The increasingly pluralistic character of modern societies has led to questions, not only about the proper use of ethnic-group terms, but also about the correct semantic analysis of them. Here I argue that ethnic-group terms are analogous to other rigid designators whose extension is fixed in the way suggested by a causal theory of reference. My view accommodates precisely those scenarios of co...

Abstract In this article, I discuss how Nietzsche’s critique of nihilism concerns the complicity between Christian morality and modern atheism. unpack in what sense Schopenhauer’s ascetic denial will signifies a return to nothingness, he calls nihil negativum . argue that formulation specifically targets pessimism as culmination Western metaphysical tradition, crucial stage its intellectual his...

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) educators are often confronted with learners who use their new critical appraisal skills to dismiss much of the medical literature. Does this cynical attitude of "clever nihilism" affect educational outcomes, such that educators need to tailor their curricula to these learners? The authors proposed that this critical skepticism may be an intermediate developmental ...

Recanati takes for granted the conveyance conception of linguistic communication, although it is not very clear exactly where he lies on the spectrum of possible variations. Even if we disavow all such conceptions of linguistic communication, there will be a place for semantic theory in articulating normative concepts such as logical consistency and logical validity. An approach to semantics fo...

We adapt an instance model of human memory, Minerva 2, to simulate retrospective revaluation. In the account, memory preserves the events of individual trials in separate traces. A probe presented to memory contacts all traces in parallel and causes each to become active. The information retrieved from memory is the sum of the activated traces. Learning is modelled as a process of cued-recall; ...