Knowledge and Belief: Some Clarifications

The notions of knowledge and belief play an important role in philosophy. Unfortunately, the literature is not very consistent about defining these notions. Is belief more fundamental than knowledge or is it the other way around? Many accounts rely on the widely accepted strategy of appealing to the intuition of the reader. Such an argumentative methodology is fundamentally flawed because it lets the problems of common sense reasoning in through the front door. Instead, I suggest that philosophical arguments should be based on formal-computational models to (a) reduce the ambiguities and uncertainties that come with intuitive arguments and reasoning, and (b) capture the dynamic nature of many philosophical concepts. I present a model of knowledge and belief that lends itself to being implemented on computers. Its purpose is to resolve terminological confusion in favor of a more transparent account. The position I defend is an antirealist naturalized one: knowledge is best conceived as arising from experience, and is fundamental to belief.     

Review of Toward a Contemporary Psychology of Intuition: A Historical, Theoretical, and Empirical Enquiry.

Reviews the book, Toward a Contemporary Psychology of Intuition: A Historical, Theoretical, and Empirical Enquiry by Malcolm R. Westcott (1968). The dust jacket of this volume tells us that, "This is the first book by a psychologist devoted to a detailed study of intuition." If true, and I have not been able to find an exception to the statement as yet, then two points should be made. First, Westcott is to be admired for tackling a subject which other psychologists have apparently found difficult, and his work must be allowed some of the weaknesses which a "first" volume in any field faces. Second, it is a sad commentary on either the positivist-behavorist influence on psychology or on the ingenuity of psychologists, or both, that an experience as phenomenologically apparent as intuition had to wait so long for an intensive scientific treatment by a psychologist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

感性设计方法的意义和价值

目的感性直觉方法在设计实践中是常见的一种思维方法,但相关的理论研究相对薄弱。在强调现代设计的理性精神和方法的同时,也要认识到感性设计方法的合理性及其价值,明确感性设计方法是理性设计方法的有益补充。旨在探究感性设计方法价值和意义的具体所指。方法以情感体验、直觉感受的艺术设计方法论和设计符号学与产品语义学的视觉文化设计方法论,对感性设计思维方法特征进行梳理,以悦目动心的设计、有意味的形式、创造的进化3个角度与理性设计思维方法的差异进行分析研究。结论感性设计思维与理性设计思维两者之间是此消彼长的对应互补关系;感性设计方法是历史悠久的设计方法,并依然被许多设计师推崇;感性设计方法在"感性消费时代"、"创感时代"以及营造"艺术化生存"方面具有积极意义和价值。     

艺术设计基础教学与逻辑思维训练

设计师应具备两方面的素质和能力——感性的艺术直觉和理性的逻辑思维。艺术设计基础教学应围绕这两方面的素质和能力对学生进行引导与训练。基础训练中强调直觉时应把获得直觉的基础对事物的充分了解、认识等知识和经验积累放在首位。学生有了充分的认识、理解才能谈得上感悟,有敏捷的逻辑思维能力才能很好地运用和创造。     

S变换在电力系统间谐波检测中的应用

间谐波是一种频率为基波非整数倍的特殊谐波,由于它在电力系统中大量存在,对电力系统造成极大影响与危害,所以对其进行分析和检测具有非常重要的意义.基于S变换的良好时频特性,提出了一种利用S变换检测间谐波的方法,通过Matlab分析S变换对典型信号的仿真并与小波变换进行比较,证明本方法的准确度、直观性更高.     

The impact of human intuition in psychology.

An empirically valid outcome in psychology may differ in the degree to which the outcome does or does not conform to human intuition. The author provides a brief history of three psychological outcomes violating human intuition, notes the resemblance to the common sense revolution, and then discusses how human intuition may be detrimental to behaviorism and evolutionary perspectives of human nature. The role of human intuition in supernatural beliefs is considered and, finally, possible methods to improve the plausibility of counterintuitive outcomes are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic intuition in military command and control: why it is important,and how it should be developed

This paper considers combat dynamic intuition (CDI). We define CDI as the cognitive capability possessed by a military commander when conducting operations. The paper serves two purposes: firstly, we briefly review the previous research on decision making and learning in dynamic systems, in order to discuss the role of microworlds as training environments to improve CDI. In particular, we focus on the advantages of applying system dynamics techniques when designing microworlds to represent "real world" operational challenges. Secondly, we draw implications from a microworld-based experiment, where task complexity is the manipulated variable. The results indicate that environment simplification in itself is not enough to enhance learning in a microworld setting—a conscious pedagogical program, aimed at increasing the training intensity, should also be developed in support of such training. The latter suggestion should be considered an opportunity for further research on CDI improvement.

Context and the interpretation of likelihood information: The role of intergroup comparisons on perceived vulnerability.

Four experiments investigated how people's perceptions about a group's (e.g., women's) vulnerability to a disease are influenced by information about the prevalence of the disease in a comparable group (e.g., men). Participants read symptom and prevalence information about fictitious diseases before answering questions regarding target group vulnerability. Participants used the prevalence rate for a nontarget group as an immediate comparison standard for intuitively interpreting the degree of vulnerability of a target group, resulting in robust contrast effects. Experiments 3 and 4 illustrated that these contrast effects can cause a person's intuitive perceptions about a group's vulnerability to selected diseases to conflict with his or her knowledge of the prevalence rates for the diseases. The results support a distinction between 2 components of psychological uncertainty--beliefs in objective probability and more intuitive perceptions of certainty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Intuitive Process: The Case of Psychotherapy.

Intuition may be considered a common factor in psychotherapy, characterizing both psychotherapist and client functioning. After reviewing existing models for intuition, the author proposes a 5-phase model to explain intuition on the basis of the cognitive functions of pattern discovery and recognition. It is argued that intuition should not be viewed as a single phenomenon; rather, the phenomena labeled as intuition can be understood as belonging to different phases of a single process. These phases consist of early knowledge representations that demonstrate the creative role that intuition may play in the construction of knowledge. The author illustrates this model by presenting examples from the practice of psychotherapy. Finally, the author discusses the possibilities of promoting intuitive insight, the fallibility of intuition, and the role intuition may play in integrative decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of intuitions about support beyond infancy.

In a series of 3 experiments modeled after infant studies, 3- to- 6-year-old children’s intuitive knowledge about support was assessed. Different objects were shown either sufficiently supported or not. Children had to predict whether a block would remain standing on a platform upon release or make perceptual judgments about the possibility of a shown block-on-platform configuration. Overall, performance was strongly age-related and independent of task context. Sensitivity for the amount of contact between object and support was clearly evidenced for each of the age-groups tested and was almost perfect in 5- and 6-year-olds. By contrast, sensitivity for the proportion of an object’s volume positioned over the support was only marginally reliable in 3-year-olds and still far from perfect in 6-year-olds. It is concluded that basic intuitions about support undergo distinct developmental change beyond infancy and are not yet fully developed in kindergartners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)