggest a way in which the desired results could be achieved while making do with a single definite article.

Eminently Visible: The Role of T-Shirts in Gay and Lesbian Public Advocacy and Community Building

Beginning with coded statements of identity in the early days of the gay rights struggle and moving on to more upfront public declarations of visibility, T-shirts have offered a way for gays and lesbians and their allies to quite literally announce their presence on the political stage for the purposes of both enhancing solidarity and advancing public rhetoric. By visibly marking the bodies of wearers and publicly identifying their sexual identities or political views, T-shirts contribute to a broader project of gay and lesbian public visibility that has held a central place in attempts to transform the social and political world. This study draws upon both archival materials and interviews with contemporary wearers of gay- and lesbian-themed T-shirts in order to document the meaningful role that this pervasive yet often-ignored popular medium of visual communication has played and continues to play for gay and lesbian public advocacy and community building.

An exploration of the role of schema theory and the (non-indigenous) construction of indigenous identity

Community engagement is increasingly important in environmental management. While such engagement has tended to comprise only one-way communication, genuine engagement often requires meaningful cross-cultural communication. This paper explores issues surrounding engagement with Australian indigenous communities, suggesting that the construction of the cultural identity of these communities is an important impediment to meaningful social engagement. Drawing on schema theory and the notion of Bhabha’s interstitial space, we argue that environmental management needs to embrace such ideas. Using examples from a study of the non-indigenous construction of Australian Aboriginal identity through a long-established Australian newspaper, we explore implications of non-indigenous construction of Australian Aboriginal identity in environmental management. We argue, thus, that contemporary environmental management needs to encourage a focus on conscious engagement or self-critique of identity statements. This focus would have an emphasis on the constructedness of cultural identity and conscious rejection of the unthinking assumptions they engender.

IN WHAT STYLE SHOULD WE MEMORIALIZE?

This essay examines recent memorial practices and projects among the global Sikh community. These memorials range in form and scale from purpose-built museum buildings to candlelight vigils. Their peculiar placement as repositories of Sikh memory is juxtaposed with the memorial role already implicit in the architectural, spatial, and theoretical program of gurdwaras. By examining recently constructed memorial projects in and outside of Punjab, this essay calls for critical questioning of what (and who) is on display in Sikh museums and exhibits. The essay is essentially a study of the dialogue that is created as a result of the spatialization of Sikh identity and thought through memorial projects: (How) can a Sikh museum or memorial be as much a statement of Sikh socio-political identity as a gurdwara?

Bachelors, Energy, Cats and Water: Putnam on Kinds and Kind Terms

Abstract:Since Hilary Putnam and Saul Kripke's first attacks on traditional, descriptivist theories of natural kind terms, it has become customary to speak of the ‘Putnam‐Kripke’ view of meaning and reference. This article argues that this is a mistake, and that Putnam's account of natural kind terms is importantly different from that of Kripke. In particular, Putnam has from the very start been sceptical of Kripke's modal claims, and in later papers he explicitly rejects the proposal that theoretical identity statements are metaphysically necessary (if true). I suggest that this is wholly in line with Putnam's earlier, Quine‐inspired writings on general terms, and his preoccupation with the philosophy of science. Moreover, I argue that the picture of general terms that emerges from Putnam's writings is more plausible than that suggested by Kripke. However, contrary to Putnam, I also suggest that Putnam's later views on natural kinds and natural kind terms do not support standard Twin Earth externalism.

Worldwide Regulation of Co-Operative Societies - An Overview

A short survey of such a vast subject matter cannot be complete. It remains a reasoned but arbitrary collection of ideas, data, facts and figures, biased by the personal experience of the author and his access to sources, inevitably leaving gaps. In the first part of the paper, the “co-operative society” as a legal pattern is defined and distinguished from other legal forms. In the second part, an overview is given of the different concepts of co-operatives, varying considerably from one country to another and even within countries. The main part of this paper deals with describing legal patterns of co-operative societies from different perspectives: (a) by origin, (b) by type of co-operative and (c) by continent. A special chapter is dedicated to innovations, e. g. appropriate legal technology, trends to develop supra-national ooperative law and in new fields: multi-stakeholder co-operatives and social cooperatives as part of Social Economy. Conclusions are drawn regarding international guidelines for good co-operative legislation around a common core – the Statement of Co-operative Identity of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) – as contained in the UN Guidelines of 2001 aimed at creating a supportive environment for the development of co-operatives and the International labour Organization (ILO) Recommendation 193 of 2002 for the promotion of co-operatives. A review of past experience highlights the critical points identified as benchmarks, obstacles and trends of the future work of law-makers dealing with co-operative legislation.

Fatherhood, Masculinity and Lived Religion in Late-Medieval Sweden

Patriarchy and gendered power relations have been the focus of scholars of masculinity, but fatherhood, one of the most intimate aspects of masculine identity and an essential element in men's social roles, has gained relatively little attention among medievalists. Elements of being a father, like emotional ties, caregiving and commitment to one's family, form the core of this article. The focus is on the contestants of the traditional concepts linked with masculinity and patriarchy: domination, competition and aggression. The main question is how gendered identity was constructed within lived religion, or, how fatherhood and masculinity were linked. The author argues that collaboration between spouses, commitment to one's children and devotion were important elements in constructing adult lay masculinity in the depositions of canonization processes carried out in late-medieval Sweden. The most important element in being an adult man was not the separation from women but the separation from immature boys. To invoke a saint for one's offspring, even if it required inversion of traditional modes of manifestation of manliness, was a statement of masculine identity: an assurance of respectability, responsibility and commitment.

Number words and reference to numbers

A realist view of numbers often rests on the following thesis: statements like ‘The number of moons of Jupiter is four’ are identity statements in which the copula is flanked by singular terms whose semantic function consists in referring to a number (henceforth: Identity). On the basis of Identity the realists argue that the assertive use of such statements commits us to numbers. Recently, some anti-realists have disputed this argument. According to them, Identity is false, and, thus, we may deny that the relevant statements commit us to numbers. The present paper argues that the correct linguistic analysis of the relevant number statements supports the anti-realist view that Identity is false. However, as will further be shown, pace the anti-realist, this analysis does not establish that such statements do not commit us to numbers after all.

“We may be pirates, but we are not protesters”: Identity in the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Radical activist organizations face the complex task of managing their identity so as to draw political attention but also to appear legitimate and thus gain public support. In this article we develop a picture of the identities of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) members, a group mostly known for their direct action against whaling, via a thematic analysis of material from the SSCS website and interviews with SSCS members. In online commentary, founder Captain Paul Watson establishes several deliberately paradoxical notions of who the Sea Shepherds are. We relate these identity statements to interviews with core activists to examine how they manage the identity conflicts resulting from the group identity, such as being seen as “pirates” and “hard lined vegans.” We found that SSCS positions themselves as a diverse and unstructured organization, yet distinctively passionate and willing to take action where others will not. The implications of this research are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the constraints and conflicts around political activist identities.

Using phenomenal concepts to explain away the intuition of contingency

Humans can think about their conscious experiences using a special class of “phenomenal” concepts. Psychophysical identity statements formulated using phenomenal concepts appear to be contingent. Kripke argued that this intuited contingency could not be explained away, in contrast to ordinary theoretical identities where it can. If the contingency is real, property dualism follows. Physicalists have attempted to answer this challenge by pointing to special features of phenomenal concepts that explain the intuition of contingency. However no physicalist account of their distinguishing features has proven to be satisfactory. Leading accounts rely on there being a phenomenological difference between tokening a physical-functional concept and tokening a phenomenal concept. This paper shows that existing psychological data undermine that claim. The paper goes on to suggest that the recalcitrance of the intuition of contingency may instead by explained by the limited means people typically have for applying their phenomenal concepts. Ways of testing that suggestion empirically are proposed.

Conceptual Insight into Generic Corporate Identity in the Banking Industry and a Semiotic Evidence of Its Presence in Professional Services Firms (PSFS)

Purpose of this paper: This paper aims to provide an insight into the dominant arguments in generic corporate identity literature – and offers evidence of the presence of generic corporate identity in professional services industry. Design/method/approach: Existing literature on generic corporate identity is reviewed leading towards the development of three conceptual perspectives of generic corporate identity, namely active, passive and parenthetic. The weakness of existing theoretical literatures (in relation to their inability to explicate how generic corporate identity develops) is highlighted. Consequently, a new process model grounded on the notion of institutional isomorphism is presented to fill this gap. A semiotic deconstruction of corporate identity statements in annual report and accounts of the big four professional services firms in the United States is presented to provide evidence of the presence and emergence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. Findings: A number of findings emerged in this study. First are three pedagogical themes of generic corporate identity. Second is a four stage generic identity development process model, which explicates how generic corporate identity emerges. Third, a semiotic deconstruction of some sections of annual report and accounts of the big four professional services firms in the United States supports the presence and emergence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. Theoretical implication: The introduction of a generic corporate identity process model in this study clarifies how generic corporate identity evolves. This clarification aids the understanding of the development process of generic corporate identity, which until date remains vague, fuzzy and unclear. In addition, the semiotic deconstruction of texts, which gives insight into the presence of generic corporate identity in Professional Services Firms (PSF), takes the argument in marketing literature a step further. Specifically, the outcome of the deconstruction of texts indicates that the problem of generic corporate identity is not a banking problem alone but a professional services issue as well. The study adds to existing knowledge on the theory of generic corporate identity and contributes towards an understanding of corporate identity theory in general. Practical implications: Insights into the elements that influence the development of a generic corporate identity imply that managers can map out plans that enable firms or clients to challenge or avoid the acquisition of generic corporate identities. By circumventing the development of generic corporate identity, firms develop distinct corporate identities, which position them competitively in the business environment. Limitation of study and future research direction: The empirical evidence presented in this study merely supports the presence of generic corporate identity in professional services firms. The study does not address this issue in other service industries such as tourism, hospitality, information technology. The inability to pursue this study in these industries presents an opportunity for future research. Originality and value of paper: The review of literature indicates that existing studies on corporate identity has focused mainly of the factors that trigger the development of a generic corporate identity without a detailed explanation how this concept emerged. This paper makes a departure from extant theory and adds an original contribution to existing literature by providing a theoretical analysis, which gives an insight into the stage by stage processes that trigger the development of a generic corporate identity.

Are anti-Muslim feelings more widespread than anti-foreigner feelings? Evidence from two split-sample experiments

This article tests the claim that anti-Muslim feelings are more widespread than general anti-foreigner feelings. It reports on two split sample experiments, in which a randomly selected part of the respondents evaluated statements for which the target group was identified as ‘foreigners’ and the other part evaluated the identical statements but with the target group identified as ‘Muslims’. By using open-ended questions we are able to separate those respondents who had Muslims in mind when asked about foreigners from those who did not. We find that anti-Muslim feelings are more intense than anti-foreigner feelings along a wide range of attitude dimensions. Furthermore, those respondents who had Muslims in mind while judging statements about foreigners, turned out to be at least as hostile as those who were asked explicitly about Muslims.

Person case constraint effects in Polish copular constructions

The paper examines two patterns found in one type of copular constructions in Polish, i.e., those containing the verbal copula być ‘be’ and the pronominal copula to. In the first pattern the verb być ‘be’ agrees with the second, postverbal element, not with the first one, while in the other 1st and 2nd person pronouns are banned from appearing as the first elements in to być copular clauses. It is argued that these apparently unrelated patterns are amenable to a uniform analysis couched within the minimalist approach to the Person Case Constraint (henceforth, the PCC). This approach crucially relies on the application of multiple Agree and the assumption that in Polish, just like in other languages, T probes separately for person and number. It is argued that in both patterns under consideration T probes the first DP for person and the second one for number and gender, which accounts for agreement with the second element in the first pattern. If the first DP is 1st or 2nd person, it values the person feature of T as 1st or 2nd and this is responsible for a person clash if the second DP is marked for 3rd person, which accounts for the second pattern. The analysis offered predicts that the two DPs in to być clauses must match in person. It is shown that this prediction may turn out to be problematic in the light of the fact that identity statements and inverted copular sentences allow person mismatch. It is argued that although they seem to be problematic in fact neither in the former nor in the latter the mechanism underlying the PCC effect, i.e., multiple Agree, is operative, but for a different reason. Equatives are analysed along the lines proposed by Perelstvaig (2001; 2008) for Russian and Italian by Moro (1997; 2006), i.e., they are treated as bare small clauses which lack a label unless the second DP is internally merged with the bare small clause and thus provides it with a label (DP). As a result of this movement, the moved DP is closer to the probe T than the other DP, which blocks multiple Agree. In inverted copula sentences, on the other hand, parallel probing by T and C applies, which forces the movement of the inverted element to Spec CP and thus makes it unavailable to Agree with T.