koglist November 2008

koglist@maillist.ttk.hu

12 participants
33 discussions

Reminder: The Contingency of Causal Relations

by Krisztina Biber

The CEU Philosophy Department cordially invites you to a talk (as part of its Departmental Colloquium series) by Ferenc Huoranszki (CEU) on The Contingency of Causal Relations Tuesday,2 December, 5.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412 One of the most puzzling issues about causation is its modal character. On the one hand, causation makes the occurrence of certain events non-accidental and it supports the truth of the corresponding counterfactuals, both of which imply that the relation between cause and effect is not contingent. On the other hand, most philosophers have been persuaded by Hume’s arguments that causal relations are contingent. Traditional answers to the puzzle assume either - as Hume did - that ‘necessity is not in the objects’ or, alternatively, that there are different sorts of necessities and hence, although causation is contingent in one sense (in the sense of ‘absolute’ or ‘metaphysical’ necessity), it can be nevertheless necessary in another ‘nomological’ sense. The first solution is, however, unbelievable to most of us, whereas the second has never managed to provide a non-circular account of the notion of nomological necessity as distinct from the metaphysical one. In the talk I shall suggest a different understanding of the contingency of causal relations that may account for all the Humean insights without endorsing Humean metaphysics. In arguing against the view that causal relations are necessary Hume formulated two different claims. On the one hand, he claimed that there is not a necessary connection between certain powers and (different species of) objects. On the other hand, he argued that we do not have an idea of powers which imply necessary connection between distinct existences. The latter claim is, however, too strong. It seems that we do have a notion of power-like properties as functions from (kinds of) circumstances to (kinds of) effects. If causal relations are indeed contingent, they are contingent for a different reason. The reason is that causation is not always a transitive relation. I shall argue that there is no single ‘yes or no’ answer to the question concerning the transitivity of causal relations and that the issue of transitivity - contrary to what most Humeans hold - is not independent of the issue of contingency. In fact, it is with reference to intransitivity that we can explain in which sense causation is contingent. Kriszta Biber Department Coordinator Philosophy Department Tel: 36-1-327-3806 Fax: 36-1-327-3072 E-mail: biberk(a)ceu.hu

17 years, 5 months

invitation to a philosophy talk

by Krisztina Biber

17 years, 5 months

idopont valtozas

by Négyessy László

Tisztelt Kollegak, Lionel Nowak keddi eloadasat 1 oraval kesobb 15.00-kor kezdjuk. Tehat jovo heten ket eloadasunk lesz a SOTE Anatomia konyvtaraban: kedden (dec. 2) 15.00-kor L. Nowake es csurotokon (dec. 4) 14.30-kor C. Fontae. Ertesitest kaptam elozo leveleim tobbszoros kezbesiteserol, amiert ezuton kerek elnezest. Udvozlettel, Negyessy Laszlo Neurobionics Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Peter Pazmany Catholic University - Semmelweis University Tuzolto u. 58 H-1094 Budapest Hungary Tel.: +36-12156920 ext. 53712 Fax: +36-12176937 E-mail: negyessy(a)ana.sote.hu, negyessy(a)gmail.com

17 years, 5 months

Reminder: CEU Cognitive Development Center seminar - 26 November

by Gergely Csibra

Wednesday 26 Nov, 4.30pm Ádám Miklósi & Edina Pfandler (Ethology, ELTE) Comprehension of pointing gestures in a comparative perspective: The case of dogs and humans Venue: Room 137, Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Victor Hugo u. 18-22, 1132 Budapest Everyone is welcome to attend. --- Gergely Csibra

17 years, 5 months

Theoretical Philosophy Forum, Marton Gomori

by Laszlo E. Szabo

THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM Institute of Philosophy Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University Room 226 Monday 4:00 PM Muzeum krt. 4/i, Budapest Web site: http://phil.elte.hu/tpf 1 December 4:00 PM Room 226 Marton Gomori Department of Logic, Institute of Philosophy Eotvos University, Budapest Az elektrodinamika kovarianciaja – logikai-empirista rekonstrukcio (Covariance of electrodynamics – a logico-empiricist reconstruction) Abstract: http://phil.elte.hu/tpf/2008-2009/December/#1 ___________________________________ The Forum is open to everyone, including students, visitors, and faculty members from all departments and institutes! Format: 60 minute lecture, 10 minute coffee break, followed by a 30-60 minute discussion. The language of presentation is English or Hungarian. A printable poster is available from here: http://phil.elte.hu/tpf/2008-2009/December/poster.pdf Please feel free to post it in your institution! The organizer of the Forum: Laszlo E. Szabo (leszabo(a)phil.elte.hu) -- L a s z l o E. S z a b o Department of Logic, Institute of Philosophy Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University, Budapest http://phil.elte.hu/leszabo

17 years, 5 months

eloadas - L. Nowak

by Négyessy László

Kedves Kollegak, Lionel Nowak (Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/fr_vers/annuaire/lionel_nowak.htm) <http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/fr_vers/annuaire/caroline_fonta.htm> alabbi eloadasra varunk minden erdeklodot december 2.-en kedden 14.00-kor a SOTE Anatomia konyvtaraban (1094 Tűzoltó u. 58). Mechanisms and consequences of contrast adaptation in the visual cortex Reig, R. Gallego, R., Nowak, L. G., and Sanchez-Vives, M. V. (2006) Impact of cortical network activity on short-term synaptic depression. Cerebral Cortex 16, 688-695. Descalzo, V. F., Nowak, L. G., Brumberg, J. C., McCormick, D. A. and Sanchez-Vives, M. V. (2005) Slow adaptation in fast spiking neurons of visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology 93, 1111-1118. Nowak, L. G., Sanchez-Vives, M. V. and McCormick, D. A. (2005) Role of synaptic and intrinsic membrane properties in short term receptive field dynamics in cat area 17. Journal of Neuroscience 25, 1866-1880. Sanchez-Vives, M. V., Nowak, L. G. and McCormick, D. A. (2000) Membrane mechanisms underlying contrast adaptation in cat area 17 in vivo. Journal of Neuroscience 20, 4267-4285. Sanchez-Vives, M. V., Nowak, L. G. and McCormick, D. A. (2000) Cellular mechanisms of long lasting adaptation in visual cortical neurons in vitro. Journal of Neuroscience 20, 4286-4299. udvozlettel, Negyessy Laszlo Neurobionics Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Peter Pazmany Catholic University - Semmelweis University Tuzolto u. 58 H-1094 Budapest Hungary Tel.: +36-12156920 ext. 53712 Fax: +36-12176937 E-mail: negyessy(a)ana.sote.hu, negyessy(a)gmail.com

17 years, 5 months

eloadas

by Négyessy László

Kedves Kollegak, Caroline Fonta (Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/ <http://www.cerco.ups-tlse.fr/fr_vers/annuaire/caroline_fonta.htm> fr_vers/annuaire/caroline_fonta.htm) alabbi eloadasra varunk minden erdeklodot december 4.-en csutortokon 14.30-kor a SOTE Anatomi konyvtaraban (1094 Tűzoltó u. 58). A 3D methodological approach to the study of intra-cortical vessel networks. The organization of the cerebral micro-vascular network is an important issue in various biological fields, considering clinical as well as fundamental questions, such as normal and pathological vascularization, functional brain imaging interpretation, stroke consequences, therapeutic strategies or hemodynamic modelling. Investigations aiming at describing postnatal angiogenesis, defining malignancy criteria in tumours or analysing the effects of therapies need relevant structural parameters of the network angiogenesis. However they have to face the complexity of the networks. Classical methods have been used to describe vasculature and recent promising techniques provide in vivo functional data. These powerful methods present however some restrictions : small field of view, exploration of cortical depth limited to a few hundreds of micrometres, information limited to qualitative description. We present an alternative method developed to image volumes as large as several tens of cube millimetres of cortical tissue with a micro-metric resolution, by using x-ray micro-tomography. We discuss the interest of the qualitative and quantitative data obtained, focusing on the comparisons between vessel networks in newborn and adult monkey cortex, and between normal and tumor brain tissue. This work results from a tight collaboration between several disciplines (biology, dynamics of fluids, physics, image analysis and statistics) and has been partly published. Plouraboué F, Cloetens P, Fonta C, Steyer A, Lauwers F, Marc-Vergnes JP. 2004. X-ray high-resolution vascular network imaging. J Microscopy 215(Pt 2):139-148. Risser L, Plouraboué F, Steyer A, Cloetens P, Le Duc G, Fonta C. 2007. From homogeneous to fractal normal and tumorous microvascular networks in the brain. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 27(2): 293-303. Risser L, Plouraboué F, Descombes X (2008) Gap Filling of 3-D Microvascular Networks by Tensor Voting IEEE Trans Med Imaging 27: 674-687. Risser L, Plouraboué F, Cloetens P, Fonta C. 2008. A 3d-investigation shows that angiogenesis in primate cerebral cortex mainly occurs at capillary level. Int J Dev Neurosci (accepted for publication). udvozlettel, Negyessy Laszlo Neurobionics Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Peter Pazmany Catholic University - Semmelweis University Tuzolto u. 58 H-1094 Budapest Hungary Tel.: +36-12156920 ext. 53712 Fax: +36-12176937 E-mail: negyessy(a)ana.sote.hu, negyessy(a)gmail.com

17 years, 5 months

invitation to a philosophy talk

by Krisztina Biber

The CEU Philosophy Department cordially invites you to a talk (as part of its Departmental Colloquium series) by Andres Moles (Central European University) on Dworkin, Integrity and Hate Speakers Tuesday, 25 November, 5.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412 ABSTRACT In this paper I analyze three different arguments that Ronald Dworkin has produced to defend the claim that restrictions on hate speech are unjust. The focus of the paper is on the interests that citizens have qua speakers in being allowed to express racist or sexist views, in this respect the paper claims that Dworkin’s arguments do not show that such interests are sufficient for protection. Drawing from some research on social psychology I claim that hate speech is harmful in a justice-relevant manner. If I am correct, then given Dworkin's ideas about integrity and equality of resources, he cannot claim that restricting hate speech fails to treat speakers with less respect and concern. Kriszta Biber Department Coordinator Philosophy Department Tel: 36-1-327-3806 Fax: 36-1-327-3072 E-mail: biberk(a)ceu.hu

17 years, 5 months

Philm club invitation

by Krisztina Biber

The CEU Philosophy Department cordially invites you to the next screening of its Philm Club series: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead 1990, directed by Tom Stoppard, 117 min. Friday, November 28, 6:00 p.m. TIGy Room, Nador 11 Courtyard The Philm Club aims at screening and discussing movies that raise philosophically relevant issues in accessible as well as entertaining ways. Find out more on the club's blog: http://philmclub.wordpress.com/ Kriszta Biber Department Coordinator Philosophy Department Tel: 36-1-327-3806 Fax: 36-1-327-3072 E-mail: biberk(a)ceu.hu

17 years, 5 months

Cognitive Systems Research, Vol. 9, No. 3-4, 2008

by Professor Ron Sun

New issues ( 9(3) and 9(4) ) are now available on ScienceDirect: * Cognitive Systems Research Volume 9, Issue 3, Pages 161-236 (June 2008) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/6595-2008-999909996-689433 NOTE: If the URLs in this email are not active hyperlinks, copy and paste the URL into the address/location box in your browser. = = = = = = = = ======================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS Probabilistic judgment on a coarser scale Pages 161-172 Yanlong Sun, Hongbin Wang, Jiajie Zhang and Jack W. Smith http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Formal models of appraisal: Theory, specification, and computational model Pages 173-197 Joost Broekens, Doug DeGroot and Walter A. Kosters http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Automatic evaluation of syntactic learners in typologically- different languages Pages 198-213 Franklin Chang, Elena Lieven and Michael Tomasello http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Economically organized hierarchies in WordNet and the Oxford English Dictionary Pages 214-228 Mark A. Changizi http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Book review: D. Braddon-Mitchell and F. Jackson, Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, an Introduction, Blackwell, Victoria (Australia) (2007). Pages 229-231 Geert-Jan A. Boudewijnse http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Artificial Intelligence & Religion: A Review of Bill Bainbridge’s “God from the Machine: Artificial Intelligence Models of Religious Cognition” AltaMira Press (A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.), Lanham, MD, USA, 2006, 179 pp., ISBN: 9875917441, 0759107440. Pages 232-235 M. Afzal Upal http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… = = = = = = = = ======================================================================== * Cognitive Systems Research Volume 9, Issue 4, Pages 237-330 (October 2008) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/6595-2008-999909995-697487 = = = = = = = = ======================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS Using hidden Markov model to uncover processing states from eye movements in information search tasks Pages 237-251 Jaana Simola, Jarkko Salojärvi and Ilpo Kojo http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Neural affective decision theory: Choices, brains, and emotions Pages 252-273 Abninder Litt, Chris Eliasmith and Paul Thagard http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Fragile X syndrome: Neural network models of sequencing and memory Pages 274-292 Mina C. Johnson-Glenberg http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Autonomous construction of ecologically and socially relevant semantics Pages 293-311 Martin Takáč http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… Conscious and unconscious forms of memory in different implicit tests Pages 312-328 Chao-Ming Cheng, Wen-Ying Lin and Chia-Shan Tsai http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=GatewayURL&_method=citationSearch&… = = = = = = = = ======================================================================== See the following Web page for submission, subscription, and other information regarding Cognitive Systems Research: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun/journal.html See http://www.elsevier.com/locate/cogsys for further information regarding accessing these articles If you have questions about features of ScienceDirect, please access the ScienceDirect Info Site at http://www.info.sciencedirect.com ======================================================== Professor Ron Sun Cognitive Science Department Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 Eighth Street, Carnegie 302A Troy, NY 12180, USA phone: 518-276-3409 fax: 518-276-3017 email: rsun(a)rpi.edu web: http://www.cogsci.rpi.edu/~rsun =======================================================

17 years, 5 months

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koglist November 2008