In The empirical stance, Bas van Fraassen argues for a reconceptualization of empiricism, and a rejection of its traditional rival, speculative metaphysics, as part of a larger and provocative study in epistemology. Central to his account is the notion of voluntarism in epistemology, and a concomitant understanding of the nature of rationality. In this paper I give a critical assessment of thes...

The weak epistemic modal operators might, possible, likely, and probable display embedding behaviors and scope interactions that are interestingly different from their logically stronger counterparts must and certain. I present two problematic sets of facts about these operators which have not received much attention in the literature. The first is that weak epistemic modals embed freely under ...

It has been established that normative social influence can be used effectively in persuasive technology. However, it is unknown whether the application of more social pressure makes it more effective. To test this hypothesis, a quantitative experiment was conducted on the online social network Facebook. Although evidence to support the hypothesis was found, it cannot be concluded from this exp...

Motivated by a desire to extend the Social Influence Model of Technology Use, this paper empirically examines the impact of normative social influence on group media preference patterns and group meeting outcomes in a setting where established groups voluntarily used various communication media over a three-month software development project period. The overall results suggest that conformity t...

American college students’ and children’s scores on two measures of the need for social approval closely follow changes in the state of the larger society, decreasing signiWcantly from 1958 to 1980 and leveling oV between 1980 and 2001 (total nD 36,004 across 203 samples of college students responding to the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability scale; total nD 4741 across 38 samples of children r...

This study aims to determine the effect of ethical ideology on judgment with professional commitment as a mediator. The respondents this were KAP auditors in Malang City. distribution questionnaires used obtained sample 77 respondents. research was tested using path analysis, results concluded that (idealism) has positive and can be mediated by commitment, while (relativism) hurts commitment. s...