In this paper I propose an account of representation for scientific models based on Kendall Walton’s ‘make-believe’ theory of representation in art. I first set out the problem of scientific representation and respond to a recent argument due to Craig Callender and Jonathan Cohen, which aims to show that the problem may be easily dismissed. I then introduce my account of models as props in game...

Can we believe what we read? As practitioners and researchers we trust in good faith that the information presented within our professional journals is a true and accurate representation of the authors' work; be it a substantive review of the literature on a particular area, or the use of previous research to support the clinical findings of an interesting case. As authors, we are responsible f...

I argue that proper assertion requires belief. Jennifer Lackey has recently argued otherwise. Here I respond to Lackey’s argument and provide positive evidence that permissible assertion does require belief. The positive evidence takes the form of an explanatory argument from linguistic patterns surrounding the give and take of assertion. Looming large in the background of the discussion is whe...

When I came to UCSD, a professor asked me how I could be a professing intellectual and still be a Christian. The topic came up a few weeks back as well. So I thought I would collect my thoughts about reasons that I personally find helpful when considering whether Christianity makes sense. Note that I do not accept the definition that faith is "belief without reason". Instead I prefer the defini...

How should we understand reasons-based knowledge? According to the counterfactual or modal account of conclusive reasons, famously defended by Dretske, R is conclusive for P just in case [R would not be the case unless P were the case]. I argue that while knowing is plausibly related to having conclusive reasons to believe, having such reasons cannot be understood in terms of the obtaining of t...

POLICY STATEMENT: “The reality is that postpartum hemorrhage requiring transport is extremely rare. The incident reported is 0.2 to 1 percent” (Varney, 2004, p 952). In research that examines out-of-hospital birth with a comparison low-risk group birthing in the hospital, there is a greater incidence of postpartum hemorrhage in the hospital group. With advanced planning, immediate PPH is a comp...

Background Approximately 90 percent of the world’s population lives in countries with little or no access to cardiac surgery. Initiation of a surgical program results in a large influx of patients, of whom only a small proportion can be selected for surgical intervention. In addition, at times program development goals may conflict with patient care goals. When surgery cannot be provided to all...

Julie Johnson: Communication is our number one strategy. Our patient accounting team meets quarterly to identify and communicate the top 10 list of denials. Once we’ve identified critical bill stoppers, we set up specific edits that are automatically generated. Also, we set accuracy goals by facility and registrar longevity. In addition, we link our registration accuracy to patient safety, beca...

The types of goals that students adopt in educational settings and the conseque:nce:s of those goals an 2 important educational outcomes-performance and intrinsic motivation-are disciussed. In the case of performance, we briefly review and evaluate a large body of fheory and research conducted by other investigators. In particular, we consider the possibility that some commonly accepted conclus...

This article presents an argument for the existence of God, showing that the evident phenomena are best explained by supposing that a God causes them. The argument is based on the inductive force of four very evident general phenomena: that there is a physical Universe; that it is governed by very simple natural laws; that those laws are such as to lead to the existence of human bodies; and tha...