Rational Arguments Research Articles

Rational arguments for regulatory acceptance of consistency testing: benefits of non-animal testing over in vivo release testing of vaccines

ABSTRACTIntroductionThere are rational arguments to replace existing in vivo potency and safety assays for batch release testing of vaccines with more advanced non-animal techniques to measure critical quality attributes. However, the introduction of in vitro alternatives to replace in vivo release assays of authorized vaccines is challenging.Areas coveredThis report describes the hurdles encountered in substituting in vivo assays and ways to overcome these and provides arguments why more advanced in vitro alternatives are superior, not only as a tool to monitor the quality of vaccines but also from a practical, economical, and ethical point of view. The rational arguments provided for regulatory acceptance can support a strategy to replace/substitute any in vivo batch release test if an appropriate non-animal testing strategy is available.Expert opinionFor several vaccines, in vivo release assays have been replaced leading to an optimized control strategy. For other vaccines, new assays are being developed that can expect to be introduced within 5–10 years. From a scientific, logistical, and animal welfare perspective, it would be beneficial to substitute all existing in vivo batch release assays for vaccines. Given the challenges related to development, validation, and acceptance of new methods, and considering the relatively low prices of some legacy vaccines, this cannot be done without government incentives and supportive regulatory authorities from all regions.

Lex imperfecta, governance and persuasion: the case of quality assurance in Roman Catholic ecclesiastical higher education

With the promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium in 2018, Roman Catholic ecclesiastical higher education institutions had a quality evaluation process imposed on them, developed by the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties (AVEPRO). It is yet a case of ‘lex imperfecta’, with no formal consequences following the reviews. This study argues that the Agency is using persuasion in its policy text to ensure institutional buy-in. Persuasive patterns are displayed through the exploration of metadiscourse and its links to Aristotle’s concepts of ethos, pathos and logos. While logos or rational argumentation would more naturally be expected in policy guidelines, the use of metadiscourse markers related to pathos or emotional appeal is high. A supplemental layer of analysis also unearthed a significant level of ethos, a means of convincing the audience by appealing to the authority and credibility of the author(s).

Kolektivna agentivnost i toposi u funkciji gradnje rimskog nacionalnog i nadnacionalnog identiteta u historiografskom narativu V. Paterkula / Collective agency and topoi in the function of creating Roman national and supranational identity in the historiographical narrative of Velleius Paterculus

Language, as the linguistic manifestation of extralinguistic experiences, often functions as a means for the creation and expression of societal inequality. In addition to the fact that the participants of social reality are almost never socially equal, which means that someone has power over others, the linguistic reflection of those relationships always derives from the author, who has the power to control the context; his practical instrumentation comes from his own lexical and grammatical choices, as well as their conscious and targeted combination. In this paper, the focus is on noticing and distinguishing, and analyzing and interpreting the choices of V. Paterculus as an author within the framework of collective agency and the topoi with which the Roman national identity is first built, and then positioned as superior to the identities of the peoples with whom the Romans came into contact. While for authors from the 1st century A.D. the language strategies touched on in this paper were not available, since they were neither described nor defined before the 20th century, ancient writers used them completely unconsciously in their spontaneous writing; therefore, these texts, as well as modern ones, are subject to linguistic analysis, interpretation and criticism precisely according to the guidelines of modern language criteria. In this paper one of the possible methods of analysis of the construction of the national and supranational identity of a nation in the historiographical discourse will be offered; the analysis will be based on discursive strategies and macro-strategies offered by the discursive-historical approach and based on empirical data gathered in tabular reviews. An indispensable part of the analysis will be the analyst’s criticism, which derives from democratic norms, human rights and the criteria of rational argumentation from today’s temporal, cultural and political context, because the purpose of critical discourse studies is to expose and point out how domination, i.e., the abuse of social power and inequality, are realized and reproduced in text and speech, but also on how to oppose them in a social and political context (van Dijk 2001, 352).

RE-THINKING MANDATORY AUDITOR ROTATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Since formation of the European Union, there has been a worldwide upsurge in regulation of the auditing profession, which has included mandatory auditor rotation and this has also found its way into South African company law, regardless of the many arguments against it. The number of corporate scandals or company failures justifies an evaluation of the effectiveness of such regulation and a re-thinking of the concept of auditor rotation. Revisiting the arguments against and in favour of mandatory auditor rotation confirms the rational arguments against mandatory auditor rotation. These arguments are opposed to the main reason for its implementation – namely, that rotation will serve as a publicly acceptable band-aid on damaged investor confidence. Overshadowed by corporate scandals, regulators face constant pressure to enhance auditors’ independence and to amend and improve regulations. To inform the South African stance, developments regarding auditor rotation in Germany and Australia are examined. An assessment of the significance of mandatory auditor rotation in the current corporate-law environment reveals that Steinhoff (Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.) failed in 2018, despite the fact that auditor-rotation legislation was in place. This supports arguments against auditor rotation and suggests that South Africa too hastily followed international trends. Mandatory auditor rotation regulations in South Africa also discourage potential candidates from entering the auditing work environment. It is submitted that the current provisions do not contribute effectively to auditor independence and are merely desperate attempts to curb the public’s lack of confidence in the auditing profession. Section 92 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008, dealing with mandatory auditor rotation, should therefore be repealed.

JEREMY BENTHAM’S UTILITY THEORY AND ITS INFLUENCE
 ON ANALYTICAL LEGAL POSITIVISM

The article deals with the question of the philosophical foundations of the theory of utilitarianism and its influence on the development of analytical jurisprudence. The author notes that the theory of utility was first fully formulated in the views of Jeremy Bentham, and lies in the fact that the powerful subject in the formation of a mandatory regulatory system must create real effective models of behaviour and grounds for the actions of subjects, useful for society as a whole. In many respects, this thesis in the current onto-epistemological conditions became a positive response to the emerging theories of natural law and significantly influenced the development of British legal positivism. At the same time, the question of the content of useful and effective law at the stages of formation and development of analytical positivism was perceived in different contexts. The classical theories of John Austin and Hans Kelsen emphasised the formal legal aspect of law, associated with the construction of an optimal enforcement system. Subsequently, in the theory of H. L. A. Hart, who revolutionised the British legal philosophy tremendously, the rational-utilitarian aspect was perceived and integrated into the concept of law. The author concludes that the theory of utility has become, in fact, in Western legal positivism, an alternative to natural law axiology, focusing on rational arguments for the conscious adoption of the normative system if it is effective.

An Unpublished Anti-Jewish Syriac Dialogue from Turfan

Abstract This article presents the unpublished Syriac text of an anonymous anti-Jewish dialogue preserved fragmentarily in the manuscript SyrHT 94 [T II B 50 = 1682] from the Berlin Turfan-Collection. The dialogue, which combines scriptural and rational polemical arguments, is an important witness to the development of the adversus Judaeos literary tradition among Syriac Christians during the Islamic period. The text is accompanied by an English translation and a brief discussion.

Interpersonal Communication Strategies between Parents and Children Under the Age of 12 Years in Preventing Online Game Addiction in Manado City

Abstract 
 In today's era of technology and information, people cannot be separated from the use of the internet, including children. Since the Covid-19 pandemic until now, many children carry out their activities at home, and the use of the internet in children has increased in intensity, which is used as a source of learning and entertainment information. Nowadays many children under the age of 12 years who spend hours playing and addicted to online games. Many negative impacts arise due to online game addiction in children. Therefore, a parent's interpersonal communication strategy is needed to prevent online game addiction in children. The results showed that interpersonal communication strategies between parents and children in preventing online game addiction in Manado City, especially in Malalayang District and Tikala District, namely: Carrot Swinging Strategy: controlling children by providing rewards or rewards in the form of clothes, shoes, maimaikan, food, etc. Dependent Sword Strategy: in the form of punishment to unravel or restrict children from playing online games. Catalysing Strategy: Parents in communicating include rational arguments according to rationality so that children are willing to change attitudes or behaviors as they wish. Siamese Twin Strategy: Parents involve themselves in activities that they encourage children to do together. and Fantasy World Strategy: The parent directs the child's behavior, first creating a certain fantasy in the child's mind and then directing it to the behavior as the parent wants.

Sex Sells Terrorism: How Sexual Appeals in Fringe Online Communities Contribute to Self-Radicalization

The past several years have seen rising hate crimes, terrorist attacks, and broader extremist movements, with news reports often noting that these movements can be traced back to fringe online communities. Yet the question remains why such online groups appear more likely to foster radicalization than those in other contexts. This netnographic case study demonstrates how sexual appeals in fringe online communities facilitate the development of extremist ideologies. Specifically, the cognitive effects of sexual arousal combined with the social norms of such communities contribute to the acceptance of hate speech and fringe ideologies while reducing the extent to which audiences evaluate rational arguments and competing points of view. Thus, sexual appeals paired with messaging or imagery that promotes fringe points of view, which can be more freely expressed in small online groups than in other contexts, are more likely to result in intended attitudinal and behavioral changes—in other words, extremism.

Colloquium 4 Commentary on Sanday

Abstract Sanday reads the Statesman as intertwining images with dialectical thinking. On the one hand, we advance from opinions to knowledge by gradually turning away from images and embracing rational arguments instead; on the other, dialectical knowledge must rely on images in order to be effective for the political community. My present comments come not to challenge, but rather to complement, and perhaps refine, Sanday’s account. I begin by highlighting the distinction that the Stranger draws between types of images, namely as perceptible likenesses and as likenesses in account respectively, and then reflect on how this distinction helps in leading the interlocutor’s search for the nature of statesmanship as well as in implementing insights in the practical life of the city. All of this supports the view that Plato has never had a problem with imitation or images as such, but only with our ignorance vis-à-vis our engagement with imitation and usage of images, and with our ignorance as to what are the objects that we imitate, in other words, figuring out whether they are images of Forms or of sensible things.

Inclusive legal positivism: Basic arguments

The relevance of the topic of this paper is due to the insufficient study of the problems of inclusive legal positivism in the modern philosophy of law. The problem of substantiating the thesis of the inclusion of morality in law on the basis of rational argumentation of scientists and legal practice data considered in the paper allows an innovative analysis of basic legal concepts. The subject of the research is to analyze the methods of moral, ethical and legal argumentation in the works of representatives of inclusive legal positivism. The purpose of the work is to theoretically reconstruct the essence of the debate between inclusive and exclusive legal positivism. The novelty of the topic is due to the lack of studies in the educational and scientific literature on the specifics of the argumentation of inclusive legal positivism, set out in the scientific works of Will Waluchow and Kenneth Himma, the need to rethink traditional ideas about the theory of legal positivism. The research methods used in the paper is the methods characteristic of analytical jurisprudence, including those related to the use of methods of logical and linguistic analysis, as well as special legal methods (formal legal method of interpretation of regulatory prescriptions). The main conclusions of the paper are to reveal the key arguments of the concept of inclusive legal positivism. It is proved that from the point of view of this concept, the law has moral grounds, and judges in some cases use moral reasoning when making court decisions.

Practical wisdom as conviction in Aristotle's ethics

AbstractThis paper argues that Aristotelian practical wisdom (phronēsis) is a state of conviction (pistis) in the goodness of our goals based on proper grounds. This state of conviction can only be achieved if rational arguments and principles agree with how things appear to us. Since, for Aristotle, passions influence appearances, they can support or undermine our conviction in the goodness of ends. For this reason, we cannot be practically wise without virtuous dispositions to experience appropriate passions. Along the way, I argue that this reading allows us to explain the shortcomings of self‐controlled and akratic agents.

Arithmetic properties of the Herglotz-Zagier-Novikov function

In this article, we undertake the study of the function F(x;u,v), which we refer to as the Herglotz-Zagier-Novikov function. This function appears in Novikov's work on the Kronecker limit formula, which was motivated by Zagier's paper where he obtained the Kronecker limit formula in terms of the Herglotz function F(x). Two, three, and six-term functional equations satisfied by F(x;u,v) are exhibited. These are cohomological relations coming from the action of an involution and SL2(Z) on C×D12 (the unit circle D1). We also provide the special values of F(x;u,v) at rational arguments of x. Importantly, F(x;u,v) serves as a unified generalization of three other interesting functions, namely F(x), J(x), and T(x), which also appear in various Kronecker limit formulas and are previously studied by Cohen, Herglotz, Muzaffar and Williams, and Radchenko and Zagier. Consequently, our study not only reveals the numerous elegant properties of F(x;u,v) but also helps us to further develop the theories of functions related to its special cases such as J(x) and T(x).

Appropriation, Opting Out, and the Common Good in Public Debates: An Analysis of Christian Ethical Arguments

AbstractThis article examines anti-mask protests in the United States in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, I look at the cultural (mis)appropriation of slogans by anti-mask protestors, such as “I can’t breathe” and “My body, my choice.” Noting that this is at first glance a bit of a puzzling phenomenon, I show that there is a relationship between the anti-mask protest, white Christian grievance politics, and the disintegration of the public sphere. Drawing on the work of Bonnie Honig, I argue that the anti-mask protests represent a mode of opting out of public engagement, hence opting out of the practice of using rational argumentation to explain why things ought to be a certain way, as well as listening to the reasons of others. Insofar as this has become a popular mode of engagement among a significant number of Americans, it needs to be understood in the language of foregoing responsibility for others in US pluralistic democracy. Indeed, further explication of the relationship between responsibility and freedom is absolutely necessary. I maintain that opting out is ethically untenable because of the nature of interdependence with others and the necessity of adhering to the rule of law. An ethic of reciprocity properly grounds an understanding of embodied freedom, resisting the extremes of grievance politics.

MIDDLE CLASS IN UKRAINE: GOVERNMENT OR OPPOSITION?

MIDDLE CLASS IN UKRAINE: GOVERNMENT OR OPPOSITION?

Argumentation in the Pandemic Media Discourse: Decoding Rhetoric Practice

Purpose. The paper examines argumentation in the pandemic media discourse. Within the concept of decoding rhetoric, argumentation is considered a procedure for effective text formation acting as an instrument of influence.Method. The research method used is argument reconstruction based on the following parameters: a thesis, types of arguments, and argumentation structures. The material has been selected according to the criterion of an addressee of the media discourse, where the addressee is a politician, a doctor, or a publicist.Results. Media texts about the pandemic demonstrate that politicians propose orthodox theses, whereas doctor (D. Protsenko) proposes prescriptive ones and publicist (D. Bykov) – paradoxical ones.Politicians use the universal system and rational arguments based on statistics. The influencing message of D. Protsenko’s media text is formed due to personal empirical argumentation. D. Bykov relies on collective empirical argumentation.Concerning the argumentation structures, coordinate argumentation dominates in the media texts of politicians, making it possible to defend their opinion in the most revealing way. D. Protsenko combines coordinate argumentation with the subordinate one, creating opportunities for interpretation. The text of D. Bykov does not show any steady tendencies for argumentative structuring, reflecting a creative approach to text formation.Conclusion. The argument reconstruction reveals mechanisms of text formation and decodes the pragmatic motives of the speakers in the pandemic media discourse.

« Il est urgent de contrer le développement de la médecine intégrative et de sauver la vraie médecine ». Analyse critique de dix arguments rationalistes sceptiques

ContextThe debate about unconventional healthcare practices and their possible integration into conventional medical care presents an inexhaustible subject of polemics and controversy, particularly in France. In this debate, some prefer to openly deny its complexity in favor of simplistic rhetoric: these are the pro- and anti-unconventional medicine activists. Their radical rhetoric provides an ideal realm of discussion in which to analyze the cognitive shortcuts and other reasoning biases they employ. An initial analysis of the arguments put forth by the antis reveals an asymmetry in the use of the critical thinking they claim: the latter is applied to so-called “pseudo-medicine” and very little to their “rationalist” arguments. MethodIn this article, we have chosen to compensate for this shortcoming by providing a critical analysis of the 10 most common “rationalist sceptic” arguments used by opponents of complementary medical practices put forth in the press and media. Given the caricatural nature of certain skeptical positions, we have chosen to use satire and caricature ourselves for didactic purposes. Each of the 10 arguments is presented as follows: 1) a summary of the radical assertion being defended, followed by 2) the partial arguments or rhetorical strategy put forward to justify it, and 3) the counterarguments which are more or less deliberately kept silent. ResultsWe present a short caricatural summary of this argument: “Breaking news in the field of health care! Wired therapies are attempting to invade real medicine! We, rationalist physicians and defenders of true medicine, are concerned about the development of integrative medicine in France. We are sending this 10-point skeptical rationalist argument to the entire medical community and health professionals in order to put a stop to the development of integrative medicine and protect real medicine from heretics. We challenge every health care professional to take a stand; scientific medicine represents Good, because the Truth is on our side and the evidence guides our steps. If there were any evidence in favor of complementary and integrative medicine, we would be aware of it. In fact, these proponents are nothing more than charlatans whose claims are groundless. Let's be serious and proud to be Cartesian, because our country still stands up to all these would-be crooks. This proposal is based on the values of critical thinking, which aims to fight against misinformation in medicine and more generally in science. We have endeavored, as much as possible, to anticipate the objections that might be raised against our arguments.” We then analyze each argument separately. DiscussionIn the last part of our article, we analyze in greater detail the main cognitive biases used in the 10 arguments cited, drawing on the tools of metacognition: confirmation bias, framing bias and overconfidence bias. We discuss the limits of our work, which does not claim to be free of bias and is open to constructive, well-argued criticism. We make it clear that, despite its misleading appearances, our work is in no way a plea for alternative health care practices that challenge conventional medicine, nor is it an attack on conventional medicine, nor a diatribe against scientific skepticism. ConclusionWe argue for symmetrical training in critical thinking and metacognition among health professionals. Questioning and distancing oneself, without relativism, are indeed the best allies in such controversial debates. Uncertainty should be an integral part of the process of scientific knowledge, which is no longer conceivable in the binary and overly simplistic opposition between ignorance and certain knowledge, by overcoming both an acritical positivism and a radical scientific relativism.

The Potential Utilizing ChatGPT for Education and Teaching Students: Understanding, Prospects, Challenges, and Utilization"

This research aims to analyze the development of the ChatGPT topic in the context of its utilization and the challenges in supporting 21st-century education and learning programs that require the development of learning media as well as mapping the risks associated with the presence of AI (Artificial Intelligence) phenomenon, specifically ChatGPT. This requires the development of learning media as well as the mapping of risks associated with the presence of AI phenomenon, specifically ChatGPT. The method used in this study is a literature review related to ChatGPT, gathered from the Google database using the Google Advanced search strategy. The keywords "ChatGPT," "education," and "learning" were used to access various publications, particularly national and international scholarly articles that discuss relevant topics. The research findings generally indicate that ChatGPT is currently popular and dynamic, and it is predicted to continue growing in the future. However, discussions specifically related to ChatGPT in the field of education and learning are still the subject of debate, with both supporters and dissenters presenting rational arguments. Several examples demonstrate the significant positive benefits of ChatGPT's presence. To avoid confusion, it is crucial to establish policies formulated by authorized entities and implement them nationally with various supporting regulations.

The Resolution of Interpretations. Thomism, Semiotics, and Phenomenology in Dialogue

More than ever do people seem entrenched in their intellectual positions despite a dearth of concerted and honest reflection upon them. This obstinacy presents a moral and rhetorical challenge—attempting persuasion through naked rational argumentation alone will prove fruitless. But we should not discount the role of the intellect in the fixation of even the least-reflectively formed beliefs. From the perspective of cognition, this fixation is proximately the result of interpretation. In the language of Thomism, this interpretive adherence to falsity consists in a perverse process of discursive reasoning. To exposit the constitution of adherence to false interpretation, here we will draw on the traditions of Thomism, phenomenology, and semiotics. With the insights of these traditions, we will proceed: first, examining the process of interpretation itself; second, considering two different modes of interpretation; and third, situating interpretation in the context of the twofold movement of resolution. Through analyzing interpretation and resolution, we will demonstrate that obstinate intellectual insistence consists in two intellectual errors: adoption of the vague as sufficient for understanding; and reflexive confusions. In both cases, the error persists through the failure to pursue the twofold movement of resolution.

A New Dialectical Model of Water Security under Climate Change

Although Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is widely accepted as the state-of-the-art rational model for improving water governance, its evaluations under climate change at national and global scales indicate that progress made in water security and ecosystem preservation is slow. The paper identifies the relationship between Humans and Nature as the main reason for that and generates a novel social component to improve Water Resources Management (WRM) following three pillars: (1) A historical review over the past 20,000 years indicating that WRM depends on the interplay between Humans and Nature. This is in constant change over time, and depending on socio-economic and climate conditions, it oscillates between two opposites: conflict and cooperation. Three clusters have been identified, showing a different timeline pattern of dominance: (a) Nature dominating Humans (Naturalistic), (b) Nature–Humans in cooperation and competition (Dualistic), and (c) Humans dominating Nature (Anthropocentric). (2) Clarification of why a WRM model can improve water security through the Governance–Policy–Science Nexus. (3) Suggestion of a novel WRM model based on conflict identification (eristic component) and dialectical conflict resolution. Two types of conflicts have been distinguished: (a) Human vs. Human and (b) Human vs. Nature when the laws of nature are not respected. The dialectical tool operates by exchanging rational arguments to unify opposite objectives for harmonizing Humans with Natural laws. A case study of flood mitigation in Crete Island illustrates the Eristic–Dialectical methodology.

Deadlock in transition to a net-zero socially robust knowledge

Although Taiwan proposed 2020 to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, it has encountered difficulties making this transition. This research argues that climate issues involve epistemic politics and competition and those different discourses require the construction of socially robust knowledge (SRK) in reflexive, contextual confrontation, and competition. A society with strong SRK can lead the country’s net-zero carbon emissions decision, system, and transformation. This article analyses the types of environmental movements and the strength of their production of SRK with two cases that discusses the current lag of net-zero transition.The study found that the elements of successful transition include the same object of resistance, based on rational risk knowledge debate, and multi-level social mobilisation, which constitutes a strong SRK. A solid SRK package successfully reframes the development thinking of Taiwanese society. The net-zero movement needs a transparent object of resistance; environmental groups need to familiarise themselves with the issue of climate warming, resulting in a gap in appeals, mobilisation strategies, stages, and dominance. Although the latter still presents a certain degree of SRK and constitutes a policy of confrontation or competition with the government, the issues of appeal are pretty diverse, showing scattered initiatives. Folk-focused issues and discourses cannot build a strong agora, thus failing to reframe the social development framework and create more elements or opportunities for social transformation to a green path; as a result, Taiwan’s sluggish climate governance and net-zero transition have encountered dilemmas both at home and abroad.